Written and Drawn by Rod Espinosa (based on a story by Charles Dickens
Published by Antarctic Press
In this 87-page single-issue comic, writer and artist Rod Espinosa presents an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novella, A Christmas Carol, but with a gender-swapped twist: our protagonist is a woman. Instead of Ebenezer Scrooge, we’re given the story of Eliza Scrooge.
Other than that, it’s a pretty straight-forward adaptation, and that’s not a bad thing. There’s a reason why this story has endured for 178 years. Set in the late 1800’s in Britain, Eliza is the wealthy owner of a garment factory. And within the first few pages we see that she is a cold-hearted B-word, with no social life or friends to speak of. And to her employees she is a boss from Hell, paying low-wages and demanding long hours, including forcing them to work on Christmas Day.
On Christmas Eve she is visited by three spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes her back to her youth when she was happier, the Ghost of Christmas Present, who shows her the negative effects that her actions have caused to the people around her, and the Ghost of Christmas Future, who shows Eliza the grim destiny that awaits her. All of this serves to scare the evil out of her, and Eliza awakens the next day a drastically changed woman, who now goes out of her way to help those around her and become a better citizen overall, finally embracing the true spirit of Christmas.
I think most fans of the novella would enjoy this comic, and it would also serve as a good introduction to the tale for new readers. Like if you’re the parent of a young child, you could give this comic to them before their old enough to read the original. And it’s all nicely drawn in somewhat Manga-ish style which the publisher Antarctic Press is known for. This is a great product.
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