Go ahead, judge this book by its cover. It doesn’t look like
a holiday themed book but you’d be wrong. I was all set to read this book in
anticipation of Halloween when I saw in the bottom right corner “A Slay Ride with
Santa.” A scary ghost story? It’s almost like an Andy Williams song and too
good to be true. So, I eagerly waited until last night and finally brought an
end to my wait.
It was so good. This issue was an early editorial worker of
legendary Batman scribe, Denny O’Neil. You can see he’s daft handy work of the
macabre in these pages. Along with a fantastically drawn adaptation of a
Wordworth’s short story called “Feathertop” there’s the reason I waited so
long- “A Slay Ride with Santa.”
In that yarn, a sidewalk Santa is killing kids for their
Christmas gift buying budgets. With the NYPD on his trail, the serial killer
hides in a workshop that’s not all that it appears.
This gruesome story was very shocking to me. I am surprised
that a story involving a child killer made it to press in 1974, much less got approved
by the Comics Code Authority. It was that stunner, plus the twist ending that
earned high marks from me. However, due to its graphic content, it may not be
for everybody and I definitely wouldn’t show it to any child who still believes
in the magic of Santa. So, parents and caretakers, take note.
Worth Consuming.
Rating 8 out of 10 stars.
Holiday atmosphere rating: 4 out of 10 jingle
bells.
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