Winter is upon us and it is time to bundle up, gather around the fireplace and read some comic books. Here are some seasonal picks from the Library of Congress collections to close out the end of the year.
“Mickey Mouse Magazine” was a series that began in 1935 and these newsstand issues contained kid-friendly content structured much like general interest periodicals. Regular sections included illustrated stories, puzzles, book reviews, reprints of the “Mickey Mouse” and “Donald Duck” newspaper comic strips, promotions for upcoming Walt Disney films and letters to the editor (Mickey Mouse himself!). Magazine covers featured members of the Mickey Mouse cast and this issue features Minnie Mouse practicing her snowplow stop.
Tom and Jerry made their comic debut as an occasional side story in the “Our Gang” comic book series, two years after their MGM animated short film breakthrough in 1940. The duo took over the “Our Gang” series in 1949 and it was renamed to “Tom & Jerry Comics” which regularly featured their cat-and-mouse antics. The cover from the December 1950 issue hints at the Christmas-themed destruction lying within.
The “Peanuts” comic book series contained original stories that did not appear in the newspaper comic strip. Charles Shultz illustrated the covers, but the stories and artwork were provided by other comic creators. All covers in this short-lived series featured Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
Even superheroes need time to rest after a busy year of fighting crime, protecting the innocent, and performing good deeds in the name of justice. In the 2-issue series “Christmas with the Super-Heroes”, the DC supers get a chance to squeeze in some quality holiday time between their usual “make the world a better place” escapades.
Not all supers get the holidays off. In issue no. 49 of “Wolverine”, Logan’s shopping trip is interrupted by a criminal organization disguised as elves that go by the name “Black Christmess”. What started out as a search for Kitty Pryde’s Christmas gift turns into a vicious scrap that destroys part of a shopping mall.
While some superheroes try to rest, the supervillains play on. The Joker, The Toyman, Sinestro, Poison Ivy, and other notable DC headaches continue their elaborate crime schemes and reflect on their successful inconveniences to the public in the one-shot comic “New Year’s Evil”.
From 1939 to 1962, Dell Comics produced an anthology comic book series containing mostly licensed materials, such as popular cartoon characters, newspaper comic strip reprints and film adaptations under the series title “Four Color”. The 1,079th issue features The Little Rascals and a 6-page story about an intense snowball fight among the neighborhood kids. Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat and the rest of the neighborhood kids fend off Toughie McGurk and his group of bullies, the Pirates.
What comics are you reading this winter? Let us know in the comments below.
Additional Resources
Visit the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room to read these comic book issues and many more.
To search for winter themed comic book series and stories, check out Grand Comics Database.
Comments
Thanks for posting this! For me, I’m a big “Captain America” fan, so I try not to miss any of those issues. Interestingly, I have seen a few holiday-themed issues over the years. It’s great to see patriotism mixed in with the holiday spirit in comics!