BONGO COMICS REVIEW: The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror #18

A host of hellacious horror stories await you in with a witch’s baleful batch of Bongo brew-haha. Jim Valentino (Shadowhawk) makes a terrifying toast to the Frankenstein monster’s bride: Gerry Duggan (Attack of the Show!) and Phil Noto (Danger Girl) whet your appetite with the tale of an innocent woman forced into spawning the son of Satan; Chris and Shane Houghton (Reed Gunther) fill you with dread as they lead the Simpson family to a cabin in the woods; and much more.

Spoilers Below

EERIE BERRY

While the Simpsons are chilling out in a cabin in the woods, Homer talks up a beer recipe which causes some sort of spell on Maggie, Marge, and Bart leaving Lisa and Homer to fend for themselves. Lisa being the “Ash” that she is brandishes a shotgun and chases the rest of her family away as they are attacking Homer. Lisa takes off to go get help leaving Homer behind and heads into a haunted forest where she gets caught and goes nuts just like the rest of the family. Eventually, Homer ends up crashing into some underground lair where all of Springfield’s rich hang out and have fun luring people into the cabin, dousing them with a vapor, and watch them go nuts on each other. Unfortunately, for them…its the last time they place ANY bets!

MARGEMARY’s BABY

A young Springfield couple named Marge and Homer check out the downtown area for a new apartment while ‘working’ to be new parents. They meet up with their new neighbors Monty Burns and Smitherina who tell the couple all about the  haunted history of the apartment. Later on, Burns tells Marge all about the benefits of Satanism and introduces her to Satanism with his rag tag group of druids. After just one ‘session’ Marge eventually has a baby of whom is a tiny terror…Maggie!

ONE BART AND STORMY KNIGHT

In this ‘dream’ adventure we learn of Bartman’s most evil adversaries including Drunkzilla, Mr. Squishee, Kitten Delight, and worse yet the Giggler with her Franken-hench parents!  But, don’t worry, its was all just a nightmare…or was it??

THE BRIDE

A bunch of Springfield’s leading dudes are talkin’ up their favorite scary movies! No one seems to have their story straight but luckily Homer’s got a DVD.

I have this theory that if you write the same thing over and over again you can get a bit bored with the content and end up writing stories that are bland or rehashed. What’s great about this special issue is that it features a bunch of fresh and original content for people longing for something a little different in their comics. Treehouse #18 is JUST the recipe giving us a great variety of stories with the majority of them providing nice ‘treats’ i.e. twist endings that are both humorous and for fans of scary stories…bloody! Of particular awesomeness are the first three stories like Eery Beery by the Houghtons, that provides a Simpsons spin on Cabin in the Woods with a later story giving us a Dark Knight inspired look at the family from Springfield. But, the BEST story is probably Margemary’s baby giving us such a radically altered look at the Simpsons that I can’t remember has ever been done. The story is pure genius and is a fantastically written feather in Bongo Comics already impressive hat. The only thing stopping from this issue getting a perfect score is the somewhat lame effort brought on by “The Bride”. That said, there is certainly enough here to warrant a $5 purchase and as such thoroughly suggest you purchase this masterpiece today!

(9.0 out of 10)