Comic Review: Klaus: The Life and Times of Santa Claus HC (BOOM! Studios)

BOOM! Studios bring you a sequel of Klaus of this Christmas holiday special in Klaus: The Life and Times of Santa Claus the graphic novel.

So, I guess we’re expecting some more snow at this hour and probably you’ll have so many ideas to make a snowman, fortunately, I just had my precious time making some snowmen, big and small just to fill my backyard. So we bring you this fantasy comic of Santa Claus in a Berserk like setting but less intimidating and more jolly. I’m sure if you read my last review of Klaus it would be different. What is it about you ask? It’s about a warrior who came into town and brought Christmas to life and saved the town from that tyrannical ruler who happens to be the grinch just to have the town abandon the festivities and joy for everyone. However, this version is made for the comic readers who had read this series so far and those who are excited to read one of the wicked fantasy stories such as Christmas. The story is written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Dan Mora, the same artist, and author who made Klaus: How Santa Claus Began last year. More info on this link below: http://fanboyfactor.com/2020/04/comic-review-klaus-how-santa-claus-began-boom-studios/

The front cover shows a series of warriors who are willing to protect the Christmas holiday. Here’s Klaus who dresses more like a gladiator than Santa, but depending on the armor, he carries a stuffed doll on his waist. And we have Frosty the Snowman who looks more aggressive but funny thing is that the branch on his right arm is actually turned into a demon’s hand, well something like that. And then there’s that character who looks like he’s from the future. However, the plot is somehow to be told.

The story is going to be about that snowman who is melting away from the sun. It started when the snowman is wandering around the forest looking for help, however, Klaus came over to him and asks him to remember the past few battles that they fought together. Monsters like the tree monster, evil robots from another planet which is the clock city, almost looked like the Ancient Gear monsters in the world of Gear Town from Yu-Gi-Oh! in a nutshell. Funny thing is that whenever I read a comic that seemed very obvious to me, I kept repeating myself seeing the author using references one way to another. And then fought an evil ruler who plans to rule the future. While reading the comic, you’ll one of the few sickest action scenes that made me feel amused as an artist. The fighting scenes are more than what you see on Berserk and God of War. More likely, the artist seems that there’s more in-depth because the world that he created is more than the tale of Christmas time, it actually takes you in the world of Axe Cop, and thinking about it, reminded me of the creators of Axe Cop whose the idea of the character design and story is made by a 6-year-old boy, while his elder brother made it into an animated series, it was great.

So back to the plot, so the story focuses on having the snowman remember the battles that they fought, they met him around the forest asking for help. And somehow his body is melting, saying that he can’t see properly and he felt cold as if there’s a human trapped inside. Klaus gave the scarf to the snowman and somehow it triggered the memory of himself as a kid who actually wears the same scarf as a human. They ventured together fighting against monsters and villains and saved the planet, until the end of the story, the snowman is melting away with his last moments with Klaus.

The story is quite amazing, and sad at the moment when the snowman melted away. However making a story about the snowman and the hero, which is more accurate to have the main character and his team save Christmas. The plot can be more of a twist even though, the story takes place in every different part of the universe, I bet it’s more of a child’s imagination to have this kind of story like this, it almost makes it too real for me. I’m not done talking about the art style but what I said in the last review was the short version of Dan Mora’s art, but what I’ve seen so far on Instagram, he illustrated some of the pieces of the comic covers of Batman and Power Rangers, but to be precise, his art style is more of a DC Comic material, and somehow he focuses on the details of the comic which can be more definitive to the readers. For example, there’s this post of one of his comics that he’s making which is Once and Future on Boom! Studios, the details between the undead skeleton army are putting more tension than ever could, Dan however uses that kind of scene to make it more realistic with the details by inking the whole page. As an artist, I had a few struggles to decide if I want to color or do some inking, I went through some research from other artists, and looking at his art makes it more accurate whenever I read the latest Klaus comic and going back to that post on Instagram. Not only that he’s very creative with the art and the story, the details actually define what the story truly is. Ever since I read last year’s Klaus comic it makes it more amazing to know that the Yule time festival brought joy and happiness to him, but this comic is more of an adventure to save the planet from ruining Christmas.