Simpsons Comics Thread

[Kiyosuki]

Got the new Simpsons and Bart Simpson issue.

The new Bart issue was mindless fun. A lot of Bart, Milhouse, and Martin doing some stuff which is always cool. I noticed Bongo likes the three having a friendship a lot more than the tv series does.

Well anyways, first story was kind of crazy but not too out of control. The little two page of Comic Book Guy's pop culture references was sort of fun too.

Moe and Maggie have yet another story in this, which is always nice. This one was kind of alright...I sort of predicted the outcome. But its not meant to be really suspenseful.

The quip about Moe taking Maggie to a paintballing session was funny though. Poor Moe, he has a lot to learn. Still though, its funny how a guy like Moe can fit in with a relatively innocent story like this surprisingly well. I guess its just the nature of the character.

Ralph having the Princess crown stuck up his butt I admit is a guilty, guilty pleasure for me. I thought it was funny, and I usually hate it when Ralph is stuck in a rigid idiot role. But it wasn't really like that, just crude...almost strangely old fashioned Ralph style humor. Although in the last story he never once takes his finger out of his nose...that was a bit weird. And not Ralph weird, just ...someone wasn't creative for a moment weird.

Any appearance from Gerald is a rare treat. And Allison has a speaking role for a moment with Bart, another ultra rarity. Thats one great thing about the bongo comics, some of the more loved temporary characters like Jessica Lovejoy can make another appearance from time to time.

[Charlie]

Im going to the comics shop in the nearest city soon, hopefully they have those issues in when I go there.

[Dr. Bartley]

Simpsons Comics #121 Out This Week!
Does anyone really know what time it is? Not if you ask anyone in Springfield. Homer takes his beef with daylight saving time to Mayor Quimby. The mayor promptly rescinds the order but accidentally creates a loophole that allows everyone in town to set their own time schedule. Be it Eastern, Central, or Pacific Time, chaos ensues.

[Nameless]

The current UK issue has a rather neat poster showing the whole of Springfield. Was this given out anywhere else (it's the issue with Homer sunbathing and Bart, Lisa and Maggie in his shade on the cover)?

[Kiyosuki]

Simpsons Comics #121 Out This Week!
Does anyone really know what time it is? Not if you ask anyone in Springfield. Homer takes his beef with daylight saving time to Mayor Quimby. The mayor promptly rescinds the order but accidentally creates a loophole that allows everyone in town to set their own time schedule. Be it Eastern, Central, or Pacific Time, chaos ensues.

It was pretty good. Maybe a bit over the top for some tastes but it made a pretty interesting point with how we may stress about not having enough time, but in a scenerio where we do have enough time everything falls apart.

The little loop holes everyone finds around things because of the new "free time" law or what have you could get surprisingly funny. Good for a cheap laugh.

The current UK issue has a rather neat poster showing the whole of Springfield. Was this given out anywhere else (it's the issue with Homer sunbathing and Bart, Lisa and Maggie in his shade on the cover)?

I haven't seen this anywhere myself, over here in the States. I wish I could see it, it sounds like a pretty neat picture.

No way to scan is there?

[Charlie]

Got the Aus version of Super Spectacular #3 today. Waaay better than #2, and was really enjoyable.

[Maggie J Simpson]

The free poster in the UK was this one: http://www.play.com/Gadgets/Gadgets/.../Product.html#

[Charlie]

Ooh, nice poster!

On MSN, Garret, Adam R, and I were talking about the comics, and I said that I, like the show, divide them into 'eras', as follows:

Issues 1-17: the 'startoff era' (basically the same as season 1 of the show)

Issues 18-55: the 'golden era', only a few bad issues.

Issues 56-69: stepdown (basically Season 9 of the show)

Issues 70-86: the 'rock bottom' era (the show's Scully era)

Issues 87-113: climbing back up (sort of like the Jean era)

Issues 114-present: the 'silver era' (not as good as the golden era, but close enough).

The weakest out of the entire silver era so far is #117, which I found meh-ish at best.

Also, the second issue of the digest sized Futurama Collector's came out last week, which I got. It has issues 3 and 4 of the original Futurama Comics. The first issue had the original back cover from issue #1, which featured the PE crew wearing jet packs, but seeing as neither 3 or 4 had a picture like that on the back, they did the next best thing. A full back cover pin up of the original #4 cover, without any of the crappy Futurama logos on it.

