Comics Review: The Simpsons Comics Explosion #2

 

Spoilers Below:

Since Simpsons Comics Explosion #2 is too big to tackle all at once, I’m going to treat it like the Simpsons Colossal Compendium, and take each segment one-by-one, with a mini summary, bullet points for my “Best Bits” portion (where applicable), and a short review for each. Let’s do dis.

“Springfield: Year Zero”

While looking for candy, Homer accidentally got locked in a neighbor’s sweat lodge just as a tornado was about to hit Springfield. When he was able to get out, he found himself on the outskirts of a renaissance fair – but mistakenly believed he had traveled back in time. The same thing happened again, only this time with a Civil War reenactment. When he finally got out again, he thought he was in the future, but ended up being spotted by Cletus and his family, who recognized him from the MISSING posters, and brought him home.

• Itchy and Scratchy is funny even in comic form.
• Homer’s response to being called a Yankee: “I think I saw Derek Jeter in an airport once.”
• “We still own the domain name FindHomerSimpson.com but only the comment section gets visitors, and they went off topic months ”
• Homer: “Are you future hillbillies?” / Brandine: “Naw. We’s hillbillies right now.”

For the first major segment, this was surprisingly devoid of laughs (minus the bullets above and the use of Hans Moleman.) It picked up toward the end, but was a bit too little a bit too late. Still, the story was entertaining, and could easily translate to an episode of the show. One thing bothered me, though: How did Moe refer to Marge as Marge and Marjorie, but not “Midge”?

“The Martin Chronicles!”

Martin decided he has had enough of being the least popular student, and attempted to move up a rung on the ladder by replacing Milhouse as Bart’s best friend. The two entered into a competition, with Bart exploiting them as free labor. Eventually his plan backfired, resulting in the Springfield Elementary students receiving more homework and getting assigned chores. With Bart now the least popular student, both Milhouse and Martin became just a bit less unpopular.

• The comic ideas were brilliant: a religious version of Archie, and a Superman where Lex Luthor teams up with Martin Luther.
• Krabappel’s pun: “Martin paid me ten dollars to say it.”
• Milhouse’s gift: “Hey, Bart! I got us matching outfits. They used to belong to twin dwarves who died in a circus accident. You can hardly see the elephant footprints at all!”

The second story was almost like a reverse of the first, as this one started off strong, and then faded a bit as it progressed. The lines were just as funny and numerous (which wasn’t a lot in either case), but “The Martin Chronicles!” was a bit more enjoyable because it wasn’t as drawn out as “Springfield: Year Zero.”

“Eerie Beery”

As a family vacation, Homer took Marge and the kids to a cabin in the woods where Henry K. Duff first invented Duff beer. The story then turned into an Evil Dead spoof, where Homer read a book containing the recipe for Duff beer, and his family became possessed beings who wanted to murder him. Eventually it was revealed that Duff vapor was actually causing everyone to hallucinate and become violent, while the rich & beautiful people of Springfield watched on TV for entertainment – a la Hostel. Homer didn’t take that news too well.

• “Marge! The boy’s gone bananas! And not the fun kind of bananas!”
• Homer was concerned about “My channel-changing hand!”
• Lisa: “I’ll make a run for it. You find a way to destroy that recipe!”

Homer: “Can’t I be the one running away?”

Lisa: “There’s running involved.”

Homer: “Never mind.”

As a lover of the Evil Dead movies, I was a bit of a sucker for this segment – especially the smaller details, like the necronomicon-like book and the boom stick. And whether on TV or in print, The Simpsons are masters of spoofing, so naturally this made for a strong story, with a lot of beer-related humor added as well. So, let’s see: The Simpsons, Evil Dead, beer, and a Hostel parody to round things out? Well that’s not even fair.

“Angry Kid in ‘Stupid Kite’ by Bart Simpson”

A one-pager about little Homer flying kites that always get stuck in a tree. There was a cute little turning of the tables at the end, and I probably enjoyed it more than any of the Angry Dad comics I’ve reviewed thus far.

