“Come In! And Know Me Better, Man!" | Campfire’s A Christmas Carol (2010)

Like the Classics Illustrated and Marvel adaptations, Scott McCullar and Naresh Kumar's version gives this scene two pages. The first has Scrooge wake up and pull back his curtains, and the narrative text specifically calls out that he's doing it in order not to be surprised by the next ghost. By the end of the page, Scrooge has seen the light under his door and opened the door to be flooded with brightness.

The second page isn't a splash, but still gives most of its space to dramatically introducing the Ghost. This is my favorite depiction of the feast so far. Food and candles are everywhere and I love the muted, brown and golden color palette. It's very lush and decadent. And the food's extending behind the Ghost gives the impression that he could be sitting on a throne of it.

The Ghost himself is giant-sized, though not supernaturally so (which isn't a requirement). He's got the one-handed cornucopia torch that I like and his robes and fur-trim are the right colors. He's also got the broad, bare chest and long, brown hair. We don't see his feet for a good, long time, but peeking forward in the book, they are bare. He's got the swordless scabbard, too, which is a little more detailed than the Classical Comics version, but still not explicitly rusted. It does have an ancient quality to it though (or maybe I'm reading that into it). Like the Classical Comics version, this Ghost has everything except the icicles in the holly crown.

Kumar's inconsistent depictions of Scrooge early in the adaptation led me to the theory that this version is a malevolent sociopath who may be hallucinating all these ghosts in an effort to climb out of his own insanity. That continues in this scene. When the Ghost asks if Scrooge has ever walked with any of the Ghost's older brothers, Scrooge smiles kindly(?!) as he replies, "Never." There's nothing humble or apologetic about it, but there's also no sense that he's resentful or smug. There's no sense that he's interacting with a real being at all. Or at least that he believes he's interacting with a real being.

The dialogue modifies Scrooge's speech so that he doesn't say anything about having learned a lesson the night before. Instead, he tells the Spirit, "If you have anything to teach me, let's get this lesson done, so I may benefit from it." It's a perfectly inconsistent statement for this confused Scrooge. "Let's get this over with," but also, "I'm willing to change."

The Ghost does invite Scrooge to touch his robe and there's even a small panel focused on Scrooge's doing just that. As irregular as this Scrooge is, he's at least taking steps to get better.

“Another Idol Has Displaced Me” | Campfire’s A Christmas Carol (2010)

Scott McCullar and Naresh Kumar's version puts the break-up scene outside in a park unlike the other comics that have all had the scene inside in a house. There are only three-and-a-half pages for the scene, so even though it will cut out the vision of Belle's eventual family, the dialogue is still truncated. In fact, Old Scrooge himself does some expository work by announcing when he sees his younger self with Belle on a bench, "The years change people." He knows what's coming and adds, "I would prefer not to look at this."

No such doing though, of course, and the scene proceeds. Belle's bundled up for outdoors in the snow, but nothing she's wearing looks like mourning clothing. And no specific action of Scrooge's is mentioned as the reason for her breaking things off. Like the other adaptations, she just appears to have noticed a change in him and had enough.

Young Scrooge has a strange expression through most of the scene. His eyes look sad to me, but he's smiling. He gives me the impression that he's conflicted between regret and relief. When she walks away in the last panel though, it's sunk in what he let happen and he's fully sad, covering part of his face with a hand. 

Old Scrooge is angry about having to watch this and accuses the Ghost, which in this version saves him from having to see Belle's future family. She does defend herself though and I'm happy that we get another version that suggests the fragments of all the faces the Spirit had shown Scrooge. Like in the Classical Comics version though, they're just floating heads that share the panel with the Ghost of Christmas Past. There are only three in this version and one of them is covered up by the Ghost's word balloon so it's impossible to tell who it is. The other two are Young Scrooge and Belle though. 

