“Come In! And Know Me Better, Man!" | Graphic Classics, Volume 19: Christmas Classics

Alex Burrows and Micah Farritor's version give a page and a couple of spill-over panels to this scene. At the end of the last Christmas Past page, Scrooge goes to bed and the final panel of the page has the clock striking One.

On our main page, Scrooge doesn't sit up in anticipation of the next Ghost, but is awakened by banging and crashing sounds coming from his sitting room. There's no light under the door, but he goes to check out the noise and that's when he meets the spirit. Whom I presume made the racket while setting up the Christmas feast?

The largest panel on this page introduces the Ghost who's sitting at a table filled with holiday food that's also spilling onto the floor. It doesn't appear to cover every inch of the room, but it's bountiful. There's also festive garland on the walls. 

The Ghost himself is very large and carries what I'm now considering the standard, one-handed cornucopia-shaped torch. He has the green robe with the white fur trim. And while his chest isn't bared, his robe falls loosely enough on him that we can see he's shirtless underneath it. The robe is also long enough to cover most of his feet and we don't get a good look in this scene, but a peek ahead in the book shows me that he's barefoot.

He has the long, brown hair and the holly wreath, but still no icicles in this version either. He does have the swordless sheath though and kudos to the colorist (Farritor, I presume, but I don't know for sure) for giving the sheath a rusted texture. That makes this the most faithful version yet and I especially like Farritor's design of the Ghost's face with its high cheekbones and large, strong nose. He's quite distinctive.

Scrooge doesn't mention anything about the effect of the previous night's experience on him, but we've seen him strongly affected by it in those scenes. Spelling it out is unnecessary in this version, so all Scrooge needs to say is that if this Ghost has something to teach Scrooge, he's ready to profit from it.

That ends the main page of this scene, leaving the Ghost to invite Scrooge to touch his robe (and Scrooge's actually doing it) in the first panel of the next page that will also have them actually hitting the streets.

“Another Idol Has Displaced Me” | Graphic Classics, Volume 19: Christmas Classics

Alex Burrows and Micah Farritor's version stages this scene interestingly. It's in a room, but it's large and mostly empty except for a couple of chairs and a fireplace. The chairs are simple and wooden, so the spartan furnishings of this room contradict its sheer size. I wonder if this is a new house that Scrooge has invested in, but doesn't yet have the money (or even the desire, if he's already a miser) to decorate.

The chairs are also back to back for some reason, which creates tension when Belle and Scrooge are both seated in them. As the scene opens though, Scrooge is seated in the chair facing the fire and Belle is standing nearby.

She's dressed in black and wearing a veil appropriate for mourning, which leads me to another possibility about the room. Maybe it's her parents' house and everything has been moved out with their death except these two chairs. I like the ambiguity and that - like the mourning dress - there are just enough details to suggest some possibilities for why Belle is choosing this particular time to break up.

It's an abridged conversation that has her sit in the other chair for a bit before getting up and leaving Scrooge in the room. Young Scrooge looks sad and alone, but makes no move to stop her. Old Scrooge looks pitiful when he begs the Spirit to show him no more.

There's no further argument though as the Spirit rushes through a few more visions, each just taking a panel. We see Belle and a man holding a baby together in a room that's decorated for Christmas. They aren't named and there's no dialogue, so I'd be curious to show this to someone who isn't so familiar with the story and see if it's clear that this is Belle's future.

The Spirit then shows Scrooge a couple of visions that aren't directly in the book. Dickens refers to them through Belle's husband, but here we actually see Scrooge working in his office as an undertaker walks by, and then Scrooge in the graveyard at Marley's funeral. What's interesting about this is that it isn't until the graveyard vision that Old Scrooge freaks out again and demands to be removed from this place. 

So in this version, it isn't seeing Belle happy without him that's distressing; it's reliving Marley's death. Belle is a part of it, but the bigger deal seems to be that Scrooge has been left alone. First by Belle and then by Marley. Well, and I guess by Fan before that. Belle was his fault, but Fan and Marley weren't. And making Scrooge's loneliness the real issue supports what I think Dickens is doing in the text: having the Spirit remind Scrooge through these memories that he was abandoned and alone for much of his life, but had seasons of happiness in his relationships at Fezziwig's, with Belle, and even with Marley.

