Comic Review: Bongo Free-For-All FCBD 2018

All the free Simpsons stories you could want.

Overview:

In Lisa the Clown, the Simpsons children gain the opportunity to meet their hero, Krusty the Klown.  However, when the comedian is electrocuted by a faulty microwave, the network executives choose an unlikely candidate to take his place on the show, Lisa. Lisa turns the show into an educational program and fans are quickly bored.  It turns out that somebody is purposefully attempting to ruin Krusty’s broadcast without anyone knowing.

Next, Bart is kicked out of the house for the day as Marge wants him to get out while she cleans.  Bart gets up to a series of misadventures including crashing a girl’s birthday party, failing a skateboard stunt, and sliding in the mud with Ralph. He returns home to make a bigger mess than when he left, much to Marge’s dismay.

In the final story, Kang and Kodos discover Cletus Spuckler and his family the perfect targets for abduction, and a chance to fill their quota. With Cletus on their ship for mere moments, the ship is crashed, and the children are ready to feast on the aliens. After they manage to get away from the crazy family, they find their UFO missing and settle in to become hillbillies themselves.

Our Take:

Free Comic Book Day is always full of great books worth picking up for a read.  I have found that anything with The Simpsons is always one of the best free books you can grab at the annual event.  This year’s Bongo Free-For-All does not disappoint offering a few more stories to the titles growing the impressive collection.

Somehow, whenever the kids meet up with Krusty, it always turns into a mystery.  With appearances from Sideshow Bob and Dr. Nick, not even they are the biggest criminals in this story.  Lisa as a clown is a ridiculous premise, and I guess that was the point, but why, oh why, did they have to make an educational Itchy and Scratchy?

Bart’s adventure was pretty lame, one of the worst Simpsons comic stories I have read in a long time.  It was easily overshadowed by a two-page spread featuring Milhouse- which was pure brilliance and made up for the previous lacking story.

Everybody loves a story featuring Kang and Kodos, and the aliens deserve way more appearances.  However, I found this story remarkably close to the first time we met the space travelers.  The aliens abduct some stupid people, and it ultimately backfires on them.  Doesn’t that sound exactly like their first appearance in Treehouse of Horrors VIII?

Overall, how can you complain about a free Simpsons comic book, and whenever you get the chance, it is worth reading.  There is a reason that there are hundreds of Simpson’s comic books that have come out through the decades.  This may not have been the strongest of Simpson’s books, but it is still decent reading and better than half the comics up for grabs on Free Comic Book Day.