Friday Holiday Fun CHRISTMAS CARNIVAL "Wolf Who Didn't Believe in Santa Claus"

Here's a Yuletide Tale I Can Guarantee  You've Never  Read...

...unless you're over 75, involving four of the most famous characters in fairy tales!

This combo of Yuletide and children's fantasy, unseen since the 1950s, appeared in Ziff-Davis' one-shot 100-page Christmas Carnival (1952)!

Sadly, the writer and artist (or writer and artists or writer/artist) is unknown, since few records still exist after Ziff-Davis, which is still publishing other magazines, closed the comics division in 1957, selling most of its' assets (both published and unpublished material) to St John Publishing, which itself closed up shop in 1959!

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Friday Holiday Fun CHRISTMAS CARNIVAL "Santa's Red Red Nose"

What happens if Kris Kringle gets sick on Christmas Eve?

This tale from St John's Christmas Carnival (1952) 100-page one-shot gives you the answer!

It was all a dream!

Thank Heavens!

The thought of a Christmas without Santa is just too much to bear! ;-)
This tale (and the entire Christmas Carnival 100-page 25-cent book) were published twice!
Once in 1952 by Ziff-Davis and again in 1955 by St John Publishing, which bought the Ziff-Davis comics line's material when the publisher liquidated that division after the "Seduction of the Innocent" witch hunt!
Ironic, since Ziff-Davis Comics was one of the least-offensive publishers on the magazine racks!
The writer and artist(s) are unknown.

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Whether You Call Him "Kris Kringle" or "St Nick" or "Santa Claus", He's the Embodiment of the Christmas Spirit!

Did You Know...

...the image of Santa Claus, as we Americans know it, is based on the work of two artists over 70 years apart?

1) Thomas Nast, who illustrated the first published version of Clement Clark Moore's The Night Before Christmas in the 1860s
and

2) Haddon Sundblom, who took Nast's visual concepts, refined them, and used them to illustrate Coca-Cola's Christmas advertising campaigns in the 1930s
TRIVIA:

Both Nast and Sundblom are equally famous for their other artistic accomplishments...

Nast was primarily a political cartoonist, whose illustrations of New York's "Boss" Tweed were considered the main reason the corrupt politician was forced from office!

Sundblom also created the image of the Quaker Oats man, and was a noted pin-up girl artist! (In fact, his last published artwork was a pin up girl semi-dressed in a Santa outfit for Playboy's December, 1972 cover!

I'm not going to show it, but you can Google it with sundblom christmas playboy...

SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS

He's the Jolly Old Elf in a red suit!
They are BIG Green Men from Mars with an even BIGGER robot!
Before Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, they were the ingredients for the weirdest Christmas movie ever!

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians was filmed in 1964 in that bastion of the cinema, Long Island (in an unused aircraft hangar).

Starring a host of tv and b-movie actors including handsome-but-stiff Leonard Hicks as the Martian Leader (and kids' father) Kimar, 60s villain/voiceover artist Vincent Beck (who did lots of work for Irwin Allen's sci-fi shows) as the film's mustache-twirling villain, Voldar, and John Call as a pretty damn convincing Santa Claus, the flick is touted as the debut of future talentless chantuse Pia Zadora as Martian Kid Girmar. Thankfully, she has rather limited screen time.

As an example of low-budget filmmaking, it's actually pretty effective.

Every penny (what few of them they had) is up on the screen.

They make good use of stock footage (from Dr. Strangelove, no less).

And the use of then-popular Wham-O Air Blaster toy guns as the Martian weapons was either a stroke of marketing genius or clever use of limited funds. Either way, sales of the guns shot thru the roof after the film hit the kiddie matinee circuit!

If you're between 3-9 years old, the flick's a lot of fun.

If you're between 10 and whatever the local drinking age is, it'll drive you nuts, especially the theme song!

If you're over the local drinking age, do so before watching! It's available on a host of public domain dvds as well as one of the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 snarkfests.

BTW: The image above is from the comic book tie-in, which you can read in three parts...

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

There was also a single of the theme, a spoken-word LP album of the movie's dialogue, and a novelization!

Now I can't get that damn theme our of my head..."Hoo-ray for Santy Claus..." AARRRGGGHHH!

An early Christmas gift from us to you:
The Mystery Science Theatre 3000 version of the film (don't tell Dr Forrester)...

