The Smark Avengers - Vol 3, Ep 44: The Smark Avengers Do A Christmas Episode

Episode Date: December 27, 2024

It was the night two days after Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a 7 apple high elf named Dylan. This week is a very Smark Avengers Christmas as the boys discuss Grant Morrison's 2016 mini-series Klaus! Join Corey, Dylan, and Jon as they break down Morrison's alternative take on Santa filled with shamanism, psychedelics, and Christmas cheer!

Some of the easiest preparation we have to do for a podcast. You know what you mean? I think this is the first time we've ever actually had like a homework almost. Aside from the various times we were like, oh, we got to pick three of this particular thing or three of that particular thing. But yeah, I know. This is the first time we actually had a homework. I mean, in retrospect, we have homework a lot when you think about it. Yeah.

Yeah. We actually do that a lot. Life is homework. Well, I wouldn't use the word homework. Maybe more like a pain in the ass, but if you want to say, well, I guess homework is a pain in the ass if you think about it. Fair enough, you get a free pass on this one. Hey. Hi, everybody.

Welcome to the Smart Avengers. My name is Corey. And with me is Dylan and John. Hi, guys. Hello. Hello. So, I believe if you're not. believe if my timing is right, and I'm pretty sure it is. Christmas was two days ago. So

Merry Christmas, fellas. Happy Christmas. What did you guys get for Christmas? Probably comic books, I imagine. Wow, which specifically, which comic books did you get? I don't know. Whatever's on my Amazon wish list. But Christmas was two days ago, so you've already received those gifts and you know exactly what they are. Yes, but I've also eaten and drank way too much. And I've, uh, Yeah, I lost the memory of it, yeah. Fair enough. I'll accept that explanation. That's fair enough.

Today's a little bit different than the standard Smart Avengers format and style. We always pride ourselves on the idea that we are not a, we're not like a of the time kind of show. And we still kind of aren't in this case. But because it is the holidays, we thought it would be interesting to, do a review of a holiday-related book. So simply put, this last week, we took the time to read a comic, and we're all going to come together and talk about it as kind of in a standard book review kind of way. So for the holidays, we read Volume 1 of Grant Morrison and Dan Mora's Clause from Boom Studios.

This trade came out in November of 2015, with the comics coming out around that same period of time. So, Clause, set in a dark, fantastic past of myth and magic, Claus 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 crampus,

Clause is Santa Claus Year 1. So, prior to reading this book, did you guys have any experience with Clause? No. Same. I remember seeing the comic on the wall, and I remember talking to Gibb, who is the manager of the Econic bookstore that I go to, and him saying that it was a really interesting book,

and I just never picked it up. However, the book is written by Grant Morrison, who we are all familiar with. I know for fact that Dylan and I are very big fans of Grant's work. I don't know how John feels about it. So, John, what's your experience with Grant Morrison? Pretty much just the new X-Men run over in Marvel, where, you know, he sort of reinvented the wheel a little bit with that run,

which I know, you know, Dylan's a big fan of. But for me, I kind of, I enjoyed it, but I didn't like love it. It was just, I don't know, some aspects of it I felt like were a bit too world changing or like flying in the face of what came before it. And but then at the same time, I sort of admired the fact that he was doing something a bit different as well. So yeah, like I said, it was a bit of a mixed bag. my sort of relationship with Grant Morrison So Dylan

your experience with Grant Morrison Is it just with New X-Men? Is there other stuff from Grant that you've enjoyed? It's mainly The New X-Men stuff I really liked. There was something else but I don't remember what it was

and that's probably a bad sign. It wasn't like it was one of its like you know not Marvel or DC things. I don't remember what it was. And I read his book. You and I have talked with his book. Yeah, the book

Super Gods, which is... Yes. Very good. Superhero as modern day mythology and philosophy. Yes. So, my experience with Grant is a bit more varied. I am from... I don't think

I finished the new X-Men run, but what I have read from Grant is I have read their Doom Patrol run. I have read their very lengthy. the run on Batman. I've read one of the few really good new 52 books where Grant took over action comics

and told a back to basics return to 1930s style Superman, where Superman is like fighting injustice and greed and stuff and not like giant robots. I have read Happy, which was a mini series they did. They later adapted into a TV show about a hardened disgrace cop meeting a kid's imaginary friend that he has to help find a missing child with. I've read a lot of different grant stuff is what I'm getting at.

So Grant is, as John kind of was alluding to, Grant is a bit of a controversial figure sometimes in comics because Grant is a big proponent and idea of its comics, anything can happen. sometimes that means flying in the face of established continuity at times. So John. Sometimes it means killing Magneto. Yeah. So I was about to say, John, is that the big one for you? Yeah, that was the one I really didn't like very much. But then it pretty much got immediately undone by, I think it was the next writer coming in rather than Grant himself, like, you know, doing that.

But yeah, that whole thing with Magneto just felt like, well, oh, hang on. What are we doing here? This is a bit of a change of pace. That's really funny because that's one of the things I really liked about it, was that it was such a, I mean, like the whole run, if you read the whole run,

he leads up to it. It doesn't just happen. You know, Magdeter just doesn't get bonked on the head. There's a perfectly logical reason for why that happened. And what annoyed me was the fucking half-ass way they brought him back, immediately after they killed him. But they just kind of went, no,

wasn't him. And you're like, what? That, like, they've done such a good job of, like, explaining why we need to deserve to die. And then we're just like, oh, no, he's good. Don't worry about it. And that always kind of broke me the wrong way, the way they did that, you know? Mm-hmm.

That's just personal preference, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Were there any other controversial changes that you recall from that, aside from the killing Magneto? It's great. No, go ahead. It's been a long while since I've read through that entire run.

