-Dan dos Santos
Anyone who has been keeping up with Brom‘s work has likely noticed that he has moved away from commercial illustration, and instead has been producing his own illustrated novels. Not just picture books, but full blown novels. ‘Plucker‘, and ‘The Devil’s Rose‘ are both both recent, and fantastic examples of his current work.
Yesterday, io9 posted an exclusive sneak peek of Brom’s upcoming book “Krampus: the Yule Lord“…
Santa Claus…
How vile your name upon my tongue. Like acid, hard to utter without spitting. Yet I find myself capable of speaking little else. It has become my malediction, my profane mantra.
Santa Claus… Santa Claus… Santa Claus.
That name, like you, like your Christmas and all its perversions, is a lie. But then you have always lived in a house of lies, and now that house has become a castle, a fortress. So many lies that you have forgotten the truth, forgotten who you are…forgotten your true name.
I have not forgotten.
I will always be here to remind you that it is not Santa Claus, nor is it Kris Kringle, or Father Christmas, or Sinterklaas, and it certainly is not Saint Nicholas. Santa Claus is but one more of your masquerades, one more brick in your fortress.
I will not speak your true name. No, not here. Not so long as I sit rotting in this black pit. To hear your name echo off the dead walls of this prison, why that…that would be a sound to drive one into true madness. That name must wait until I again see the wolves chase Sol and Mani across the heavens. A day that draws near; a fortnight perhaps, and your sorcery will at long last be broken, your chains will fall away and the winds of freedom will lead me to you.
I did not eat my own flesh as you had so merrily suggested. Madness did not take me, not even after sitting in this tomb for half a millennium. I did not perish, did not become food for the worms as you foretold. You should have known me better than that. You should have known I would never let that happen, not so long as I could remember your name, not so long as I had vengeance for company.
Santa Claus, my dear old friend, you are a thief, a traitor, a slanderer, a murderer, a liar, but worst of all you are a mockery of everything for which I stood.
You have sung your last ho, ho, ho, for I am coming for your head. For Odin, Loki, and all the fallen gods, for your treachery, for chaining me in this pit for five hundred years. But most of all I am coming to take back what is mine, to take back Yuletide. And with my foot upon your throat, I shall speak your name, your true name, and with death staring back at you, you will no longer be able to hide from your dark deeds, from the faces of all those you betrayed.
I Krampus, Lord of Yule, son of Hel, bloodline of the great Loki, swear to cut your lying tongue from your mouth, your thieving hands from your wrist, and your jolly head from your neck.
Whoa! That's one interesting intro. Not sure it would go with the grandkid's Christmas book stash but it does pique my curiosity. The illustrations are superb, as usual (the somber palette is so rich). I especially loved Brom's pencil work in the “The Child Thief”.
I have always loved his artwork. (Fond memories of books long read tumble through my head.)
The story sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out.
The floating woman painting is killer. At first I thought she was looking down, then I looked at the larger version and she is actually staring at you like she wants to kill you.
Creeped me out for a second.
This looks pretty good. I read “The Child Thief” and it was a really good read.
Sweet baby Jesus that is awesome. I love these paintings! That is one bad ass Santa 😉
The story is rly intriguing and got me from the first glimpse. Brom is a an Awesome illustrator. What he did for Diablo is just breathtaking. In fact his style is sometimes rly close to what I hope to accomplish in future, take him, add 2 more cups of Heavy Metal, little bit of Thundar…there u go m/ 😀
haha, btw I dont wanna be a spoiler but I know who Santa is (nod) He is an American agend- he was created by Coca Cola in the beginng of the 20th century to destract young children's minds from the global conspiration 😀 Joke aside Coca Cola did invent Santa. Sad, isn't it :S
Coca-Cola did not invent “Santa”… though some may argue that they now own THAT likeness of him. I'd sooner give Haddon Sundblom credit then a Marketing Committee.
To digress a bit more, the model for what has become everyone's idea of what Santa Claus looks like today dates back to Thomas Nast's 1855 drawing:
http://www.racontours.com/archive/fact_of_the_week.php
The original is in the corporate art collection of Hallmark Cards.
These images are gorgeous. Seeing Brom's desaturated figures brimming with life is quite a luxury.
Kind of confused by Krampus' negative relationship with Santa in the text preview. From my [admittedly shallow] research I assumed they had more of a cubicle buddy dynamic, but I can't wait to see what the story becomes!
If u guys r right I will sleep much better from now on 😀 The child in me rly died when I was told Coca Cola invented Santa. Must admit it all sounds prety reasonable though, since such companies do have great effect on out lives and most stuff we take for relics from times unwritten is actually quite new- like Satan's outfit (horns, tale, red cloak). Nvm, I feel like celebrating Krampus next year anyways-much more fun to be on the dark side(plus they have kandy) 😀
This looks fantastic. I've been a fan of ol' Krampus since I first found out about him a few years back. He's been criminally overlooked during our overly sanitized annual Xmas saturation period, and Brom's just the man to fix that.
Great art, but Santa needs to put his shirt on. I don't need to see Kris Kringle's nip slip >_<