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[SuperScrounge]

Santa Claus, Kriss Kringle, or St. Nicholas

Uhhh, huh. From the title I was expecting more of a history of the names, not a poem about the relation between Santa and his wife. The little girl is probably just as confused as she was when she caught Santa. It's not a bad poem/story, but it's easy to see why this never caught on as a classic tale reprinted through the years.

[crashryan]

The Magnet 1140 - Billy Bunter's Christmas

I didn't read it. I'm one of the anti-Bunter gang. There's nothing about him that makes me want to read another story about him. Paw Broon and I discussed this. Like British English and American English, British humor and American humor are similar in many ways but differ significantly in others. Billy Bunter, Dennis the (British) Menace, and the Bash Street Kids don't appeal to most American readers the way they do to British readers.

Additionally we tend to like what we grew up with. Bunter is a generations-old institution.

It's funny that around the turn of the 20th Century a common American stereotype of an Englishman was that he never understood a joke. Charles Dana Gibson drew one of his elaborate dinner party scenes. All the guests are in gales of laughter except for one portly gentleman sitting upright in his chair wearing a blank look. The caption was "A Puzzle: A funny story. Find the Englishman."

[gregjh]

I'm looking forward to perusing some of these and sharing thoughts over the weekend. CB+ has become part of my Christmas tradition.

[Quirky Quokka]

Hi everyone

Schoolgirls' Picture library No. 106

I probably won't get through them all, so I thought I would start with a jolly romp through Switzerland with the Merrymakers. As it's in Schoolgirls' Picture Library, I assume they are also of school age? Sorry if I missed that. They seem at least a bit older, maybe senior students. Still, Mummy and Daddy must have a fair bit of cash if they can send the four off on an ocean liner for Christmas. Unless I've missed it, there's no mention of any of their parents or why they're not spending time with them. My parents never would have let me go on holidays with two male 'chums' when I was at school, but then it would be a pretty boring story if they all just went home for Christmas.

Britain is certainly in great hands if these dashing young folk are anything to go by. They're all so kind and polite, even enjoying their chores. What more fun can you have than house-cleaning and chopping wood? It was pretty obvious that the new maid had some scheme afoot, but there were some surprises along the way. The art was solid, and the story was okay. I bit too 'jolly hockey sticks' for me. I would have rather hung out with Archie and the gang, but the Merrymakers are nice wholesome fare, and the amount of reading should have appeased any parents who were worried about their children reading comic books. I even learned a new word: 'tittivating' which is an archaic form of 'titivating'. That didn't help, but the trusty online dictionary tells me that it involves smartening up, such as doing your hair. (as in 'While you girls have been tittivating yourselves, we've been putting up the Holly and Mistletoe' from p. 29. I'll have to see if I can use it in a sentence over Christmas 

Fun selection, Panther. Now onto some of the others.

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

The Magnet #1140

Billy Bunter's Christmas

When Coker calls Bunter a fag is he saying he's a cigarette, a bundle of sticks, a homosexual, or some other definition?

Growing up in Australia, I thought of a 'fag' as a colloquial term for cigarette. We even had some sweets called 'Fags' which have now changed to the more politically correct 'Fads'. I shocked my Grandma one day when I told her I was going to the shop across the road to get some Fags (as in the lolly variety). When I got older, I learned it was also a derogatory terms for gay people, but I wouldn't have known what it was in the context of this story.

Cheers

QQ

[Morgus]

Geez, ‘Crash I hope you and the Better Half recover soon. COVID is a pain at any time but a real downer for the holidays. There’s a pot luck at work tomorrow i’m skipping just to avoid a super spreader potential. The wife has zero energy and is cold a lot. Who needs to ad to that brew?
Take care of yourself.

[crashryan]

Wrapping up the Christmas books:

Santa Claus, Kriss Kringle, or St. Nicholas is an odd piece of work. I'm unsure what point the author is trying to make. One thing I do know for sure is that the Clauses could use a little couples therapy. Mrs C is shrewish and verbally abusive. Mr C is a classic enabler: "I know that she's not to blame / And that she loves me just the same." He also values his wife's opinion of him, as revealed by the names she calls him, more than he does his own opinion.