I mean, there's a lot of stuff that I did like how, like, you know, introducing Quentin Choir. He was like an interesting character. The whole Phantom X and the world was like really interesting. you know, new part of like the X-Men mythology. And yeah, I mean, it wasn't all like terrible, like I say. But yeah, I just mostly terrible. No, I just remember reading it and not being totally blown away by it, that's all. Well, I remember like Grant introduced the, you know, that changed the form of beast.

so that, you know, Beast who was very accustomed to being like the blue A-Plake version of himself now is having to adapt to a new evolution to his powers that made things a little more complicated for him. He gave, he was the one who gave Emma Frost the diamond body, right? Yes. Yep. So Everfrost got the diamond body because Grant couldn't use Colossus because Colossus had died. So Grant was like, all right, fuck it. And that's kind of the thing I'm talking about. like up to that point

Emma Frost was just psychic and lingerie like she was manipulative and conniving but to introduce like a whole new just power set that was the exact opposite of like everything else she'd been that is like prime Grant Morrison like that's how you can tell it's a grant book

because Grant just said fuck it make her a diamond what's really funny with that though is like you said he couldn't use Colossus because Colossus was dead and then right after the crowd Morris to run. Josh Wheaton came in and brought back Colossus. So you're like, all right, so Colossus was on the table then. But also, imagine if that was Colossus in the Amherstrel. Like, well, does Colossus

have to fuck Cyclops then? Yeah, I was what to say. Yeah. That's what to happen now. That would explain why, you know, Gene Gray might get a little bit miffed with the whole whole deal. He surprised at the very least. Yeah. Really? I mean, I got it. He's a big birdie guy, I guess, but he's got metal penis, I suppose, but, you know. I suppose, I don't know for a fact, right? No, no. We've never established that in that particular. None of us really know.

We can only have to guess, you know, speculate. Yeah. So one of the other things is that there is a very loud community of Gene Gray fans who are not a fan of Grant Morrison. because Grant introduced the psychic affair that separated Cyclops and Gene Gray and positioned Cyclops to be them afrost. Again, I really liked that.

I thought it was good. It gave Cyclops like actual personality. Yeah. You know what I mean? It was like really fucking interesting. It's a really good way to shake things up in a in a fucking comic book way, a logical way, you know.

I really like the whole thing. In a lot of ways, I thought, like, the relationship between Cyclops and Emma Frost was just way more interesting than, you know, Cyclops and Gene Gray anyway. Like, he was, he had someone a bit more combative to kind of, like, bounce off, whereas, like, Gene, it was more of a lovey-devy relationship where there wasn't that much conflict. Yes. Yeah. I agree. So all of that being said, and we focus more on the new X-Men run because that was the stuff that you guys read. So we didn't talk about like changing a negative man's story in Doom Patrol or how Grant introduced himself as a character in Animal Man.

An Animal Man met the writer who had been like putting him through hell. So like Grant does shit like this. that being said we have grant morrison over basically the origins of santa claus so i don't know if if santa claus is the same way for for you folk in the uk as as santa claus is here i mean santa claus is kind of the be-all end-all of capitalism marketing for the holiday season you know like coca-cola i mean that's a pretty negative way to put a spin on it there corey but i suppose you're Correct. Well, yeah. I mean, and the reason I do that is in this book, Grant could have very easily focused on stuff like that about the how mass consumerism and stuff has taken the Santa Claus legend and iconography, something that's meant to be like good for kids of like, oh, if you behave yourself, you'll be rewarded, like simple moral message. And then they turn it into like, you know, buy stuff, buy stuff here. Yeah, you have to get your kids six PlayStation's. Yeah.

So, so yeah, that being said, Grant's, Grant gets a lot of leeway with the origins of Santa Claus now. We'll go on to the art real quick first. Are you guys familiar with Dan Mora? I was not familiar with him. No, I wasn't familiar. But it was really good. Dan Mora is the artist for the world's finest comic. So in World's Finest is the DC Comics Batman team up book that he's doing,

that with Mark Wade and he's like a perfect fit for that book. And I think he was a perfect fit for this book too. Yeah, I think so. He got a lot of like really good expressions. Yeah. You know, I, there's just parts where you're like you really get exactly what kind of feeling the characters are going through at certain key moments. And like, especially the guy. What's the name of like the bad guy?

The Baron. Yeah. That's quite a lot. by everything. Yeah. Someday, like, you look at some of the shots of him, they're like, it's fucking beautiful. Yeah, yeah. You know, you understand everything about that guy. Yeah.

So, um, Dan, Dan's, uh, ability to make facial features and stuff is sort of their, their deal. Uh, it's one of their strong points.

They also just do like, traditional, um, big, big muscle kind of, um, characters. Very good for superhero books.

The only other artists that I know of that does like the facial expressions is as well is Kevin McGuire who did the art for Justice League International. And even then like Justice League International is more of a comedy book. So the facial features were part of that sort of comedy. Like people having really over the top like reactions to like something dumb happening essentially. Did something dumb happen a lot? Oh yeah. JLI was sort of Giffin and Demodis basically made a...

Are you familiar with the show MASH? Yes. In like the 70s? Love that show. Yeah. Justice League International was superhero MASH. Because it was... Yeah, yeah.

So post crisis, they were all about, like, we got to establish the heroes. Like, we got to make sure that they are clearly and cleanly established. So they're like, Superman's going to be in his book. He's not available for anyone else. Batman's in his book, not available for anyone else. Wonder Woman's in her book, not available for anyone else. And they were doing that, and then they're like, we got to make a Justice League book.

Who are we going to fucking put in the Justice League? Because all the heavy hitters are in their own books, and we're not touching them because they have to be established. So J.L.I was like Martian Manhunter. They did get Batman because I think the editors felt bad for him. Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire and Ice, Green Lantern, but it's Guy Gardner, you know, and like, they just went with it of like, all right, these are all characters that are like C and D level almost.

