Morrison And Mora’s Santa Claus Origin Is ‘One Man And His Wolf Against A Totaliarian State’

When Boom Studios' Klaus was first announced, I wasn't sure that there could be any phrase in the English language that would be more exciting to me than "Grant Morrison and Dan Mora doing a Santa Claus: Year One," but here we are. With the book set for release next month, Boom has sent out a press release about the series that comes complete with a quote from Morrison himself, and while it might be the single most Grant Morrison sentence ever written --- it is a sentence about Santa Claus that contains the word "shamanism" --- it is also one of the most exciting.

Seriously: This quote starts by describing Santa's origin story as "one man and his wolf against a totalitarian state" and then just builds from there.

Here is the quote in its amazing entirety:

This is the tale of one man and his wolf against a totalitarian state and the ancient evil that sustains it. Part action thriller, part sword-and-sorcery, part romance, part science fiction, Klaus has given us free rein to revamp, reinvent and re-imagine a classic superhero for the 21st century. He’s making a list and he’s checking it twice. This Christmas it’s all about psychedelic shamanism, anti-authoritarian guerrilla gift-giving, and the jingle bells of freedom!

If that wasn't enough, the PR also promises the "creepier side of Christmas" and a story that's "drawing on Santa Claus’ wilder roots in Viking lore and Siberian shamanism." Yeah, that's right: two uses of "shamanism" in one PR. Have we, at last, hit Peak Grant Morrison?

Klaus #1 will be on shelves on November 4 with a cover price of $3.99.

(Full disclosure: I have done freelance work for Boom in the past.)