One thing was new to me: the idea that Santa is a big, hearty man when delivering Christmas gifts but shrinks to gnome proportions when he returns to the North Pole.

The artwork is decent mid-level 19th-century illustration. "E Gaucher" signs the art but gets no credit. The book was apparently published by a small Rhode Island company. I wonder if Gaucher was a local commercial or newspaper artist.

Christmas Fantasy is a pathetic attempt to rip off A Christmas Carol. The author seems sure that more is better: more ghosts, more visions, more types of spirit to lack. What he lacks is an arresting central character who deserves the spirit treatment. Ebenezer Scrooge was a mean, Christmas-hatin' SOB who needed a cadre of ghosts to browbeat him into recognizing what a creep he was.

In this story, poor Jemmy has no personality at all. The worst thing he does is not think much about Christmas. The Black Spirit shows Jemmy the Village of Darkness, which is populated by Evil Thoughts. What evil thoughts has Jemmy been thinking? The White Spirit shows him a hall filled with the spirits of Winter and Good Thoughts, but "None of yours are here." Why not? How has Jemmy lived his life such that he's generated no Good Thoughts?

Then there's the peculiar scene in which Jemmy sees a miserable poor woman "facing a cold Christmas," contrasted with a happy rich family having a big party. "They've shared with others. That's why they're happy now." Shared what with whom? Certainly not the poor woman and her baby.

So Jemmy gets the Christmas spirit, or the Spirit of the Yule Log, or the Spirit of the Yuletide season, or something, and does the Scrooge circuit, feeding the poor and handing out gifts. Where'd he get the money? He's a chimney sweep. It's not a high-paying profession. If anything he and Polly deserved to receive a little of that Christmas largesse.

The script isn't helped by bouncing back and forth between present and past tense. The art isn't bad, but in every panel in which present-day Polly appears she has a couple of basketballs under her dress that rise steadily toward her chin.

[Robb_K]

Wrapping up the Christmas books:

Santa Claus, Kriss Kringle, or St. Nicholas is an odd piece of work. I'm unsure what point the author is trying to make. One thing I do know for sure is that the Clauses could use a little couples therapy. Mrs C is shrewish and verbally abusive. Mr C is a classic enabler: "I know that she's not to blame / And that she loves me just the same." He also values his wife's opinion of him, as revealed by the names she calls him, more than he does his own opinion.

One thing was new to me: the idea that Santa is a big, hearty man when delivering Christmas gifts but shrinks to gnome proportions when he returns to the North Pole.

The artwork is decent mid-level 19th-century illustration. "E Gaucher" signs the art but gets no credit. The book was apparently published by a small Rhode Island company. I wonder if Gaucher was a local commercial or newspaper artist.

Ha! Ha!
Santa being big when delivering gifts (ostensibly to be able to carry a giant sack with many presents), but, afterwards, shrinks back to elf proportions, reminds me of Carl Barks addressing the conundrum of his being Human-sized and extremely portly-to-obese, and yet can work his way down even the narrowest chimney flues.  Barks revealed his secret in his 1949 epic lead story in Dell Giant "Walt Disney's Christmas Parade" ("A letter To Santa"), in which Santa shrinks himself (and his giant, wide sack to toys) down to elf size while dropping through the chimney flue, and magically springing back to Human size when leaving the fireplace, coming into the living room or parlour.


Of course, Father Christmas, being a gnome-sized elf, is an old Scandinavian and North Germanic tradition relating the pagan Yule (Jul) winter solstace celebration to a later Christian holiday, that the modern Western civilisation has blended together with The Greek Christian tradition of St. Nicholas giving gifts to the needy, to form the modern American "Santa Claus"(a corruption of our Dutch "Sinterklaas").  So, Santa Claus was just another diminutive elf, who took on the task of leading, organising, and managing their gift-making and distributing activities at Christmas time.

I hope you and your wife have as light cases of Covid as possible and recover soon, with no after effects.

