Simpsons Comics Thread

[simplysimpsons]

Rev, I'll scan in a few parts for ya when I pick it up. As for the other latest ones, that 3-parter sounds awful. I'm about as tired of these in the comics as I am of them in the show. I'm not too unhappy about the Simpsons Family Robinson one though, but it instantly reminded me of the one where the family were stranded on the island of garbage.

EDIT: You know how much I disliked the Spinoff Showcase episode...well, I didn't exactly think highly of that Spinoff Showcase comic either! ;-/

[Reverend Lovejoy]

Rev, I'll scan in a few parts for ya when I pick it up. As for the other latest ones, that 3-parter sounds awful. I'm about as tired of these in the comics as I am of them in the show. I'm not too unhappy about the Simpsons Family Robinson one though, but it instantly reminded me of the one where the family were stranded on the island of garbage.

Thanks. I'll be waiting.

Still, the three parter does sound very, very bad. I mean (I know I mentioned it earlier, but still) SinBart sounds like a very, very bad pun.

[Stevie V. Scrivello]

^Actually, Ned Flanders as Aladdin disturbs me a little more.

Guess I'll have to bide my time, bitch about the three-parter, and...when are they going to release another story with Mr. Burns as the central character? Not for a while, that's my guess.

Lucky you! I don't suppose seeing the Lovejoys make out in 'The Monkey suit' made that situation any better for me... (especially since I'd been drawing them doing that long before that episode was out. Wait, did I just say that out loud?)

Nothing wrong with that. (Noticed all your fanfics had the Lovejoys...making love at some point.) Now, if I said I'd been drawing pictures of Burns and Smithers making out, that'd be creepy.

I haven't, honestly. It'd be way out of character.

[Reverend Lovejoy]

Nothing wrong with that. (Noticed all your fanfics had the Lovejoys...making love at some point.)

It has yet to happen in 'Preachy Friday', fortunately. (God knows how disturbing that would be).

Don't worry, though, you're more likely to get a Burns story than I am to get a Lovejoy story (what are the odds of them doing that?)

[Charlie]

I just re-read #114 (the Ring-a-ding Springfield one...you still have two months until that one, Rev. Lovejoy, but believe me, it's an awesome story), anyway, at the end when all the stories join together, I realized it shows Bart running Squeaky-Voiced Teen's pizza car off the road...the thing that puzzled me is that during the end sequence, SVT is the only character used that didn't have their own individual tale during the story, which has led me to believe the writer may have planned to do a little segment with him, which was later cut out of the final story.

[Reverend Lovejoy]

Does Lovejoy appear? Does CBG not appear? If the answer is yes to both of those questions, then I will agree with you.

Speaking of Lovejoy (although I always do), any news about #125?

[Charlie]

I'll be getting #125 when I go to the city next, I'll let you know how much he appears when I get it.

About #114, no, Lovejoy doesn't appear (although there is a scene of Ned praying in the church where it probably would have been appropriate to use him). Also, CBG DOES NOT appear also.

[Charlie]

Details on #128:

It's the longest day of Homer Simpson's life! With the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant set to self-destruct and the lives of everyone in town at stake, only one man can set things right and save the world in the next 25 hours. If only he would put his pants back on!

I remember when I interviewed Ian Boothby that he told me about this issue...it must have taken a while to write or must have complex art for it to take so long.

Here's the cover art:



and here's the cover for Simpsons Family Robinson (#127):



EDIT: I picked up the new Australian Bart...they're still using that damned format where we actually get two issues in one book, and it's darn confusing, since #20 was actually #20 and #21, and our #21 is actually #22 and #23 combined...

Anyway, there's ads for SIX new Australian comics [almost all are reprints] that I need to pick up, they include a digest size THoH #1, plus a re-release of all three parts of When Bongos Collide, and also a digest size release of the Bongo Comics Free-For-All (unfortunately we actually have to pay $5 for a book the US got for free). All of those come with free posters of the front covers. Then we also get the monthly issue, which is #121, which I've had the US one of for a while

[Reverend Lovejoy]

Rather annoyed about the lack of Lovejoy, but no CBG? That's cool with me.

[Charlie]

I have this page at my site:

http://krustofski.com/bongo/content.php?page=newissues

where I put info and images of the new US and Aus issues, as well as upcoming releases. I would put UK ones on there, but it's hard finding info on them. So something (maybe Reverend Lovejoy) if you wanna contribute a UK section on there I will credit you for that.

