Marvel Holiday Special

Marvel Holiday Special was an anthology comic book series published by Marvel Comics featuring several of its characters in Christmas or holiday-themed stories.

The first Marvel Holiday Special from 1991 is notable for establishing that Santa Claus exists as a mutant character within the Marvel Universe.[1][2] Santa has since made several appearances in other Marvel titles.[3] Other notable stories include a story by Kurt Busiek in the 1994 issue which filled out the details of a solicited but never-published story from the 1960s X-Men series in which Iceman and Beast fought Metoxo and the Lava Men, closing a continuity gap that fans had wondered about for 25 years.[4]

The Marvel Holiday Special has featured several stories that focus on Jewish characters like The Thing and Shadowcat celebrating Hannukah, as well as other Jewish characters whose religion isn't often clearly depicted in stories.[5][6] Notably, Thing creator Stan Lee, who is also Jewish, wrote his first story in which Thing discussed his Jewish faith in the 2009 Marvel Holiday Special, 48 years after Thing made his comics debut.[7][5]

Publication history

Marvel Holiday Special was first published in 1991, with additional specials followed annually until 1996, with the 1995 special being a trade paperback reprinting earlier holiday stories. The title was revived in 2004 and published annually until 2007.[8] Additionally, a trade paperback collecting several holiday stories was published under the name Marvel Holiday Special in 2004. From 2008 to 2010, Marvel published a Digital Holiday Special only on its Marvel Unlimited service. In 2011, Marvel once again published a Marvel Holiday Special. In 2021 and 2022, Marvel published a series of holiday-themed "Infinity Comics" on its Marvel Unlimited Service.[9][10]

Stories published in Marvel holiday specials

Other Holiday Specials Published by Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics has also published a number of holiday-themed one-shots starring Marvel Comics characters and other licensed characters. These include:

Holiday specials featuring licensed characters include:

Digital-only holiday specials include:

Marvel characters have also celebrated the holidays in regular issues of their ongoing series. Some notable holiday-themed issues of ongoing Marvel Comics series include:

Marvel Comics has also published two anthology one-shots celebrating Valentine's Day:

• Power Pack Holiday Special – 1991
• Punisher Holiday Special #1-3 – 1992-94
• Sleepwalker Holiday Special – 1992
• Spider-Man Holiday Special – 1995
• Howard the Duck Holiday Special – 1996
• Generation X Holiday Special -- 1998
• Punisher: Red X-Mas – 2004
• Punisher: Silent Night – 2005
• Franklin Richards: Happy Franksgiving – 2006