The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories Hardcover – November 30, 2010

These are EXACTLY the type of stories I was in the mood to read this year. Charming, quaint, non-ironic tales that graced kids comics back when comics were for kids. The art restoration is very good; all the stories were very readable and there was a wide variety of material (all within the theme, of course). I only knocked off one star due to poor design: The story credits are only presented on the Table of Contents, which is almost impossible to read because it is presented in tiny, ultra-thin white type on a green background. Honestly, it's inexcusable that this bad (nay, let's make that HORRIBLE) design element made it into a book of this quality, especially from an editor with this much skill and success with previous books. That's a small quibble, though, as the rest of the book is rock-solid content with high production values. It brightened up a rather bleak Christmas for me, so don't hesitate to grab this for next year.

This hardcover book reprints Christmas comic book stories from 1945 to 1961. Most stories are taken from Santa Claus Funnies, which was published once a year by Dell Comics from 1942 to 1961. There are multiple stories by the brilliant John Stanley and Walt Kelly, with individual stories by many other creators. These are all great, heartwarming stories. Some comic book characters like Archie Andrews and Little Lulu were known for having annual Christmas comic books; you won't find any of those stories here. The only comic book characters with their own series to be featured here are Atomic Mouse and the obscure Li'l Tomboy. It's a shame that DC Comics' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer comics aren't included, but you can't have everything. Maybe DC will publish their own Rudolph Archives someday, but who knows if they even have the rights to the character anymore?

Great collection by the incomparable Craig Yoe. One I’ll read every Christmas season!

Our family loved this book. My 23 year old son recommended it for my husband who loves comics and graphic novels. All of the family loved it and I know that it will be well read over the upcoming years. What a fun Christmas book!

The fifties was a classic time for children's comic books and Christmas was a special time. This book is an amazing collection of some of the best children's stories from that time. Great nostalgia!

Wonderful Walt Kelly stories I had never read before.amazing art

Love this! Wish there were more old Christmas comic book collections like this. Hope the publisher does more in the future.

Good book for Christmas spirit.

I love ChristmasI really do.And I love all things vintage about the Holidays even more.This is a nice collection that offers a wide selection of vintage comic book stories by some of the best creators of what is sometimes called "Kid comics". A difficult genre to excel in without being too preachy or infantile.A lot of the stories are either by John Stanley or Walt Kelley. Which is a good thing, as they are, with Carl Barks, the very best in the genre.Speaking of the Duckman, it is really too bad that they couldn't include a Carl Barks story in this volume. But it is understandable since most of his work was made for the Walt Disney line of characters, and the stories in this volume have more generic characters.