Comic Review #51: Simpsons Comics #38 (1998)

 

Man this let's look at comic books I owned as a kid thing has been a lot of fun. I plan to discuss a few more and then we will be going back to regular comics I haven't read yet thing. Anyway I recently got an insane amount of comic books from my pal Sean. Some of them were comics I had as a kid. I am now reunited with Simpsons Comics #38. Isn't that great? I think it is because this comic was a lot of fun. I was also reunited with another weird comic that I can't wait to talk about but man I gotta tease it first to bring up excitement. I also have several weird comics that I can't wait to get to review. Holy moly they will be something else.

The Simpsons was probably the most popular tv show on the planet during the 1990s. I've been wanting to talk about it for awhile but didn't know how. I can't do the Final Episode because the show is still running into season 32 or whatever. I can't talk about it in a TV review because I've kinda given up on that column. I might bring it back as a place to talk about the many reboots. That would be fun. Anyway I would also have to watch some new episodes of the show and I really don't want to do that. This show went from the funniest thing on television to the least. Yes, I'd rather watch a marathon of The Big Bang Theory and Tim and Eric before I'd watch a new Simpsons episode. The show somehow gets worse and worse. It's baffling. It really doesn't feel like the same show anymore. After 32 years you really have used up every single plotline. I'm surprised the comic book was still running until the 2010s. I would also flip through issues when out supermarket shopping in the 2000s and the comic was funnier than the show! I don't know why they didn't bring the writers of the comic over!

The Simpsons Comics was put out by Bongo Comics. They would also put out Futurama comics. It was owned by Matt Groening and Steve and Cindy Vance. It closed down in around 2014 I want to say. Simpsons Comics almost ran for 300 issues. Isn't that wild? I loved The Simpsons and Simpsons Comics. I had at least 6 or 7 of the Simpsons Comics trade paperbacks. I don't know what happened to them but they were awesome. The series started in 1992. I'm going to talk about an issue from 1998. Which is around Season 9 or 10. People argue if Season 9 should be in the Golden Years and I will say yes if only for The City of New York Vs. Homer Simpson. That episode is a classic. It actually was before Season 10 if I think correctly and man that's a lopsided season. You still had some good episodes but you had some of the worst. 

This comic was written by Billy Rubinstein and drawn by Phil Ortiz. I've never heard of these guys before but Billy created an amusing story and Phil draws all the Simpsons characters very well. So that's pretty much I can add for this paragraph. I don't even think this can even be called a paragraph due to how short it is. Sorry guys but there's not an insane amount of information out there about you guys!

This issue starts up with Lenny, Carl, Homer and some other guy at the plant all discussing donuts. It then turns to Smithers and he sees that the plant is spending 200,000 dollars on donuts. He goes to Mr. Burns and we get some amusing jokes about how he cuts costs. He and Smithers goes on a ride in a nice little chair behind a secret door to the scientists room. Burns has to sit on Smithers lap and holy shit the look on Smithers face is hilarious. They get to the scientists room and he explains how he's creating some addictive donuts to sell. He also stops letting the workers eat free donuts. Homer and the rest freak out and realize that the Kwik-E-Mart donuts are not the same so they take a pay decrease to get donuts. 

Marge then finds out that everyone is making less money thanks to the donuts. The Kwik E Mart, Church, Leftorium, everyone is making less money due to Mr. Burns so they start protesting. Fat Tony and the Mob find out about the addictive donuts and want in on this so they go to Mr. Burns. In the end we end up in court to find out about the donuts. Mr. Burns gets the scientist to pretty much lie and say the donuts are fine and since he's boring everyone they think he must be right. Even Lisa doesn't want to listen to this boring nerd shit! 

They bribe everyone in the court with the donuts and well they get what they want. They even run over the guy who owns Lard Lad right in the middle of him saying he's going to expose what's actually in these donuts. Well with a big wagon thing of Donuts. It still shuts him up. In the end worker production goes DOWN because everyone's too fat to do anything because of the donuts. So this causes Mr. Burns to get rid of the donuts. Nothing can hurt his precious Power Plant. Everything is back to normal and this ending is kinda hilariously abrupt honestly. All the Power Planet employees get a fat substitute that gives them bad breath. Also apparently makes rapid weight loss because everyone loses the weight from the donuts pretty damn quickly.

FINAL VERDICT: I think the ending is a little abrupt but it still works for the character of Mr. Burns.  The most important thing is that the vast majority of gags in this comic are very amusing and enjoyable. I like the two headed Goat that Mr. Burns has due to nuclear radiation. Poor thing has to eat the radiation.