Scrooge takes an extraordinarily long time to wrestle the Spirit into the extinguisher cap. He protests for a couple of panels, grabs the cap in the next, then takes three more panels to get it over the Spirit and down to the floor. And sadly, the narration doesn't always fit the visuals, so that it describes a struggle when Scrooge is completely turned away from the Spirt to grab her cap from where she'd apparently set it down.

And while the narration follows Dickens and talks about Scrooge being exhausted and immediately falling into bed, the art has him cap the Spirit downstairs and walk all the way upstairs to his room where he climbs into bed. 

“Why, It’s Old Fezziwig!” | Campfire’s A Christmas Carol (2010)

Scott McCullar and Naresh Kumar give almost two pages to Fezziwig's party. It begins with Old Scrooge and the Ghost appearing in the warehouse and Fezziwig's desk is elevated above everyone else. Dickens never says why this is so, but the way the office is laid out in this version makes me wonder if it's so Fezziwig can keep an eye on everything. Not in any kind of micro-managing way, naturally, but just so he can know what's going on at a glance if he's needed. And maybe so all the employees can know if he's available.

That's one thing different about this version: all the employees. It's not just Scrooge and Dick at work; there's a whole staff. I suppose that's to help explain the crowd at the party, but in Dickens the party-goers seem to be made up mostly of Fezziwig's household (maids, bakers, cooks, milkmen, etc.) and people who don't have anywhere else to celebrate. It's hard for adaptations to point out that social outsiders make up so much of the party, but this one obfuscates it even more by creating a whole other source of celebrants. It doesn't even specifically mention Fezziwig's family, though the crowd does grow when the party begins, so clearly it's not just employees.

We never get a great look at Fezziwig or his hair, but he does seem a bit plump and he's probably wearing some kind of old-fashioned, brown wig.

True to Dickens, Old Scrooge points out Dick Wilkins and mentions that "poor Dick" was "very much attached" to Young Scrooge without going into any more detail about what that means or whatever happened to Dick.

Fezziwig instructs Scrooge and Dick to put up the shutters, which is curious since there are so many other employees in the room as well. As Fezziwig's apprentices, maybe Scrooge and Dick have some kind of leadership responsibilities over the rest of the staff.

There's just one panel of the actual party and I couldn't pick out the fiddler in it. It's just a shot of people dancing with narrative text describing food and festivities of the evening. If Belle is there, she's not mentioned.

Scrooge watches most of this pensively, but there's a little smile on his face throughout. Text from Dickens tell us that "his heart and soul were in the scene," but he's not visually exuberant about it. Which is totally cool. The impression I get is that the scene is giving him some peace and I very much like that. I've been running a theory that this Scrooge's ghosts and visions may all be in his head and that his mind is working to heal itself after a lifetime of building unhealthy, perhaps even sociopathic walls between him and the rest of the world. He may or may not have supernatural assistance in this, but either way, Scrooge's brain would be trying to calm itself by recalling these scenes. And it seems to be working.

The text mentions Scrooge and Dick's "pouring out their hearts in praise of Fezziwig," but it's during the party, not after. The party-goers don't even leave the warehouse until a couple of panels later as Scrooge is still defending Fezziwig's generosity.

“I Was a Boy Here!” | Campfire’s A Christmas Carol (2010)

Scott McCullar and Naresh Kumar's version is surprisingly faithful to Dickens for how abbreviated it is. They've only got two-and-a-half pages for this scene, but do a remarkably nice job with it. They of course follow Dickens in having no transition scene between Scrooge's room and the his childhood's countryside.

I've criticized Kumar's art in past scenes for being inconsistent about facial expressions and emotions, but Scrooge is persistently thoughtful and even kind in this scene. I speculated earlier that the ghosts in this story might be all in Scrooge's head; manifestations of his conscience trying to battle its way through layers of malevolence and possibly even sociopathy that Scrooge has been building for years. If that's the case, then retreating into his memories has a profound effect on him.