*ALSO* yesterday while reading Bart #21 (which is US #22/#23), I actually laughed the hardest I think I ever have at the comics. It was in the Birth of a Salesman story when Bart is wearing his girly outfit, Nelson is drinking from a teacup, and Milhouse is trying to put lipstick on. The way the entire panel was set out was really funny. I just realized that story was drawn by John Delaney, who also did the great "crazy Bender" poses at the end of Futurama #27 that I thought were hilarious.

ALSO (aka "Edit #3") just got an email from Bill Morrison answering a couple questions I had - Simpsons Comics #62 was left out of the trade paperbacks because they're compiling another theme book along the lines of Holiday Humdinger, which will include the Bible Stories issue (#62), The Greek myths issue (#70), the Shakespeare issue (#76), and the Tales of Arabian Nights issue (I assume that's #126). Note; the book isn't official yet, since it isn't even on Bongos schedule at this time.

[simplysimpsons]

^ Good, one to avoid then! Heh, just kidding, I'll still probably get it as I like the trade paperbacks.
It'll be interesting to compare #128 with '24 minutes' when it airs, as they're both based on the same parody. Definitely looking forward to that.

#123 really was good. I must say something about Ian Boothby: He knows how to write for Bart *FAR* better than the writers of the show. I didn't think he used to, as he always made him a little too snide for my liking but these last few issues he wrote confirms what I thought. Ian's Bart is much more sarcastic and fun, much like the classic Bart, rather than dumb for the sake of it like we've seen in the show lately. Well done Ian. If you're reading this, apply to write for the show!

As for the comic itself, great. I love Sideshow Bob comics, and it took me a while to figure out what was going on. Several hilarious jokes, and Phil Ortiz's art complimented it perfectly. I could come up with complaints like why Bob moved back from Italy, but no as I much prefer Bob in Springfield, where he belongs and without that annoying family. A

I also liked #124 a lot as well. All 3 stories were great. The Maggie one reminded me of something from Bart comics. The first was pretty hilarious, great to see RV Bob again. And the last...dumb, but funny all the same. A-

[Charlie]

^You mean #125 :P We *ALL* remember what we thought of #124...

I remember when I first came here, everyone (including myself) actually criticised Ian Boothby because he was writing way too many issues and everyone thought they sucked -- since it's the holidays here and I've been extra bored I've actually found myself reading lots of my older issues, and it's surprising that after all the criticism we gave him, Ian's stories were actually the ones I found myself laughing at. He should write for the show, it would help recover Bart's character by far...but then the comics would start to suffer. What a complicated world we live in.

[Reverend Lovejoy]

So, what was #125 like? Lovejoy got a good role, I hope?

[StupidHippo]

#128 looks kl 8-)

[Jye]

I can't wait for #128!! Cover looks awesome.

[Reverend Lovejoy]

Still waiting to hear about #125...

[Charlie]

I got it today, Lovejoy and Ned have the only lines in the entire story. Ned's saying something about how he volunteered for a church sermon at the South Pole, and Lovejoy sarcastically says thankyou to Ned.

I also found a very good-conditioned original printing of Lisa Comics #1 from 1995. Needless to say, I immediately bought it.

[Reverend Lovejoy]

Great? Do you know where I can get any scans?

[Paul]

I love the parody of Kim Bauer's infamous confrontation with a lion on the cover of issue 128. Sadly, this issue looks like another example of the comic imitating the show. "24 Minutes", anyone?

[Charlie]

Actually, months ago when I had that interview with Ian Boothby (it was around April/May 2006), he had just started writing that "25" issue, and it was ages before we heard about the episode based on the same thing. If anything, it's just a crazy coincidence, the comic has, in no way, copied from the show.

[Paul]

Still it's pretty frustrating that both the show and comic are pulling the same stunt. This issue should've been scrapped, the show comes first. Both stories will probably be awful anyway, so I really don't know what I'm complaining about.

[Charlie]

No, I don't think it's fair to say "the issue should've been scrapped". They would have been well on the way to completing the issue when the episode was announced - Bongo and the show are two totally separate things, so they don't find out episode info until we do. They shouldn't scrap an issue, especially after people have gone through the effort of writing it and completely drawing it just because "the show apparantly did it first".

I don't know what you're complaining about either.

