Welcome to the twenty-third installment of A Very Merry X-Mas, where I count down my 24 favorite X-Men (or X-Men related) Christmas stories!

Today, we look at #2 in the countdown, "Demon" by John Byrne, Chris Claremont and Terry Austin from Uncanny X-Men #143.

Okay, here's the thing. Obviously, this story is the most famous X-Men Christmas story. I mean, it's blatantly obvious. There's no doubt about it whatsoever. Plus, it is also a really good story. I mean, it's also pretty just the film Alien, but Byrne and Claremont and Austin are so talented that the story reads a lot better than just an Alien riff. You really feel Kitty Pryde coming of age as she fights off a demon as it chases her throughout the X-Mansion while she is all alone on Christmas Eve while the rest of the X-Men are off doing Christmas related stuff.

However, I think there just isn't enough Christmas in it to rank it #1 on the list. I'd like the #1 story on my personal top X-Men Christmas stories countdown to have a little more CHRISTMAS in it. For instance, I think "Wounded Wolf" is an even better story than "Demon," but I have it at #3 while this at #2 as at least this story DOES do some Christmas stuff, more so than "Wounded Wolf." But both of them are stretches as Christmas stories. So I kept the top spot for an actual, no doubt about it, Christmas comic book.

Still, this book is so great that I had to have it high on the list.

The story opens up with the various X-Men going about their plans for Christmas, with Nightrawler using his teleportation powers to sneak a kiss from Wolverine's visiting girlfriend, Mariko. Wolverine then almost stabs his good friend! This was part of a deal where Jim Shooter wanted Byrne and Claremont to highlight the fact that Wolverine was still very much the type of guy who could snap at any time. This was glossed over pretty quickly in the comic and soon, Kitty is using the mistletoe to sneak a kiss of her own on Colossus. Kitty is 13 at the time and Colossus 18 so..yeah...

Anyhow, everyone leaves Kitty alone in the mansion and she is beset by a demon and the rest of the issue is a clever fight throughout the home of the X-Men, with Kitty doing everything she can think of to stay ahead of the Demon before she cleverly traps it and kills it...

And then a Christmas miracle! The X-Men show back up at the mansion with Kitty's parents along for a surprise visit!!

This was John Byrne's final issue of X-Men as the regular artist and he went out with a bang!