The version skips the visit by Scrooge's literary friends, which is for the best. This Scrooge is troubled enough. After showing us little, lonely Scrooge it immediately jumps forward in time to Fan's visit. She's younger than Scrooge, but looks like she could be in her mid-teens.

She mentions that their father is kinder than he used to be, but leaves out the part where she asked him if Scrooge could come home for Christmas. The result is that it seems like Dad has just been generally unpleasant rather than particularly spiteful towards Scrooge. If that's the case, then I understand why these memories could have a calming effect on the old man. He mentions his regret about the boy caroler from the night before and when he talks about Fred, he seems downright serene. For all the loneliness leading up to these memories, they're pleasant ones for Scrooge.

The scene closes with him and Fan in a carriage with a driver, but doesn't include anything about the schoolmaster. It also says nothing about how Fan died or whether that affected Scrooge's attitude toward Fred.

“Your Reclamation, Then” | Campfire’s A Christmas Carol (2010)

Scott McCullar and Naresh Kumar skip the build-up to the Spirit's appearance and just have Scrooge wake up at the stroke of one. Frankly, that's fine with me. I don't think that the weird passage of time adds to the story and I prefer versions where everything is happening in one night anyway.

Kumar draws the Spirit as feminine and vaguely young. Maybe in her twenties? She does carry holly and a cap, but they both appear and disappear from panel to panel. Maybe that's intentional in lieu of a flickering affect. I doubt it - Kumar's art is sloppy in general - but Mike Collins' version did the same thing so I'll cut Kumar some slack, too.

Scrooge's reaction to the Spirit is hard to get a handle on. Kumar has a tough time maintaining consistency in facial expressions (or even in just the way he draws eyes), which has created a malevolent, sociopathic version of Scrooge who may be hallucinating all of these ghosts. He's positively horrifying when he asks the Spirit to cover her light with her cap, but thoughtfully complacent when apologizing after she takes offense. He's so all over the place that - like in the Marley scene - the general impression is that he's struggling internally with how to deal with all this. There's no sense that he's actually interacting with real beings.

Which makes the Spirit's hand on Scrooge's heart all the more fascinating. This is my favorite depiction of that so far. Other versions have only implied or outright changed it, but Kumar has the Spirit's hand firmly on Scrooge's chest with bright light passing from her to him. If I haven't stated it outright yet, I will now that this is a big deal.

I believe that Dickens' intention is to show the power that memories have to shape our character. Specifically, that dwelling on positive memories (like of Christmas) can lift our spirits and make us better people. The Spirit's putting its hand on Scrooge's heart is a metaphor for that, but as a thing that literally happens in the story, it also means that Scrooge's transformation isn't entirely his own choice. There's a direct, supernatural influence over his heart that at the very least makes him more receptive to what the Spirit's about to show him.

Reading this version as all being in Scrooge's head gives him back the power to change. I still really like this as an alternative reading. The weakness with it though is that there's no obvious reason for Scrooge start struggling with this. I can imagine that it's just something that's been building for a while and is now bubbling over, but that's not satisfying. Maybe there is a supernatural force at work - and maybe it's even Marley's ghost - but it could be triggering this war in Scrooge's mind rather than literally visiting him.

“More of Gravy than of Grave” | Campfire’s A Christmas Carol (2010)

Index of other entries in The Christmas Carol Project

Scott McCullar and Naresh Kumar cut from a long shot of Scrooge at his door to a close up of Marley's face on the knocker. It's not as shocking as it could be, but Marley's face is remarkable for looking wickedly impish with enormous spectacles on his forehead. Scrooge is stunned as he calls out Marley's name, but he's composed again in the next panel, where he's already doubting what he saw.

As he lights a candle in the foyer, a caption lets us know that "Scrooge was not a man to be frightened by echoes." And as he climbs the stairs (wide ones, but no mention of a hearse), more text shares Dickens' assertion that Scrooge liked darkness, because it's cheap. I kind of like this fearless Scrooge. He fits with the malevolent being that he's been portrayed as so far.

