Startling Tales of Santa Claus 2025 Annual

by Benito Cereno (Writer), seakae (Illustrator/Letterer), Evan "Doc" Shaner (Illustrator/Letterer)

Six seasonal fantasy-adventure stories to drive the cold winter away! See:

Saint Nicholas match wits with a devil!
Mrs. Claus take on the Wild Huntsman!
The birth of a log that poops nougat!
The grisly outcome of trying to outlaw the Krampus!
How many cookies really make a dozen!

PLUS: How they do Christmas in Lovecraft country! 80 big ad-free pages!

84 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 3, 2025

About the author

Comics writer, Latin knower, folklore liker, Kentucky boy, Christmas enthusiast.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

(B) 74% | More than Satisfactory
Notes: Deep-end dives, big pagan vibes, stark Euro Santacore—how faithful though? I do not know—a jam/mélange of lore.

*Progress updates: Preamble ◦ Pages 3-26 ◦ Pages 27-50 ◦ Pages 51-74

[bundleofmeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

a few stories i assume from different cultures history around christmas. i loved the variation in art style with wach one. sweet and funny and a lot more

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Startling Tales of Santa Claus 2025 Annual #1 is an Image Comics comic book written by Benito Cereno with art by Seakae, Doc Shaner, Anthony Clark, and Emmett Graham.

This is an anthology series of Santa Claus stories that incorporates Santa, Christmas, and Winter holiday based mythology and folklore from different cultures and countries around the world. The longest story sees Santa investigate a young girl’s father who went into the woods to chop wood but was found by the townspeople asleep and unable to wake.

I really enjoyed all the European folklore in these stories to create a rich dark fantasy take on the Santa mythology. The idea here was to make Santa feel more like a super hero which I think partially succeeds. Even those the art in these stories is varied and strong and they take place in a deep and creative world, the actual stories didn’t suck me in.

[Garth · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️, rounded up

[Ex Libris Animus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun collection of Christmas lore sprinkled with HORROR 🧑‍🎄🔪🩸

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved some of these, I love learning different cultures beliefs. Some of them were, eh.