Comic Review: Bob’s Burgers Ongoing #15

Gene goes solo…is that a good thing?

The title of this issue is “Gene’s Rhymey Rhymes That Could One Day Be Songs Presents: A Musical Gene In King Arthur’s Court.” I guess you know what to expect, right? Gene, playing around with his keyboard in the schoolyard, gets hit in the head with a kickball. The head trauma time travels him to Camelot, home of King Arthur. A knight (Teddy) happens by and, slightly scared by Gene’s musical prowess, takes the kid to King Arthur (Mr. Fischoeder) himself. Arthur immediately orders Gene thrown into the dungeon but, before the dungeon tossing can occur, Gene plays a song and does a small magic trick for the king. Impressed, Arthur fires both his Maestro (Linda) and his wizard, Merlin (Bob). Gene is to fill both royal roles.

As Gene writes songs for a jousting half time show, both of his sisters magically appear in Camelot. Whoever is hitting kids in the head with a kickball needs to be stopped. Gene saves his sisters by making them his back up band. During the big show, the old Maestro and Merlin plan to upstage the kids. However, the Maestro falls flat on her face and Merlin’s magic trick is lame. That is when Arthur announces his birthday party, complete with a performance by Gene. The former Maestro points out that she was booked for the party but Arthur notes that it was the Royal Maestro that was booked, not her personally. Of course, this angers the former royal performers even more.

Tina and Louise try to convince Gene that he is in danger but he doesn’t listen. The former royal performers set up a deadly trap under the stage. They never expected Gene to invite them to perform on stage with him. All five performers take the stage. But, just as Gene goes to step forward, the former Maestro and Merlin tackle the kids in an attempt to save them from the maces hidden above the stage. When the dust cloud finally settled, the kids disappeared, transported back to the schoolyard in their own time. The kids checked the story of King Arthur to see how the party ended. Merlin and the Maestro were a hit at the party. They started “King Arthur’s Night Live,” which ran for ten seasons.

While the whole comic is funny, the funniest part is that it is entirely written in rhyming couplets. As a result, there are some rather forced rhymes. For example, rhyming “heroes” with “own era.” It’s a pretty terrible rhyme. I’m not a huge fan of artwork but, to be honest, the text is so funny that it kinda makes up for the ugliness. Overall, it’s a decent issue.