THE CHRISTMAS BANDITS is a festive one-shot from the well-known Marvel comic book penciller Ariel Olivetti and writer Brian Monge. The story begins on Christmas Eve, when a group of marauding urban raccoons do a job on an unsuspecting Santa Claus impersonator. However, they get more than they bargained for when the real thing (in this retelling, an improbably buff, Kurt Russell-esque giant of a man) shows up, brushes off their attacks, and promptly offers them a one-off gig as his bodyguards. Before long, the group is flying through a starry night sky by the light of a full moon, fending off attacks from the evil King Tusk’s Gargillions—the Wizard of Oz-inspired flying monkeys of the story—and dispensing snappy one-liners all the while.

Though Olivetti’s artwork is uniformly excellent, the book’s success relies on the merits of the story. There is much to like about it, certainly: dialog rattles along at a fair pace, and the raccoons are likable enough—if somewhat interchangeable (despite some epigrammatic descriptions of them offered by Santa early on). The action is pleasantly batty, too: Santa-Schwarzenegger and the raccoons manage to include visits to the Eiffel Tower, the Notre Dame, the Pyramids of Giza, and the Hollywood sign into their festive travels. There are explosions, supersized guns and blades, and monsters aplenty.

But after a promising beginning, the story sags in the middle. A toned, katana-wielding assassin named Katalina, suffused with the male gaze, is somewhat shoehorned into the story halfway through. Also, despite its foreshadowing on page three, the appearance of a long-forgotten bunker of Adolf Hitler at the North Pole is only included to give the raccoons access to weaponry at a crucial moment in the story —though it does afford an opportunity for some welcome fascist-bashing (a swastika-festooned flag comes in handy in lieu of a dartboard). However, for those looking for thrills and spills and not too minded to think about the logistics of the story, THE CHRISTMAS BANDITS offers pleasant diversions for the holiday season.

THE CHRISTMAS BANDITS, written by Brian Monge and illustrated by Ariel Olivetti, offers oodles of action and one-liners.

~Craig Jones for IndieReader