Let's kick off with 2000AD.
In the Beano Christmas issue, So Beano puts a reader on the pitch with Ball Boy in a Beanotown v Toppertown match. Some old DC Thomson characters are brought out of retirement, including Beryl the Peril and original recipe Tricky Dicky.
Two things I learned this Christmas: the Beano kids' parents seem to have been given real names. Minnie the Minx's dad is called Darren (even though he was once given the name Victor back in the 80s, but things are very different now) and improbably enough, Roger the Dodger's dad is called Les Dawson. I am baffled by this knowledge.
And secondly, there are a lot of Doctor Who fans at DC Thomson.
Dennis think's that must be Santa...
He is clear that he isn't Doctor Who "any more", he's just plain old Peter Capaldi now. He invites Dennis and Gnasher into his grotto...
Minnie does her own version of The Twelve Days of Christmas (Dennis did this in a Beano I got in the 80s; I still sing "Two Hurtled Gloves and a Parsnip from a Spare Ski" to this day)
The great Hunt Emerson does a regular strip turning readers into Beano characters
And The Bash Street kids puts on a Nativity that is in tune with the gender-fluid zeitgeist.
Take that Hamilton!
This also is a theme in Faith's Winter Wonderland Special as Faith is dragged into a consumerist nightmare version of the Lewis Carroll story.
I've never read Faith before (I've had it recommended loads) so don't know what her deal is, but she does rescue a woman called Alice who was a TV star when Faith was a child.
Anti-capitalism is also the theme of this year's My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Holiday Special.
Why have one day when we can have a whole Hearthswarming SEASON!?
Let's round up this year's Viz:
The Die Kitty Die Christmas Special #1 is also in tune with the events of 2017 as Kitty explains to Jack Frost the meaning of consent.
This is refreshing from a comic (based around Archie and Harvey parodies) that largely played sexual assaults for comedy.
Doctor Who Magazine didn't have a Christmas story apart from Lew Stringer's comedy strip.
"Put it in the curry!" (sorry)
The Beano Christmas Special featured Minnie the Minx kidnapping Santa for the second time.
The Numskulls find themselves in Santa's head...
Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose #107 was a Yule special which featured a Teen Tarot story where Boo first comes out as a werecat... (don't worry if none of that means anything, you aren't missing anything)
The main story features the return of Krampus, and things get.... filthy.
Let's walk away from all that, to the Beano Annual 2017 where the Bash Street Kids help Santa by replacing his lost reindeer with some returning character cameos: The Bash Street Pups.
Puzzlingly, the Dandy Annual 2017 (which proved a lot more difficult to find this year which I hope doesn't mean they're stopping publication) included a character that was horribly out of place back in the mid-90s. Fiddle O'Diddle!
And Cuddles and Dimples went to a cosplay competition.
Oh, look, another Dalek...
Here's a selection of the best Private Eye cartoon:
The only superhero Christmas from the big two I found this year was DC Holiday Special 2017
The Flash story features Wally West singing that song that so popular last year.
The Atomic Knights make a surprise comeback.
Swamp Thing, the avatar of the Green, grows himself from a single sprig of mistletoe on a space station.
And the spirit of the season means the Kents invited John Constantine in to celebrate with them.
(There's also a lovely Hanukkah story featuring Sgt Rock by Tom King and Frencesco Francavilla, but it doesn't lend itself to having a single image plucked out)
Happy Hearthswarming Everypony!
