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It's interesting to note that even though its cover-title appears to be "CHARLTON'S HOLI-DAY SURPRISE", this comic's indicia indicates otherwise. One of Charlton's occasional 25¢ ,"giant-size" 64- page comics, HOLIDAY SURPRISE was overseen by Executive Editor Pat Masulli and Managing Editor Dick Giordano, whose apparent intention was to combine a traditional comic book with a children's activity book. (Accordingly, its cover-copy ballyhoos "games", "puzzles", "comics" and "things to make".) Considering this, it's rather amazing that this copy of HOLIDAY SURPRISE has survived completely intact (although its previous owner couldn't resist solving the maze on this comic's first page.) But consider the reactions of activity-minded kids who came to the unfortunate realization that, in many cases, cutting out many of this comic's activities not only resulted in an unreadable comic, but the resulting ornaments, greeting cards and other bi-products were so poorly planned that they only really "worked" on one side!

Included in this issue of HOLIDAY SURPRISE are the following stories, features and advertisements:

• "Santa's Cold", a black-and-white, inside-front-cover gag-strip drawn by Tony Tallarico. - Mrs. Claus follows the example set by Mary Poppins when it comes to treating her husband with medicine for the sniffles.

• "A Gift For You!!", a maze drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• "Ornaments…For Under The Tree!", two activity pages drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• A page featuring two ads: "48: 'Talking' Monsters From Outer Space" that are "colorful one-piece quality latex" (read: balloons) from "Regency Mail Order"; and "Boys!…Girls! Here's A Real Conversation Piece - It's New And Different!! Antique Cigar Band Ring:" available through mail-order from "Medford Products".

• "Little Rufus", a one-page gag-strip drawn by Tony Tallarico. - Santa Claus auditions reindeer to pull his sleigh on Christmas Eve; little Rufus seems too puny for the task -- until he backs into the tines of a pitchfork!

• "Racing Santa Home", a two-page game drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• "Santa's Double", a matching-game drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• "Make Your Own Greetings", do-it-yourself Christmas cards drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• "Welcome Santa", a maze drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• "The Talking Snowman", a gag-strip drawn by Tony Tallarico. - Two kids play a prank on Billy, by turning Joey into a loquacious snowman

• "Dot-To-Dot", three pages of dot-to-dot puzzles drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• "The Story Of Christmas.", drawn by Tony Tallarico. - The story of the birth of Jesus Christ is boiled down to three monochromatic pages, in what may be some of the artist's best work.

• "The Story Of Hanukah.", drawn by Tony Tallarico. - The story of the eight days of Hanukah is boiled down to three monochromatic pages, in another well-drawn piece by the artist.

• "Grandma's Christmas Surprise!", a text-page story illustrated by Tony Tallarico.

• "Make Your Own Greetings", more do-it-yourself Christmas cards drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• "On this and the next few pages are pictures to color. After you do this, cut out your favorite ones and use them to decorate your room for the holidays.", five coloring pages drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• A page featuring two ads: "Look Kids! Atomic Age Air Rifle", a "completely safe and harmless" (but rather phallic) toy available through mail-order from "Anris Plastic Corp."; and "Coin Collector Specials!" available through mail-order from "Coin Wholesalers".

• "Santa's Stowaway", a one-page gag-strip drawn by Tony Tallarico. - Jo-Jo the elf tags along on Christmas Eve - inside Santa's bag;

• "A Christmas Carol", the first chapter of a 20-page adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic 1843 story, drawn by Tony Tallarico. - We're introduced to wealthy miser Ebeneezer Scrooge, his all-too-faithful employee Bob Crachet (a name that's misspelled throughout this hit-and-miss adaptation; Dickens spelled it "Cratchit") and the rest of the Crachet family, including puny, crippled Tiny Tim. Scrooge spends Christmas Eve working at making even more money, until he's interrupted by an apparition.

• A page of classified mail-order ads selling rockets, magic tricks, stamps, coins, guitar lessons and "a secret bat-transmitter" (!), among other offers.

