Comics Review: Bart Simpson #98

“Don’t Forget to Leave a Tipster”

Bart & Milhouse attempted to become news tipsters to earn extra money, but had difficulty filming anything interesting. They then decided to make a fake exposé on El Barto, which successfully landed them some cash. However, when they attempted to make a video of a bungee jump off the Springfield Bridge, the camera came loose and landed in the water. Bad luck for the duo, but good luck for Martin Prince, who filmed the whole thing.

“Skateboard Renegade”

After seeing a news report, Marge & Homer banned Bart from playing violent video games. He then trekked around town trying to find a friend who could satisfy his fix. After returning home with no luck, Bart saved a choking Homer using a move he learned from a video game, which got the ban lifted.

“A Nose for Adventure”

While playing with his Radioactive Man action figure, Milhouse imagined the hero facing off against a hideous monster inside a cave, where he eventually got stuck. It turned out that it was actually the toy that was trapped – inside Milhouse’s nose.

Best Bits:

1) Milhouse: “Wait! My dad bought a fancy video camera to record all the major accomplishments of my youth. We can borrow that!” / Bart: “Cool. He’ll be grateful that it’s finally getting some use.”

2) Kent Brockman with some solid reporting: “Sure they seem harmless enough with their virtual machine guns and colorful characters that disembowel…” and “According to this reporter’s Google search…YES! An online survey of hysterical mothers confirms it!”

3) Homer, I won’t even ask: “If this is about the sour cream I put in the peanut butter jar, I HAD to! There was no room in the sour cream container after I filled it with beer!”

4) When Bart threatened to take Homer’s beer away: “Marge! He knows my weakness!”

5) One of the highlights of Krusty’s Rental Properties Management Game: “Hurry, Bart! We have to get to the notary before the end of the business day!”

There was a lot to like in Bart Simpson #98, but was it enough? Let’s look at the breakdown.

The first story had an interesting premise. Bart and Milhouse attempting to find unflattering or scandalous incidents around Springfield seemed ripe for laughs on paper (no pun intended.) However, the situations the pair came across were quite brief and not very entertaining. I enjoyed the scene with Ralph driving a police cruiser while the Chief rode shotgun, but the others weren’t nearly as amusing. It ended with Martin capitalizing on the carelessness and misfortune of Bart & Milhouse, which was funny, but I feel like it could have contained more closure for the story. I don’t exactly how (I’m a website writer, dammit, not a comic book writer!) but the story seemed like it was missing something. Something other than humorous dialogue, which the tale was also lacking in. I will say that I liked the creative background poster for The Odd Couple, starring Rainier Wolfcastle and Krusty, but the eclectic board game at the beginning seemed a bit too much like the past “You sunk my Scrabbleship!” show scene with Bart & Homer.

“Skateboard Renegade,” on the other hand, was a solid segment. It started off strong with several great lines from Kent Brockman, and Homer’s attempt to agree with Marge, punish Bart, and look like an competent authority figure all at once was a wonderfully funny situation.

The scenes that followed with the lame games were quite entertaining too, be it the Milhouse one (which wasn’t Bonestorm, but I appreciated the reference) or Kearney’s Hebrew game. Speaking of references, I was delighted to see another C.H.U.D. reference in this issue – the second one seen in a Simpsons comic this month.

So although the first story was weak and the third wasn’t anything too great either, there was a solid story in the middle that kept things interesting. The overall score might have been brought down a bit, but at only $3, the cover price can be justified by the second story alone.