So let's just like make a comedy book. Like one of the very famous JLI incidents is Guy Gardner running his mouth over and over and over again. And then Batman just gets fed up and punches him square in the face and knocks him out in one punch. So yeah, J.L.I was just what Batman does in his regular books, though. Oh yeah, yeah, but here is Guy Gardner had been talking about how powerful he is. He was the most powerful person on the team because he has a green lantern ring, constantly challenging people to fights and threatening them. And then Batman takes him out in one punch without saying anything.

Exactly. He doesn't have a batarang though, does he? I don't think so. Doesn't have the bat car. I don't think I've ever heard anyone call the Batmobile the Batcar. That's what it is. That's true. It is a bat car. The car is shaped like a bat.

It's actually not shaped like a bat at all. It's fucking not shaped like a bat. Anyway. Anyway, yeah. What are we talking about? The artwork. Yeah, yeah. We were talking about the artwork, weren't we?

Yeah, we're talking about Dan Moore's artwork. Yes, I really liked it. He's very good to draw dogs. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Some scary-looking dogs as well. Yes, but like it would get really scary and then the dogs would get like really docile, you know. And he that those are like it's hard enough drawing like the emotions of humans.

To be able to like get the nuances of dogs was I thought pretty impressive. Yeah, man. I like this guy. I'm going to have to check some more of his artwork. Yeah. Oh, he looks like that. Dan's great. Does he ever do art for Spider-Man? Oh, they might. Let me see what I can find on Dan Moore's current art projects that they're doing.

I hate to say it. I'll probably have to go to Comic Vine. I'm going to guess no. That's my guess. John, what do you guess? I'm going to guess no as well. Oh, you could have threw a curveball in there and have like a competition going, and see who's going to win?

Oh, geez. All right. So here's the work that Dan Mora has done. World's Finest, which is what I was talking about earlier. A book called Once and Future by Boom. Dan has done a lot of Power Ranger books. Oh. A lot of Power Ranger books.

He had a run on Backgirl, Shazam, Nightwing. He did Secret Empire issue number. number zero. It looks like most of his work is in the world of DC Comics. He did do X-Men Gold for five issues. I did. Falcon and We're a soldier.

I did actually read that? Yeah, but did you read those five issues, though? I must have done. What five issues were they? There was, I think there was a couple of volumes of X-Men gold. Corey, what can you see which episodes? Episodes.

Vexman gold? Yeah. Yeah. Let's take a look. John's like looking through his library. Boy, they're all over the place. Issue 11, issue 14, 15, 21, and 22. He clearly was being used as a fill-in artist for,

if the regular artist wasn't meeting deadline. Yeah, I would imagine John would have read those episodes. Issues. What's wrong with the day? So here's the other book I want to tell you guys about. There was a period of time where Boom, I have the rights to do another comic book. And that comic book was the WWE comic book. Oh.

So Dan Mora did the WBE comic book for 25 issues. Wait a minute. Wow. Are we going to get like an actual like smart reference in our comic book? Yeah, without having to stretch for once. For like for real? like we just kind of stumbled upon this, but it's like an actual. Yeah, because I remember reading some of those issues.

I just sent you a link to the page for the WBB comic. It was focused on the Shields storyline. I remember there was an issue that had like a wacky racers vibe to it because I think it was Dean Ambrose and Sasha Banks having to escape the Wyatt family. And they were all in like weird swamp monster trucks. Did he do the art rollies? Yeah, the art. Amazing. He's great.

Yeah. Whoa. Wait. So we could, we could probably read this. Yeah. You could read as well. Maybe we should do a review of this next week. You're going to read 25 issues.

In a week? Fuck, yeah, dude. All right. There you go. Did anybody read the AW comic? No. I didn't know if it actually put out a comic. I thought they were just advertisements.

Oh, was it? Yeah. So like I so because I read DC they were included in the back of some of these recent issues and to kind of give you an idea. By the way, the art is not great. They did not put their A team on this one. DC gets constantly pulled into shit like that too. Like I remember they had a Ruby comic that they were like putting out and they have like a crossover and they just did the crossover of Godzilla versus King Kong versus the Justice League. So anyway, the AEW comic would be like, here's a big picture, like a big drawing of like Will Osprey.

And then here's going to be three mini, like a three-ish or three-page mini story that's supposed to tell you about Will Osprey's past. But it's like ridiculously K-Faby and it has nothing to do with like the actual person. Because I think like they did one for Swerve Strickland where he was like a military sniper before. he became a wrestler and I just I feel like that didn't happen. Is that that playing off the fact that he was the kill shot? Yeah, yeah. Yes. So, yeah, anyway, they just felt like a waste of time.

Anyway, though, going back to Clause, which of our assignment, Claus is seven issues long and like you said, it is a brand new take on the Santa Claus Mythos. because before this there was the 1950s stop motion Santa Claus movie you guys ever watched that

1950s 1950s yeah was it 50s? No no no I've seen a stop motion um Santa Claus film but I don't think it was from the 50s there was Santa Claus the movie from

the 80s yeah maybe that's what I'm thinking of. Yeah, yeah, because it has John Lithgow and Dudley. Yeah, indeed. It was considered one of the biggest box office losses of all time. Wait, wait, animated film? No, that was live action. No, I'm thinking of an animated film. So this is Santa Claus is coming to town from 1970. Maybe, hang on. Films narrated by Fred Astaire, voices by Mickey Rooney and Paul Fries. That might be it. Hang on. Yeah, that's the one I'm thinking of. Yeah. I knew it wasn't in the 50s.

