4 out of 5

A split, flip comic, with Ryan Alves and Ron Beek III each giving us a particular view of the XMas holiday.

Alves’ tale is a nearly perfect, cryptic trip that is given shape by its opening (and sole) line: “In a time before the Saint, man received gifts from the gods.” From here, gray tones and Ryan’s thick inks do two panels a page depicting what appears to be an ancient man stumbling across a meteor of sorts, and gaining… insight. Because it’s Alves, “insight” is a little confusing, as sometimes the images are so far from the norm that you can’t quite tell what you’re looking at… though the gist is clear, which makes that effect seem somewhat purposeful (or at least acceptable). Regardless, the artist’s expressive work makes you sit on an image for a moment, and due to that, you start to piece the more inscrutable moments together.

Beek’s side is a bit more linear and mean-spirited, with a drunken homeless person imagining himself as Santa (and really just ruining folks’ night), but Beeks’ scratched-from-black art has excellent pacing and atmosphere, and the narrative balances the person’s imaginings with reality well so that the story maintains a nice, fine line of humor and horror. The final image feels like it could have more impact, but the lead-in pages provide plenty of that in support.