The next panel has Scrooge in his rooms and more text talks about his checking all over and double-locking his door. Those aren't the actions of a fearless man, but Scrooge's expression is serious and determined. It's hard to reconcile him with someone who's looking to make sure that no one's hiding in his dressing gown. Obviously, Scrooge is freaked out, but putting on a brave face.

As he sits to eat his gruel (his only meal of the evening as far as this version is concerned), we're told that he's "now feeling secure." And he looks it; gazing peacefully into his bowl as he loudly slurps. The text calls out the Dutch tiles and we see the Biblical images on them (PhotoShopped from Renaissance paintings) before then seeing them again with Marley's face, this time horrifyingly bug-eyed.

As the bells ring, Scrooge looks alert, but not especially frightened. He continues his attentive listening as the chains come up from the cellar, then he goes wild-eyed and insane at the sound on the stairs. "It's still humbug!" he cries, but he's clearly trying to convince himself.

Marley walks through the closed door and I like how he's depicted in that panel. He's just an outline of a form, with one arm coming into shape, but the rest of his body and face just a featureless mass. In the panel above, Marley has fully materialized (looking more or less solid) and Scrooge is now cowering, eyes shut and helpless. Marley looks positively menacing.

The ghost softens as the conversation progresses though. He's still very frightening as he takes off his bandage and his jaw drops open. It doesn't open to a supernatural degree, but it does look seriously dislocated. His eyes go from terrifying to tortured and finally to just sad. The transition seems to follow Scrooge's arguing. The more Scrooge resists Marley's warnings, the less powerful Marley seems to be.

For Scrooge's part, he never seems to fully accept the reality of Marley's ghost. After talking with Marley for a while, Scrooge actually goes back to eating. Even when Marley is wailing his loudest, Scrooge's "Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?" sounds more like Scrooge is questioning his own sanity than a phantom that he believes in. And when he says that he does, he must believe in Marley, Scrooge looks positively conniving. As if he's shrewdly trying to return to sanity in a battle of wits against his own damaged mind. It's at this point that Marley turns from scary to suffering.

Scrooge continues to look cold and calculating as they talk, with Marley calming down more and more. It comes off as if Scrooge is merely telling Marley (or the voices in his head, if that's what's going on) what he thinks they want to hear. He looks tired - rubbing his eyes - towards the end of the conversation and is only frightened again when Marley brings up that there will be three more spirits. He's not ready to battle whatever other demons his sick psyche is bringing up.

The ghosts' schedule follows the book and Marley does lead Scrooge to the window where they see a sky full of phantoms. One of them is even trying in vain to help a woman who's sitting in the snow with her baby.

Like the Marvel version, I think we're dealing with a mentally ill Scrooge here. (Also like with Marvel, I don't think that's the intention of the creators, but it's the way the character comes across.) The difference is that Marvel's version feels like a victim of his own mind, where Campfire's is more malevolent; possibly sociopathic. So while I want supernatural forces to intervene and heal Marvel's Scrooge, I'm more comfortable imagining that Campfire's ghosts are all in Scrooge's head.

Which makes it interesting that their purpose is still clearly to redeem him. If he's imagining all of this, he's also imagining ghosts trying to help homeless mothers. Meaning that there's a part of Scrooge that knows what he should be doing. Which makes this version of the story about the struggle for Scrooge's good conscience to defeat the evil that's dominated his mind for so long.

His Usual Melancholy Tavern | Campfire’s A Christmas Carol (2010)

Scott McCullar and Naresh Kumar condense our scene into a single panel. There's no mention of dinner, but the word "melancholy" is kept to describe Scrooge's walk home.

The description of the house is bare, too, saying only that Scrooge lives in the building alone. There's nothing about Marley and the text implies that Scrooge has the whole place to himself. Neither of those are bad things, though. So many adaptations suggest that Scrooge owns the whole building that I'm comfortable with that.

