Comics Review: Simpsons Comics #233

It’s been a while since we’ve covered a straight-up issue of The Simpsons, let’s get into it!

Spoilers (AKA Thorough Plot Synopses) Below

“100% Homer”

Apu and Sanjay extract a donut from the bottom of the Kwik-E-Mart sprinkling tub. They must be careful, for since it has been stuck there for years, it has now become “a vessel of … pure sugar!” But Homer, blissfully unaware of the danger, chomps right into the specimen. Dr. Hibbert declares that this sugar rush is now shooting Homer’s brain capacity way past the 10% that most humans display. Somehow, this is actually true and not a case of the doctor’s quackery.

Professor Frink drops by to presage the superhuman powers that Homer will soon display: telepathy, talking to the animals, telekinesis, and – at 100% – “intellectual supremacy.” This all indeed comes to pass, but it proves to be too freaky for one man to handle. And so Homer indulges in one of his classic base pleasures, conveniently setting everything back to normal.

Homer turning smart (or smrt) is familiar ground for The Simpsons. Season 12’s “HOMЯ” comes to mind, though “100% Homer” is not aiming for the emotional undergirding that that Flowers for Algernon homage pulled off. Instead, the closest cultural analogue is the 2014 Scarlett Johansson-Luc Besson actioner Lucy, which also perpetuates the 10% myth. Like the film, the comic’s pleasures can be found by reveling in the insanity, and in that vein, I wish it had gotten to the crazy parts faster. They only last about six pages, and then it comes crashing down to the ending. But at least it is a conclusion with a solid, character-appropriate punch line.

“Suck It Up”

Marge is attempting to clean up after a pillow fight between Homer, Bart, and Marge, but alas she discovers that the vacuum cleaner is on the fritz. So she heads on over to “Suck Different,” a sort of IKEA/Apple Store for household appliances. But each model proves to be too user-unfriendly for Marge to handle. So instead she tries out “Suck Everlasting.” This place is going out of business, as it is run by Ol’ Gil. Marge’s satisfaction here almost turns the store into an ironic hipster destination, but of course Gil is already burning the place down for the insurance money. Also predictably: after Marge finally finishes cleaning, Homer and the kids just dirty it all up again with ash from the fire.

Marge’s skepticism towards new technology is often at odds with her susceptibility to slick sales pitches, and that is a well worth going back to. The unpredictability of cryptocurrency makes the gag about Marge believing “1.99 in bitcoin” is a bargain hit hard, whether or not she is anywhere close in that belief. If only we had been able to hear Hank Azaria voice that smooth-talking Suck Different salesman. But the biggest source of comedy here is Gil’s inability to welcome the hipsters as a whole new set of reliable (or perhaps ultimately capricious) customers. Like “100% Homer,” I wish it could have lasted longer. Ol’ Gil’s tragic irony never gets old.