Current Christmas Comics

Lest we think Christmas comic books are a thing that only the Ghost of Christmas Past would show us, here's a treat from the Ghost of Christmas Present: three 2009 comic books with a Yuletide theme. First of all from DC there's Batman: The Brave and the Bold # 12 featuring "The Fight Before Christmas," the cover of which (drawn by Eric Jones) manages top be festive and all wham-bang-zow at the same time. Also from DC comes DC Universe Holiday Special '09. This super-sized special features all manner of merry Christmas mayhem in stories starring everyone from Superman and Batman to Flash, Captain Marvel and Huntress, and boasts this wintery-fun cover by Dustin Nguyen. Then from the world of Archie, Betty nobly carries on the tradition of holiday-themed comics as Riverdale's girl-next-door braves the Battle of the Bulging department store bag in the cover (signed by Stan Goldberg and Bob Smith) Betty # 183.

Making Merry With Archie And His Pals And Gals

That all-American teen Archie knows how to celebrate Christmas, as evidenced from the vast number of holiday-themed Archie comics published through the decades. From an earlier era, here's a great cover of that evergreen holiday title Archie's Christmas Stocking (#6 from 1959), in which Master Andrews, pal Jughead and gals Veronica and Betty are ready for holiday hilarity decked out in Dickens-style carolers garb—and just look at the typically scampish expression on the face of the conceited and ever-crafty Reggie! Archie still gets up to holiday hijinks every year as seen here in the 2009 issue of the Archie's Holiday Fun Digest (#9). Bets and Ronnie stop sparring over Archie long enough to decorate the Christmas tree, and in a time-honored comic book-cover tradition, the various characters are seen in the surface of the shiny ornaments Archie's gals hang on the evergreen. (Click on the covers for a larger view.)

Under The Mistletoe With Archie

In an earlier post I noted the favorite aspect of Christmas for comic-book character and girl-crazy teen Archie Andrews had to be mistletoe— and now here's all the proof you need. It's the Yuletide cover of Archie's Christmas Stocking No. 10 from 1954. During this period Archie was still wearing his traditional wardrobe of bow tie, letter sweater vest ("R" for Riverdale High, of course) plaid pants and saddle shoes— a costume Archie would wear well into the 1960s. Whatever his style, Archie is still lots of fun to look at, especially at Christmastime.