I think it's easy sometimes to assume that Scrooge and Marley had a cutthroat, competitive relationship. And maybe there was an element of that. But we shouldn't forget that Marley cared enough about Scrooge to petition for a chance to warn him. And that even though Scrooge was frightened of Marley's Ghost, he was also oddly comforted by it.

When Scrooge insists on seeing no more, the Spirit simply complies. There's no struggle, no vision of other faces, and no need for Scrooge to extinguish the Ghost with its own cap. Scrooge simply finds himself alone in his own apartment, climbs into bed, and goes to sleep.

“Why, It’s Old Fezziwig!” | Graphic Classics, Volume 19: Christmas Classics

Alex Burrows and Micah Farritor's version gives not quite three pages to Fezziwig's party. It's a very abridged version, so there aren't many details. Fezziwig isn't even at his desk when he tells Young Scrooge and Dick that it's time to quit working. He's nicely plump though and this may be the first version we've looked at so far that has the full-on white powdered wig. (It appears to be white in Classics Illustrated, but in that version all visions of the past are completely white, so it's impossible to tell what color Fezziwig's hair was originally.)

Old Scrooge notices Dick Wilkins and calls him by name, but he doesn't mention "poor Dick" or that Dick was "attached" to Scrooge. Dick is just another detail to make the vision that much more vivid.

With a festive wreath in hand, Fezziwig commands the boys to clear away and get ready for the party, but we don't get to see the preparations. The next panel after the command is a half-page of Fezziwig and his wife cutting a jig as others dance and celebrate around them. This is a smaller party than I'm used to, but the warmth of Farritor's color palette makes it a lovely, cozy affair. And the fiddler is there at Fezziwig's (sadly normal sized) desk; behind it rather than on it. None of the guests are called by name or their connections to Fezziwig mentioned. It's just a fun party.

No one praises Fezziwig in the scene, so when the Ghost criticizes the party as a "small matter," it seems uncalled for. Like he's goading Scrooge. Which is fine. Scrooge deserves to be pushed. And of course he defends his former boss with dialogue right from Dickens.

He genuinely feels it, too. Because this version is so shortened, Scrooge's transformation has started early and he's been quite emotional in Christmas Past so far. When he talks about the happiness that Fezziwig gave, he's got a lovely, gentle smile. And he looks profoundly pensive and then remorseful in the next panels as he thinks about his relationship with Bob Cratchit.

“I Was a Boy Here!” | Graphic Classics, Volume 19: Christmas Classics (2010)

As I mentioned last year, Alex Burrows and Micah Farritor's version smash cuts from Scrooge taking the spirit's hand to their being outdoors in the country. This version is super abridged, so Scrooge has so far been fairly easy for the ghosts to convince. This scene continues that with Scrooge feeling exactly what Christmas Past wants him to. He's excited to see the village where he grew up and he's saddened by the sight of his boyhood self alone in the school. There's an especially nice panel where Scrooge is covering his mouth as if he's holding back sobs.

We see some boys leaving the school, but there's no talk of their "neglecting" Scrooge. Instead, the schoolmaster (or maybe its just a teacher) notices aloud to Scrooge that "you are the only one left again." Young Scrooge doesn't look particularly disturbed about it, though. He's reading at the time and appears fairly content. There's no mention of Scrooge's literary friends, but the book Scrooge is reading has a genie lamp on the cover in a nice homage to that part of Dickens' story.

The school isn't especially rundown. In fact, it's colored in warm browns and yellows so that it looks cozy and inviting. Scrooge's father is never mentioned, so there are no suggestions here about either his financial state or his relationship with Scrooge.

Fan is younger than Scrooge and appears to be about eight or so. All she says is that Scrooge is to come home and that they are to be together for the holiday. It's up to the reader to infer why Scrooge hasn't been able to go home before now, but I suppose it's fairly easy to make some guesses about his home life from that information.

Other than possibly that earlier panel when we first saw Young Scrooge, the schoolmaster doesn't appear in the story. Fan says that she's come to get Scrooge and right away they're in the carriage (really more of a flatbed wagon) with a driver. Scrooge is pointing towards something off panel, presumably home.

During these final panels, the Ghost mentions Fan's child, which puts a pensive look on Scrooge's face as he watches the wagon drive off across the snowy landscape.

