Marvel didn’t miss the opportunity to celebrate the season and spread cheer with their own, unique brand of Christmas wishes. They were just as brilliant in 1983 with a multitude of the Marvel U helping Santa Thing.

By this time, Jim Shooter was midway through his reign as the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. Chris Claremont’s run on the X-Men was starting to pay dividends with spin-offs appearing. Frank Miller’s Daredevil was received to financial and critical success. The first mini, Contest of Champions had launched and the Marvel-wide crossover, Secret Wars, was in the wings.

The Christmas card would be nearing its 500^th year of existence, the first recorded document in 1611 from Michael Maier to James I of England and his son, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales.

In 1874, Prang and Mayer of England were the first printers to offer Christmas cards in America. Postcards eventually substituted, but by the 1920s, cards and envelopes experienced a renaissance and continue today.

Email can now be seen as a contributor to the decline in Christmas card exchange. However, the card business is far from extinct with nearly two billion sent every year.

Santa is ready to cut Springfield from his annual route, but a lone letter changes the big man’s mind in Springfield’s Letters.

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Leaving the worst for last, Santa rummages through the missives asking for things the recipients don’t deserve. The more he reads, the more St. Nick finds the town reprehensible enough to exclude from his travels.

That is, until he stumbles across a letter recalling the past.

Angry Dad is a return to the Tracy Ullman days.

Bart is suddenly overcome with the Christmas spirt when he learns carolers receive cookies and cider for their efforts. Three trips to Flanders and the bullies are looking for a cut of the action.

Using a new prank, Bart turns the tables on the tormentors in Hot Cider in the City.

Homer keeps his promise to Marge in Homer’s New Year’s Resolutions. It’s just not what she envisioned.

Itchy & Scratchy make an appearance in The Gift that Keeps on Giving one-page short.

Krusty bears his soul in Happy Hanukkah. It’s 1963 in Las Vegas and the clown has yet to make it big. He does find himself in love, but shopping for his new beau is trickier than thought.

Springfield’s finest crack the case of the missing snowman in Snow Falling on Cheaters.

The Winter Wingding specials continued till 2015 offering holiday features to the Simpson faithful.

Sid saves Christmas – again.

The muddling sloth returns to help Santa Claus deliver Christmas. The problem is, well, Sid. For a second year he saves what he almost destroys after meddling with a device to show people their past, present and future selves.

No evidence of Manny or Diego this time around, but Scrat does offer a sideshow.

The 20^th Century Fox franchise began in 2002 as a single, animated film set in the Paleolithic Age. It was followed by Ice Age: The Meltdown; Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs; Ice Age: Continental Drift; and Ice Age: Collision Course. Together, the franchise has made over $3.2 billion worldwide. That makes Ice Age the third highest grossing animated franchise behind Despicable Me and Shrek.

Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas first aired on television Nov. 24, 2011 on Fox.

Ice Age: Past, Presents and Future! was penned by Caleb Monroe and illustrated by Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb.

Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird offer a Christmas-oriented story, What Comes Around…Comes Around!, in this reprinted, colorized dichotomy of the season.

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The turtles share an evening with April O’Neil in her apartment preparing for the big day. As they wrap, cook and decorate, Leonardo fights his way across town.

Peace on Earth is shattered when Leo bursts through the window. Readers are left unfulfilled with a blurb at the bottom of the page promising the stories continuation in TMNT issue 10.

The Turtles became an overnight sensation when they finally hit the mainstream on the airwaves in 1987. Thanks to President Regan’s deregulation on children’s television, toy companies were able to air half-hour commercials promoting their product.

That’s what happened with Eastman and Laird’s creation.

While popular in the comic community, the independent title didn’t make waves until made kid friendly. The franchise would garner $175-million in merchandising for 1988. That figure increased to $6 billion by 1994.

Items included toys, books, paper products, video games and more. In addition, the Turtles have appeared in six major motion pictures beginning in 1990.

Star Comics published the second, and final, ALF Holiday special in 1989.

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The follow up continued the format of the previous year with a few Christmas stories before finishing with a New Year’s tale.

In Don’t Toy With Me!, ALF saves a soul from turning Christmas sour for himself and the Tanners.

Crazy Critter returns in The Last Crusade. ALF suits up for another adventure on the sidelines. That leads to the ice as the youngest Tanner’s hockey team needs a boost.

Taking a break from the holiday fare, ALF gives a skewed history lesson in Marx My Words.

Have Yourself a Melly Little Christmas is ALF dreaming of a way to help Santa keep his Christmas schedule.

Next up, ALF departs from the holidays to put a Melmacian spin on the X-Men.

For Goodness Snakes turns the Tanner household upside down as ALF attempts carryout a Melmac tradition.

Marvel’s Star Comics imprint picked up the license for ALF in 1987. The series ran 50 issues with several specials, including two focused on Christmas.