I just remembered it was old. I don't go try to fill me with the 50s. So anyway, yes, that was the previous attempt at a Santa Claus origin that I can speak on. But, yeah, are you guys familiar with Santa Claus lore and mythology? Because there's the whole St. Nicholas and all the other old traditions. I mean, ish. You know, like there's all that stuff. Like you were saying, a lot of the traditional Santa Claus stuff, like him in the red.

outfit and stuff was kind of like Coca-Cola based. It was all like you know, a lot of the image that we get is based on them making those ad birds. It was a Kobe's Coca-Cola, wasn't it? I believe so, yeah. Yeah. But like really Santa Claus is like, it's a much older

legend, if you will. Because nobody really knows if he's real or not. So I'll say he's a legend for now. Um, uh, fuck, I was going to say something. I forgot what it was. Talking shit. Um, he's based, is he based on Crampus or was

Kramper's an alternate version. Yeah, yeah. Like a, the German version of the Santa Claus mythos. Because Santa Claus, was St. Nicholas. Yeah. See, Nicholas. Yeah. I don't know when Santa Claus became the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

name. Clearly we know a lot of like this fucking thing. Yeah, yeah. I'm pretty sure we're reading the book, not in the history of Santa Claus. It was something to do with like the Netherlands, I think. Like that's certainly where Crampus came from is like... Oh, I thought that was German. So St. Nicholas's fourth century Greek bishop of Myra in the Legion of Lycia and the Roman

Empire, which is now in today's Turkey, known for his generous gifts to the poor. so there you go. It's based off of an old an old bishop from way back in Catholic, well, not Catholicism, but just Christianity. We were pretty close in other words, and Germany.

Father Christmas came from... You were right about it being Germany as well, of Krampus. Oh, okay. Yeah, so Father Christmas came from 16th century England. There is some Dutch, Belgian, and Swiss folklore,

Germanic paganism, Wodan and Christianization. So, yeah. Santa Claus is American, right? Father Christmas was British, but Santa Claus was American. Santa Claus took the name from the Dutch, which came from Centroclos, center clause in Dutch,

a phonetic deviation. So he got the marketing and the red seat and everything because of American advertisements. But so that's your slap dash, brief rundown on Santa Claus real quick. I think we nailed it. Absolutely killed it. So all of that being said, we're reading the book.

You can definitely tell Grant's focus on the mysticism and shamanism. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. So for those who are also not aware, Grant Morrison is a magician, a wizard. Grant practices, you know, witchcraft, casting spells, and going on journeys into other dimensions, usually via means of psychedelics. Drugs. Yes.

In Super Gods, there's actually almost a whole chapter dedicated to Grant discovering the fifth dimension. There is no point about him getting fucked up on drugs, yeah. Yeah, I think he's in Timbuck, too, while he's doing it too. I mean, he's a classy person. Yeah, he was even on a vision quest. So yes, knowing that and knowing the paganism of Eastern Europe, Grant definitely takes a lot of influence of that in the story. Usually you see the Clause character enjoying a stew and you can see mushrooms in it.

And then shortly after consuming it, these sort of brightly colored spirits of the forest come to him and start speaking to him. Yes. So basically the story is it's very simple. This is not a complicated story in any means. It takes some interesting twists and turns, but yes, it's not terribly difficult. This is a seven-issue mini-series,

and it was a very hit and run. So Clause is a man who lives out in the wilderness, hunting animals, you know, gathering pelts and bones and whatnot, and he brings them into this walled-off city, called I believe Grimvald. Grimsvick, I think. it is. Okay. And once there, he realizes that this is a very totalitarian state,

where the able-bodied men are forced to work in the mines, and the children are not allowed to have toys because any toy is confiscated and given to the baron's son. So the city is ruled by the baron, his wife, and their child, sort of holding down the fort until the king returns. Do they mentioned where exactly the king was during all this I don't think the king I don't think the king actually lived there he was yes he lives elsewhere but yeah this was like the the baron's little sort of fiefdom but then when all the stories came out about how he was subjugating his people that's why the king is marching on his way over there on your time Eve or, you know, your time day or whatever it is where he's planned to show up and confront him about like how he's treating his people badly and all that kind of thing.

We find out that, you know, Claus used to come to this city at some point and it has since changed, obviously. And they do not welcome him as an outsider. He gets brutally attacked and assault and then sent out into the forest for death. and is saved only by his domesticated large white wolf. Lily. Yes. It's a shame that that part of the Father Christmas legend is not brought up more. That he is a big fucking wolf. Yeah.

Because I would be so much more in love. For the record, I love Christmas. I fucking love Christmas. but I would be so much more in love with the idea of Christmas if part of the lore was that Santa Claus just had a fucking wolf

instead of reindeer no no he had the reindeer shirt but also like in this lay just hanging out with him is a wolf do you mean like like whenever we go somewhere like our dog wants to come to

so she has to get in the back of the car and she just likes hanging out she likes surviving with us you know and I'm like well if Santa Claus was just going off on a trip around the world he would bring his wolf with him and the wolf would say sit in the back seat and he'd give a little pet on the

on the head and then you can leave out dog treats for it because you always leave out of a carrot for Rudolph you could leave out of them dog treats for the wolf or whatever it is wolf seed wolf treats I suppose steak what a wolf seed

well he ate bones in this yeah well any dog loves eating bones yeah so you could do that you know I think that would be a lovely part of the mythos you know a big vicious fucking wolf But, you know, you guys know me and my wacky ideas. So after, so all of this was started because Claws interjected after watching a guard strike a child in the face.

So he goes back to his camp and as he's healing from the wounds that he took from getting basically beaten by the guards, goes on a little trip and asks. for direction from the spirit of the woods to what can he do to help these people? And he wakes up the next morning to have found that in his drug-induced haze, he has created a bunch of toys. This is what I used to do all the time when I was fucked up. And toys are magical.

