Prepare for the holidays with Harvey Kurtzman's take on A Christmas Carol

The late cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman was well-known for his biting satire; in 1952 he founded Mad, first as a comic book and later as a magazine that endures to this day, still bringing Kurtzman-style broadsides against the whole spectrum of American pop culture. But in the ’50s, Kurtzman also had plans for a more serious graphic novel, one that would adapt Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in his own signature style. That project never came to fruition in Kurtzman’s lifetime, but the artist did leave behind tons of notes and breakdowns. Under the supervision of the Kurtzman estate and book packager Kitchen, Lind, & Associates, those notes have now been converted into a full-fledged graphic novel, Marley’s Ghost, which comes to Comixology this week.

“It’s a pretty unusual project, this posthumous collaboration with one of the greatest writers and one of the greatest cartoonists of all time,” says Josh O’Neill, one of the writers who fleshed out Kurtzman’s story along with co-writer Shannon Wheeler and artist Gideon Kendall. “As a creator who was massively influenced by Mad Magazine and Kurtzman’s work, Gideon Kendall is the perfect artist to realize Harvey’s vision on the page.”

Now that Halloween is over, the road to Christmas is wide open. Those eager to get into the holiday spirit can check out Marley’s Ghost when it hits Comixology on Nov. 8; the comic is the latest in Comixology’s line of original comics. It is also included free with a Comixology Unlimited subscription. You can pre-order it here.

In the meantime, check out an exclusive preview of Marley’s Ghost below, featuring Scrooge’s first encounter with the titular apparition.