In honor of the holidays, we are revisiting some of our favorite holiday-themed comic books. There are newer books and some that have been around for a while, featuring superheroes and monster hunters, all wrapped up in the magic of the season.  

Dark Horse; $2.95  

It’s the holiday season in Sunnydale, and while most people are ready for a break, the vampires and demons in town are still causing mischief. When a slaying mishap costs Buffy the money she had saved up to buy Christmas presents, the Slayer gets a job at the Popsicle Parlor. At first, everything seems normal – embarrassing fast food style outfit and an awkward visit from Angel – until Buffy starts to notice how oddly her boss behaves. Things quickly get out of hand, and Buffy must stop a frosty demon from turning the whole world into an ice rink. 

This issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was published in 1998, when the TV show was still in the early seasons, set at Sunnydale High School. The show often juxtaposed typical teenage problems with monsters of the week, and the comic’s writer, Andi Watson, replicated that style in this book. It has a frustrated teenager with no money, a lame after school job, and the desire to do a grown-up thing, i.e. buying nice gifts for the holidays. When a demon enters the picture, Buffy steps up to protect her friends, giving them a far better gift than an itchy sweater. 

Artists Hector Gomez and Sandu Florea, and colorist Guy Major delivered a seasonal villain that looks like a jagged, blue icicle, and filled the mall scenes with festive decorations. They made the characters look as attractive and stylish as they appeared on the show and gave the fight scenes plenty of attention.  

Rereading this now is a nice refresher to when Buffy comics had one-off villains that looked cool (pun intended) but didn’t stick around for long, messy arcs.  

–Amanda Sheriff