Over the last 4 years I have had the pleasure of creating an annual Krampus-themed cover for Vue Weekly. It all started in 2012 with a story on the darker side of Christmas holiday figures. Meaghan Baxter's story highlighted three of these figures with Krampus stealing the spotlight. In the years since the story came out Krampus has seen a resurgence and become more prominent in pop culture up to, and including a 2015 non-traditional holiday horror film.
2012, The dark side of the wreath.
An Anti-Santa that punishes bad kids by either hitting them with birch sticks or by trapping them in his basket and taking them with him back to hell. What's not to love about this guy? The next year Vue Weekly made Krampus our unofficial mascot for the year in review issue, so I went with a typewriter happy Hipster Krampus. (Note: He hates being called a Hipster.)
2014, Hipster Krampus inked sketch.
2014, Hipster Krampus cover.
2015 was the year David Letterman was set to retire. I'm not sure why I chose to fixate on that event, it was just a thing that was happening in pop culture and I had watched a bunch of Letterman throughout the years. He was great, so my homage to him was this Late Show themed Krampus, Krampus Letterman.
2015, Krampus Letterman sketch.
2015, Krampus Letterman cover.
That brings us to current. Tonight / tomorrow morning the new issue of Vue Weekly will hit the streets, and with it will be my next kick at the Kramp. What theme did I go with this year? Come back tomorrow to find out. But I will tell you this: Nobody f*cks with the Krampus.