Halloween is over. We're getting into November and starting to think about Thanksgiving. That also means we'll be seeing signs of Christmas popping up everywhere. Another place you can start to see signs of Santa is this week in your local comic shop. Grant Morrison is giving us KLAUS at BOOM! Studios with art by Dan Mora.
Maybe you think you know all there is to know or all you'd want to know about Santa but this is Grant Morrison we're talking about. His take on Klaus is probably something we weren't expecting. As we're about to see this darker take on "Santa Claus: Year One," we asked Grant a few questions about this series and how it came to be.
COMIC VINE: When did you get the idea to explore the story of Santa?
GRANT MORRISON: It was quite a while ago, probably around 2007/8! My screenwriting agent at the time asked me if I had any new ideas to pitch and I improvised this Santa Claus thing on the spot. Nothing happened with it then but the idea got stuck in my head and grew there until it was so big and sprawling and alive that I had to get it down on paper.
CV: You’ve given us some violent and action packed stories before. Can we assume this will have a similar tone? (In other words, it’s not for kids, right?)
MORRISON: Actually, this one is for a wide audience. The level of violence, action, and scary stuff is on par with The Hobbit, Star Wars, or Doctor Who. It's probably not appropriate for very young kids but I'd certainly hope it will be read by smart tweens and teenagers, as well as adults.
CV: Can we expect any other familiar characters in the story?
MORRISON: Most of the characters are new for this story but you will seen new takes on Santa's "elves" and reindeer and all the other familiar trappings of Santa Claus. The Christmas Demon Krampus plays the Joker/Moriarty role in this and I think we've com up with a fairly interesting "cosmic" approach to him.
CV: How much of his life will be covered in this series?
MORRISON: This particular mini-series, which I hope will be the first of several, takes place when he's around 30 but in issue #4 we get to see him as a baby, a kid, and a young man. What we don't see in this first one is Santa Claus in his traditional guise as a jolly rotund old man.
CV: What’s your favorite thing about giving us this version of Santa?
MORRISON: I particularly like his white wolf pal, Lilli. I always like creating new animal characters for comics and Lilli is my favourite right now. I also like the idea of making Santa Claus a bit more edgy, dangerous, and psychedelic. I think it's good to have an alternative to the Coca-Cola corporate Santa.
You can find out more when KLAUS goes on sale this week, November 4. You won't want to miss it. Check out the preview below.
Klaus #1 (of 6)
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Dan Mora
Cover Artists:
Main Cover: Dan Mora
Jackpot: Frazer Irving
BOOM! 10 Years Incentive Cover: Brian Stelfreeze
Incentive Cover: Chris Burnham
Local Comic Shop Day Cover: Dan Mora
Newbury Comics Cover: Vanesa R. Del Rey
Format: 32 pages, full color
Price: $3.99
On sale: November 4
What’s to Love: Grant Morrison is one of the most prolific and best-selling writers in comics, earning a reputation for his ability to effectively revamp superheroes like Animal Man, Batman, and the X-Men. His creator-owned titles are also highly praised, including The Invisibles, Nameless, We3,and Joe the Barbarian because no one tells mythical stories better than him. In Klaus, Grant reimagines one of the biggest cultural myths in history, and we could not be more excited to pair him with one of our homegrown talents, Dan Mora (Hexed)!
What It Is: Set in a dark fantastic past of myth and magic, Klaus tells the story of how Santa Claus really came to be. Where did he begin? What was he like when he was young? And what happens when he faces his greatest challenge? Drawing on Santa Claus’ wilder roots in Viking lore and Siberian shamanism—taking in the creepier side of Christmas, and characters like the sinister Krampus—Klaus is “Santa Claus: Year One.”
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