It's a little hard to decipher the depth of the yard in Kumar's drawing. We're quite close to that lantern and the wall behind it also looks near. But the gate on the left looks farther back and I can't tell how close it is to the house. I do like the lines suggesting sleet and wind though and Anil CK's colors are nice, putting Scrooge back in the cold, removed from the soft lantern light.

Index of other entries in The Christmas Carol Project

“If Quite Convenient, Sir" | Campfire’s A Christmas Carol (2010)

Index of other entries in The Christmas Carol Project

Scott McCullar and Naresh Kumar's adaptation skips the street scene outside of Scrooge's office except for some carollers. Dickens' solo kid has been joined by four more (singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," for the record), but this won't be the only version to turn the boy into a group.

I'm not sure why adaptations do that except to make the act of carolling more festive and fun. When a lone, small boy does it, it feels like an act of desperation as he tries to make enough money to maybe eat that night. When it's a group, it's a communal activity that possibly they're doing for the fun of it. So far, the adaptations we've looked at have all kept the kid by himself, heightening the despair that's mingled with the Christmas celebrations. By turning him into a quintet, McCullar and Kumar make a conscious choice that lightens the mood.

It gets dark again quickly when Scrooge gets involved though. I noticed last year that (intentionally by the creators or not) this Scrooge isn't just grumpy and mean; he's actively evil. When he picks up the ruler to chase away the characters, it's not just what he had handy, it's a bona fide weapon. Scrooge's ruler changes size from panel to panel (it's relatively normal-sized in the first panel above), but when he brandishes it against the kids it looks like it's about two feet long and has a sharpened end.

As the kids are still fleeing and Scrooge is still holding the ruler, he says to Cratchit, "And you will want all day off tomorrow, I suppose?" It's like he's challenging Cratchit.

In the background, Cratchit's already putting on his hat. No one's acknowledged that it's quitting time, but Cratchit knows that it is and he's wasting no time. I don't imagine that Cratchit's actually bold enough to leave early, but the effect is that Scrooge sort of threatens him and he's beating feet out of there. His "If it's convenient, sir," sounds like a way of deliberately not answering Scrooge's challenge.

When Scrooge says that it's not convenient, he's got the same mad look in his eye that he had when he talked about boiling people in their own pudding. He gets no sympathy points in this one. He feels like a sociopath looking for an excuse to snap.

Curiously, Cratchit doesn't seem bothered when he says, "It's only once a year, sir." He looks grim-faced and determined. A couple of panels later, Cratchit slips up and almost wishes Scrooge a "Merry Christmas," but catches himself and changes it to "good night." He doesn't look at all worried though. He's more focused on trying to get his coat buttoned.

A possible explanation for all that is something I've just noticed. This Cratchit has a large, square chin that's in direct contrast with Scrooge's smaller, weaker one. Cratchit's not a little guy either, physically. So it's very possible that he wants to avoid a confrontation not because he's afraid of Scrooge, but because he's afraid of what he might have to do to Scrooge if it came to that. And then Cratchit would be out of a job and it's a whole mess...

This is one, crazy Christmas Carol, but I'm digging it.

'You Wish to Be Anonymous?' | Campfire’s A Christmas Carol (2010)

Index of other entries in The Christmas Carol Project

Re-reading my posts on this adaptation from the last couple of years, I see that I was presumptuous about the parts that writer Scott McCullar was responsible for and which parts were by artist Naresh Kumar. One of the things I've been reminded of this year is that it's difficult to know what kind of collaboration an artist and writer have. I know that Jason's made suggestions that have changed the script of Kill All Monsters and I've had input to some of the visual elements, so it's not always as clear as it first appears. I should have known better, so from here out I'm going to quit blaming Kumar for all the visual flaws of the Campfire edition and simply write about the work itself.

