Comics Review: Simpsons Comics #236

Pandas!

Spoilers Below, Don’t You Know

“Bear Patrol III: Panda-Monium”

During a 3 AM safety inspection at the nuclear plant, Smithers discovers several violations, including … an angry pack of shaolin pandas! Yes, it’s true: it’s the third part in the Springfield Bear Patrol Trilogy! It turns out that the pandas have stolen some uranium and demanded a ransom from Mr. Burns. Unequivocally unwilling to meet their terms, he assembles Homer, Lenny, Carl, and Barney and sends them off to China to retrieve the theft. They find the panda academy, run by a certain evil genius from The Simpsons’ past. Will the Bear Patrol be any match for these irradiated creatures? Will a particular professor show up to save the day just in time?

Recognizing the medium that you are in is essential to any story, and “Bear Patrol III” recognizes that it is a comic book. The (presumably) fake editor’s notes and cheeky translations from Panda (and from Mandarin) into English are the exact sort of goofy touches that Simpsons Comics should always be up to.

“Homer Mountain”

Marge and the kids surprise Homer by driving him up to the cabin his dad used to take him to as a boy. He is not exactly into the trip, that is, until they discover that one of the landmarks in town is named “Homer Mountain.” It turns out that in his younger days, Homer set off some fireworks that burst open a dam, which, instead of causing disaster, has restored the flow of the river and allowed the local ecosystem to flourish. Homer is now a local celebrity, but does it make sense to put so much faith in someone who is so careless with his explosives?

“Homer Mountain” features that classic Simpsons theme of mob mentality, and how quickly and dramatically the overriding motivation of the masses can change. In that way, it is a sort of comfort food, even though the subject matter itself is not particularly comforting.