CHRISTMAS COMICS: Ghost Rider

From Marvel Holiday Special 1991:

This festive tale begins with five men kidnapping four year old blind boy William out of his bedroom on Christmas Eve. Go back and read that sentence again, it's truly what this story is about. By the following sequence, William has fallen out of the car he’s been bundled into and is now running around in a graveyard begging for Santa to help him.

William mistakes the noise of Ghost Rider's chain for jingle bells and his boots for Santa's. After dispensing with the nasty men (off-panel), Ghost Rider takes William back home on his fiery bike, and the young lad believes it’s Santa’s sleigh. As alluded to yesterday, Mike Ploog originally co-created and drew Ghost Rider, but here he is presented by John Hebert in a story by Howard Mackie.

CHRISTMAS COMICS: Mike Ploog's Santa Claus

Mike Ploog has drawn a lot of comics over the years. Ones I’ve liked include Abadazad, Frankenstein, Ghost Rider, Planet of the Apes and Weirdworld. He’s even drawn some of Eric Powell’s The Goon.

This Santa Claus comic is an adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s story. As indicated in the title, it follows his life from baby to adulthood. Here are some pages, click for larger versions...

Before the end, Death turns up for Santa...

In order to make some money, Ploog left comics and worked in movies. With decent income sorted out, he wrote and drew Santa Claus outwith the deadline driven processes of Marvel and DC. It was then published in 1992 by Tundra. Ploog turned out a really beautiful book here.