Simpsons Comics Thread

[Reverend Lovejoy]

So, he's not actually going to die? Damn. Oh, well, I guess they'd be lost without him.

[Charlie]

Yes we get it, you don't like CBG. You've been informing us for years.

[Reverend Lovejoy]

Glad to hear someone's been paying attention. Too bad the writers (both of the show and of the comics) keep reminding me why I don't like him with ideas like this.

[hammster]

Are the comics worth reading? I read a few when I was a child but kinda stopped but I'm tempted to start again. Also are they going downhill like the show? And have any of the comic writers written for the actual show and vice versa?

[Charlie]

Patric M Verrone (mainly a Futurama writer but wrote a Simpsons ep) has written several stories for both Simpsons and Futurama Comics.
Eric Rogers (former Futurama writer) has written a few Simpsons Comics and a lot of Futurama Comics (he was the main writer when the comics first launched).
Michael Nobori - who wrote To Surveil With Love in Season 21 - wrote a story for Bart Simpson Comics years ago.
Dan Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta (his wife, whom he has also written several episodes with) wrote Itchy and Scratchy Comics #2.

Michael Nobori is currently the only person that wrote a comic script before working on the show (though he, along with Castellaneta/Lacusta both wrote comics before episode scripts; obviously Castellaneta has worked on the show for much longer though).

The comics go through their phases - for the last few years they've actually been rather good, with just a mediocre/bad issue here and there. For me, I feel that most issues between #70 and #110 are write offs. Definitely not up to the standard of the best episodes of the series, but the characters are there and they stay true to how they're portrayed in the series. I feel they're worth it.

[hammster]

Awesome cheers. I may start buying them again during the summer.

[Reverend Lovejoy]

I think, when all's said and done, it really comes down to your own opinion. Personally, I think most of the recent comics have been rather dull (with the exception of the story involving Moe's rich family, which was quite fun), but each to their own.

[Captain Squid]

Awesome cheers. I may start buying them again during the summer.

You're best off buying the trade paperbacks. Buy the ones that pick up from when you stopped reading the comics. Individual issues can be pricey, but a collection gets you 6-7 issues in a nice book for $10 (Amazon's discount price of most of them).

My favorite TPB would have to be "Bartman: The Best of the Best" as it includes the complete "When Bongos Collide" arc.

[bigmoney2112]

Bart SImpson comic #53 was actually good. I enjoyed every story in it.

[Capt Hammer]

Well I just started reading them all again (big cheers to Springfield Springfield! for the torrent...not that i used that.) Only read one - four so far but i'm enjoying it!

[yodazone]

Big Bongo month for September:

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stori.../bongosept.htm

[Jye]

Has issue #1 of the Comic Book Guy series been released yet? I don't want to have missed it.

[Zim999]

Has issue #1 of the Comic Book Guy series been released yet? I don't want to have missed it.

I agree as well, I never miss any Simpsons comics at all.

[Charlie]

I think it has to be honest. If it's a monthly thing then the first issue would be out next month (if #3 is September like that link says). But I honestly don't see Bongo releasing a book for 6 months then stopping. I'd say it's bimonthly, which means #1 was out last month.

Also, Carol Lay's Simpsons issue looks great, I loved her Bart stories.

[Jye]

I just checked up on that CBG series. It starts in July.

[Charlie]

Well looks like I was wrong! Just seems weird that they're releasing it in a six-month block. Personally I think it'd work much better spread out over a year. Also hope my comic book store gets this in...

[Jye]

Isn't it only a 5 part thing?

[Reverend Lovejoy]

^Apparently so.

Charlie's right; it does seem a bit odd that they're releasing it all so soon. I don't think the first issue's even out yet.

[yodazone]

The first issue ships next month:

http://www.tfaw.com/Profile/Comic-Bo...-5%29___364578

Anybody know what happened to the Planet Bongo site?

It hasn't been updated in over a year...

[Charlie]

I think baloobas (aka Tom, the owner) just stopped being interested in it. It's a shame. While the site itself was awfully designed it was always a good place to go to see some Bongo rarities and to easily find upcoming issues in one place.

I really ought to bring When Bongos Collide back, technically there's nothing stopping me. Just laziness.

[Kiyosuki]

So that CBG comic is really happening huh? If Stan Lee's in one, I hope they make it so he's still been in his store, after all this time.

