A Kidnapped Santa Claus
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Product Description
First published in 1904, “A Kidnapped Santa Claus” by L. Frank Baum, the leader of The Wizard of Oz, describes the action of some uncommon events in the land of Santa. Not far from the Laughing Valley where Santa and all his magical helpers live, and beyond the jungle of Burzee, there stands a huge mountain that contains the Cave of Demons. Each demon has a specialty: Egocentricity, Envy, Hatred, Malice, and Repentance. Because the promise of Santa puts all girls and boys on their best behavior, the demons have hardly any visitors to their caves. In order to remedy their dismal foot traffic, they conspire to kidnap Santa! But oh! even when it looks as if the demons might win, one can never underestimate the power of devoted (and magical!) friends.
Adapted by Alex Robinson, leader of several graphic novels, the action and menace of the tale will be enhanced and lightly spoofed. It seems a most appropriate treatment of Baum’s work — he was an leader who regularly let his profound and unsettling meanings roil beneath the surface of his otherwise fanciful tales.
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Harper Collins unrestricted this tiny hardcover graphic novel based on L. Frank Baum’s original book, A Kidnapped Santa Claus, adapted by Alex Robinson(Box Office Poison). The book was a followup to Baum’s The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus which told Santa’s origins. In this tale, Santa gets captured by some evil demons, so a bunch his elves and fairy friends(including Zurline)mount a rescue. This really turned out to be a fantastic comic for young readers, and I highly recommend it as a holiday gift.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
There’s a reason that L. Frank Baum’s “A Kidnapped Santa Claus” has permanently been less than classic when it comes to Christmas tales: The mythology is too much to grasp in the span of a fleeting tale. The “daemons” that kidnap Santa go by the names of Egocentricity, Envy, Hatred, and Repentance (a fifth, Malice, is not included in Robinson’s adaptation). As a way to teach children the perilousness of vices, “A Kidnapped Santa Claus” would seem to have a daunting task.
Baum goes several steps further, though, complicating matters with layers of original mythology. His Santa doesn’t live at the North Pole–as a replacement for, he lives in Laughing Valley on the border of the jungle of Burzee. As a replacement for of elves, he’s helped by knooks, ryls, fairies, and pixies. Over the course of Baum’s novel “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus,” things are simpler to know. As a standalone tale, though, there’s too much going on.
Comic book artist Alex Robinson does an admirable job, illustrating Baum’s tale with gorgeous black-and-white line art. His original dialogue and creations are welcome additions, updating the tale for modern readers. (One of the Santa’s fairies, Wisk, is now a female with a crush on her co-worker Kilter, providing some much-needed humor.) Still, Robinson can’t solve the central problem of the fleeting tale, which is that it is ends up too intricate for a children’s book…and too silly for adults to appreciate. It’s probably better suited to an animated film–it would be appealing to see what Tim Burton (or even Pixar or Dreamworks) could do with Baum’s tale, Robinson’s new creations, and 90 minutes of screen time.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
Alex fills out this fleeting tale with such thought and care that I wish it was longer! I like that the morality tale brings everyone, even the “terrible” kids to become “excellent.” The stark black and white artwork gives the tale another excellent vs terrible edge. It’s a classic tale that you should read to your kids before they go to bed on Christmas Eve.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5