Authors Sebastian Jones and Darrell May
Art by Peter Bergting
Letters by Troy Peteri
Cover by Anthony Leonardi III
Production by Christopher Ganer
Published by Stranger Comics
Umm, strip poker playing elves, a Christmas Ninja, and two hard drinking hard partying too Irish elves getting named to the “Naughty List Coordinators” and that is the set up for this small and short story about ruining Christmas. Usually Christmas is all about spending time with family and putting on your game face because they are your family. In this case, though, Santa has some very tough favors to pay back, and it revolves around a couple of elves who are candidates for the top of the naughty list themselves. You know things are going to go wrong, you know they will go very wrong, and you know that Christmas is in trouble.
Once we get the idea that Gimblestop and Kuznetskova are in charge of the naughty list. They have to witness those acts of being naughty; it is not just enough to look into the magic snow globe and try to work it out. When checking out one particularly naughty 12 year old, they get the tar nation kicked out of them by little Joey Canuggins. Who is really 12, and really on the road to being one of the naughtiest kids in the whole world. The really sad part though is that Gimblestop and Kuznetskova themselves being somewhat naughty also manage to lose Santa’s hat, the source of all Christmas magic. So Santa without his magic means that the entire world, every boy and girl that Santa delivers presents to are really going to lose out regardless of being naughty or nice. But then what do you do if you have Santa’s magic hat and can do some pretty naughty things with his magic along the way? Besides that Christmas is ruined, the world dives into economic depression and Santa toys with the idea of simply giving up. And now you have a whiny bully named Joey ruining the spirit of Christmas with complaining and taking a lot of stuff from other people, Gimblestop and Kuznetskova set out to give the boy a dose of Christmas Cheer, by hook or by crook.
It’s short, it’s cute, it’s appropriate for those of us who are really simply tired of Christmas weeks before it gets here. When stores start putting out Christmas stuff in August, it is time to take a cold hard look at this holiday and what is has become rather than what it was originally intended to be. This comic takes a good look at a couple of Andy Warholesque elves and cuts them loose with drink, girls, strip poker, laughing gas, depression, and hysteria. It’s worth reading, it’s worth keeping, it is being rated five of five stars because it rocks.
Related articles
- Coca-Cola truck’s Bad Santa reduces four-year-old girl to tears after telling her she’s on his Naughty List (mirror.co.uk)
- Christmas Eve: Naughty much? (lanternhollow.wordpress.com)