[Robb_K]

Hi everyone

Schoolgirls' Picture library No. 106

I probably won't get through them all, so I thought I would start with a jolly romp through Switzerland with the Merrymakers. As it's in Schoolgirls' Picture Library, I assume they are also of school age? Sorry if I missed that. They seem at least a bit older, maybe senior students. Still, Mummy and Daddy must have a fair bit of cash if they can send the four off on an ocean liner for Christmas. Unless I've missed it, there's no mention of any of their parents or why they're not spending time with them. My parents never would have let me go on holidays with two male 'chums' when I was at school, but then it would be a pretty boring story if they all just went home for Christmas.

Britain is certainly in great hands if these dashing young folk are anything to go by. They're all so kind and polite, even enjoying their chores. What more fun can you have than house-cleaning and chopping wood? It was pretty obvious that the new maid had some scheme afoot, but there were some surprises along the way. The art was solid, and the story was okay. I bit too 'jolly hockey sticks' for me. I would have rather hung out with Archie and the gang, but the Merrymakers are nice wholesome fare, and the amount of reading should have appeased any parents who were worried about their children reading comic books. I even learned a new word: 'tittivating' which is an archaic form of 'titivating'. That didn't help, but the trusty online dictionary tells me that it involves smartening up, such as doing your hair. (as in 'While you girls have been tittivating yourselves, we've been putting up the Holly and Mistletoe' from p. 29. I'll have to see if I can use it in a sentence over Christmas 

Fun selection, Panther. Now onto some of the others.

Cheers

That's a new word to me, as well.  Surprising, as I've read quite a few British novels and history books from the 1800s.  It just goes to show that we can continue to improve our knowledge of even our own language till the day we die or, at least turn 80. 

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

Well, I found out why I was in a crummy mood. My wife and I came down with Covid. We managed to dodge it for years, got all the shots, but here we are. We feel lousy but are in no danger. She had it worse than I did. Bah humbug. Oh, after I was in a better humor I revisited the Charlton Christmas book. It still stank.

The Merrymakers' Swiss Christmas

Once again I scratch my head over the way the villains in these stories were always allowed to get off scot free. In school stories the perps were rotters but seldom committed a real crime. In this story the pair were genuine jewel thieves! "Because it was Christmas" our heroes let them go. "Never again were they seen in St Lauritz." They were never again seen in St Lauritz because they decamped to some other locale where they could continue stealing jewels without those pesky kids to stop them.

Thinking of how the majority of these schoolgirl stories were written by men, I wondered whether this type of story would have been any different had women written them. Maybe not. The existing formula worked for years, so I suspect the editors and publisher would not allow much deviation.

Sorry to hear you and your wife have COVID, Crashryan. I hope you're both firing on all cylinders soon.

I wondered too about letting them off scot-free. Forgiveness is part of the Christmas spirit, but there's no evidence they were remorseful, and as you mention, they were free to carry on their schemes elsewhere. Or are they supposed to have learned a lesson?

Interesting to speculate on whether the stories would have been different if written by women. I've read a few from this era and they all tend to have the prim and proper, old-fashioned feel. All writers probably had to stick to the publication/editorial guidelines, but maybe there would be nuances. And did the men enjoy being relegated to the Schoolgirl's books rather than something more dashing? Maybe they were just happy to be writing?

Cheers

QQ

[Quirky Quokka]

Santa Claus, Kris Kringle or St Nicholas

What a cheery little Christmas tale?!? I bet that little girl is sorry for asking her question. Over-sharing by Santa, and a tale of abuse by his wife. Why wasn't Mrs Claus to blame for  calling him names that chilled his vitals? As Crashryan notes, they should indeed be in couples therapy; and as Super Scrounge notes, it's easy to see why it didn't catch on. I wonder if it's a case of projection by the author. Was he verbally abused by his own wife, and this story was a chance at catharsis?

Church is seen as a solemn, cheerless place, though I guess things were much more conservative in those days.  (And there are still some that could use an injection of joy today). But there's not much cheer in this Christmas tale.

The illustrations are good. Would the originals have been done in colour and then copied in the grey tones for printing?

Interesting to see another perspective on Christmas, but I don't think I'll be adding this to my 'must-read' Christmas stories. And I hope the elves and reindeer were able to provide Santa with a bit of comfort. The little girl may have needed Critical Incident Stress Debriefing.

