Publication date: Winter, 1993
Story: Dean Clarrain (Steve Murphy)
Pencils: Brian Thomas
Inks: Dan Berger
Letters: Mary Kelleher
Colors: Steve Lavigne
Cover: Michael Dooney
“‘Twas the Night Before Christmas…”
Summary:
It’s Christmas Eve and April O’Neil reports on a rash of
Santa Claus muggings that have been plaguing the city. Bebop and Rocksteady are behind it, of
course, mugging every street corner Santa that’s been collecting for charity.
They see a Santa perched on a rooftop and run to hold him
up. They reach the roof and seize his
sack of presents. Before they can make
off with the loot, the Turtles arrive and strike a pose.
A fight breaks out and in the chaos, Donatello slips on a
patch of ice and goes tumbling off the roof.
Santa catches him and calls him out by name. Donatello doesn’t know how this street corner Santa could
know his name unless he was… the REAL Santa Claus!
Santa gives each of the Turtles a gift and then proceeds
to give gifts to Bebop and Rocksteady.
The evil mutants are confused, as they’re pretty sure they belong on the
naughty list. Raphael is irate, too, as
why should the villains get gifts when they haven’t earned them?
Santa boards his sleigh, but as he departs he tells the
Turtles that the holiday season isn’t just about being naughty and nice, but
about forgiveness and compassion. He
suggests that extending an olive branch of peace in the form of a gift can do
wonders to mend old wounds and bring even enemies together as friends.
As they all watch Santa ride off into the night sky,
Bebop and Rocksteady apologize to the Turtles for giving them such a hard time.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #10. The next issue, TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #12,
does not contain any comic content. The story
continues in TMNT Magazine (Welsh) #13.
Review:
Awwww, what a load of saccharine mush. Perfect for Christmas!
Actually, this whole strip kind of reminded me of the old
Fruity Pebbles commercial they used to run during Christmas for decades (have
they retired it?). You know, the one
where Barney dresses like Santa to steal Fred’s Pebbles, but then the real
Santa shows up. Fred is about to
justifiably wreck Barney’s shit, but Santa suggests that the old enemies should put
aside their grudges for the holidays (because in the Fruity Pebbles offshoot of
the Flintstones multiverse, Fred and Barney are apparently bitter rivals). So Barney gets a bowl of Pebbles even though
he’s been an asshole all year and doesn’t deserve them.
That’s essentially what’s going on here, even if it does
sort of give the kids the wrong message and defeat the entire purpose of the
Santa Claus myth (it’s SUPPOSED to make kids behave year-round under the threat of no presents). I mean, shit, if you
can rob and steal and STILL get gifts every Christmas, then what’s the point of
the naughty and nice lists?
Maybe the whole message about forgiving trespasses and
quelling feuds would have been better served for a New Year’s Eve comic. Isn’t that what Auld Lang Syne is all about?
Anyway, hey, this comic was six pages! And it was by Brian Thomas, too. Thomas was an irregular contributor to Archie’s
TMNT Adventures series, usually working in the seasonal specials, and one of
their better back-up artists. His
layouts have much more energy to them than Lawson’s have and they’re pretty
elaborate and energetic for what’s essentially just a goofy short in a children’s
magazine.
I love the page 4 layouts
especially. The action on the sides is
pretty brutal as the Turtles land some devastating hits on the bad guys, but
overlaid on top of that are some diagonal panels showing Donatello comically
slipping on the ice with cartoonish visuals.
It’s a nice contrast that offsets the aforementioned violence that on
its own might have been too much for a comic aimed at very small children.
All in all, I think I like this comic more for the art
than the message. Not that the message
in itself is bad, mind you, it just doesn’t really gel with the character of
Santa Claus, whose entire function is to determine which children get gifts and
which don’t based on the merits of their behavior.