The, like, spirits look really weird. Like, they're drawn to look like, I don't know, they've got alien heads or something. You know what they remind me of? Dylan, did you ever read 8 billion genies? No, I read the other Godhead's astronauts. Okay. So, like, they look kind of like the genies from 8 billion genies

where the people are drawn to look very realistic. And their genie was just this sort of, like, blue, round-shaped little guy that would, like, float around by them. Okay. So it's kind of a contrast. I do like how I was like, these crazy woodland spirits, they didn't look at all real. I'm like, well, you know, I don't know what you wanted them to look like.

I didn't say they didn't look real. I said they looked like weird headed aliens. Which is exactly what Woodlands spirits look like. Fair enough. Yeah. You guys both live in a city. Yeah. You don't understand the pure joy of getting fucked up for drugs and then running through the forest.

You just have no idea. You know, it's fun. Wouldn't do it all the time. But I'd do it at least once. And you'll see something that looks like that. Let me tell you. It'll change your life. So, yes, after discovering he has carved a bunch of magical wooden toys.

He sneaks back into the city and begins to leave them as gifts for the children. So this is also important to remember that this is a young, man, Santa. This is not the traditional fat old white man with a white beard. This is Santa Claus as a barbarian. Santa Claus as an action hero. He was prime.

Yeah, jacked as shit. Oh yeah, yeah, he's ripped, dude. But it's a comic book. Yeah, of course. Gotta be fucking ripped, dude. I want to really quickly, because we're going kind of through this in a chronological order. Yes.

Really quickly, they kind of show the Byron's kid. Yeah, green little brat. And then, you know, you're talking about Santa Claus. You've already established that all the toys in the city have to go back to the kid. That's part of the oppressive nature. No other kids get toys and all the men go down in the minds. And pretty early on, you see the kid just being really bratty.

And I want, I think we think we should make. mention that now right at the top because they talk about that later on and we'll kind of talk about his development later on. But I remember that sticking out to me immediately. It's like, boy, I fucking hate that kid. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Because he does him.

What I liked about the, and we'll talk about it more in detail, is that he is a little brat and he is really annoying, but he is also just a kid. I look like a kid who is kind of in a spoiled privileged situation. he doesn't understand and I think all of that kind of comes together really well as well like that's that's good writing you know

I think like his his mum as well isn't is sort of really disaffected and not very involved in his upbringing which is probably why he's a bit bratty and obnoxious because we see that later on too

yeah yeah once she starts to get more involved with him he seems he starts to get more of a more human-like persona. Yeah. So while we're mentioning these characters, the baron is a good representation of foil work because Santa has drawn to be very big,

very broad, very charismatic. He's drawn handsome, even though it is a very cold place, he's got a tan, you know? And the baron is very, looks kind of like worm tongue from Lord of the Rings. He's pale to the point of almost being grand. He's super small and very thin and just looks kind of greasy in general.

He's basically wearing the emperor's cloak as well all the time. Yeah. So I was going to hit up. Yeah. So yes, Claws sneaks back into the city and drops off twice for the children. The children are all ecstatic until the baron and their guards notice that the children are playing. and having fun, so the guards confiscate all the toys and bring them to his son Jonas

to play with. Part of the thing as well is when you see the toys that the kids are playing with, the toys almost seem as if they're alive. The way that the kids who have been starved of playtime and imagination, the way that they're playing with the toys,

it seems to make it seem as if the toys are alive. And then when the toys are brought to the Baron or his kid, he can't get that same kind of magic to come out of the toys. Yes. And another important thing is that the mother begins to finally show life because she recognizes

one of the, she recognizes a toy bird that looks a lot like one she had been hiding secretly away from her husband. So it's, you know, there's that. Foreshadowing. Forshadowing. So, um, claws sneaks back in,

drops off more toys. Children begin to write wishes to him. So there's the origin of the writing letters to Santa. The people, like the guards in the city also begin to think of him as a ghost because they can't, they can't stop him. They don't see him. When they do see him, he gets away, seemingly vanishing out of thin air. So then, like, rumors that there's the spirit going out at night, you know, doing this is, is an issue.

I really like that because he was basically Batman, just skulking around on the rooftops and like swinging in and dropping off some toys and then disappearing again. Just like Batman. These are Batman-esque. Yeah. So yeah, it was just like that Batman-esque. So this is, I think we're like issue three, I think.

we're kind of like at when we're kind of summarizing right now. In this at this point then the baron goes to like this massive library. He pulls out this grimace and he opens up the book to a page and on voice starts speaking to him. Basically wanting to be freed essentially. And that's our that's our first hint at a larger evil than just this corrupt political figure. right because that would just be a really boring issue if he was just fighting against you know bureaucracy yeah you know office workers fuck you you know you need a little bit more excitement it's a comic book after all exactly let's be honest if those two guys had a fight big birdie Santa Claus guy and then

tiny weedy guy I wonder who's gonna win you know needle well especially because yeah later on the baron does like draw a sword on claws and he can barely carry it. He can very lift it off the ground. Yeah, like there's a point where he's just dragging this giant sword around, like just dragging it. But it's hard lifting up a big sword. Have you guys ever lifted up a big sword?

Can't say they have. No. You guys haven't lifted up a big sword? Do you guys are missing out living in the city? You can have any fucking fun. Yeah, you can go to McDonald's whenever you want, but you don't get the fun of lift of the,

of a big sword, getting fucked up on drugs and running through the woods. He's are missing out, man. Hanging out with wolves. You know what you mean? You guys need to just go and live in the, the conjure for a little bit and experience life. I feel like I'm Santa Claus and you guys are... We're the Baron of Jonas. So the next issue after this is a flashback issue that takes us to basically how Claws

came to be. It also explains why Dagmar, the Baron's wife, has a bird that looks identical to one of the ones that he had just made. So he was discovered in the forest as an infant in the frozen arms of a woman who had died, but yet he was alive and totally fine. He was adopted by a man named, a guard named Carl, who named him Klaus, and he was adopted. and he became best friends with Dagmar when he was a small boy and actually had made the wooden toy bird for her. So that's why he was familiar with the city because he'd grown up there.

