Summary
- Christmas 365 from Dark Horse Comics is out this year, a festive series about a family that celebrates Christmas all year round.
- Co-writer Mikey Way talks about the nostalgia and magic of Christmas and the importance of family in his work.
- Way collaborates with Jonathan Rivera and Piotr Kowalski to produce a dream project that embraces the feel of an 80s/90s Christmas movie.
It came early for Christmas Dark horse comics readers. During this year's San Diego Comic-Con, the publisher announced its release. Christmas 365 later this year. This holiday new series comes from the creative team of Mikey Way, Jonathan Rivera, Piotr Kowalski, Brad Simpson and Joshua Reed.
Christmas 365 tells the story of a family going through a particularly difficult year and their attempts to reunite during the year-round Christmas season. Reached Screen Rant Christmas 365 co-author Mikey Way and explored the ideas behind this unique holiday story.
Screen Rant: I think you're a big fan of Christmas. But why? Christmas 365?
Mikey Way: As a child of the 80s, many of my favorite movies were Christmas movies. I think the holiday stuck with me, its mythology, its imagery really resonated with me. I know I'm not alone in this, the world is busy with Christmas. You go to the stores in August and the Christmas products come out. After 9/11, I noticed that Christmas started earlier in the store. I remember making a mental note of it. At that time, people needed it. I feel like with social media, people have been able to express their love for Christmas and find like-minded people. There are Christmas podcasts, there are Christmas cellars.
Mikey Way: Anyway, a child of the 80s. A Christmas Story, Scrooged, Christmas Vacation, Gremlins, Die Hard, Santa Claus: The Movie, all those great Jim Henson movies. These were important stories for me. And so I always had an itch to tell the Christmas story. I think it was around 2013, I watched a bunch of Christmas movies in a row and it wasn't Christmas time, I think it was summer. I remember watching Home Alone and Christmas Vacation and what stories are left to tell? I remember who I was. Then it hit me like a bolt. “What about a family that's kind of disconnected and one of them has the wild idea to celebrate it all year long?” As if it will fix everything.
With Christmas, there is an effort to look at the world through the eyes of a child and recapture that sense of wonder. Is this what you wanted from your story?
Mikey Way: This is the one month of the year when you can forget a little about the pressures of life. And there is wonder and magic and hope and promise. Especially when you have kids. It's the Super Bowl. For a child, everything is “Christmas is coming!” spins around. So seeing it through the eyes of my two daughters…that's what it's all about. It has many layers. It's a layered holiday. But it's just a really cool thing. In a world full of darkness and doom, this is simply awesome and magnificent. It's like having a velvet cloud around you in December. Even November.
Mikey Way: There are a lot of bad things going on in the world. People are busy, people are stressed, people have responsibilities. And this is the time when you can celebrate being a family, celebrate the people you love and show them how much you love them.
You write this with Jonathan Rivera. You've both written books for DC's Young Animal, which was definitely more experimental, but you're trying to tell a more grounded story here, right?
Mikey Way: We are very similar. He went to art school with my brother. We all love the same thing. Trainspotting, Britpop, Stone Temple Pilots, The Crow, action figures, X-Men, anime. Jon was a kindred spirit. He is one of my best friends in the world. It was one I wanted to write a story about. It was the perfect opportunity because it feels the same way about an 80s/90s Christmas story. He has the same itch to scratch.
Your previous book, Destructivethere was a really strong family theme to it that continues Christmas 365. What is it about family in your work that speaks so strongly to you?
Mikey Way: Family is everything. As you get older, you start to realize that. And it plays on Christmas. When it comes to all things family. You may have an important job. You can have all the material wealth in the world. You can dream about this and that. But when it comes down to it, who is sitting at the dinner table with you? These are the ones who matter and the people who pick you up when you need them. They are there for you and you are there for them. So family unity has always been very important to me. Especially as I get older, I have children and a large family. It's really all you get in this world, and it's the most beautiful thing there is.
Besides Rivera, you also work with Piotr Kowalski. What was it like making this dream project with him and his art?
Mikey Way: What's interesting about him is that he's basically a fearmonger. When I got his artwork, most of the demo pages and pieces were horrible, and then I recently went on his Instagram and it was horrible, and I was like, “This is how it works because it's supposed to be an 80s/90s Christmas movie. .”. If you look at these films, they are all dark and they always tried to hide the element of horror. There was only one scary pot in the house.
It was for me A Christmas Story When Ralphie goes on the slide and Santa only pulls him down.
Mikey Way: There's always a moment of playful dread in these movies. So I think it fits the tone because you want it to look a little VHS. I think he was able to say exactly that. If we close our eyes and imagine Christmas 365 as a movie, it would look like this. Jon and I saw his art and thought, “This is the guy.” we said.
You spoke before the influence of suburban genre films like The burbs and Better Off Dead. How have these movies informed your Christmas story?
Mikey Way: So the story goes, me and my brother used to watch Better Off Dead probably a few times a week for years. That and One Crazy Summer, those two movies were very important to me and my brother. It had this Gonzo thing in it. It was kind of a grounded, suburban comedy, and it had all these kind of silly, fantastical ideas. All those movies had sports in them. Better Off Dead was skiing.
Oh, like Heathers and croquet?
Mikey Way: There was Team Wolf basketball. They all had sports. There's also a weird clay dream sequence, remember? There were all these weird things, but there was something about that movie that struck a chord with me and my brother, and we watched it once or twice a week for decades. But yeah, Savage Steve Holland was a big influence on me and Jon Rivera.
Christmas 365 #1 Available December 4th from Dark Horse Comics.