[I Boothby]

So that CBG comic is really happening huh? If Stan Lee's in one, I hope they make it so he's still been in his store, after all this time.

The great Mr. Stan Lee is in it. If you want to think he's been in the store hidden in the back room all this time we're cool with that.

[Kiyosuki]

I thank you for your prompt and timely response Mr. Boothby. Now with all of bongo's blessing I'll do just that.

[Charlie]

FINALLY tracked down a copy of the crossover crisis hardback, it is so hard to find in Australia (in the end I found it in a small bookshop, neither comic book stores here have stocked it). All I can say - freakin' amazing. I already have (and love) the original issues, but man this new package is definitely the best Simpsons/Futurama comic release. The extra features are awesome too, all the sketches and other crossovers, the bonus reprint of #1. So amazing.

[Charlie]

Just got Simpsons 167, Super Spectacular 11, Bart 54 and Futurama 49.

All the Simpsons-related comics have a four-page sneak peek of #1 of the Comic Book Guy comic book (all of them being the first four pages, so buying all the different issues won't give you different sneak peeks). Seems... interesting Also got Fancy Book Learnin', nothing I didn't have already aside from the short Carol Lay story, but still a nice addition.

Oh, and in reference to my above post, I liked how they inserted new little scenes into the existing crossovers, such as the dark matter thing at the Simpsons' house (only problem is you can blatantly see the switch between inkers for those two pages).

[Reverend Lovejoy]

Glad you liked the Crossover Crisis, Charlie. I was pretty impressed with it as well.

So, be honest... what's this spin-off like?

[Charlie]

It's hard to explain from the first four pages. The flow seems off, they manage to cram CBG re-enacting famous comic book/film deaths into two of the pages, and then on the last page it suddenly jumps to him becoming depressed because people start making fun of him for it. By the end of the page it has him banishing everyone from his shop. To be honest John Delaney doesn't help much either - don't get me wrong, he's a fantastic artist, but his style seems to fit Futurama Comics a lot more; sometimes he over-complicates his art to an unnecessary degree, which doesn't really fit the simplicity of The Simpsons (by this I am referring to his chronic use of shading throughout most of his Simpsons work).

Of course it's not possible to give a proper view on it until I've read the full issue, but to be honest I'm kind of starting to side with you, Rev. From the teaser it's not so much the script as I have a lot of faith in Ian Boothby but, if anything, the art will be the downfall (Delaney also did the art for everything in the new Super Spectacular issue, and it was definitely hard to get into that at all because there was so much distracting shading).

----

Also, my monthly review:

Futurama Comics #49: The story was pretty fun, and I have to mention that the Conan O'Brien joke made me laugh out loud (while I enjoy the comics a lot, it's a rare feat for me to start physically laughing at them... maybe I'm just uptight). Not so sure about Leela's story overall, but I really enjoyed the one with mini Fry and ultimately an entire mini Planet Express crew. One thing I will mention that disappointed me - the art. I don't think it's a huge secret that fans aren't very fond of Mike Kazaleh's art - just go to Peelified and the Futurama Comics topic may as well be called the 'let's bash Mike Kazaleh' thread - but this was really quite dreadful even by his standards. Proportions were off throughout, just look at Fry compared to Leela when she catches him spying on her date, and Leela's face looked mangled for a lot of the story - a very massive pointy/square overbite, huge lips and an out of proportion eye. As I've said before, I find it hard to get into the story when the art isn't all that it could be. Story gets a 4.5/5, but the art gets a 1/5, giving it a nice average 2.5/5.
On a side note, in the Crossover book it shows us the very detailed process of how the artist constructs the scene up to the point of doing the tight pencils. I'm wondering if Kazaleh actually does it like this - I'm no professional comic book artist but I would consider the art that was released in Futurama #49 to be nothing above a draft. I just don't 'get' how Bongo deems it perfect enough to release under the Futurama name.