“Lisa’s Laughatory”

Lisa got upset about not being funny and decided to become a prankster. She succeeded, and became so obsessed with pranks that she even became better than Bart – but soon her grades started to slip. After getting excluded from a school-sponsored math competition, Lisa shunned her new life and studied all night in order to take part in the contest. They lost because Shelbyville cheated, and Lisa decided to pull one last prank to get even. Bart beat her to it though, because he looks after his little sister.

• Haw hawk!
• “Prince Wins Spelling Bee, School is Abuzz! Competition Left Stung! School Quikly Tires of ‘Bee’ Puns.
• Uter’s Shelbyville equivalent is a French student.

Not bad for a school-based comic. The idea of Lisa pulling pranks isn’t all that far fetched, and the story followed a logical arc. This segment had a few good lines and a bunch of little chuckles throughout, although the ending was a little sappy and anticlimactic.

“Moe Meets His Match”

Moe hired a cook, Mandy, that he fell for when he realized she was a lot like him, and had similar feelings. The only problem? She was a lot like him. Moe tried to be a worse person to drive her away, but it only made her like him more. In the end, he realized maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing being in love with someone like yourself, and proposed. Seeing his love as a sign of weakness, Mandy left him.

• “But I’m not serving nuthin’ fancy. So don’t ask for no “bottled” water or “French” fries or “clean” forks.
• “Yeah. I put out poison, but it just made ‘em stronger.”
• “Heh-heh. Young love.”

Another story about Moe falling in love, except this time there was a twist: Moe was the one who eventually wanted out. I’m pretty sure this hasn’t been done before, so bravo. I generally like the character of Moe, so I found this to be an amusing story. Plus there was just enough Homer in this to keep it from being overly Moe-centric.

“The Gluten, the Bread, and the Hungry!”

A new villain named Glutenus Maximus and his sidekick, Gluten Tag (Uter and his dad in disguise), were robbing businesses around the city, and baked goods were subsequently banned by the police. Unable to be Pieman and Cupcake Kid, Homer and Bart were forced to switch to the names “Captain Quiche” and “Meatball Boy” instead. They inevitably caught their enemies and discovered they were robbing businesses because their own German restaurant was struggling. Homer had the idea to cut a deal with the police for a 50% discount, keeping the Germans out of jail, and the cops fat and happy.

• “No, dude… Don’t let him see you cry!”
• I usually just rewrite jokes that Conan uses the night before!”
• “But why? …Is what I’d ask if I knew who Uter was.”
• “There’s nothing I can eat here. Even the orange juice has gravy in it.”

I’m usually not a very big fan of Homer’s Pieman persona, but Ian Boothby once again churned out a funny script, making this an entertaining little segment. Unfortunately, it was a bit long, and the jokes didn’t quite cover all the panels and pages.

“Springfield Elementary Shakedown”

Bart was recruited to join the Springfield Junior Mafia, and proved his loyalty by publicly pranking Milhouse. Bart then participated in a candy heist, which was busted by Principal Skinner and Chief Wiggum. However, it was revealed that Bart was actually an undercover informant for Skinner, so he was not punished. Of course, Bart had already stolen the candy, getting away with it scot-free.

• “Chief Wiggum, take these hooligans to juvenile hall. Also, don’t mace them, please.”

I can see why this was the last segment. Other than the line above, there really were hardly any good jokes throughout the entire story. A shame, considering the Junior Mafia plotline actually seemed like it could be fertile ground for humor.

So, in the end, is it worth buying Simpsons Comics Explosion #2? The short & sweet answer (since I’ve ranted quite enough already): Yep! This doesn’t mean it was perfect or amazing or anything close to that, but it had a few great segments, a couple decent ones, and a pair of borderline duds. If this was the $18 Comics Compendium I referenced earlier, I might say pass, but with a $10 price tag (about the price of two regular Simpsons comics) it’s definitely worthy of a purchase. Especially if you like Uter; dude was popping up all over the place.