I love watching this as a film. It's one of those B-movie classics that are so bad that they're great.
I had seen photos of this 1965 comic book adaptation before online. But I had never seen a copy in person until just this past Spring. Considering that I love the movie and I collect holiday comics, my loving (and very understanding) bride convinced me to pull the trigger and buy this book even though it's normally out of my very frugal price range.
The premise of this story is basically close to the story's title. And yet it isn't.
The adults of Mars are perplexed that their children are in a funk. They determine that it's all because they don't have any fun. With Christmas coming very soon to earth, the Martian leader decides to kidnap Santa in hopes of bringing joy to their lives. But one Martian solider isn't happy with this idea, thinking that it will make his people more soft, and has plans to wipe out Kris Kringle.
Can Santa introduce the people of Mars to the concept of Santa? Or will he become a ghost of Christmas past?
I was really torn on this one. The reason I love the film is because of how bad it is. Yet this comic is done with an amazing amount of quality and care that was often missing from movie adaptations in the 60s and 70s.
One reason I think this Dell adaptation was so good was that it was published a year AFTER this film was made. The film was a massive bomb when it debuted in 1964. Yet for some reason, this comic came out a full year later! I'm not sure why this happened as normally box office bombs were considered dead and buried. But by having the film already out as a reference, I think the artwork was able to be near photo-realistic representation. But it's just not the same without all of it's massive flaws.
I'm very glad this is a part of my collection. It's almost mint with very little browning and a very crisp spine. Plus, the art is quite beautiful. Just in comic book form, the things that make Santa Claus Conquers the Martians don't convert over very well on the written/illustrated page. This is definitely a case of being lost in translation.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
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