Also, you see a young baron whose name is Magnus, who is jealous of Claus's friendship with Dagmar. And as time passes by, Magnus poisons the current baron or the baron at the time there and blames Claus for. it. So Claus is left outside of the city to die where he meets his wolf Lily. And we cut back to the presence when Claus enters Dagmar's window and confronts her. And yeah, he gives her a toy that he made just for Jonas. And that is... I thought it was really sweet because up to this point you've seen this kid being a brat and being really annoy him. And then Suther Claus is like, here's a toy specifically for your kid because that's part of the problem you're just giving him stuff that he doesn't understand you know um i thought that was a really important part of it too

because you know you'll touch on it in just a moment um but i thought that was a really important part worth noting as well this is about the time when all the uh like men working in the mind they're starting to get more and more sort of revolutionary, I guess. Yes. They're showing a bit more defiance. They're starting to rebel against having to sit and work in the mines all the time. So is this where we start to see the miners going crazy?

Because there's some of the miners that start hearing a voice. Yes. Yes. They do talk about that. They're just like ignore the voice. Keep working. Yeah. keep keep working which is a normal thing to say in the job so um we also get uh the baron

who has discovered the the children who write letters to clause to and he he convinces he basically forces jonas to write a letter to clause to uh basically set a trap for him well right before that bit you see the most humanizing part which is where the the kid can't understand why he can't get the toys to work. He's getting really frustrated because you see him all the way through up to this point being very frustrated and very like angry about stuff. He doesn't seem to understand anything. And this is the first part where you see him and his mother like interacting properly.

You don't see them interacting up to this point properly. And now she comes in. She gives him the toy that's specifically for him. And she like talks him through like how to play with it because he doesn't understand at first. And then she kind of explains it. well you could do this and we could have a little adventure which is a very thinly veiled

explanation of her own life where she's like the little bird trying to escape or whatever but it's it's such a lovely little moment where you can see the kid like softening and understanding

more about life and I think that's really a really good scene because you know you can understand what the kid goes through because if this was anybody else writing it.

Well, maybe not anybody else, but you don't mean. Like, a lot of other people, they would just be like, the kid equal is a brat. And that's it. Like, like, you don't have to do any hard work with that. But they really rode, like, weaved through the lines here. And we're like, no, the kids are brat because that's just the way he was brought up. Because he was raised by the father and not by the mother.

And now that you see the mother interacting with him, he's learning a lot more and becoming more of a person, and more of a human. And then immediately after that, the dad comes in and was like, no, stop fucking around, do what I want you to do,

which is hurt this man that I don't like. And you can, it happens so quickly, you know? Well, and you see Jonas position between the two parents, you know what you mean?

Yeah, and Jonas is kind of resistant to it for like the first time. Like he can tell something's wrong. And you can like, and that's again, another example of Dan Mora's art where it's sold,

totally in the art. Yes. You can see it on the face. Yes. Yeah, yeah. He's not into it. So, um, additionally, in addition to that, to kind of what you were saying, like,

she's essentially teaching Jonas how to have an imagination because he was just assuming the toys were going to do their stuff on its own. And she kind of had to instill that level of magic into him, essentially. Yes. Yeah. Because he's just a guy that lives by himself. He doesn't have any. friends or whatever. He doesn't understand

any of that stuff. Jonas ends up telling his mother about what happened with the Baron and the letter. She is starting to get more and more like kind of brave and defiant in the face of her husband. And but the letter of course makes it

to Clause. He goes to you know to the he falls into the trap and ends up getting poisoned by an arrow and that kind of leaves him for dead. And that and that's like kind of the moment where you start to see his really start to see his impact on the people because a child just a random child I don't think they really even they name the child later on

but like this is the same kid that got hit in the face that kind of was the inciting incident for all of this ends up like taking care of Klaus and getting him and Lily to Klaus's cabin so that he can you know mix his herbs and fungi into a cure for himself. from the poison. And so he can get high again. So the Baron ends up tracking him there, and they set fire to his cabin, and they leave him for dead on the surface of a frozen lake. And we finally get to see what the miners have been digging for, because the king is

coming to basically, it sound like, punish the Baron to. or at least to verify these incidences of what's happened to this stronghold in his kingdom. The Baron rounds up all the kids and leaves them in a place. And right then and there, as the miners are getting, again, more revolutionary, some of them working to the point of exhaustion or insanity. They end up cracking through the final wall and a huge demon escapes. and wants to eat the kids

and that's when we realized that the demon is the crampus yeah loves eating kids especially fat kids naughty children is what he was saying wow he just loves eating kids really yeah he loves the five ones he loves the naughty ones

but he'll be yeah we kind of like learn that he has an interesting justification of what makes a naughty child yeah the naughty child is the naughty child is whatever child is in front of him. Like anybody, any kid, that's it. That's, that's, I'm eating. Yep. Like me with pizza.

So the, the forest spirits again find claws and they imbue him with new strength and, uh, ends up, uh, starts, it gets some more powers and, and frees himself and begins to return to the,

the stronghold, Grimsvig. So, yeah. At this point, the king has arrived and confronts Magnus, the Baron, and he is, you know, very defiant in the face because in his mind, he has won. The demon is out. He is going to become the king, which is that deal he struck with this demon a long, long, long time ago, basically found this grimoire and the spell that this demon was trapped underground in the mines. And ever since he assumed power, that's what he's been doing.

He's been forcing these people to dig this demon up. So the demon arrives and tries to eat all the kids. And that leads to Magnus realizing that his deal with this demon was empty. And that all he has done is basically just release this monstrosity on the world. So, yeah. Clause comes back and we start our, you know, our big, our, our, our, Big, violent, over-the-top superhero fight that comics are made for, essentially, right? Hell yeah.

