Superhero Santa
A review of Grant Morrison and Dan Mora’s Klaus: The New Adventures of Santa Claus (Boom! Studios, 2018)
By Derek Newman-Stille
I have to admit that I have an absolute love for Yule holiday traditions and stories, especially ones that play with and complicate traditional narratives. There is something otherworldly about the holidays and they inspire a need to read – particularly for those of us in the Northern hemisphere during Yule. The shorter days and longer nights call out for a need for hope and light, so reading optimistic holiday tales can evoke that feeling of hope in the long, long nights.
The second instalment in Grant Morrison and Dan Mora’s Klaus graphic series, Klaus: The New Adventures of Santa Claus continues Morrison and Mora’s re-exploration of this reimagining of the Santa Claus figure. But where Santa was a jolly old man with a round little belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly, Morrison and Mora’s Santa Claus is a muscular middle aged man who seems to spend more time at the gym than he does eating milk and cookies. Klaus is a warrior figure, set against the tides of darkness that spring up around Yule, whose role is to fight evil… but also inspire hope and caring in children.
Klaus is fully steeped in Norse mythology, formed at the combination of the Joy rune, the Gift rune, and the Fire rune. He is a newly imagined figure who is steeped in the pagan origins of Yule and connected to other traditions like the Yule Lads of Iceland, the Yule Goat of Scandinavia, Ded Moroz of Russia, and the Frost Giants of Norse myth. Instead of reindeer, this Santa Claus is accompanied by wolves. Yet, Mora and Morrison don’t just play with the idea of a magical Santa. He is also steeped in technology, riding a sleigh that looks like it is part space ship and occasionally fighting aliens.
Klaus: the New Adventures of Santa Claus occurs in two narratives – “Klaus and the Witch of Winter” and “Klaus and the Crisis in Xmasville”. Klaus’ encounter with the Witch of Winter involves a battle against forces of cold with hints of The Snow Queen (especially through the notion of children developing a frozen heart), but the tale also connects Klaus to other tales, making this Santa Claus the teacher of Geppetto (from the tale of Pinocchio). This tale brings up concerns about global warming, ideas of family, and the psychological trauma that children undergo.
“Klaus and the Crisis in Xmasville” is similarly charged with magic and political commentary. In this story, Morrison and Mora explore the influence of Coca Cola in shaping the image of modern Santa Claus and his capitalist trappings. Using the name “Pola Cola”, Morrison and Mora point out things like the exploitation of workers and the power of economy to turn people into zombie-like figures, but they also combine this with Klaus’ battle against a werewolf-like figure and aliens from another planet who are trying to suck all of the creativity out of human beings because they don’t have any of their own.
Morrison and Mora have created a new mythology with Klaus, modifying the traditional image of Santa Claus and combining him with another creation of popular culture – the superhero.
To find out more about Grant Morrison, go to https://www.grantmorrison.com
To discover more about Klaus, go to https://shop.boom-studios.com/series/detail/458/klaus
Through The Twisted Woods 