Saturday, October 4, 2014

Bongo Comics Free-For-All 2014 Free Comic Book Day Edition



Bongo Comics always does a superior job with their Free Comic Book Day selections. Bongo owns the licenses to the Matt Groening properties so every year you can expect to see the Simpsons, Futurama Gang, and scores of other great characters gracing my Free Comic Book Day wish list. Bongo does it right by A) producing an all-new comic with 100% all new material and B) trying to plot or parody stories about comic books and super heroes.

In this 2014 offering we have Bart and Milhouse trying to recreate an accident in order to gain super powers. But all these accidents seem to do is injure Milhouse. Then we take a trip to Mr. Burns’s secret lair to witness Burnsy try to save his assistant Smithers from one of his hideout’s booby traps. Lastly, Professor Frink and Bart are zapped into a parallel universe to looks an awful lot like Ditko’s run on Doctor Strange.

Along with these short stories there are tons of great fillers. The 1-2 page little gems are usually the funniest. This year we get a parody of Spy Vs. Spy, a trip to Krusty Burger in search of the Kids Meal comic freebie, and a “Where’s Ralph?” back page splash by legendary MAD cartoonist Sergio Aragones.

My favorite part is the Betty and Veronica parody on the back cover. It stars Amy and Leela from Futurama. It’s also Futurama’s only appearance in this book. If I had a complaint about the Bongo freebies it would be that there isn’t enough Futurama in them. Yeah, the Simpsons are the main draw but for 2 years straight the crew of the Planet Express has been delegated to the back cover. At least give them a 2-page short story as well! They deserve at least that much!

Worth Consuming

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

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