If Jesse can survive this ancient feud, he might have the chance to redeem himself in his family's eyes, to save his own broken dreams. Now Santa's time is running short, for the Yule Lord is determined to have his retribution and reclaim Yuletide. But the lines between good and evil become blurred as Jesse's new master reveals many dark secrets about the cherry-cheeked Santa Claus, including how half a millennium ago the jolly old saint imprisoned Krampus and usurped his magic. Moments later, a large sack plummets back to earth, a magical sack that thrusts the down-on-his-luck singer into the clutches of the terrifying Yule Lord, Krampus.

When the reindeer leap skyward, taking the sleigh, devil men, and Santa into the clouds, screams follow. One Christmas Eve in a small hollow in Boone County, West Virginia, struggling songwriter Jesse Walker witnesses a strange spectacle: seven devilish figures chasing a man in a red suit toward a sleigh and eight reindeer. The author and artist of The Child Thief returns with a modern fabulist tale of Krampus, the Lord of Yule and the dark enemy of Santa Claus I am coming to take back what is mine, to take back Yuletide. You have sung your last ho, ho, ho, for I am coming for your head.

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.

Krampus the yule lord by brom