Anyway, here's some photos of the pin-up, as well as a comparison to it's size compared to a normal Simpsons issue:





And I know, the cover for my Simpsons #117 is in a bit of a bad condition, but thats how it was sent to me with my subscription

[Dr. Bartley]

I thought Simpsons Comics #117 was very good, the last few issues have definitely improved IMO and I hope it continues.

[simplysimpsons]

#121 was great. A little crazy, but unique and tons of funny jokes, the Quimby 'desperate housewives' gag had me laughing a lot. 'what TV show?!' and I loved the ending with Otto. Fantastic art too, I *really* love Phil Ortiz's current style, it works really well with great Ian Boothby stories like this. A-

Great analysis of eras of the comics, Ivan, I totally agree!

[Reverend Lovejoy]

The current UK issue has a rather neat poster showing the whole of Springfield. Was this given out anywhere else (it's the issue with Homer sunbathing and Bart, Lisa and Maggie in his shade on the cover)?

I got this comic today, the poster's great. See, Bongo, those artists can remember the Lovejoys exist... 8-)
The comic wasn't that good, though, IMO.

[Kiyosuki]

One thing I love about the Bongo comics is that they use a lot of the cast, even characters we never see much of anymore if at all like Allison.

[Charlie]

Well, I went to the city again, and went to the comic store and got some for US Simpsons Comics (Simpsons 121, Bart 28 and 31, Futurama 26). I really liked them...anyway, I also got Big Bouncy Book of Bart Simpson, and along with the other 2 Bart books I got on my trip, it got me thinking. I really like the new Bart issues (especially from issues #17 onwards). In my opinion, they're basically the stories they would have put at the end of the normal Simpsons Comics had they kept the long story / short story format. When the Bart series started, Bongo themselves stated it was written and designed to be a series for younger kids (I think that's the reason behind why the first ten issues or so actually had HUGE text in the speech bubbles compared to the regular comics). I looked back at the first couple years worth of Bart issues, and I realized, unlike Simpsons Comics, which go through stages of being good/mediocre/bad, the Bart comics started off really bad (the first 3 issues sucked IMO), but are really good now.

[sung]

One thing I love about the Bongo comics is that they use a lot of the cast, even characters we never see much of anymore if at all like Allison.

Precisely what I've been saying lately in the Simpsons Discussion forum, Kiyosuki.

Bongo artists should be proud (especially Phil Ortiz) of what have they done behind the famous Simpsons TV show.

But will it end when the Simpsons TV show ends?

[snrub]

But will it end when the Simpsons TV show ends?

Unlikely - Futurama comics are still going, even when a return wasn't on the cards

[Kiyosuki]

Precisely what I've been saying lately in the Simpsons Discussion forum, Kiyosuki.

Bongo artists should be proud (especially Phil Ortiz) of what have they done behind the famous Simpsons TV show.

But will it end when the Simpsons TV show ends?

Even though the comics are more random than the series, they do a lot of things really nicely. Some stories feel like they came out of the third or fourth season with subtlety, and some characters are written really well. I think the Bongo comics write Bart, Homer, and Ralph better than the animated series for now, especially when it comes to lines and just the little things. Bart actually has solo adventures with just himself and his friends, and maybe Lisa.

They do use a lot of the minor cast because they have that freedom, but they also give the secondaries some great solo stories that don't always have to have the Simpsons in them. I know that wouldn't be able to happen in the series so its a perk of the format. Some of my favorite stories in the comic were those. Krusty had a little mini series going for a bit, Wiggum and Ralph had this two page story recently that was really sweet. One of my favorites one so far was this story that had to do with Milhouse...I can't remember what issue its from and I unfortunatly don't have it, it was just about a random day of his. All sorts of things like that.

[Charlie]

Some stories feel like they came out of the third or fourth season with subtlety

This following bit is aimed more at seasons 3-6, with what David Mirkin referred to as "screw the audience jokes". My main example is the latest issue -- Simpsons Comics #121, the one about daylight savings time. The main "staj"* I'm thinking of is Homer saying he wish he could tell Mr. Burns what he thinks, to which Lenny says Burns is right behind Homer. Homer turns around and sees a poster with Burns' picture on it, and says "Oh, it's only a poster", to which Burns suddenly walks through and says "I eavesdrop on employees by hiding behind motivational posters".

*this means "screw the audience joke".

[Robertuybrush]

But will it end when the Simpsons TV show ends?