There do continue to be major flaws in the scene with the solicitors, but it opens with something that I mentioned last year that I like. As Fred is leaving Scrooge's office, Scrooge insults Cratchit for celebrating Christmas on his miserable salary. That's straight from Dickens, but in the original text Scrooge is muttering it to himself. In the Campfire comic, he's saying it out loud and the word balloons spill into the next panel where the solicitors are greeting Scrooge. What that suggests is that Scrooge is badmouthing his clerk - and revealing his salary - in front of potential customers. That's a bold, dickish action and I kind of love Scrooge for it.

I also like the perturbed look that the lead solicitor (on the right) gives Scrooge in the first panel above. Rather than seem confused by Scrooge's comments, he appears to get it. Sadly, that doesn't make sense with the rest of the scene when the same character (inexplicably white-haired in the next panel) continues to press on with his pitch. There's also some awkwardness with the balloon placement in that third panel, making it look like Scrooge's "Nothing" is a response to the offer of anonymity.

There are a couple of other oddities in the next two panels, but like Scrooge's jerkiness at the scene's opening, they can be read in a way that enhances the story. When Scrooge dismisses the men, he waves a friendly goodbye while talking about decreasing the surplus population. He's not just mean; he's cheerfully mean.

And then there's the end of the scene with Scrooge seated, thinking, "Good afternoon, gentlemen." Like the stuff above, we can either read that as a mistake (which I imagine it is), or accept it as the way this version is told and just read it as it is. The second option is way more fun and what that does is create a Scrooge who is so pleased with his own meanness that he's savoring the idea that he's just ruined the rest of these guys' day. Read that way, McCullar and Kumar's Scrooge goes beyond just being miserable and mean; he's actively evil. That should make his redemption - if he is redeemed - very interesting.

'Merry Christmas, Uncle!' | Campfire’s A Christmas Carol (2010)

Last year, my biggest issue with this adaptation was the art. Naresh Kumar is capable enough at drawing, but he's not a strong storyteller and that problem continues into this year's scene. He does draw Fred coming through the door as he greets his uncle (giving his entrance a proper, abrupt feel), but that could be in the script. There's only one panel where any real acting is done with the characters: a close up of Scrooge's eyes as he talks about the stake of holly through the heart. His eyes are asymmetrical - one's squinting more than the other - so it looks like Scrooge is coming unhinged in his anger. I'll give Kumar the benefit of the doubt that that's what he intended.

Other than that though, Scrooge and Fred go through the scene with no real expression. Occasionally, they look like they're smiling cordially at each other. There's no tension in the artwork and we get no insight to these characters from looking at them.

The script is serviceable for the most part. Scott McCullar continues to update the language some and makes the expected trims to the dialogue. There's only one change that's noteworthy, but unfortunately, not in a good way. During Fred's speech, McCullar changes "the only time I know of [...] when men and women [...] think of people below them" to "Christmas is the only time I know of when men and women can think of others." I hate that he adds that "can" to it. In McCullar's version, Fred is saying that the only possible time for people to open their hearts to others is at Christmas, which is a) patently untrue, and b) not at all Fred's point in Dickens. It's not the only time that we can think of others; it's just - sadly - often the only time that we do. That's a huge, important difference.

Cratchit's applause after Fred's speech isn't noteworthy. There's no humor to it at all and we don't even see Cratchit's face during the scene to get a feel for how he reacts to Scrooge's threats.

Scrooge's line about seeing Fred in hell before joining him for dinner is replaced with a simple "bah," and the conversation about Fred's marriage is so passionless (again, mostly a problem with the art) that there's no feel whatsoever about what's really going on in Fred and Scrooge's relationship.

There is one last bit of interest though as the scene transitions to the next one. Like Scrooge's eyes above, I don't know if this is intentional or not, but let's imagine that it is. As Fred leaves and exchanges greetings with Cratchit, Scrooge makes fun of Cratchit as he does in Dickens. Rather than muttering it to himself though, he says it out loud and the word balloons spill into the panel in which the charity solicitors are entering the room.  Scrooge is also smiling welcomingly at the solicitors (not knowing yet that they aren't there for business) as he says it, so it looks like he's putting down Cratchit in front of potential customers. Intentional on the storytellers' part or not, it's the jerkiest thing Scrooge has done so far and I like it.

