There is no doubt that Santa Claus is one of the most universal and benign characters in all the world. The very mention of Santa can bring smiles to the faces of children both young and old. But not all Santas are created equal. There are signs that you might have a "Bad Santa" on your hands. One is a Santa with a really crummy and marginally agressive attitude, like the one above, all angry and finger-pointing -- that's not what you ideally want in a Santa Claus.
Any Santa with a skull for a face is right out. These kind are relatively easy to spot and should be avoided at all costs. Watch out for their exceedingly sharp elbows.
Never trust a Santa who is packing heat. When Santa Claus takes out his automatic pistol and takes aim at your face, there's a reasonably good chance you have a bad Santa on your hands. Duck for the nearest safe cover and all the authorities at once.
If Santa tries to run you down, either with his sleigh or any other vehicle, it's a sign he is to be avoided. Keep your head on a swivel on Christmas Eve for sure, especially if you're elderly and have grandchildren. That's a favorite target of a Bad Santa.
Good Santas almost never join motorcycle clubs. The one-percenter lifestyle typically runs counter to the goals of a traditonal Santa Claus. There's less Meth.
Spotting a Santa Claus on a rooftop with an axe is a clear tip off that he might not be trustworthy. There's almost no reason for a Santa to need an axe to get into a house. If the axe is dripping, that's warrants extra caution.
On the more mundane side of things, be wary of chintzy Santas. These are very common alas and the secret shame of many families worldwide.
A Santa Claus who is forced to carry out his Christmas Eve duties at gunpoint is also a Santa who cannot be relied upon in most instances. Stick with more pliable types.
Santa Claus should never be Batman. That's never going to work...never.
And finally, if Santa wants to arrange you and your friends into a circle and have you join hands so that he can fill you with the "true spirit of Christmas" and there's talk of a...ahem... "Love-In", head for the hills quickly before anything gets unzipped. This is possibly the most dangerous kind of Santa and must be kept under a close watch. This is usually done by electing the perpetrator to Congress, but that trick doesn't always work.
Now go forth and enjoy the season -- knowing is half the battle. Santa will soon be on the move yet again. Merry Christmas to all!
NOTE: This is a Dojo Holiday Classic.
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Never trust a Santa who is packing heat -- ha! Nice collection of Kringle covers. Merry Christmas, Rip!
ReplyDeleteThanks John, and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
DeleteSome great covers there Rip. I particularly like the classic Adams Batman and the Crazy cover but the Dell "Santa Claus Funnies" is my favourite. Like John, your quote on "..never trust a Santa packing heat.." made me smile. Have a great Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Those Dell Santa comics are true classics. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
DeleteWow, what a great selection of Crazy Claus covers! I know a lot of them but you came up with some doozies. (Is that still a word, anywhere?) The only one I might add is a cover with Judge Dredd arresting a bedraggled Santa, but maybe you've covered that before. For my Xmas present to myself I'm going to look to see if any online sites reprint "Santa's Christmas Love-In!" Happy holidays to you.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I looked that Judge Dredd cover up and it is a dandy. Merry Christmas!
DeleteSame wishes to you.
ReplyDeleteJust to share my "researches" with your readers, I found that there was no actual "love-in Santa" story to go with that cover, which I half expected might be the case. But it wasn't a wasted effort, because that issue of ARCHIE GIANT featured two stories in which members of the Archie gang were gratuitously passing out flowers to their teachers and other characters. Call me a cynic, but I think some writer looked around at the so-called "flower children" in real life (assuming any of them were still around at the time) and thought he could use that image to boost the Archie gang's rep for being good-hearted kids. I'll bet the Archie gang's "flower children" phase didn't last much longer if at all.
No small part of the Archie gang charm is the way the comics reflected the world and times, always changing but providing a very rough and tumble document of what was happening in some parts of this world.
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