A Wild Holiday Horror Showdown
We dive into a future where Christmas is a rumor, hope is on life support, and the only thing jingling is the sound of bullets hitting steel. The resistance is scraping by, trying to remember what joy even felt like, when suddenly BOOM, Skynet decides to send in the holiday edition of nightmare fuel. And the machine chooses the most disrespectful disguise possible: straight-up Saint Nick drip. Forget cookies and milk this Santa is breaking necks, stomping skulls, and dropping bodies like ornaments off a cheap tree.
The magic here? Paulina Ganucheau’s script actually makes us care about these survivors. Ava the resistance leader with memory of the old worldkeeps hope burning like the last busted Christmas light in a blackout. She’s guiding Chris, the youngest soldier, through fear with stories of what Christmas used to be, using nostalgia like emotional armor. It’s powerful, it’s human, and it slaps harder than a malfunctioning T-800.
Kendall Goode’s art? Chef’s kiss with a side of peppermint smoke. It’s warm and animated like a holiday specialbut twisted, scorched, and splattered with red LEDs and scorched metal. When the Terminator takes damage and that endoskeleton peeks through the Santa suit? That’s holiday nightmare fuel in 4K glory. And when we switch to Terminator-vision? Everything turns Skynet Red with lettering that straight-up hums like a hard drive booting.
The action is a whole buffet of ridiculous and terrifying. You get a robo Santa shrugging off bullets like snowflakes. You get resistance fighters unloading everything they got while the machine just keeps coming, beard flapping like it’s in a Pepsi commercial from hell. You get bodies dropping, robots glitching, and somehowall wrapped in a story about holding onto hope even when the world feels done with you.
This one-shot stands tall. It’s entertaining, emotional, violent, funny, and absolutely unhinged in the best way. If your holiday season ever feels rough, just remember: at least you’re not running from a homicidal Santa-bot with glowing red eyes.
SCORE:
3.5/5
(W) Paulina Ganucheau
(A) Kendall Goode
(CA) Will Robson
(Publisher) Dynamite Entertainment
Author Profile
- I'm Al Mega the CEO of Comic Crusaders, CEO of the Undercover Capes Podcast Network, CEO of Geekery Magazine & Owner of Splintered Press (coming soon). I'm a fan of comics, cartoons and old school video games. Make sure to check out our podcasts/vidcasts and more!
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