Comics Review: Futurama #75

Spoilers Below:

“Bendership Galactica”

Welcome to Futurama Comics, self! That’s right, it’s ol’ Gonzo Green’s first foray into this particular series, and I picked a good one on which to start. In this single-story issue, the Planet Express ship was destroyed while flying through space, and Prof. Farnsworth had to save the crew by making Bender large enough for everyone to live inside. However, instead of the plot focusing on solving the problem of survival, the gang mostly dealt with how to deal with each other as roommates.

Best Bits:

1) Zoidberg’s fantasy: “I was having the most wonderful dream that I lived in an even fancier dumpster!”

2) Prof. Farnsworth: “Fry, what’s going on? Give me the short version!” / Fry: “Lep–” / Prof. Farnsworth: “Got it!”

3) Fry’s additional info: “Also, we need more signs on the doors! I thought a closet was a bathroom and waited for it to be free for hours last night! … Also, no one go into that closet!”

4) Farnsworth: “We’re all getting on each other’s nerves. Mostly because you’re all jerks!”

5) Bender is offended: “What? How dare you besmirch the integrity of my floozy!”

Man, is it good to see some new, quality Futurama content. The show aired for the last time almost two years ago, and I must say I miss it. As far as I know, Ian Boothy, Issue #75’s writer, never wrote for the show (although he writes for the Simpsons Comics) but he absolutely nailed the humor, as well as each character’s personality.

Fry is still unabashedly idiotic, Bender is still hung up on the least important problems, Farnsworth is still churning out hair-brained schemes to get the crew out of trouble, Zoidberg is still happily living his sad existence, Amy is still saying “spluh!” and “blurg!” and Leela is still trying to hold everything together.

And as I previously mentioned, the joke styles are just as they were in the days of yore. Short, quick gags, where almost every line is funny, and character’s sentences often start off in one direction and end somewhere completely different. Just look at #s 2-5 in the list. Each one contains either a change in emotion mid-phrase, or ends with a slight surprise – or both. And this happens constantly.

I really don’t have any complaints to lodge, but I would like to question the existence of cell phones and iPads in the 31st century. Wouldn’t these be obsolete? Automatic failing grade!

Alright, alright, I guess I can let it slide, because this was honestly a very funny issue. And with the single story, it almost seemed as it was made to be an episode. It even started off in one direction (surviving a ship explosion), only to transition into something totally different (coping with living with each other inside Bender.) And the animation? Just like old times. Ah, nostalgia.

In the end, I must say that if this is typical for Futurama Comics, then I’m sure glad I got this gig.