• "The Ghost Of Christmas Past", the second chapter of a 20-page adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic story, "A Christmas Carol", drawn by Tony Tallarico. - The chain-bearing apparition introduces itself as the ghost of Scrooge's former partner, Jacob Marley. It takes the old skinflint into the past, where he witnesses his own childhood as an optimistic innocent whose Christmas is ruined by his own heartless father. Returning to the present, the ghost shows Scrooge how, for others, Christmas is a happy time.

• "The Ghost Of Christmas Present", the third chapter of a 20-page adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic story, "A Christmas Carol", drawn by Tony Tallarico. - Then, Marley's ghost leads Scrooge to the home of the Crachet family, where the wealthy old coot is forced to witness how Bob's family makes the best of things, even without a Christmas feast or presents. Little Tiny Tim even defends Scrooge as "a good man".

• "The Ghost Of Christmas To Come", the fourth and final chapter of a 20-page adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic story, "A Christmas Carol", drawn by Tony Tallarico. - Next, Marley's ghost takes Scrooge into the future, where he's present at his own, otherwise unattended funeral. (Despite these referential chapter-titles, it's apparent that Charlton couldn't afford to feature all three ghosts from Dickens' original version of this classic story!) Realizing that he's now dead, Ebeneezer Scrooge becomes a ghost himself, soon embracing the sentiment that in his condition, wealth becomes meaningless. Intangible, Scrooge is unable to communicate with the living; not even Bob Crachet and his family are able to see or hear him. Despondent, the ghostly miser returns to his office. Suddenly, Scrooge wakes up; he'd fallen asleep at his desk and was only dreaming! Transformed by his dreams, Scrooge is now generous to one and all, paying a visit to the Crachet family, bearing gifts, food and good cheer. (Hmmm, looks like Tiny Tim's alternate-reality death was cut from this adaptation, too!)

• "The Right Stocking!", a puzzle drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• "A Tight Squeeze", a one-page gag-strip drawn by Tony Tallarico. - Two kids suggest a new method for Santa to avoid getting stuck in chimneys.

• "Santa Paper Doll", drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• "Hidden Gifts", a puzzle drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• "A Trip To Santa Game", a two-page board game.

• "Add A Santa", a number-puzzle drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• "Santa And His Helpers For You To Make!", an activity page.

• "Tree Decorations", a matching puzzle drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• A page featuring two ads: "Order-By-Mail Specials!", offering a variety of decals, magic tricks, signs, pennants, patches, stamps and labels - plus the book 1001 THINGS THAT YOU CAN GET FOR FREE - from "Dollar Bargains"; and "Official Batman - With Robin The Boy Wonder - Full Color (Electric) Projector" plus "Free 100 Batman Superhero Photos" from "Charlton Comics". (So what was Charlton doing peddling items featuring their competitor's star character?)

• "Santa's Gift House Game", a two-page board game drawn by Tony Tallarico.

• "Let Me Show You Too, How To Make Yourself Astronaut-Tough", an ad for mail-order bodybuilding courses from the "American Body Building Club".

• "Record Riot! 60 Hit Songs", a black-and-white, inside-back-cover ad for "a complete record library" from "Hit Records" (conveniently located in Derby, Connecticut's Charlton Building).

• "Free - 100 Batman Superhero Photos" a back-cover ad (with a completely different layout and artwork from the similar interior ad described above) for the "Official Batman - With Robin The Boy Wonder - Full Color (Electric) Projector" from "Charlton Comics".

ODDBALL Factoid - According to its indicia - and in Charlton's tradition of confusing nomenclature and numeration -- HOLIDAY SURPRISE was previously titled SUMMER FUN!

Bonus ODDBALL Factoid - Cartoonist Tony Tallarico also drew Dell's THE LITTLEST SNOWMAN, an Oddball Christmas-themed comic book from 1964!

For more from Scott Shaw!, visit his Web site at http://www.shawcartoons.com/.

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