I was chatting with my wife about Christmas music the other day, about the pre-fab feeling I get from it all - it's very rare that I find a Christmas song that I actually feel is being genuine. Unfortunately, the same goes for Christmas comics. I was reading up on the Community Christmas episode "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" today, one of my favourite televised specials. One of the critics quoted in the Wikipedia article notes that it works as a Christmas special because it remember something about this holiday that so many specials don't: this is a very personal holiday. Because it's so pervasive in Western culture, but because Christianity is rapidly ceasing to be, Christmas has become an almost secular holiday. This doesn't mean that it is shorn of it's Christian meaning, but in a lot of ways it means that the very term "Christmas" holds far more meaning than simply that of the birth of Jesus Christ. And that meaning can be very personal. It is for me - it means family and love and friendship and awesome cookies and Christmas specials and Christmas comics.
Speaking of, this one's, unfortunately, a bit disappointing. I love Generation X, and I can't wait to read through it for the project, but this issue is not up to the par the rest of the series elicits. And I think it's because of what I was just talking about - like many Christmas specials, this one tries to have a universal message about what Christmas is all about, but as the holiday is very personal, having a universal message is virtually impossible. The best Christmas comics are the ones where each character is allowed to define the season for themselves, rather than having the season defined and everyone having to get on board. Further, at least when it comes to superhero comics, there's this propensity to use Santa as another superhero, one whose powers are virtually limitless - this, to me, doesn't really work either. Santa's not a superhero - he's something else, an embodiment, perhaps. Of what? Well, that's something we all have to answer for ourselves.
To be continued.
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