Fan Art Fridays: Danny Hellman’s ‘Strange Santa’ Illustrations

It might just be me, but the concept of Santa seems to be getting a little stale these days. Sure, he brings love and joy to children all over the world (he is a saint after all), but what happened to the days when being Santa meant saving the Earth from Martians, engaging Frankenstein’s monster in fisticuffs or giving Satan an EPIC beatdown? That’s the Santa I want to see!

Apparently, so does artist Danny Hellman (Ugly Americans) whose spent the past few years documenting the exotic adventures of the yuletide conqueror.

I hate the holidays, but I get a weird kick out of drawing Santa Claus. I particularly enjoy putting Santa slightly outside of his usual context… the kitschier, the better. This is probably due to the fact that I spent my diapered years watching those charming Rankin Bass animated TV specials, (which I’m STILL very happy to watch, thank you).
—Danny Hellman