Cheers

QQ

[gregjh]

Christmas Spirit. A very similar story to Christmas Carol of course. As others said, it's rather short but the artwork is good.

Billy Bunter : Wanted to read this as one of my favourite youtube channels "The Behaviour Panel" have claimed the fake persona invented by the criminal Nicholas Rossi was based on Billy Bunter. Unfortunately the scan is good but not quite clear enough for me to read the text.

The Kringle comic I think we have explored before. Great talent in the art but I did feel the way Santa is drawn is a bit creepy.

Giant Comics was my favourite. Lovely colour, great effort - the quality lacking in many modern comics - into everything and a nice dash of humour.

Thank you my friends for sharing these. I look forward to these Christmas reads. This evening I will settle into a dark beer and cheese and read "Batman Noel" as per my tradition. I look forward to more reads with you in 2024.

[The Australian Panther]

 gregjh said,

Thank you my friends for sharing these. I look forward to these Christmas reads. This evening I will settle into a dark beer and cheese and read "Batman Noel" as per my tradition.

Greg, You are very much the reason that these were posted. You reminded me.I have many things I should like to post, but Christmas books were low on the list. My slot was the appropriate one so I bit the bullet. Enjoy!
Maybe I'll give you the slot next year!
Dark Beer? A man after my own heart. I've fhad my eyes on a couple of bottles of Coopers Stout at my local supermarket. Yes, you can buy alcohol at your supermarket in Australia.
Coopers Stout
https://coopers.com.au/our-beer/ales-stout/best-extra-stout
I have good memories of that drop!
I will confine myself to commenting on the comments.
Giant Comics 3 - Christmas Book
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=20280
Morgus wrote,

  Really had one criterion; would I have liked to have read this as a kid at Christmas? Yeah, it would have kept me amused for the day after the gifts were opened and there was nothing on  the TV to watch. 

I would imagine that publishers had evidence that Christmas books would at least cover their costs, despite the contents. Not sure tho, that creators would be overjoyed at being asked to supply the contents. Which would explain the quality.
SuperScrounge said,

Now that you mention it I'm reminded that US comics used to reuse ideas because they thought the readership would turnover every 2 years or so, and few would notice the reuse. 

There is a theory that there are only a finite number of plot elements in fiction. The older I get and the more I read, the more I agree with that. Which is one think that explains the repetition.
CrashRyan said,

I must be in a crummy mood tonight. I found this book depressing. The art isn't the worst ever. It's the stories that drove me up the wall.

 
Well,Crash, now we know why you were in a negative mood. But you were right about the quality of the book.
     


 

[The Australian Panther]

The Magnet 1140 - Billy Bunter's Christmas
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=29382

Not much more to say about this, but;-
Paw wrote,

While I understand folk disliking Bunter tales, I wonder if British humour gets in the way? 

Robb wrote,

I grew up with British comedy films (they showed a lot on Canadian TV during the 1950s and '60s, and am used to their tongue-in-cheek humour.

CrashRyan wrote,

British humor and American humor are similar in many ways but differ significantly in others. 

There is a similar difference between Aussie humor and British Humor.
Aussie humor is closer to British Humor however. But when the cultural references don't translate the humor is lost, as per Bunter.
However, for example. I loved the 'William' books, because this was just domestic comedy and I could relate.
We got a lot of British humor strips in our papers, here, Andy Capp and the Perishers came to mind.
Say 'Perishers' to me and the words, 'Tomato paste sandwich' immediately come to mind. 
British TV comedy was huge here. And some US situation comedies. But I hate canned laughter.   

[The Australian Panther]

Schoolgirls' Picture Library 106 - The Merrymakers' Swiss Christmas
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=83125

First question, were there more 'Merrymakers' comic stories? Sort of a 'Famous Five' group.
Superscrounge wrote,

Aspects of this story seem similar to Schoolgirls' Picture Library #40 - Christmas in The Highlands, a mysterious figure helping out, a relative accused of theft, missing jewelry. I wonder if it was written by the same writer who reused some elements?

