One of the Golden Age of Comic Books perenniel Christmas favorites was the great Santa Claus Funnies published by Dell between 1942 and 1961. I covered this title in The Golden Age of Comic Books Podcast Episode 55 in 2007, but thought it would be fun to showcase those covers as we approach Christmas, 2010. Actually, Dell wasn’t the first publisher to produce Santa Claus Funnies. A couple of years earlier in 1940, Whitman published a one shot comic with the same title.
Santa Claus Funnies (Whitman, 1940)
Thereafter, Dell began the title with issue #1 in 1942.
Santa Claus Funnies #1 (Dell 1942)
The first issue was the only WWII Santa title, featuring Santa driving a trusty Jeep to deliver his toys to the good girls and boys!
Issue #2 (1943) featured a more traditional Christmas cover, and was the last issue to have a unique number for this title.
Santa Claus Funnies #2 (Dell 1943)
Starting with the third issue, and with one exception, Dell integrated the title into its Four Color Comics series where it remained until the last issue in 1961. For some unknown reason, in 1952 Dell published the title with “#1” on the cover, and did not include it in the Four Color Series. Santa Claus Funnies would again be a part of Four Color with the 1953 issue. I have not been able to find an explanation for the 1952 anomaly.
Following are the covers of all of the Santa Claus Funnies issues published by Dell between 1944 and 1961. I hope you enjoy these Santa covers!
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #61, 1944)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #91, 1945)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #128, 1946)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #175, 1947)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #205, 1948)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #254, 1949)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #302, 1950)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #361, 1951)
Santa Claus Funnies #1 (2nd series) (Dell 1952)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #525, 1953)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #607, 1954)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #666, 1955)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #756, 1956)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #867, 1957)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #958, 1958)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #1063, 1959)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #1154, 1960)
Santa Claus Funnies (Dell Four Color #1274, 1961)
Sadly, Dell ceased publication of this title with the 1961 issue. Needless to say, Santa had a great twenty year run during the Golden Age and early Silver Age of Comics. I am not aware of any reprints of these issues, but most, other than the early issues, can be found for a reasonable price.
By the way, if you are looking for more Golden Age Christmas covers, take a look at the entire Four Color Comics run. You can view them over at the GCD site, where the covers located in this post were found. Thanks to the GCD for a great resource.
Merry Christmas!
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