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Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

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Loaded with Kool Extras!

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You Want Some Christmas FUN on TV? We Got It Right Here!

 As We Enter the Christmas Season...

..our entertainment tastes this year run to a hefty dose of mayhem to wash away the sugary taste of all those other Yuletide movies and tv shows, preferably with a mean and cruel Santa Claus!

Yes, we truly love the flick Krampus, but that guy's is supposed to be a demonic SoB!
We want a "bad Santa" who is truly evil, not just screwed up like Billy Bob Thornton's character!
Besides all three versions (1974, 2006 and 2019) of Black Christmas, which are fun, but basically just mad-slasher pix with an Xmas setting, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™were in the mood for something a bit more...otherworldy.

Why should Scrooge have all the holiday fun with specters and supernatural beings?

So, we're cuddling by the fireplace and watching Santa's Slay and Rare Exports!

Santa's Slay postulates that Santa is actually the Son of Satan, who lost a bet with an angel and was forced to be NICE to children on Christmas for a millennium.
But the bet's 1,000 year time-frame has just expired...and Santa's eager to make up for lost time!
WWE wrestler Goldberg is absolutely hysterical as Satan's Son, rampaging through the town and being the absolute, lethal, antithesis of what Kris Kringle is supposed to be.
Robert Culp, in one of his final roles, is entertaining as the crabby/cranky angel who tricked Santa and has been awaiting his return for a millenium.
The rest of the cast get into the insane spirit of the project, and the cgi FX, though low-budget are surprisingly-effective!
It's snarky!
It's silly!
It's now on our annual must-see Christmas film list, along with the 1971 Richard Williams-animated Christmas Carol, Nightmare before Christmas, and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians!

In the Scandinavian import Rare Exports, a huge demonic figure who looks a lot like a cross between Santa Claus and Krampus has been buried for centuries in Scandinavian tundra.
Americans come along, inadvertently unearth him, and mayhem ensues.
It's in Finnish, with English subtitles, but that's just as it should be, since the Finnish can unleash a storm of cursing only Germans can possibly match!
While played straighter than Santa's Slay, it's just as much fun, and even more gruesome!
Pour a healthy dose of glogg, imbie and enjoy!

Friday Fun "Peace On Earth, Good Will Towards Men (with Law and Order)"

This Week We're Doing Something Different...

...Write Your Own Caption for this Yuletide Homicide!

Merry Christmas!

 

Santa's Workshop is a SWEATSHOP???

DC's More Fun Comics #39 (1939)
Art by Craig (The Sandman) Flessel
Did You Finish Your Christmas Shopping?

Holiday Reading Room SANTA CLAUS PARADE "Crystal the Snowflake"

Kris Kringle is considering getting out of the Yuletide business!

But if he does, who will take over the business?

Thankfully, the then-modern technology of the 1950s offered a solution as this never-reprinted story from Ziff-Davis' Santa Claus Parade (1951) by an unknown writer and artist(s) or writer-artist(s) demonstrates!

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Holiday Reading Room RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER "The Reindeer Who Saved Christmas!"

It's Almost Christmas and Santa is Desperate...

...that's as concise a synopsis as you'll ever read, so on to the story with all requisite speed...

The copy we're using doesn't have a final page.

So we'll use the original hand-drawn layout!

 

Written by Robert L May and illustrated by Denver Gillen, this beloved tale was actually an advertising promotion designed to lure customers into doing Christmas shopping!
We hope you've enjoyed this bit of holiday history, and keep checking us out for more Christmastime fun!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics this Christmas!

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Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

75th-Anniversary Edition

(a replica of the original 1939 book we're re-presenting on this blog!)

Holiday Reading Room RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER "The Plot (and the Fog) Thickens!"

When Last We Left Santa Claus and Rudolph...

...Rudolph lived a sad existence, shunned by his peers because he was "different".

But, on Christmas Eve, when Santa Claus, hindered by severe fog, making him hours behind schedule, delivers gifts to Rudolph's home, he literally sees the solution to his problem...

Thursday:

The Reindeer Who Saved Christmas...

Written by Robert L May and illustrated by Denver Gillen, this beloved tale was actually an advertising promotion designed to lure customers into doing Christmas shopping!

Support Atomic Kommie Comics this Christmas!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

75th-Anniversary Edition

(a replica of the original 1939 book we're re-presenting on this blog!)