In this interview Bill Morrison answered that question:

As long as sales are good, there's no reason to stop. But it's weird to think that when that happens, we'll be the only source for new Simpsons stories (besides the string of hit movies!). Talk about pressure! Maybe we'll be able to hire some of the out-of-work writers!

[baloobas]

Fox bought the rights to the characters and the show and everything, and if you look at the covers of the comics it actually says something like "The Simpsons TM property of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation".

Hey Ivan, regarding the argument, eh, I mean discussion we had about Fox's involvement with Bongo, here's a quote I've copied from the excellent interview posted by Robertuybrush (thanks for that btw) :-

"3- Since 1993 you have been editor and creative director of Bongo Comics Group. What are the origins of Bongo? Has Fox anything to do with it?

No, Bongo was founded by Matt Groening, along with Steve and Cindy Vance and myself. We were all working on The Simpsons Illustrated magazine and a comic section was part of the mag. We ended up doing a special all comics annual called Simpson Comics and Stories and it sold extremely well. Matt decided the world was ready for a regular line of Simpsons Comics, and thus Bongo was born! Matt owns the publishing rights to both The Simpsons and Futurama, so the stuff we do (not only the comics, but also the books and calendars) is the only Simpsons and Futurama merchandise that doesn't have to go through Fox for approval. Matt has the final say over what we do."


So there you go then..................


While I'm here, I'd like to mention that I've just re-designed my site, so please stop by and check it out (don't forget to refresh your browser if you've visited before) :- http://www.planetbongocomics.com

[Reverend Lovejoy]

They do use a lot of the minor cast because they have that freedom, but they also give the secondaries some great solo stories that don't always have to have the Simpsons in them. I know that wouldn't be able to happen in the series so its a perk of the format. Some of my favorite stories in the comic were those. Krusty had a little mini series going for a bit, Wiggum and Ralph had this two page story recently that was really sweet. One of my favorites one so far was this story that had to do with Milhouse...I can't remember what issue its from and I unfortunatly don't have it, it was just about a random day of his. All sorts of things like that.

Oh, really? I'm sorry, but if they can't exercise this freedom and use the Lovejoys more often, they'll go further down on my 'list' than they already are.

[Charlie]

While I'm here, I'd like to mention that I've just re-designed my site, so please stop by and check it out (don't forget to refresh your browser if you've visited before) :- http://www.planetbongocomics.com

Wow, I really like the new design. The only thing I will say is maybe try and change the header, or if possible, redo it and save it as either .gif or .png instead of .jpg, that way it won't make the header look "cheap". Anyway, I really like the way it looks now.

EDIT: Just had a look at the page for Simpsons #121, my only other big complaint would be the SIMPSONS COMICS and then #121 AUGUST 2006 things at the top...they just don't really fit in.

[baloobas]

Thanks for the criticism Ivan, I have to agree with you, I don't like the comic titles or dates at all - they are way too blocky and amateurish - trouble is they are all over the site.
Remember I'm learning how to do things pretty much as I go along !.

I've had a quick play around and I've come up with a better design for the comic titles - it's only up at the moment on the first 5 Futurama pages but have a look and tell me if you think I'm going in the right direction.

[Charlie]

Wow, it looks great now, I especially like how you've added the characters into it. Also, the Planet Bongo header looks a lot nicer and cleaner too, and finally, the review things look really nice as well Great effort

[baloobas]

Thanks Ivan, it's great to get feedback from a fellow fan.
I've changed things again slightly (!) and you can see the results on Simpsons Comics #1, Futurama #1 and Treehouse Of Horror #1 (complete with blood effects which I'm not sure about).
Do you think this design would look good for all the comics ?.

[Soundwave]

Hi eveybody,

be sure to pick up the Simpsons Winter special in November,

can't wait for that one,

[baloobas]

Is that the "Simpsons Winter Wingding" ?
I think I saw a photo of this from the San Diego comic con but I haven't heard anything else about it, got any more details ?

[Robertuybrush]

Details here.

[baloobas]

Thanks for that.......

[Charlie]

Wow, that looks awesome. Can't wait. every new series in the last few years have been great to some extent, so I doubt this would be any different.

EDIT: Tom, how you have those Simpsons, Futurama and THOH pages is EXCELLENT.

[Kiyosuki]

Does anyone know whats its availability will be like? Will It be available the same as the standard Simpsons comic series or will it be counted as a whole new separate series?

I ask because I get my issues from a specific place, so I'm just wondering if it won't carry it because its not in the subscription or something like that.