Christmas 2007 (actually January 2nd 2008), and it seems Ray has made an annual occurance out of writing people a book. And having it professionally printed. ISBN and everything. Teodor’s face in Panel 5 is actually perfect.

I laughed about this one for hours.

Get ready, tomorrow’s strip is intense.

– Chris

Ray shows up a little late for Christmas in 2006 (actually January 2nd 2007), but brings a gift that makes it all worthwhile.

– Chris

For Christmas 2004, Chris Onstad was in the middle of  a storyline and did not acknowledge Christmas directly. He did provide a gift to readers on Christmas Eve, in the form of a page of guitar tabliture for a song from the Achewood world. Written by a man who has gone insane on moonshine, about a boy who wastes his life looking through a shop window until he too goes insane. The song is called “Sullivan’s Bear and Dried Bird.” He follows it up with a strip where Ray needs to tell Charlie Brown that he is in fact, dead, and died when Charles Schultz did years prior.

For Christmas 2005, Achewood went on hiatus and Onstad posted a bunch of photos from around the house, and some from his sketchbook. It’s good stuff. But he did do a Christmasy strip the week before, and that’s what you see above. Click on it to keep reading btw, the punchline is great.

– Christopher

It is one year later, Christmas Eve 2003 and not much has changed for Ray. He is still a poor friend, as he has killed himself and caused Roast Beef to do the same, chasing after him to hell. They are at a Friendly’s Family Diner In Hell, in this storyline. It’s a pretty good storyline, actually, which starts on December 1st. It has famous bluesman Robert Johnson in it too.

Bonus: On Christmas Day 2003, Chris Onstad started a week of guest-comics. The first one is a Christmas comic by ScaryGoRound and Bad Machinery creator John Allison, featuring Phillipe. Enjoy!

– Chris

This is the second Achewood Christmas strip, from December 24th 2002. Ray and Roast Beef have gone on a road-trip to a scuzzy titty bar, and Ray, drunk (and drinking) on a toilet, remembers that it is Christmas Eve and he has not gotten a gift for his best friend. He tries to do so via the gift-options available to him in a strip-club restroom. He passes out on the toilet without flushing. This, unfortunately, becomes a plot-point in following strips.

– Christopher

Begun in October 2001, Chris Onstad’s ACHEWOOD quickly became my favourite online comic strip. I was reading this stuff since before the cats. In fact I did not like how cat-centric the strip became, at first, missing the absurdity of “Phillipe is standing on it,” and Teodor dressed up as Archie. That’s how O.G. I am.

But enough preening. I present to you the first Achewood “Christmas” strip, which arrived on the day after Christmas 2001, with a message of anti-cheer. On actual-Christmas, Onstad posted a photo of the roof of his house, the gutter of which had sprung a leak, presumably on Christmas Eve. What I’m saying is that, like all of us, Chris Onstad has a complicated relationship with Christmas that he shares with you through his characters. Join him and them and us, all this week.

– Christopher

My Christmas spirit is now in full-cheer, and so I’m about-ready to dig into these fascinating new graphic novel adaptations of classic Christmas tales, published by the good folks at Harper Collins. While they aren’t actually part of a branded ‘line’ of books, Lilli Carre’s adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Fir Tree, Joel Priddy’s adaptation of O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi, and Alex Robinson’s adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s A Kidnapped Santa Claus all share a handsome and complimentary hardcover design, lovely art, and perfect timing for holiday reading.

As I mentioned I haven’t had a chance to read these ones yet… I have bought them and flipped through them though!  I guess I’m just waiting for tonight’s first snowfall, a warm cup of cocoa, and maybe a Christmas special on the TV in the background. If you want to take a peek, I’ve got a gallery of images from the book below, and you can find reviews/discussions of the work at CBR and Rob Clough’s High-Low.

All three books are available now for US$14.99 each.

– Chris

If you followed the second part of Liveblogging the November 2009 Previews you saw mention of the new Mega Man manga being published by UDON. I should point out that I’m friends with the UDON guys so, grain of salt and all that, but I am pretty excited about the new manga, because I like the games and everything I’d heard pointed to this series being a strong adaptation of the original games. Did I ever tell you I made a Mega Man tabletop RPG when I was in grade 7? No? Well you learn something new every day.

All of that said, my friend Derek Haliday is so much more excited about this manga than I am. His appreciation of the character and the upcoming series mentions the Astro Boy-ish origins of the character, amongst other things. Go read it, it’s enthusiastic. 🙂

Related: Udon released a preview of the first volume coming this January/February: http://www.udonentertainment.com/blog/?p=1375

– Chris

…has some controversial opinions.

– Oishinbo Volume 6: The Joy Of Rice, 2009. Format stolen from The ISB