Hot Stuff the Little Devil #95

For today through July 26th, I will be celebrating Christmas in July! Today's book is what I call a Scrooge because only for the cover, there's nothing else holiday related. There are a couple of stories that are seasonal. But when it comes to the holidays, they are close but no cigar.

The opening page gag involves Winter and Hot Stuff absolutely hating it. The first large story that stars the Little Devil is seasonal as well with Hot Stuff visiting a toy factory in order to buy a birthday gift for a friend. Only, Santa Claus is not in charge of this facility, but a set of robots that seem to have malfunctioned. 

There are several other gags and stories. One of them is with the star of the book. The other two are with a giant named Stumbo. I've been reading Harvey Comics since I was a kid. And as a little one, I read a bunch of books starring Richie Rich, Casper, Little Lotta and the bunch. Never have I read a Stumbo the Giant story. I've seen him used in a lot of advertising. But it took me reaching my mid-40s to finally read some of his adventures. They're cute little fairy tales. But I can see why he never became a star on par with some of those other characters. 

Now let's talk about that cover. It's a beautiful piece of work by Warren Kremer. One of the Facebook groups that I am a member of has a daily post called 'Breakfast with Kremer.' I don't think we've ever reviewed this cover. But if we ever do, I will marvel over the candy cane striped pitchfork, the roaring fire over in the right corner and Hot Stuff's face of pure joy. It almost makes me forgive Harvey Comics for gifting us fans of holiday comics with a fruitcake instead of a roast turkey with all the fixings...

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.