Comics Review: Bob’s Burgers Ongoing #1

Spoilers Below:

“Tina’s Erotic Friend Fiction Presents: Take a Chance on Me”

When Tina of Bob’s Burgers first mentioned on the show that she writes erotic fiction stories, and said her favorite was “Erotic Friend Fiction,” I didn’t know she meant her friends. Since most erotic fan fiction stories are parodies of already-existing books, movies, TV shows, etc., I thought she meant Friends the series. Boy was my face red. This tidbit has nothing to do with the latest issue of Bob’s Burgers Comics, but I felt like sharing anyway.

In the first story, Darryl asked Tina to help test his cloning machine, and she agreed, creating a huge fleet of back-up dancers (and girlfriends) for Jimmy Jr. However, after a while it became tiresome dealing with all the Tinas, so the original set them free around the world.

Written by Brian Hall, the script in this story very closely resembled that of the show. Tina showed her unique balance of confidence and second-guessing, as well as her balance of boy-craziness and slight shallowness (see #2 below).

Of course not everything makes perfect sense (like why didn’t Jimmy Jr. question that there are suddenly multiple Tinas?) but the plot was entertaining in a way that wouldn’t fly on the slightly more realistic TV show.

My only qualm is with the animation. I know I’m nit-picking here, but Tina’s glasses are too square, her nose goes sideways/diagonal too much instead of straight down, and her hair is longer and curlier than we are used to. Other than those lame observations, this was a very solid effort.

“Louise’s Unsolved Mysteries & Curious Curiosities: What Lies Beneath Bob’s Burgers”

Looking for a place to play some weird baseball/kickball hybrid sport during a rainstorm, the kids (Belcher & Pesto) headed to the restaurant’s basement and discovered a secret tunnel connecting all the businesses in town.

This was a classic instance of the kids having fun on a mysterious adventure. It was light, silly, and entertaining – helped by the appearances of Andy & Ollie (my favorite non-Belcher characters) and Mr. Fischoeder. Gene was his usual all-for-fun self, Tina was cautious, Louise was scheming, and everyone nicely fit their own little niche. The writing was once again spot-on.

The animation in this segment was also noticeably different than the show, but it wasn’t just a slight, off-putting tweak like the first story; it was a complete reimagining. The characters were shorter, fatter, and possessed overall rounder features than usual. Because it was so obvious, I think I enjoyed it a bit more this time around. There were also a few especially good frames, like Gene chowing down on cheese and Louise lifting the bat above her head in full smash mode.

“Gene’s Rhymey Rhymes That Could One Day Be Songs: Full Moon Lounge Gene”

In this last bit, Gene magically transformed into a lounge singer at bedtime and snuck out to perform. He eventually missed his family too much and returned.

This was an amusing, short, rhyming (durr) story, and although not particularly funny, it was definitely cute. Even the part about pooping.

Best Bits:

1) I don’t know what was funnier: a Tina puppet or a whole bunch of synchronized Tina clones.

2) “Darryl, we need twenty-six Jimmy Juniors, all exactly his height and build, but a little bit taller is okay too.”

3) How was the basketball Tina Clone making a difference? All she did was wink at a player. If anything, I think her action was a detrimental distraction to the team’s performance.

4) “YAY!!!” for rain.

5) “How about Louisiana? Wait. Nevermind.”

6) “We can’t go back, Tina! We’re cave people now. We rely on rats for food, warmth, and, yes, companionship.”

I have to say, this is my first time reviewing a Bob’s Burgers comic, and I was quite impressed. I previously reviewed Simpsons issues, which tend to be a bit more kid-focused in their content when compared to TV – as well as the Rick and Morty comics, which are right in line with the show. This was somewhere in between. The first and last stories were more fantastical than the series would or could be, and that totally worked. The animation, as I mentioned, was quite different, but that totally worked too.

There weren’t too many laugh-out-loud moments, but the jokes were plenty reminiscent of the actual show, and that helped quite a bit.

In the end, there were enough differences to make the comic a unique addition to the Bob’s Burgers universe as we know it, but also enough similarities to reassure us that the comic creators know their shit when it comes to the subject matter. Too many comic spin-offs contradict the original medium, or worse – don’t add up at all, even as a standalone. This had neither problem. In fact, other than lacking as many laughs as I’d expect (mainly in the last story) it had no problems at all.