Four shorts bookended by Christmas tales. No Christmas cover, though.

The first born of Marvel’s First Family makes his own adventures away from his famous parents, uncle and Godfather. Most of Franklin’s sugar-fueled adventures involve good intentions, but quickly pave the way to frantic escapades.

There’s a lotta baggage with Daredevil by now, but readers can still enjoy the story.

Basically the Man Without Fear makes his own miracles as a Christmas outing turns deadly for himself and eight young charges.

Whatta better tie in than Marvel Zombies and Halloween.

Marvel married the two in 2012 for an enjoyable one shot giving a glimpse at a possible future where Kitty Pryde and Peter Rasputin marry. Of course pretty much any story with zombies isn’t gonna end well in the long run, but Marvel Zombies Halloween does satisfy the sweet tooth with a saccharine ending that sooths rather than turns the stomach.

Man-Thing (1997) 3

Better get all eight issues of this series to make sense of “Christmas in Bedlam!”

By 1997 the comic’s industry had taken a beating after the bean counters played on the greed of the carpetbaggers. Marvel was on the verge of bankruptcy as Avi Arad stepped in to take control of the purse strings and save the paper portion of the company with licensed likenesses.

DC had launched its Vertigo line spearheaded by writers like Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman. In doing so they also earned literary accreditation with adults who wanted more than spandex and capes.

In my opinion, Marvel took note and attempted to do the same with a relaunch of an eight-issue mini-series of Man-Thing written by J.M. DeMatteis.

Issue three spends its entirety touching on the plot with time slips to the past to save look to the future.

If you’re buying this for more than the cover, pick up the previous two and the remaining five issues.

A graphic retelling of redemption spun with zombies.

While short on carnage there are some genuinely creepy imaginations plotted between writer James McCann and pencilers David Baldeon and Jeremy Treece. The wording is as eloquent as a Victorian dance step.

This was a surprise for the 2013 Christmas season. It wasn’t even on my radar, but my friendly local neighborhood comic book pusher hooked me up for this goofy story filled with holiday cheer and imagery.

Thanks, Mike.

Marvel Holiday Special 2011 TPB

The early days of the Christmas Treasury Editions and their skimpy Santa’s bag of holiday stories were long past when Marvel published this volume.

Each of the offerings is a reprint beginning with “Have Yourself a Sandman Little Christmas” from Marvel Team-Up 1 followed by “Demon” from Uncanny X-Men 143. The remainder of the book pulls from either the 2004 and 2005 Marvel Holiday Specials.

Of course the first two stories are a glimpse of Merry Marvel of old, but the newer offerings provide a look at how far the House of Ideas has come.

The Punisher was a hot commodity in the early 1990s so it was no surprise Marvel used one of its bigger money makers to fill the coffers even more. Taking that same character and putting in a setting as harmonious as Christmas time was a nice dichotomy.

Beyond that, The Punisher Holiday Special is anything but special. The first two stories are unspectacular just putting Frank in a position for blood letting. The third is a three-part act that’s as textless as it is tacktless.

Ben Grimm is the star of this Christmas tale as he takes leave of Marvel’s first family for a holiday outing to haunt his former neighborhood to help an old friend.

Dr. Doom appears long enough to justify his spot on the cover and Stan Lee dusts off an old soap box and trims it in Christmas colors as 1991 passes to history.