Number 62


Par Holman's Happy Holidaze


This is the second of five Pappy's Golden Age Sundays featuring Christmas strips, leading up to Christmas Eve.

This is different than my usual Golden Age stories. It's a totally obscure Christmas story that hardly anyone has ever seen. Happy Holidaze was a photocopied comic, done in a 5 ½" x 8 ½" format, and published in 1984.The artist, Par Holman, was one of a group of mini-comix artists working with underground comix historian, Clay Geerdes. He published the newsletter Comix World, later Comix Wave. Geerdes also published hundreds of mini-comix, helping young cartoonists see their work in print.

Holman said of Happy Holidaze: "I did a homemade Christmas card every year, sending them out to my friends. Happy Holidaze was my most ambitious Christmas project, done in 1984. It took a couple of weeks to write and draw. For all that work I only printed up about 50 copies on green paper, and 10 copies on white.

"I saw a copy of Happy Holidaze on an Internet auction site. The seller wanted $16.99 for it. That made my day."

Click on pictures for larger images.

Contents are ©1984, 2006 Par Holman