Similarities aside, it's a nice little tale.

 
Those elements are common to more of those 'picture library' stories than you can count, from memory.

CrashRyan wrote,

Thinking of how the majority of these schoolgirl stories were written by men, I wondered whether this type of story would have been any different had women written them. Maybe not. The existing formula worked for years, so I suspect the editors and publisher would not allow much deviation.
 

 
More interestingly, the majority were also drawn by men, many of whom weren't British, many South Amerian, Italian or Spanish. And really the art is the most interesting element in many of them.
What stands out for me, is that the world they depict is upper middle class, lower upper class and the behaviour is just too ideal,[goody goody?] for my taste.
I could entertain myself by totally demolishing this story, but also curiously, I quite enjoyed it.
Go figure.
QQ said,

  As it's in Schoolgirls' Picture Library, I assume they are also of school age? Sorry if I missed that. They seem at least a bit older, maybe senior students. Still, Mummy and Daddy must have a fair bit of cash if they can send the four off on an ocean liner for Christmas. Unless I've missed it, there's no mention of any of their parents or why they're not spending time with them. My parents never would have let me go on holidays with two male 'chums' when I was at school, but then it would be a pretty boring story if they all just went home for Christmas.

 
Couldn't have said that better myself! 

[The Australian Panther]

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=83193
Santa Claus, Kriss Kringle, or St. Nicholas

Superscrounge said,

From the title I was expecting more of a history of the names, not a poem about the relation between Santa and his wife. The little girl is probably just as confused as she was when she caught Santa. It's not a bad poem/story, but it's easy to see why this never caught on as a classic tale reprinted through the years.

Yes, very idiosyncratic.

Another one of Lyons gems. CB+ owes a lot to lyons. I salute you sir, and a merry Christmas to you.

An entertaining way to explain the three 'Aliases' of Santa.
Buit this is an odd one, I get the feeling there is a personal subtext here.
page 6, he is depicted as a midget, and his wife is depicted as physically quite formidable. She applerars to be sweeping up his mess, as if he is just a child.

"Tis then I've nothing harsh to fear'
again, her words come thicker, faster,
They burn me like a mustard plaster.
And I will not repeat the titles
That burn my ears and chill my vitals"

Which contrasts to her attitude to him demonstrated in the three names. 

Nice tho,
that the three names are explained in terms of his relationship with his wife.
While strictly sticking to the poems purpose, he has verbally depicted a loving relationship.
Like it!

[The Australian Panther]

Christmas Fantasy by David Orme and William Sherb
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=83192

Supewrscrounge said it all;-

A Christmas Fantasy
or A Christmas Carol with the Serial Numbers Filed Off 

 

Cheers all. Looking forward to Robb tomorrow, if he's not too busy?

Was wondering if there were Hannukah comics?
Apparently so.
Here is a few.
Hilarious Hanukkah Comics to Celebrate the Challah-Days
https://www.gocomics.com/comics/lists/1720917/hanukkah-comics

Absolutely no offense intended.
The 'Ziggy' cartoon sums up my attitude.
cheers!

[Quirky Quokka]

Thanks for the Christmas reads and wrap-up, Panther, and the extra Hanukkah comics. It’s already Christmas morning in Australia, so I hope you all have a lovely Christmas. Looking forward to more great selections next year. Take care

QQ

[SuperScrounge]

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good read! 

[Robb_K]

Christmas Fantasy by David Orme and William Sherb
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=83192

Supewrscrounge said it all;-

A Christmas Fantasy
or A Christmas Carol with the Serial Numbers Filed Off 

 

Cheers all. Looking forward to Robb tomorrow, if he's not too busy?

Was wondering if there were Hannukah comics?
Apparently so.
Here is a few.
Hilarious Hanukkah Comics to Celebrate the Challah-Days
https://www.gocomics.com/comics/lists/1720917/hanukkah-comics

Absolutely no offense intended.
The 'Ziggy' cartoon sums up my attitude.
cheers!

                   Ha! Ha! Ha!   The Chanukkah comics are clever and funny!  I never heard of Parisi because I've lived in the far-gone past over the past 50+ years.  But I like his style very much.