Simpsons Comics #167: We've had a few boring issues lately, as well as a few where the story seems to follow the same shallow joke for the entire issue (like the bicycle race a couple months ago), but this one felt like one of the old issues (and I mean old, old pre-#60 issues). It's straight to the point with everything it does, while also being slightly complicated and gets you to think in places. It's nice to see Snake take such a central role in a story, and for once the story was wrapped up and concluded very nicely (contrast it to aforementioned bicycle story, where it was merely Homer wanting to win, Homer loses, followed with a quick ending joke about Flanders winning instead). Hopefully Mike W Barr writes more Simpsons Comics stories, I really enjoyed this. 5/5

Simpsons Super Spectacular #11: Very distracting art. I need to get that out of the way. Although, to be fair, Barr's story in this issue isn't really anything as good as what he did for Simpsons #167. I don't think it works very well to bring in an entire group of people who also just happen to be Piemen, and using the Stonecutters as their enemy didn't make sense and kind of (in a way) desecrated what was established in Homer the Great. The second story was easily the best, and Ralph's 'super power' was nice and creative, and I loved the callbacks to Dr. Nick. Also that image at the end, with Ralph stuck to the glue trying to lick it off... oh god, that's horrifying in a really funny way. 4/5 overall, the second story really boosted it up a lot.

Bart Simpson #54: I'd really like to know what Bongo is planning to do with the Bart Simpson series, because two out of the last three issues have been outside artists contributing stuff a'la Treehouse of Horror. It works a lot better in this issue because the stories are actually well constructed and funny, but it's just weird that a series that was originally made to be a selection of stories about the kids of Springfield is turning more and more into an outlet for other artists to contribute a quick Simpsons story. Carol Lay, as usual, contributes a nice story and, I gotta say, there is nothing Simpsons-related of hers that I don't like. It's just weird seeing the likes of Peter Kuper and Evan Dorkin (both who have graced the pages of THOH in past years) in the pages of Bart Simpson comics, especially when their style doesn't really fit at all. That being said though, I did enjoy the stories and I guess if they were done in the 'normal' sterile Simpsons style they wouldn't have had such a profound effect... but still, Bongo is starting to blur the boundaries between this and the THOH series a lot. To me, THOH was always the chance for other artists to give The Simpsons a go. Letting anybody into the pages of Bart Simpson and - in Sergio Aragone's case - Simpsons Comics, doesn't really seem right. Yes they're big named comic greats, but that doesn't mean they should really do this. Anyway. I'll stop rambling. 3.5/5

Simpsons Comics Get Some Fancy Book Learnin': Not sure exactly why I'm reviewing this as most of it is reprints, but oh well. A nice collection, even though I'm still confused as to why #81 (Lisa Simpson's Book Club) is not included. I compared the stories in this to my copies of the original issues, and they definitely look a lot nicer in this book (especially Hans Across America, for some reason, I'm guessing because these TPB's don't use that weird glossy paper that the proper issues do). Carol Lay's new story was fun and cute at the same time, I really like the little one-page chapter markers to separate the book into different sections, and I loved that they included one of the old newspaper strips (these need to be released!). One thing I think that could have been improved upon - aside from including #81 - would be that it would've been nice to have made it in the style of the THOH books and Holiday Humdinger, with the random bonus features. But in the end, it's very nice to finally have #62, #70 and #76 in reprint form, and great to see newer issues like #126 and #148 also included. 4.5/5

[Reverend Lovejoy]

I was also surprised to see "Lisa's Book Club" wasn't there; I thought that'd be a given. I also agree that they should have made it in the style of the THOH books, but other than that, I was okay with it.

As for that spin-off; well, the only thing I can really do is this: I'm sorry, but I suppose I honestly hoped they'd have some decent ideas for this thing (if they had to do it, at least make it good, right?). This just sounds exactly like what I thought it'd be; a whole bunch of the same tired old jokes they've used him for since around #70.

I can't really comment on the artwork because, in my experience at least, that sort of thing is usually subjective.

Oh, and I couldn't help but notice this on the Simpsons Archive comics section:

Because You Demanded It!
Simpsons Comics Presents...

Comic Book Guy - The Comic Book

... Who demanded it, exactly?

[Jye]

Would you be continuing to bag out a minor characters comic if it was 'Reverend Lovejoy - The Comic Book'? I think we all get that you can't stand him, how about you just let the people who are interested in it just enjoy it, yeah?

[Charlie]

Hey Jye, last night I finally forced myself into reading #160 ("Simpsons Animals Stories") from start to finish in one sitting. I actually liked it better (if that's possible) when I had only read half of it