“Your Reclamation, Then” | Graphic Classics, Volume 19: Christmas Classics (2010)

Alex Burrows and Micah Farritor's severely abridged version of the story cuts this year's scene down to five panels. In the first, Scrooge is sleeping and a clock chimes one. In panel two, Scrooge wakes up. And in panel three, the Spirit appears and Scrooge asks who it is.

Panel four is the one above. The Spirit is relatively androgynous; perhaps leaning towards masculine. And it's neither young nor old, but middle-aged. I'm not crazy about that, but I do like the choice to give the Spirit flames for hair. That suggests the flickering nature of the ghost and also provides a source for the light emanating from its head. The holly branch is replaced by a garland that the Spirit wears as a necklace. The cap is there, but Scrooge calls no attention to it and it serves no purpose other than to be faithful to Dickens.

In the final panel, Scrooge asks the Spirit if it's the ghost of "long past." It says, "No, your past" and orders Scrooge to take its hand. Their hands touch in an inset panel and the following panel smash-cuts to the next scene, outdoors.

That means that the Spirit never touches Scrooge's heart, but I think Scrooge is going to be okay anyway. He doesn't have much to say, but his eyes are wide and submissive the whole time. He turned humble halfway through Marley's visit and still is. Earlier in the story, this Scrooge's defining characteristic seemed to be arrogance, but his confidence has been shaken by the ghosts and I'm betting he's going to be pretty easy to change. We'll see though.

“More of Gravy than of Grave” | Graphic Classics, Volume 19: Christmas Classics (2010)

Alex Burrows and Micah Farritor's severely abridged version of the story goes from Scrooge's standing outside his door (and in front of the knocker so that we can't see it) to Marley's spectral face.

Burrows and Farritor continue letting the art do the work, focusing mostly on mood. There's no text and Scrooge doesn't even speak until Marley appears. He seems unaffected, calmly closing the front door and not even flinching when a ghostly hearse drives up the enormously wide (fairy tale palaces would be envious) staircase. I noticed before that this Scrooge's defining characteristic seems to be his arrogance. He may just be too cocky to spook.

There's no checking of the rooms. He just goes upstairs to his dinner of gruel. (We're never told that it's gruel, but it's white and lumpy.) I also note that Scrooge's bed is in the same room as the fireplace, which is different from Dickens and the other adaptations where Scrooge has at least two, separate rooms in his little suite. This room is ginormous though and well-cared for. It's not at all the dingy, miserly quarters that I'm used to seeing.

There are no bells in this version, just a klank klank and then Marley merges through the door. One close up of Marley's legs reveals him to be transparent (his chains and boxes are visible through his trousers), but for most of the scene he looks fairly solid. There's just a sickly, purple glow around him.

Marley introduces himself - the first indication in this version of who he is - and when he removes his bandage, his jaw falls apart like a decaying zombie. It's a bit of license, but it looks great and I love it.

The conversation is cut extremely short with only the barest of exposition left in. Basically about Marley's chain and how Scrooge is going to have one, too, unless he's haunted by the coming spirits. Scrooge is clearly freaked out by all this, so there's a hole in his snobbish armor. He doesn't say much though, so there's no indication of whether or not he's learning or changing yet. It's enough to know that he's shaken.

Marley says that the three spirits will all visit Scrooge "this night," so there's our first example of a deviation from Dickens' schedule. His warning delivered, Marley flies through the closed window to join a throng of moaning ghosts outside. No sign of a homeless mother and her child.

His Usual Melancholy Tavern | Graphic Classics, Volume 19: Christmas Classics (2010)

Alex Burrows and Micah Farritor's version is sort of the opposite of the old Classics Illustrated version. Classics Illustrated relies heavily on text, so the drawings serve more like illustrations than true, comics storytelling. I guess that's fair considering the name of the comic. But Burrows and Farritor take the opposite approach, letting the drawings do a lot of the work.

Take this year's scene for instance. It cuts out the dinner part and just follows Scrooge home, but there's no caption to give us the history of his house or who else does or doesn't live there. And honestly, the story doesn't need it. That stuff is flavor, but Burrows and Farritor are challenged with adapting the tale in very few pages and I like their choice of focusing on the mood and the major story beats instead of Dickens' details.

