Santas Good, Bad, Badass

Yuletide carols, cartoon ducks, superheroes, and the many faces of Santa Claus! Some comic books for the holidays:

Ant-Man’s Big Christmas- Avengers Ant-Man and the Wasp makes a boy’s wish come true for Christmas--they teach his horrid, obnoxious relatives the error of their ways! An oddly uplifting holiday revenge story.

JLA # 60, “Merry Christmas, Justice League--Now Die!”- Santa Claus has super powers and joins the League in Plastic Man’s silly story, as told to Woozy Winks’ young, skeptical nephew.

Generation X Holiday Special, “Yes, Jubilee, There is a Santa Claus”- Nanny and Orphan Maker strike during the holidays, but Generation X keeps them from ruining some kids’ Christmas. Also, Jubilee meets Santa Claus.

Battle Pope # 10, “The Christmas Pope-tacular”- Sacrilegiously funny, as usual. Jesus fights Santa for upstaging him on his birthday.

Donald Duck # 203, “The Golden Christmas Tree”- Donald’s nephews want the perfect tree, but they find themselves fighting a hag who wants to end the holiday in this quirky short story.

Howard the Duck Holiday Special, “Wreck the Malls with Hydra’s Folly”- Howard grudgingly dresses up as a store Santa, and later goes on a mission to save the real one from the forces of Hydra. Wacky stuff.

Bone Holiday Special, “Happy Winter Solstice!”- In this cute four-pager, Bone and Thorn pick out an evergreen for Winter Solstice, “a very old tradition.” Bone also plays Santa to a pair of Rat Creatures, giving them piping hot quiche during a truce.

Richie Rich Digest # 4, “Santa Paws”- Richie’s dog Dollar dresses up as Santa and cheers up a group of less-fortunate dogs. Weird, but somewhat touching.

Spectre # 12, “The Spectre of Christmas!”- Spectre Hal Jordan meets Santa Claus, Charles Dickens, and Ebenezer Scrooge in this surreal, ruminative issue.

Jingle Belle Holiday Special, “Santa Claus Vs. Frankenstein”- Santa’s daughter Jingle Belle discovers and revives the real Frankenstein’s Monster, who soon helps out in Santa’s workshop. The two icons “fight” to save Christmas.

Pinky and The Brain Christmas Special, “Jingle Narf”- The rodents infiltrate Santa’s toy factory to reprogram a large batch of toys, but the ploy backfires, of course, thanks to Pinky.

Marvel Holiday Special 1992, “Yule Memory”- In this moving tale, Thanos celebrates a combination of pre-Christian Yule holiday and modern earth Christmas with young Gamora to give her the illusion of family.

Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special, “The Lobo Xmas Sanction”- In this bloody, Simon Bisley-illustrated one-shot, Lobo fights a butt-kicking Santa--to the death! Disturbing and hilarious.

DC Comics Presents # 67, “’Twas the Fright Before Christmas”- Superman teams up with Santa Claus to foil Toyman’s schemes. “Trust me, son--on this of all nights, there is nobody faster than me!”

Simpsons # 52, “Worst Christmas Ever!”- The hunt for a popular toy set wears out last-minute Springfield shoppers, but Homer discovers an abandoned truck carrying several toy sets, and is forced to play Santa.

Sensational She-Hulk # 8, “The World’s Greatest Detective”- She-Hulk and a disguised Santa team up to catch a crook. She-Hulk gets a gift that will be useful in a future holiday issue (# 36, to be exact).

Green Lantern # 59, “Green Christmas”- GL Kyle Rayner is new to the Titans, and spends Christmas Eve on monitor duty. But Donna eventually gives him a present, mistletoe, which she holds above them. Sweet.

Futurama Comics # 6, “Christmas Time is Fear”- The robot Santa Claus terrorizes Fry and the gang once again. But the feared automaton is allied with two other villains this Christmas!

Hulk # 378, “Rhino Plastered”- In this funny flashback issue, gray Hulk fights the Rhino, dressed up as Santa Claus. A little girl named Virginia stops the insanity.

DC Universe Holiday Bash! II, “Present Tense”- There are many stories in this comic, but the irreverent two-pager stands out. Santa visits Apokolips to hand Darkseid a lump of coal. The dark god orders his men to kill Saint Nick, but the jolly one escapes.