Comics Review: The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror #23

Time to warm up The Simpsons reviews!

Treehouse-23-Cover
Courtesy: Bongo Comics

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The latest in the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror series continues with #23. Fittingly considering the popularity of “IT,” The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror #23 is ripe with throwbacks to King’s epic novel. Like King’s gripping literary tour de force, Homer, Lenny, Carl, Barney, and Marge were tortured as kids by a clown living in the sewer. Although they bested the villain, as adults the terror resurges. But as The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror goes, this one is pretty campy. As such, this falls more in line with the 1990 mini-series rather than the 2017 film. Yet, as you can imagine, this comic is still far goofier and as per tradition doesn’t delve too into the horror realm.

In a bit of a meta move, Comic Book Guy is on the receiving end of a rather nasty curse. Plus, there’s a fungal invasion from space which threatens the Simpson family. Marge is left to battle the fungal fiend and keep her family safe.

Our Take

I’ve long been a fan of The Simpsons, since the days when piracy via VHS tape was considered the norm. Notably, many of my favorite episodes were the Treehouse of Horror series entries. Like other Simpson comics in the series, it’s chock full of references to horror, and in this case mostly “IT.” The fungal invasion reminds me a bit of “The Thing,” “Night of the Creeps,” “The Blob,” and even a little of The Last of Us or Wasteland 2 insofar as fungal infections. This storyline is quite marvelous. But as a sucker for sci-fi horror, I may be a bit biased.

Ultimately, it’s a solid pickup for just $5. Ian Boothby, Carol Lay, and Dean Rankine handle the writing, while Carol Lay, Dean Rankine, Tone Rodriguez, and Andrew Pepoy take on the artwork. Cover art comes via Jason Ho, Mike Rote, Nathan Kane. It’s both well written and illustrated with vivid colors.Capitalizing off of the “IT” craze works well, and it’s fun reading a sort of anthology with three distince story arcs. It’s not quite as horror-tinged as Afterlife with Archie, but nevertheless this is an enjoyable romp through Springfield.

SCORE
9.0/10