Like Classics Illustrated though,  Graphic Classics uses the scene to remind us how Scrooge feels about Christmas. Farritor draws a lovely panel in which Scrooge is surrounded by Christmas celebrants shopping, partying, and smooching in the road, surrounded by holly and greenery. Christmas is in full force, but Scrooge is having none of it. He's raising one arm as if to strike someone who isn't there and he's frowning as he says, "Humbug." He's not sneering about it though like he was in the office. Possibly that's because no one's paying any attention to him now. Scrooge's hatred of Christmas is genuine, but he might play it up more when he knows he can get a rise out of someone.

The only other panel between Scrooge's office and the supernatural door-knocker has Scrooge standing on the front steps of his place. He's about to go in and we get a quick, closely cropped look at the house. It's colored in a dreary brown and there are mud puddles on the ground and dangerous-looking icicles hanging all over the place. It looks plenty lonely and spooky without a single word of text.

Index of other entries in The Christmas Carol Project

“If Quite Convenient, Sir" | Graphic Classics, Volume 19: Christmas Classics (2010)

Index of other entries in The Christmas Carol Project

It's been tough to get a particular read on Scrooge and Cratchit in Alex Burrows and Micah Farritor's version so far. The two characters have performed their parts, but there hasn't been anything to distinguish them yet from other adaptations. But like with the other comics adaptations we've looked at, this scene helps some with that.

As soon as the charitable solicitors leave, Scrooge is up and putting on his coat. When he asks Cratchit about the day off tomorrow, it's with the same sneer he's been wearing for most of the story so far. There's an arrogant quality to this Scrooge. He has a sense of humor, but it's mean-spirited. He doesn't complain that Christmas off isn't fair, so he's not even making a bid for sympathy. That reinforces the idea that he's proud and sees others - especially Cratchit - as beneath him.

When he leaves, the story follows him and leaves Cratchit alone in the office. It makes no mention of how long Cratchit will be there, further distancing Scrooge from his employee. In fact, this is the first interaction that Scrooge and Cratchit have had all story. They've worked together in the same office for five pages now, but haven't spoken to each other. There's been no threatening of Cratchit's job or anything else. Cratchit is mostly ignored; not worth Scrooge's attention.

And with only two lines of dialogue so far, Cratchit's barely worth the reader's attention either. I still can't get a good read on him, which may be intentional if Burrows and Farritor are trying to keep me in Scrooge's shoes. Maybe in this version I'm not supposed to get much about Cratchit until we visit his house later in the story.

As Scrooge takes off, there is a lone caroller at the door singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," but Scrooge is unprepared for him and doesn't have time to grab a ruler. Instead, he growls at the kid, chasing him off, and slams the door shut behind himself.

The boy doesn't seem to be singing for money though. His hands are full with a songbook and a lantern on a pole, so he doesn't even have anything to collect donations in if they were offered to him. I'm not sure why one kid would be singing door to door by himself, but the exchange doesn't seem to be making any social commentary other than "Scrooge really hates Christmas."

We get more of that message when the story follows Scrooge into the street. Farritor draws a lovely panel in which Scrooge is surrounded by Christmas celebrants shopping, partying, and smooching in the road. Unlike the previous street scene in this version, this one is full of holly and other greenery.

Christmas is in full force, but Scrooge is having none of it. He's raising one arm as if to strike someone who isn't there and he's frowning as he says, "Humbug." The sneer is gone though, maybe because no one's paying any attention to him. Scrooge's hatred of Christmas is genuine, but he possibly plays it up when he knows he can get a rise out of someone.

"You Wish to Be Anonymous?" | Graphic Classics, Volume 19: Christmas Classics (2010)

Index of other entries in The Christmas Carol Project

After breezing quickly through the first two scenes, Alex Burrows and Micah Farritor slow down a tad with the solicitors and give them two full pages. It's still heavily abridged, but like some of the other short adaptations, that can work in its favor. The solicitors don't come off nearly as clueless as they do in the full Dickens.

Other than that, there are a couple of things worth mentioning with this one. The lead solicitor has a sad, weary look to him. That could be meant to convey depth of feeling for his cause, or it could just mean he's had a long day, but it's a different approach to the character.

There's also a quick flashback panel to Marley's funeral when Scrooge mentions that Marley's been dead these seven years. This is the first time Marley's been mentioned in this version, so it's a good spot to put a look at the lonely scene with only Scrooge and two officiants (the priest and the undertaker, I presume) in attendance.