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Super-Size ALF number one begins with Shop Around the Clock. Kate takes ALF on his first Christmas shopping trip.

Snoman is an Island! follows. Not everyone is dreaming of a white Christmas, but the doesn’t stop ALF from helping Mother Nature.

The Return of Crazy Critter! has ALF back on the sidelines in a sequel to issue six.

The Gift of the Melmagi (with apologies to O. Henry) tells a Melmacian tale of giving.

Wotif the 12 Days of Christmas Happened on Melmac? Another Earth custom that doesn’t translate well.

ALF does his Lassie impersonation in 23 Ski-Doe’s and Don’ts! The Tanners are buried in an avalanche with only ALF of save them.

Finally, the Tanners say goodbye to 1988 in ALF Lang Syne.

ALF was a television sensation from 1986 to 1990. Of the 99-regular episodes, ALF featured an on-air Christmas Special, as well.

The series peaked in season two with its highest ratings. ALF would remain popular enough settled in at the number 15 spot in the Nielsen’s for season three, but dropped significantly by season four. NBC declined to renew the show for a fifth season.

John Byrne brought life to Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk after her original series, 1977 to 1982, was cancelled.

The Hulk’s cousin knocked around in various team books until Byrne wrote and drew Marvel Graphic Novel number 18: The Sensational She-Hulk in 1985. It took a few years, but her second solo-series appeared on newsstands in 1989, again, under the watchful eye of Byrne.

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The talented writer/artist guided her through the first eight issues before being let go by Marvel. He returned and continued to both write and draw the book beginning in issue 31 to 46. Taking a break for issue 47, he returned for issues 48 through 50 before departing the title for good.

In this, the end of Byrne’s first run, Santa Claus makes a guest appearance, though his true identity was not revealed until his profile was released in Marvel Holiday Special 2006.

Titled The World’s Greatest Detective, Jennifer teams with Nick St. Christopher as she attempts to prosecute a serial killer. Realizing the evidence is circumstantial at best, she and Christopher attempt to find proof enough to convict the felon.

Christopher uses several unorthodox methods as they travel half way around the world seeking evidence.

Readers are kept guessing as to who the mysterious Christopher really is during the story. They are given enough circumstantial evidence of their own to make supposition, but his true identity is not revealed in this issue.

Sensational She-Hulk is satirical at life both in and out of the Marvel U. The flavor of the character would be preserved in future representations and series.

Jennifer would have a “special holiday issue in Sensational She-Hulk 36, Plastic Snow and Mistletoe.

This is simply a variant cover for the season.

Inside is The Heart of Darkness, guest-starring the Black Panther, a reimagining of Fantastic Four (1961) 52.

Reed and Sue are the main characters in this issue as they travel to Wakanda to investigate a strange crash site. They learn, too late, it’s a ploy by Dr. Doom who capture the crew and the story is continued next issue.

The second coming of the FF comes on the heels of Heroes Reborn. Franklin Richards has saved his fantastic family, the Avengers and Dr. Doom during their battle with Onslaught. The Richard’s first-born cocoons them in a pocket universe where Franklin everything but those he rescued.

The short-lived escape from the regular Marvel U lasted a total of 13 issues. The mini-series Heroes Return introduced them back courtesy of Franklin’s powers.

Tommy Monaghan, aka Hitman, needs a few dollars for Christmas. Fortunately, a contract comes along and he is able to go after a radioactive super-villain dressed as Santa Claus for Christmas Eve 1998.

Ho, ho, bang.

Hitman owes his existence to Garth Ennis and John McCrea. He was birthed in Demon annual two as part of the Bloodlines company crossover in the summer of 1993.

Following the crossover, Monaghan guested in a couple other DC titles before a Batman appearance launched him in his own book. Hitman lasted 60 issues with one annual.

Following the run, Ennis penned a JLA/Hitman mini-series. Monaghan was entrenched in the DCU having met with most of the powerhouses. This was a continuation of those associations.

Hitman issue 34 won the 1999 Eisner Award for best single issue. Superman co-starred in the one-and-done entitled Of Thee I Sing.

Other than a cameo as a photograph in 2014’s Batman and Robin 27, Monaghan has been silent.

Yes, Jubilee, there is a Santa Claus was a welcome intrusion on over-baked storylines like the Clone Saga and other money-grabbing crossovers of the time.

Joseph Harris and Adam Pollina remember how the secular season can be with long waits on Christmas Eve in the mall and crowds. Toss in Nanny and The Orphan Maker and it’s a mutant Marvel U Christmas.

The obligatory fight scene is a slight of hand allowing young mutant Matthew to kidnap Santa. Tired of being bullied, he attempts to keep the big man from his rounds so his tormentors will wake to a bare tree come Christmas morning.

Generation X was conceived in 1994, a spin-off from the X-Men. The teen muties were designed to speak to a new audience. They stopped talking in issue 75 when the book was cancelled.

The team was rebooted in 2017.