Comics Review: Simpsons Comics #209

Jump in to see if this bridge collapse has anything to do with  Governor Christie!

Spoilers!

Otto has a moment of infinite wisdom, and drives his bus through the local drive-thru. This caused the kids to get beyond stir crazy. Bart has the idea to get into the controls for the highway signs. He directs every car onto the bridge, and that collapses the bridge. Bart thought he was home safe, but the law was doing everything it can to find him. Because of the bridge collapse, Bart gets overly paranoid, and changes up disguises everyday. He goes as far as to tell Milhouse to pretend he’s not friends with him. Meanwhile, Springfield Elementary had it’s entire budget cut because of Bart. So, they started taking in volunteers to teach. Enter, Abraham Simpson. He starts teaching history the way he remembers it. Unfortunately, it’s dead wrong. But he gets the students into learning, and that catches the eye of “Smart Mouths.”

The students did so terrible against Shelbyville, Kent Brockman just gives 20 points to Shelbyville. Bart pulls the fire alarm, and saves the students from further embarrassment. Abraham, however, gets asked to join the Pity Party and run for governor. This sets Homer up to get favors for political favors, like a week paid off of work, beer, and food. Grandpa didn’t realize that he’d be helping Shelbyville, and he goes right to the Pity Party representative, and quits. The family shows up, finds out that Grandpa quit. They leave, but not before Milhouse gets arrested for the hacking job Bart did. The Pity Party gets a great replacement for Abe, and that’s the Crazy Cat Lady.

I cannot help to think that this issue was rushed out due to Christie’s Bridgegate scandal. The story seemed tacked on to a story that was already there and yes it was funny, but not very organic. I think the better story would have been going with Bart killing the bridge, or Grandpa running for governor. Both at once seemed like a lot of wasted potential, because both stories could have been phenomenal. There were good laughs, but don’t expect a lot of cohesion.