Halloween is over. We're getting into November and starting to think about Thanksgiving. That also means we'll be seeing signs of Christmas popping up everywhere. Another place you can start to see signs of Santa is this week in your local comic shop. Grant Morrison is giving us KLAUS at BOOM! Studios with art by Dan Mora.

Maybe you think you know all there is to know or all you'd want to know about Santa but this is Grant Morrison we're talking about. His take on Klaus is probably something we weren't expecting. As we're about to see this darker take on "Santa Claus: Year One," we asked Grant a few questions about this series and how it came to be.

COMIC VINE: When did you get the idea to explore the story of Santa?

GRANT MORRISON: It was quite a while ago, probably around 2007/8! My screenwriting agent at the time asked me if I had any new ideas to pitch and I improvised this Santa Claus thing on the spot. Nothing happened with it then but the idea got stuck in my head and grew there until it was so big and sprawling and alive that I had to get it down on paper.

CV: You’ve given us some violent and action packed stories before. Can we assume this will have a similar tone? (In other words, it’s not for kids, right?)

MORRISON: Actually, this one is for a wide audience. The level of violence, action, and scary stuff is on par with The Hobbit, Star Wars, or Doctor Who. It's probably not appropriate for very young kids but I'd certainly hope it will be read by smart tweens and teenagers, as well as adults.

CV: Can we expect any other familiar characters in the story?

MORRISON: Most of the characters are new for this story but you will seen new takes on Santa's "elves" and reindeer and all the other familiar trappings of Santa Claus. The Christmas Demon Krampus plays the Joker/Moriarty role in this and I think we've com up with a fairly interesting "cosmic" approach to him.

CV: How much of his life will be covered in this series?

MORRISON: This particular mini-series, which I hope will be the first of several, takes place when he's around 30 but in issue #4 we get to see him as a baby, a kid, and a young man. What we don't see in this first one is Santa Claus in his traditional guise as a jolly rotund old man.

CV: What’s your favorite thing about giving us this version of Santa?

MORRISON: I particularly like his white wolf pal, Lilli. I always like creating new animal characters for comics and Lilli is my favourite right now. I also like the idea of making Santa Claus a bit more edgy, dangerous, and psychedelic. I think it's good to have an alternative to the Coca-Cola corporate Santa.

You can find out more when KLAUS goes on sale this week, November 4. You won't want to miss it. Check out the preview below.

Klaus #1 (of 6)

Publisher: BOOM! Studios

Writer: Grant Morrison

Artist: Dan Mora

Cover Artists:

Main Cover: Dan Mora

Jackpot: Frazer Irving

BOOM! 10 Years Incentive Cover: Brian Stelfreeze

Incentive Cover: Chris Burnham

Local Comic Shop Day Cover: Dan Mora

Newbury Comics Cover: Vanesa R. Del Rey

Format: 32 pages, full color

Price: $3.99

On sale: November 4

What’s to Love: Grant Morrison is one of the most prolific and best-selling writers in comics, earning a reputation for his ability to effectively revamp superheroes like Animal Man, Batman, and the X-Men. His creator-owned titles are also highly praised, including The Invisibles, Nameless, We3,and Joe the Barbarian because no one tells mythical stories better than him. In Klaus, Grant reimagines one of the biggest cultural myths in history, and we could not be more excited to pair him with one of our homegrown talents, Dan Mora (Hexed)!

What It Is: Set in a dark fantastic past of myth and magic, Klaus tells the story of how Santa Claus really came to be. Where did he begin? What was he like when he was young? And what happens when he faces his greatest challenge? Drawing on Santa Claus’ wilder roots in Viking lore and Siberian shamanism—taking in the creepier side of Christmas, and characters like the sinister Krampus—Klaus is “Santa Claus: Year One.”

Grant Morrison is absolutely brilliant, plus that Burnham cover is fun.

I may have a problem with Grant's writing at times, but this looks amazing.

Interesting that Grant Morrison and Glenn Beck both decided to redo the story of Santa Clause making him out to be a badass at the same time. Beck's version is called the Immortal Nicholas. Sounds pretty interesting, actually.

Looking forward to this.

Aren't sleeveless tunics not ideal for a cold climate no matter how bad as a it makes u look?

I will be buying this!

So, where the hell is WW: Earth One?!!

Looks cool.

I cant wait for this

Looks so epic. I laugh everytime I remember it's suppose to be Santa Claus but he's such a badass looking warrior in this lol I can't wait.

Damn, Santa is hot.

I like Santa and I like the Eternal Warrior, but they aren't the same thing......they just aren't....

i really hope when he does suit up that its not in the red and white. thats not real Santa, thats Coca-Cola's marketing department

I like his comment about the wolf and writing animal characters. If any of you have not read We3 by Morrison and Quietely, please do yourself a favor and do so.

Well actually that Cola Santa is about as traditional as you can get. The artist who draw the first commercials was a second generation American Finn and based it on the way Santa has been depicted here for a long time.

Yeah they're cold as F--- but its artistic license. Like that Old Bremen architecture, it's not Nordic nor its Bavarian its upper/middle Germany pure and simple but upper/middle Germany doesn't get snow, it barely even a gets winter.

But I don't mind since the art looks really nice.

@sinikettu: i was always told he wore greens, gold, brown, and white

Winter is coming.

@kid_apollo: One other thing is that catholic tradition of St. Nicholas and pagan old Yule bock have become associated with the same things over time, so its sometimes hard to say which is 'more' traditional when both practises have more than a millennia of history already.

@allstarsuperman: Kinda. Santa in most fiction as been shown as a badass warrior.

Guardians

Lobo

Hell, in Marvel he fought against Hydra alongside Howard The Duck.

awesome! its even got Krampus! can't wait!

@the_stegman: WW: Earth One will be out in 2016, the trade is listed for April.

This looks really cool, will most certainly have to check out.

Huh this doesn't sound or read like a Grant Morrison comic typically does. Different narrative style, different pacing, different set up. Still looks really good though, glad I preordered the first issue. Interested to see how Morrison handles a character whose mythology dates back to the Vikings and possibly with Paegan ties as well. A fantasy comic with a warrior Santa does sound too cool to pass up.

So, Conan meets Santa Claus huh? Seems very interesting to say the least.

@lvenger: I think the first sentence probably clears up why this book seems a bit more "normal" than most Morrison books.

Looks Interesting.

this has my attention

@bigsoto74 said:

Lol.

I'm hoping this will eventually become an ongoing series.