GFT Retrospective #70: Christmas Edition 2010
Article by Sean Wilkinson,
a.k.a. the Ticketmaster
Merry Christmas In July, Ticketholders!
Or if you're Babyface, Christmas in June...just to get that reference out of the way. But it's clearly July right now, so Christmas In July is a global inclusivity thing inspired by a two-hundred-thirty-year-old opera and a comedy movie from the 1940s, and is a commercial excuse to celebrate Christmas twice a year because (HOT TAKE INCOMING!) the Earth is round and the Southern Hemisphere exists, where the seasons are flipped. Yeah, Australia is having winter right now. Which is weird and cool, but makes some of the alternative names for Christmas In July either nonsensical or stupidly obvious. Christmas In July is also known as both Christmas In Winter (duh, and to us North-Hemis, that's just Christmas) and Christmas In Summer.
But you didn't come here to listen to me ramble on about some niche, seemingly East Coast-specific "holiday;" you came for the Zenescope goods!
So please remember to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, comment something festive at the bottom of this post, help out my ad revenue as you read so I don't get murdered for a box of tissues, and follow me on Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest Grimm news on my unseasonable Holiday content.
GFT Holiday Edition #2 (2010)
Said new character is Krampus: a shape-shifting maker of morbid mischief who looks like a brown-skinned demon with a body covered in razor-toothed mouths. He strikes the perfect balance of late-franchise Freddy Kruger campiness and literal body horror, and I like him as a villain.
The framing story, "Coming to Town," sees Krampus...coming to town for Christmas in the Big Apple, and expressing biased disappointment at the lack of Holiday Spirit amongst the citizens of the rudest, most commercial city in America. His focus, though, becomes selfish foster-couple Kevin and Amy, whose custodial son, Jimmy, just wants his parolee father (and a Transformer, I guess) to come home for Christmas. But when Kevin gets distracted by some sexy Mrs. Clausplayers, Jimmy comes across a mysterious present left by Krampus and runs off when the disguised demon threatens to take him away and eat him.
In "Do You Hear What I Hear?," we meet Jimmy's father, Jimbo, and his scumbag friend, Jerry, who are having drinks at a bar. As these things go, Jimbo is internally monologuing about how The System is rigged against guys like him and there's no supernatural entity out there (SUBTLE, DRAMATIC IRONY!!!) waiting to rescue or punish him, so you just have to learn to be a Taker without getting Took, and his "friend," Jerry (because two Jims wasn't unoriginal enough) just happens to have a big score planned where "nobody will get hurt"...except for the mall security guard Jerry tasers unconscious and ties up. This is where Jimbo backs out, leaving Jerry to rob the department store alone. Unfortunately, Krampus is posing as a Santa statue, so things don't end well for the Naughty Jerry.
Cut over to the home of Kevin, Amy, and their daughter Dana (who is out buying a Pollyanna/Secret Santa gift for her friend), where the next story, "Christmas Future," takes place. A disguised Krampus gives the couple a smart device called the Z-Pod - later called the Z-Touch by Amy - (because Zenescope was still working off their Mariken Xpriss debt from drinking too much Zenebucks Coffee at the Rock Hard Hotel at this time), claiming it can predict the future. They start small with the weather and election results before moving on to greedier uses like winning the lottery. But when the predictions turn morbid and seem to be about the couple themselves, they turn on each other and things end badly for them as well.
Time to check in on "The Pollyanna." Unwilling to brave the long lines in the inconsistently portrayed New York winter weather, Dana finds her way to an unusual shop run by a disguised Krampus that has a C.S. Moore Fantastic Realm Alice Liddle statue on display (get yours on eBay now!). He gives Dana a gift box that looks eerily similar to the one Jimmy ran off with earlier, warning her not to let curiosity or greed get the better of her. But the box is cursed, so Dana's friends end up dead and she goes to prison for murder. Both "Christmas Future" and "The Pollyanna" have an 80s-90s anthology horror vibe, like they belong in Creepshow, Amazing Stories, Tales From the Darkside, or especially Tales From the Crypt, and I love it. I guess "Do You Hear What I Hear?" fits that mold, too, but it's too predicated on bad heist movie clichés and lacks the silly, macabre twist that had the other stories drawing that nostalgic comparison for me.
Which brings us back to the framing narrative, "Coming to Town." Jimmy, Jr. returns home with his mystery package to find that Kevin, Amy, and Dana are gone, and upon opening the box, he finds a demonic mask that calls to him in Krampus' voice, promising power, vengeance, and world domination. But because it makes no sense for any sane child to want that, and because Santa Claus told Jimbo where to find Jimmy, father and son are reunited in the St. Nick of time while Santa and Krampus trade quips in the background, promising to challenge one another's schemes and worldviews again next year.
Aside from the moral simplicity and cliché-heavy nature of this special, I like the new direction the Christmas/Holiday Edition takes from this point on. I enjoy Krampus as a holiday-themed villain, his design is sufficiently unique and "where is it safe to touch the page?" creepy, and the inspirations for the two standout stories are clear and very much welcome. Unlike the Halloween Edition from the same year, I didn't even care about it being unimportant to the main continuity; this special was just so much seasonal fun and joy to read, gore included.
So please remember to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, comment something festive at the bottom of this post, help out my ad revenue as you read so I don't get murdered for a box of tissues, and follow me on Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest Grimm news on my unseasonable Holiday content.
Next week, I take things easy with a Zenescope - Omnibusted compilation post and a Spotlightning Round look at some anime I've developed early impressions of while I wait for the latest seasons of my favorite heavy-hitters to end. Oh, and the moon will kill us all. In a movie. Shit; I have to re-watch Sideways, too....
Ticketmaster,
Out.
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