Four Color Comics (1942) 525 (aka Santa Claus Funnies 9)

Four Color Comics (1942) 525 (aka Santa Claus Funnies 9)

Dell’s Santa Claus Funnies, circa 1953, is a classic example of Christmas Comic books.

Cover to cover, the book is filled with silly short stories featuring funny animals and visitors from the North Pole. Imagine a comic book with no ads. None. Just four color frolic.

“Santa Claus and the Cuckoo Bird” open as a no-named feathered friend from the south attempts to meet the Jolly One himself. With some inside help, the little cuckoo is able to hold court with Santa and explain his wish. The bird wants to provide a service to Santa and disprove the misconception all cuckoos are dumb.

“The Kindly Cobbler” proves good deeds not only go unpunished, but they are rewarded.

“Cottontail Christmas” offers a solution to welcoming to Santa in one page.

Only one spirit haunts “The End of the Christmas Ghost.” Humphrey the mouse seeks shelter from the winter storm. During his visit he’s able to save Sir George the ghost from his years of intangibility.

Not the Christmas comic book I’m used to, but it was nice to turn back time and remember when Christmas seemed to much simpler and less commercial.