Certain things to remember, though, is we see a couple of face turns, essentially. Jonas ends up sacrificing himself to the demon for all the other kids, basically saying that he's the naughty kid. He's the one who's been selfish and greedy. And, of course, the demon's like, hell yeah, and picks him out and throws him in a sack. Right. Right. Hell yeah.

And the, the Baron, realizing what he has done also attempts to do the right thing. After he stabs claws through the chest with a fucking sword as well, by the way. Yeah, I'm going to say that he really does not attempt to do the right thing. I'm going to say that right now. He kind of at the very ends. No, there's a bit where you're like, oh, maybe because the demon's like, I'm not going to give you what you wanted. You freed me, so fuck you. So you would think, okay, now he's going to turn face.

and then he stabs, claws in the back with a sword, and then says the demon, see that? I killed that guy for you, so now you definitely owe me. I'm like, he's doubling down on a heel turn here.

He's not like turn of face. He's basically saying, give me what I deserve. Yes. That's what the crampus does by like, spitting a, like, yeah,

a big shower of fire all over him. Which is exactly what he deserved. And then after that, he says, oh, help my son, while he's dying, because the fucking guy burned him to death.

And I'm like, I don't think that's a... I mean, that's an A.W. face turn if ever, it's always. You know what you mean? A guy, like, literally could set up fire. I'm like, look after my son. What? What the fuck? I don't think...

I mean, they were going to do that anyway. Yeah. They didn't need him to say that I'd lie, right? I would not call out a... The other face turns, yes. That one... That one not so much. No, that's great.

So we get a chase scene at this point where Claus, the crampus summons this dark chariot that's pulled by hellhounds. And then Claus ends up doing the same, but with like wolves, right? Well, no, I think it was. He jumps onto the thing. Oh, he jumped onto it. I thought for some reason the wolf was flying.

I think I'm just spoiling it at the end because that's like a thing. It was originally Claus's, like, slay. But then Crampus, like, infects it with his, like, evil and turns it into his, like, evil sleigh. Evil sleigh. With evil wolves. Yeah, demon wolves. Which, again, I would love if that was part of the mythology. You can't get everything.

Yeah, I can't get everything you want. So, you know, the demon claims that all bad children are going to belong to him. Clause then doubles down and says, you know, kind of the proof of the Jonas redemption that there are no bad children. And there's some bad children. There's probably some bad children. He ends up, what, beheading the demon with a sword? Yeah, because it tries to. you know, spit fire all over him as well,

but because they're so high up in the atmosphere, it's too cold for his fire to sort of ignite, which allows Klaus to behead him. Crazy old Klaus. Whilst laughing maniacally, ho, ho, ho, ho. As you would do. So, yeah, he saves the day.

He's got Jonas with him. Jonas is safe. Dagmar is incredibly, thankful. Daimar promises the king who's witnessed all of this insanity that she will take over for the baron and Claus will be her advisor and promises to undo all of the evil things that her husband has done while being in charge. So there's a couple of flash forwards that you see through the book where you see people gradually age, but Klaus does not. He's at this point immortal. So you know, you see Dagmar gradually get older and, you know, pass away and you see Jonas, you know, grow into a man.

And the very end of the book, Claus gets on a sled and flies off into space by the looks of it. Just like real Sonic Clause. Yep. And that's pretty, that's pretty much it. Yep, that's pretty much it. That's the book. I will tell you that there were a series of one shots that great. grant put out every year up until 2019.

I wonder what happened in 2020. Anyway, so yeah, that is the story of Clause, the new origin of this character. What were your thoughts on reading it? I really liked it. Yeah, same. I really liked it. I love the art. I love the writing.

I mean, we've already talked about how I'm a big McCramarrafton anyway, but like I said, the characterization of stuff the way that it played out it was all really really well done it was an interesting way to make a spin on Father Christmas

I don't think a lot of other people would have done what Crown Morrison did but it was really interesting I thought it was a lot of fun it was just fun man like remember comics used to be fun and they weren't just like

fucking 82 part epics where like all of the guys get together and fight whatever go back in time and all this fucking bullshit it was just fun I had a really good time reading it I liked how it was really superheroesque as well like the certain elements of like superhero comic books like pulled into the story and made it feel like you know like a completely different thing to what you might expect from a Santa Claus origin story. Yeah. But then it didn't feel that like out there or too crazy either.

Like it was still sort of grounded in, you know, sort of myth that you could kind of not believe in, but like. Understand. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I thought so. Like they did a really good job with like tying all that stuff together. Hmm. They make it make sense.

I thought it was really good. Hell yeah. Mm-hmm. But what did Corey think? No, I mean, I agree with what you guys are saying. You know, this is... Grant Morrison is kind of one of those people who understands comic books at kind of the return to form and the surface level. I remember part of the Super God's book, Grant, talking about how children are, like, the best readers because they accept things.

because it's like, you know, like, why does super? Yeah, exactly. Like, how does Superman fly? And you'll have some, like, writers who will try to explain, like, oh, it's, you know, he's able to tap into gravity or whatever. And Grant's like, because he's Superman and that's Superman flies. Exactly. Exactly.

Like, people would try to, like, they try to figure out the science of all this shit first. You're like, well, none of this shit makes any sense. That's the whole point. Like, just go with it. You know, you don't have to explain it. You just have to, like, make it make sense within its little world. Yeah. Yes.

You know, he always does. Like this, this, you know, obviously none of this makes any sense if we're being logical about it. But in this world and in the mythos of Santa Claus and what we know about Santa Claus and Crampus and all that stuff, it totally makes sense. Right? Why wouldn't this be as the origin story? Why wouldn't he, you know, play some jazz flute and get high on some magic mushrooms or whatever? Right. He's just a man. You know, we've all done that.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You know, I understand where he's coming from. You don't need a whole lot of other, because they talk about, very briefly, they're like, oh,

didn't you die? He's like, well, I guess I'm a mortal now. You're like, great, fair enough. Yeah,

because Santa Claus is immortal. It's not a great explanation for why Santa Claus keeps coming back, but also that's not the point of the book. Mm-hmm. Point of the book is to talk about why Santa Claus is never dies. We fucking, that's not the point of Santa Claus.