Old Sinner: Campfire (2010)

I’m not fond of the art in Campfire’s line of adaptations and the first page of A Christmas Carol is a good example of the problem. Scott McCullar is the writer responsible for adapting the novel and he does a nice job with the opening scene. There’s a splash-page prologue with Scrooge standing in profile and Marley’s burial going on in the background behind him. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to tell from Naresh Kumar’s art if these are two different images or if Scrooge is attending the burial but is stand-offish about it. The text reveals that though Scrooge was Marley’s sole executor, friend, mourner, etc., he “was not so dreadfully upset by the sad event. Instead, he continued with business as usual on the very day of the funeral…on Christmas Eve.” Scrooge could be attending the funeral, but standing back from it, eager to get on to business. Or he could be out conducting business with the shadow of the simultaneous funeral looming behind him.

The introduction to Scrooge’s personality continues on the second page where we’re informed about the sign. McCullar’s text follows Dickens’ closely, but he’ll occasionally modernize the language or tone down its Victorian sound. He loses a lot of the humor that way, but not all. And it’s obvious that he intended for some of that to be picked up again in the art. For instance, McCullar doesn’t use the line about blind men’s dogs, but he wrote in a panel where a dog is in fact pulling its blind owner away from Scrooge. It’s not as funny as it could be because the dog’s overly intense eyes make it look like it’s chasing a squirrel instead of trying to get away from the main character, but I can see what McCullar was trying to accomplish.

The sign itself at first appears to be another problem, but there’s a way of reading it that could say something purposeful about Scrooge. Though the text explains that Scrooge didn’t paint out Marley’s name, the art makes it look like he’s tried to do just that. Scrooge’s name on the sign is bold and black; Marley’s is splotchy with the sign’s background color breaking up the black of the letters. Either it’s been half-heartedly painted over or it’s faded in a way that Scrooge’s hasn’t. Since the first option directly contradicts the text, it must be that Marley’s name has faded. But then why hasn’t Scrooge’s? In most adaptations, Scrooge and Marley’s names prosper or suffer together, but here it looks like Scrooge has spent some money upkeeping his side of the sign.

I don’t remember if I noticed this before, but Dickens never explicitly states that Scrooge kept Marley’s name as a way of saving money. That can be implied from the rest of Scrooge’s character, but all Dickens actually says is that Scrooge kept the name of the firm intact. Could he be proud enough that he wants his name legible? It’s impossible to tell from these couple of pages, but Kumar does draw Scrooge as tall and straight. He has a weak chin, but a strong mouth and piercing, intelligent eyes. If those traits are intentional, we’re seeing a haughty Scrooge in line with Alastair Sim and George C Scott’s.

By the bottom of Page 2, Scrooge is in the counting-house watching his clerk, who appears to be wearing some kind of half-blanket against the cold. The blanket disappears in the next panel where the clerk appears to be opening the coal scuttle. The text mentions that it’s cold and that the fires are small, but says nothing about the clerk’s wanting more coal. I imagine that Scrooge is meant to be glaring at the clerk as he goes for the scuttle. That would fit what McCullar tried to do with the dog earlier; letting the art tell significant parts of the story. In fact, the next panel has the clerk back at his desk, warming his hands at his candle, so this quick interaction between Scrooge and the clerk could have been clever and funny had the art been up to it.

Unfortunately, like with the dog, the art doesn’t do its share. Rather than glaring at his clerk, Scrooge simply appears to be engrossed in his work, so as far as we can tell the clerk got some coal (actually, you have to know already that that’s a scuttle he’s dipping into; you can’t tell otherwise) and then went back to his candle. It doesn’t make any sense.