[Gibbles]

I'm sure the TV episode and the comic will be totally different anyway. The most the comic will, and can do, is have some sort of clock, or maybe that panel for each character thing, that futurama comics did. The show on the other hand, due to the medium, has the option of actually being set in real time. Both will be different in formate, formula and probably story, so this is one of the instances where the comic can't possibly lose.

[Reverend Lovejoy]

Do you know what really annoys me? How after all this time, we finally get a comic where Lovejoy not only makes an appearance, but gets one of the only lines in the entire story, and I can't get hold of it for a year. :angry:

[Paul]

It's a comic book. It's drawings on paper, with some text you can't even hear. I didn't think your pathetic obsession went this far.

[Charlie]

Your point being?

I bet there may be a few other people that agree that the last year or so of comics (#114 - #125) have been better than anything in Season 17 (minus TSNES and Girls Just Want To Have Sums). At least the comics are usually able to come up with something original yet imaginative and probable, rather than the show, which is apparantly putting together an episode where Bart thinks he got his girlfriend pregnant.
The writers of the books have also used the characters better than the show has in the last couple seasons. There's only one issue where Flanders suffers from any traits (and that trait is only using a few annoying cliches in his sentences in #124, nothing like what Jean's done to him on the show). Like someone mentioned above, right now, Ian Boothby is probably the only guy who works on anything to do with Matt Groening and The Simpsons that can actually characterize Bart how he should be, something else the show has completely lost.

And with that comment on:

"It's a comic book. It's drawings on paper, with some text you can't even hear. I didn't think your pathetic obsession went this far."

You can really say the same for yourself:

It's a television show. It's drawings on pieces of plastic, with some characters that aren't even real. I didn't think your pathetic obsession went this far.

EDIT:

Lovejoy, here's that panel:

[Reverend Lovejoy]

It's a comic book. It's drawings on paper, with some text you can't even hear. I didn't think your pathetic obsession went this far.

FUCK YOU AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON. DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE THAN GET BACK AT SOMEONE YOU HAVEN'T EVEN HEARD? NS:

Seriously, I thought we've got over that. Do you want to try living my life, where everyone around me is a total bitch? No? Thought not. I'm warning you, leave me alone, Mr I'm-so-sad-I-complain-about-someone-who-has-better-things-to-do-with-her-life-than-be-insulted-by-retards-like-yourself.

People like you make me sick.

BTW, great panel, Ivan. I hope you never have to put up with gits like this.

[Stevie V. Scrivello]

It's a comic book. It's drawings on paper, with some text you can't even hear. I didn't think your pathetic obsession went this far.

You, sir, are a baboon. Do you hear me? A baboon! What rationale do you have for attacking Reverend Lovejoy? What has she ever done to you? Why must this poor, intelligent girl go through such travails as this? Do you want to blast someone? Alright, I'm obsessed with Mr. Burns, I enjoy the comics as well, and I like Broadway. And ABBA. Blast away, my friend.

Seriously, I thought we've got over that. Do you want to try living my life, where everyone around me is a total bitch? No? Thought not. I'm warning you, leave me alone, Mr I'm-so-sad-I-complain-about-someone-who-has-better-things-to-do-with-her-life-than-be-insulted-by-retards-like-yourself.

Reverend, sad to say, I can totally identify with your life. Mine's basically the same way, although I probably bring it on myself, with my flagrant respect for authority. (Read: Brownnosing).

Okay, enough with my Johnny Sympathetic routine. Point is, I've found the comics to be (mostly) consistently better than the show, and if someone enjoys them, you should respect their opinions.

And there you have it, Stevie V. Scrivello mistaking himself for Dr. Phil. And Oprah. And someone's personal yes-man. Again. No one asked for my help...

[Itchy]

I think Paul perhaps went a bit to far there, but I can understand some of his comment. I mean, I love Itchy and Scratchy, but I'm not so obesessed with them I want to see them in every single issue or episode. Yeah, I agree that his obesession with Lovejoy can be a bit tiresome now and then, but I think Paul could've found another way to express himself than with that comment.

[Reverend Lovejoy]

The thing is, I do try to cut down on my obsession, but sometimes something else happens and I forget about it. As you guys probably have figured out, I do take this sort of thing seriously, so referring to it as 'pathetic' was insulting. So yeah, I can go a bit overboard, but this didn't actually matter to me for a while before then. It's just I tend to lose patience with these new episodes and comics, so yeah, it annoys me.

Thanks for sticking up for me, Stevie. BTW, what did you think of that comic that has Burns buying the church?