And that's that! Thanks for following along. This was another fun exercise for me and I hope you enjoyed it too. Happy Holidays!

'Merry Christmas, Uncle!' | Graphic Classics, Volume 19: Christmas Classics (2010)

Like with the opening scene, Graphic Classics' version of Fred's introduction is surprisingly short. It's only a page long, plus change, and whittles the heck out of Scrooge and Fred's interaction.

It does the same thing Campfire does with Fred's entrance, having the nephew call out to Scrooge while still in the doorway. Micah Farritor is a much better storyteller than the Campfire artist though and gives the characters a lot of personality. Fred's younger in this version than most, suggesting that maybe he's not been rejected as much as some of the other Freds we've encountered. He has some worry lines on his forehead as he enters, so it's obviously not his first visit with his uncle, but he looks calm and confident in subsequent panels. He knows enough to be nervous when he enters, but after the first "humbug" he's okay and not at all worn down by Scrooge.

It's too bad that page limits necessitate chopping up the scene so much, because I'd like to see more of these two characters' interacting. Fred's entire speech is gone, taking Cratchit's applause with it. We get a good look at Cratchit's miserable-looking face as he closes the door behind Fred, so there's a little characterization for you, but this version of the scene doesn't reveal much else than that Scrooge is an unpleasant person who hates Christmas. There's no discussion of Fred's marriage, but that's an expected cut for an adaptation of this size.

Although this version cheats Fred of some of the elements that make him my favorite character, if I'm objective I can admit that they aren't bad cuts. With their limited page count, Alex Burrows and Farritor are getting through the introductions quickly. We know everything we need to know about Scrooge and how he feels about Christmas. In the next scene, we'll add to that knowledge by seeing how he feels about the rest of humanity. Burrows and Farritor will spend a little more room on that.

Old Sinner: Christmas Classics (2010)

Eureka’s Christmas Classics anthology (Volume 19 in their excellent Graphic Classics series) lives up to its name by including comics and illustrated adaptations of other Christmas stories and poems like “A Visit from St Nicholas” and the Sherlock Holmes holiday classic, “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.” It’s a great collection and I wish I was here to give it a full review, but let’s just focus on its lead (and cover) story.

Unlike the other comics adaptations we’ve looked at, Alex Burrows and Micah Farritor’s adaptation doesn’t spend any time on Marley up front. In fact, the scene we’re covering this year is done in three, dialogue-free panels over a page-and-a-half. The first page is a splash with an icy Victorian street. We know it’s cold because all the buildings have icicles hanging from them and we can see the breath of everyone on the street, but there’s no snow. And though text explains that it’s “The City of London, Christmas Eve, 1843,” there are no decorations to give the scene that feel. Except for the gray sky, the color palette is all brown, orange, and yellow, giving the street a rich, warm feel, but not exactly festive. I’m reminded of the gloomy opening of the 1935 film. We’re told it’s Christmas, but no one’s feeling it. This isn’t that kind of story. At least not at first.

The first panel on page two continues the mood. It’s another street scene, but more faces are in the foreground and it’s clear that no one’s happy. In fact, they look nervous and paranoid. There’s no clear reason for their fear, but the next panel takes us inside one of the buildings where an elderly man and his clerk sit, working silently. The dialogue will begin in the next panel when someone intrudes on their solitude, but for now that’s all we have.



Burrows and Farritor could be counting on readers’ familiarity with the story, but we’ve seen from a couple of other adaptations that it’s a reasonable choice to allow Scrooge’s personality and Marley’s death to come out in later dialogue. Scrooge and Cratchit’s coal argument is fun, but it’s not necessary to the sense of Scrooge as a despicable tightwad. That will come out shortly enough.

I might suspect that Burrows and Farritor trim this scene way down to save room, but this adaptation is 46 pages, about the same lenght as both Classics Illustrated and Marvel’s versions, give or take a page or two. Since those both take a couple of pages for the prologue, this version’s choice feels deliberate. It’s not as concerned with giving the reader the vicarious experience of reading Dickens as it is finding a new way to tell the story. Which is what I’ve come to expect from the Graphic Classics series.

This entry wraps up our 21 different adaptations of the first scene of A Christmas Carol. I hope it was fun, because I enjoyed doing it and am already looking forward to next year and the visit of Scrooge’s nephew. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas if you celebrate it. Starting Monday, we'll do something different for a couple of weeks.