Comic Book Review – Klaus

Klaus (2016)
Reprints Klaus #1-7
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Dan Mora

So many origin stories have attempted to explain Santa Claus’s roots. I just reviewed a middling Netflix animated film a few weeks ago, also titled Klaus, that provided its own explanation. I’ve always been a fan of writer Grant Morrison and their genre-reinventing work in comics. From devouring their run on JLA in the 1990s to going back through their catalog to read Animal Man and more modern work, like Seven Soldiers and Morrison’s extremely engrossing Batman work, I am a fan. Not an uncritical one, though. Some of Morrison’s work just doesn’t click for me, but I always know they will do something interesting, and at least the kernel of fascinating ideas will be in there. 

Klaus reimagines the giver of gifts as a 16th-century Germanic shaman attempting to liberate the town of Grimsvig from a despotic leader. Lord Magnus has conscripted all able-bodied men into working his coal mines while setting his guards against the people to deprive them of joy. As winter approaches, all attempts to celebrate Yuletide are prohibited. Toys and musical instruments are confiscated. Klaus communes with the mysterious spirits of the forest, who take him into a psychedelic haze, and when he comes to, the man is surrounded by carved wooden toys he has made in his fugue state. It’s time to end Magnus’ reign of terror and bring light back to the people of Grimsvig. However, something stirs in the mines, ready to be dug up.

Written in the same vein as Batman: Year One, Morrison builds out the tropes surrounding Santa through this story, shaping them so that they fit the setting and tone of the story. That said, the book isn’t that crazy. Morrison has reigned the work and made something that feels ready to adapt into a film but doesn’t go anywhere close to as introspective or trippy as their other work can go. I was expecting something like the Seven Soldiers with time spanning & inclusion of the fae, but this is just the story of a freedom fighter taking on an authoritarian elite who has gone mad. If I’m honest, I wanted this to be weirder.

The story is not cloying or overly sentimental, which was a relief. This is a straightforward comics-style story where Klaus is a magic-using superhero with a dash of Wolverine thrown in. Lord Magnus is written as thoroughly awful, so we immediately want to see this guy get his. The new additions to the story are Lilli, Klaus’ massive white wolf comrade, and Magnus’s wife & son, Dagmar and Jonas. Jonas is a real little shit, but because he’s a child, you can tell there will be a redemption arc. Dagmar was a little more of a mystery to me, and I think by the end of the story, we’re meant to see her as a variation on Mrs. Claus?

The artwork by Dan Mora is not quite as good as his present contributions to World’s Finest at DC Comics, but it is pretty great. The illustrations reminded me of a mix of anime-inspired comic art from the 1990s and American comic styles like John Byrne or George Perez. Not just the pencils but the inks and colors are exceptionally well done so that every page is visually engaging and exciting.

By the end of the book, I felt fatigued. Magnus is not a very compelling villain. When the big baddie hiding in the coal mines is revealed, it’s not surprising, and I was bored then. Klaus is a great concept, though, and Morrison has gone on to write four additional specials continuing the character’s adventures. Next December, I’ll crack into them and see where this creative duo takes him next.