You know? I thought this book did a really good job of pointing out all of the good parts of the mythos that you're supposed to pay attention to. And like we said, that's kind of what Cramarsin does is like cuts through a lot of the bullshit to get to like the comic bookie part, which is what people should really be given a shit about. Yeah, that's ultimately what matters. Yeah. So yeah. I don't know. Is there any any other remarks you want to make about it?

I mean, good story, simple, doesn't have to be complicated. Arts fantastic. It's pretty much it. Yeah. The characterization. The characterization. Wolves. You know, they're wolves.

There's a lot of, like, there's not enough wolves in comics these days. This is true. It is true. Wolves aren't as cool as they are, or as they were back when they were endangered. That's not true. Wolves are still cool. They're just big, angry dogs. And he doesn't like a big dog.

He doesn't like a big dog. Everyone likes a big dog, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah, so the comments section, talk about how much you love big dogs. We need comments because YouTube loves it when people comment on your videos.

Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't matter what you say. Just read yes or no. There you go. Do you guys like comics, yes or no? Yeah, do you like chocolate? Yes or no. Here you go. You guys alive?

Yes or no. So that is our opinions on the book, Clause. if you would like to read it by all means head to your local convict store go to Amazon go to your local library honest to God if you haven't realized it I don't know if the libraries

are like this over in the UK but in America tons and tons and tons of trades you can just pick up read bring them back don't have to spend the $20.30 on a trade paperback because half the time you read them once and they sit on the shelf forever do how much it costs to get like a library card

nothing it costs nothing to get a library card get a library card and go to your library and just see what they got there. There is also a free online library. Let me see if I can remember what it is called. There's that, are we? Is that a good? I'll be allowed to do that.

I mean, open library is the thing that exists. It's not illegal. The digital public library of America also is totally free. Eco, e-content also free. So these are all like things that you can just pull up and use. You know, that's the beauty of knowledge and information. It is meant to be shared and enjoyed by everybody. So, yeah, look into that stuff, not just for Clause, but any other reading that you want to do.

It's a quick way to also get caught up on, you know, personal goals for the year. If your goal was to read, you know, 497 books in a year. That being said, John, how many movies have you watched The Fur for the Year? I am currently up to 771. 771. Yeah. So this is where we're going to break reality, because I believe this is the last week of the 2024 year per recording.

or the release. Now, as of right now, it is November 24th, real time. So there's going to be a couple of shows where we're still asking how many are for the year and it's going to be like, well, you're in like almost February.

So what are you guys doing? So that's why. I don't like you breaking the fourth wall like this, Corey. I don't like this. It's cool when Deadpool does it. Well, he's not real. And we are real. At least two thirds of those are.

So we need to stick to the rules that we've established. We can't go tell him people all your secrets. Dylan, is there anything you'd like to plug? Yes. I, not about me, but I'm going to talk about, you talk about going to the library reading books. I want to talk about a book that I've read.

I've just finished it today. It's the best book I've read all year. One of the best books I've ever read. It's so good. If you like reading, I would highly advise you to check this site. This goes for you, too, guys, as well. If you like reading, I assume you do. it is by a man called Bruno Schultz

I don't know if you've heard of this guy the book is called The Street of Crocodiles I got a couple he made two books the book I have is the two books together The Street of Crocodiles and Sanatorium under the sign of the R-glass in one book

it's wonderful it's so well written it's like a painting but with words like the way he writes stuff is incredible Like as soon as you start reading it, you're like, I've, it's like a tapestry. It's unbelievable. It's so beautiful.

It's a bunch of short stories that he wrote that he, you know, made up about his family growing up. I think he grew up in Poland, the beginning of the century, the beginning of the 1900s, I should say, not this century. There's been a lot of centuries. But it's a really, really good book. I would highly advise anybody if you're into reading. If you like just the joy of reading words written down by somebody, I would check this out, Bruno Schultz, Street of Crocodiles. Read that book.

Also read my book. Yeah, there you go, read it. It's not as good. But it is technically a book. It's available on Amazon. I should read that. the wonderful world of Captain Explody. It's on Amazon.

So it's good? Yes? Yep. It's there. It is there. I would have put that as a chord of the next one. It's there. Here it is.

Cory Flanagan. Yep. Beautiful stuff. Fucking docks me there in my last name. You can bleep that out. You can cut that out. Oh, no. That's too much work.

Cut all of this out then No The whole episode Hold the whole episode So everybody There's my show A Large Old Cup It's a little inconsistent at the moment

Just because life and stuff's in the way But we do what we do So We will see you all next year I think it's gonna be the year 2025 Which means Not a real year No it's not a real year

No Come on no There's too many numbers they don't go up that high, 2025? No, talking about it. It's still 2015. Boy, last good year. I don't know, man.

2019 was pretty good. Was it? I don't know. It's still 2015, so I'm guessing. Oh, that's true. You're just guessing out of time. So anyway, we will catch you all next time. We were very closely approaching on one year.

of the Smart Avengers, because I believe that was March, right? I don't know. Sure. Just take your word for it. So we will see you all next time. But until then, goodbye. Happy Christmas. Merry Christmas. Oh, my God.

Santa is here. What's your wolf like? He's eating the reindeer. Oh, no. What are we going to do? Probably nothing. No. Just get more reindeer.

Yeah, that's bird. It's got in the Rinder shop. A couple more Rinder. You know what I mean? Anyway. Anyway. Goodbye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye-bye. That was good.