Yogi Bear’s Easter Parade

Cover dated 1978, Yogi Bear’s Easter Parade is the second in a hat trick of issues published by Marvel under the title The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera.

Captured in this static time capsule of primary colors and pastels are the kings and queens of Saturday morning cartoon favorites. H-B’s roster of characters reads like a who’s who in the history of animation. Almost all are collected in the 50 pages of this book.

Yogi leads off with his self-titled Easter Parade story. Like a vintage Our Gang short, Yogi musters the colorful inhabitants of the Hanna-Barbera world to save Easter morning from capitalism.

Scooby-Doo and “those meddling kids” team with Blue Falcon and Dynomutt in Phantasma Gloria. The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour debuted in 1976 and by 1978 had run its course and was heading for syndication by the time this book was released.

Robots Bloom in Spring brought the Jetsons out of before- and after-school reruns with a short story centered on housekeeper Rosie who feels she has become obsolete.

Spring Fever is a cautionary tale of love and bank accounts. Top Cat and his band of Manhattan alley cats heavily inspired by the 1940’s East Side Kids save Officer Dibble from financial ruin.

The Flintstones bookend the issue in Spring Training. Barney and Betty’s adopted son, Bamm-Bamm, is signed to a Major League Baseball franchise only to find black gold instead.

Sprinkled between the stories are pages of puzzles sponsored by the Hanna-Barbera gang including Yakky Doodle’s Scrambled Eggs, Captain Caveman: Twin Trouble, Touche Turtle’s Crossword Puzzle, Huckleberry’s Comic Crostic and Magilla Magic.

Sleepwalker Holiday Special

One of only two issues not written by creator Bob Budansky, this 1993 offering serves up two stories, “Tricks of the Trade” and “Insomnia.”

In the first Harold Pruitt deals with the defection of his best girl, unexpected unemployment and mounting bills along with the normal pressures of the holiday season.

Rather than finding a lamp to rub, Pruitt finds a credit card to swipe unleashing a spirit promising to fulfill all his wishes. For a price.

Jyn, the “genie,” sends a minion to do his bidding which runs afoul of the Sleepwalker. As in all Marvel tales a fight ensues causing mayhem enough Pruitt renounces Jyn. The denunciation does not end the evil spirit’s reign on Earth and the Sleepwalker must find another way to dispatch the demon.

In the second story the Sleepwalker must overcome the insomnia – hence the name – of his human host to foil a museum robbery and avenge an attack on the night watchman.

Sleepwalker debuted in 1991 and ran 33 issues reading like a poor man’s Sandman in tights with a dash of DC’s Spectre in evidence. Bundansky has been credited with creating the character in the 1970s, long before it saw print, maybe giving the edge to The Spectre as inspiration, but with the popularity of the Sandman title it could be Marvel was hoping to hop on the DC’s coattails once more.

Darwyn Cooke turned in what has become a festive favorite for Christmas 2003.

Under the appropriately named Tangled Web imprint, Spider-Man shares the title with no less than the Fantastic Four and Medusa and Crystal from the Inhumans.

Spider-Man’s Tangled Web 21

When a snowstorm shuts the city down on Christmas Eve, Spidey indulges in a seasonal sulk when Mary Jane is stranded in Philadelphia. Rescuing a busload of orphans alleviates some of the self-pity.

J. Jonah Jameson is none too thrilled to learn Peter Parker has spent the Bugle’s money on Spider-Man action figures and even less so when he learned his freelance photographer had forgotten the gift for Jameson’s wife.

In the meantime, Sue Storm, Jane VanDyne and Crystal’s shopping trip is interrupted by a robbery at Macey’s. Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four appear for a confusing slugfest culminating in a happy ending for all but the Puppet Master who masterminded the crime.

Cooke is best known for deconstructing the comic books he grew up with including the bridge between the Golden and Silver Age of comics, New Frontier, in 2004.

Ghost Rider Xmas Special

Robbie Reyes’ little brother, Gabe, is chided for his continued belief in Santa Claus. Those same bullies become believers when the Yang to Kris Kringle’s Yin, Krampus, kidnaps them for supper.

Reyes was tapped as the new Ghost Rider in 2014, then introduced into the Marvel cinematic universe as a recurring character in the fourth season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., played by Gabriel Luna.

The new Spirit of Vengeance hails from East Los Angeles and spins around town in a 1969 Dodge Charger rather than the familiar motorcycle. Reyes became Ghost Rider after stealing Calvin Zabo’s, aka Mr. Hyde, car and being gunned down by mercenaries attempting to pilfer the potion Zabo uses to become Hyde.

ALF (1988) 9

Writer Michael Gallagher chose the January 1989 issue of ALF to survey the coming year’s calendar.

Billed as the “All Holiday Issue,” readers won’t be familiar with any of them as ALF takes issue with the Tanner family’s obsession with Earth celebrations. To appease their intergalactic guest, patriarch Willie allows ALF to commemorate a Melmacian holiday. ALF chooses Twangle the 23rd, “Eat Off The Floor Day,” celebrated in honor of his home planet’s greatest inventor, Alexander Graham Cracker, the creator of linoleum.

This is followed with a tale of “The Melvoutinary War,” Alf’s version of fight for independence and the final story, “A Tree-Mendous Mistake”, the alien’s version of Arbor Day where celebrants wear a plant for the day.

The comic book ran about the length of the series, four years, with 50 issues while 99 episodes aired on television. ALF proved marginally more successful than My Favorite Martian which series’ creators may have copied the premise from. My Favorite Martian’s comic book only lasted nine issues, though.

It’s a bloody Bacchanalia when a department store Santa is possessed by Animus, “a level 9 demon,” for Christmas 2006.

If you’re looking for some homey Christmas Eve reading by the hearth, to paraphrase Ben Kenobi, “this isn’t the issue you’re looking for.” Blood stains the worn and gritty floors powdered with cinders tramped in by Christmas consumers with torture the currency.

Blade’s story is interrupted with peeks at his past to understand how best to death the present day danger. It doesn’t end well.

Based on art by Marc Silvestri, you’ll find this Merry Marvel house ad in Uncanny X-Men (1963) #256.  According to Chris Haizlip’s blog – The UnPublished X-Men – the Santa hats were added after the original art for purposes of the advertisement.

If you’re an X-Men fan, be sure to give The UnPublished X-Men a perusal.  I’m sure you’ll find more than a few surprises.

In celebration of Star Wars: The Last Jedi making its way to theaters, here’s a festive Bob Wakelin cover gracing Marvel UK’s Star Wars: Return of the Jedi  issue 23.

Honestly, it doesn’t get much better than Vader in a Christmas hat.

A personal favorite, you’ll find this festive Hulk & Rulk composition gracing the cover of Marvel Holiday Spectacular (2009). It’s also the basis for no less than three Hulk (2008) #9 variants. By Ed McGuinness.