Day 4 in the Popverse Comics Advent Calendar 2022

Nothing is more seasonal than the Ghost of Chrismukkah Past, trust me

Image credit: Boom! Studios

Feature by Graeme McMillan Editor

Published on Dec. 5, 2022

Every day of December counting down to Christmas Day, Popverse is hijacking the grand tradition of the Advent Calendar to share a moment from a holiday comic of yore. What else could you want from a classic combination of comic books and the yuletide gaze? Today, it’s the turn of 2016’s Giant Days 2016 Holiday Special #1, which dared ask what would have happened 'If Esther, Daisy and Susan Hadn't Become Friends'!

Popverse comics advent calendar 4 — Image credit: Boom! Studios

On the one hand, this image speaks for itself, and also acts as a companion to yesterday’s image. Congratulations to John Allison and Lissa Treiman for such conciseness and brevity! (It’s a sign of just how great Giant Days is as a comedy series, I’d argue.) On the other hand, however…

There’s a certain audience for whom early '00s soap opera The O.C. was a big deal; I, myself, am part of that audience, and to this day, the Chrismukkah episodes of the show — exactly what it sounds like, an über-holiday created by merging Christmas and Hanukkah together — are a seasonal staple each and every year. The final season’s Chrismukkah episode, 'The Chrismukk-huh?' is one of the show’s finest, as two of the characters finds themselves in an alternate world where things had gone so much worse than the regular weekly melodrama fans had come to love. It’s an excuse for lots of in-jokes and broad comedy… and it’s also, clearly, the inspiration behind this very story, right down to a head injury resulting from decorating being the thing that pushes a character into an alternate world.

I mean, both are also referencing holiday staple It’s A Wonderful Life — although, in that case, it’s less 'random decoration-related head injury' and more 'divine intervention' that brings George Bailey into Potterville — but, nonetheless: if one particular joy of the holidays is bringing people together, let’s enjoy the unexpected surprise of discovering shared interests and fandoms with others whose work you also happen to love. John and Lissa, I’m raising a mug of eggnog to you both.

Want more? You can read the entire issue in Giant Days 2016 Holiday Special, available via Comixology.

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