Comics Review: Bart Simpson #97

Spoilers Below:

“App’d Out”

The nerds (Benjamin, Gary, and Doug) created a mobile game app, Chemistry Catalyst Clatter, which received unanimously bad reviews on the Internet. Seeking the opinion of an average person, they paid a visit to Homer. However, Homer fell asleep mid-conversation, and Bart took over for him. The game they eventually created became an instant success, but a money-hungry Bart ended up overcomplicating things and the latest version flopped, along with the company. Bart, of course, blamed it on the nerds.

“Bart Simpson Saves the Universe”

After Bart’s most recent school prank, Principal Skinner called him “the worst student this school has ever had.” While in detention, Bart was beamed onto Kang & Kodos’ ship and trained to save the universe. Unfortunately, he turned out to be the worst student they ever had as well, and was ditched by the aliens. When they eventually returned, Bart had trained the local aliens to save the universe instead, much to the delight Kang & Kodos. As a thank you, Bart was given the opportunity to terrorize Skinner.

Best Bits:

1) The obligatory Firefly reference.

2) Homer’s fantastic memory: “It’s my three favorite nerds… Ben, Jerry, and the other Jerry.”

3) Wiggum, always reading a rule book: “It says here you need a permit when flying a balloon vehicle in city limits.”

4) The obligatory Comic-Con reference.

5) Kang & Kodos’ response to Bart’s assertion that the asteroid he crashed into came out of nowhere: “It has been there since the beginning of the universe!”

6) Typical Simpson Family vacation, according to Bart: “They abandoned me! This is just like the time Homer took me to the Grand Canyon! Only now I’m left behind!”

7) One of the Milhouse aliens was reading To Serve Man – an awesome Twilight Zone reference.

To be honest, I don’t have much to say about the first story. It seemed to be the writer’s opportunity to vent a little about mobile freemium games and their consumers, with a little bit of a business lesson mixed in. In case you couldn’t tell, it wasn’t that funny.

I generally enjoy the nerds as characters, but it’s difficult for them to shine in a comic book, and this one made a poorer attempt than previous issues. I think this is probably because the nerds are at their best when interacting with Homer, and since this was a Bart Simpson Comic, the opportunity was minimal. It still occurred, but was entirely too brief.

The second story, “Bart Simpson Saves the Universe” was a different situation. This one had a few things that I really liked, and a few that I didn’t care for.

It’s not so much that there were bad parts (as the domination of the “Best Bits” section should illustrate) but rather parts that made me question what I was reading.

First, I was shocked that a manly Scotsman like Groundskeeper Willie gets hangovers. Something has to be wrong here. Also, what was all that about Willie being able to hear Bart’s thoughts? Is this The Shinning all over again? A reference to that would have been humorous, but instead it was just glossed over. Also, should we be surprised that Bart didn’t recognize Kang & Kodos? I mean, I understand that the “Treehouse of Horror” episodes are non-canonical, but I feel like within that universe, the Simpsons can still identify their alien associates.

Oh, and there were two typos that I spotted on one page. (The nerve!) Can’t Bongo get more editors? It’s like reading one of my articles, or something.

Still, I enjoyed the appearance of our extraterrestrial pals, and the writer totally nailed their dialogue and actions, such as their preoccupation with insignificant things. (“Plus, he’s eaten three PB&J sandwiches! I mean, what a pig!”)

Additionally, my favorite non-Simpson is Milhouse, and I was positively ticked to find out that his DNA was mixed with the aliens, creating an entire hybrid race.

This story also had a decently humorous conclusion, with the return of Skinner and Chalmers – still in his balloon mobile.

So in the end we had one kind of stinky story, and one pretty good one, which balances out to an average attempt overall. If you’re keeping score at home, this one was a teeny, tiny step down from Bart Simpson #96, and I demand we all riot in the streets over this fact.