The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Omnious Omnibus, Vol.1: Scary Tales & Scarier Tentacles

The premise behind the Ominous Omnibuses is to collect all 23 volumes of Treehouse of Horror annuals that were issued from the now defunct Bongo Comics. This is to occur with the publication of 3 slipcased hardcover editions. Though whether this will happen in just a few months or annually until 2024, I just don't know. 

Along with the material found in the Halloween annuals, these collections are supposed to house horror themed material from other Simpsons related holiday titles and some never before published material. But right now from a collector's standpoint, all I've got is a massive headache.

Let's do a little comic book math. There's 23 total ToH books in existence and I don't own any of them. These comics aren't very easy to find and when I do stumble across them, they're selling for an average of $15 per book. So $15x23=$345. If all 3 omnibuses retail for the $40 MSRP of this issue, I should only have to pay $120 plus tax. Overall, going this route seems the most economical, even if I have to wait a couple more years. Yet, because of how this book was edited, I can't mark anything off of my wish list yet.

Instead of collecting the comics whole, publisher Harry N. Abrams decided to cut all the books into pieces and catalogue the stories based on genre type! There are stories about aliens Kang and Kodos, frights about alternate realities and legends of things that go bump in the dark. Plus, there's a whole lot of shorts, parody ads and vignettes about life in Springfield that I've read in many a Simpsons regular series comic book.

While I am unhappy with how these stories have been collected, I have been thrilled with many of the surprises in this book. There's Simpsons yarns written by Star Wars' Mark Hamill, The Goldberg's Patton Oswalt and Doug TenNapel (Cardboard). I had thought that celebs didn't appear in Simpsons comics, but we get visits by Alice Cooper, Lemmy Kilmister and the living embodiment of Ned Flanders, Pat Boone! in a trio of stories written by the stars themselves.

My favorite story in this collection was an EC Comics tribute that featured inks by Al Willamson (Weird Science, Weird Fantasy) and pencils by John Severin (Two-Fisted Tales)! I never thought I'd ever see the Simpsons rendered by a pair of EC legends! But I did and it was fantastic. The story might have been a bit disjointed. But it was a visual dream come true!

Over 400 pages of Simpsons frights. A great way to start off my Halloween 2022 reads. I just wish this book could have been in order like an actual omnibus and not a mix-matched catalogue of titles organized by genre. I really wanted to get a few volumes off my wish list and right now, I now have 2 future editions of omnibuses added to it.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Cardboard (Family Comic Friday)

 

I don’t care if this is more of a kid's graphic novel than geared for adults, Doug TenNapel has done it again. I'm such a fan of his works and this one ranks up there are one of the best.

TenNapel is so good, his books are destined for Disney Pixar status. The characters are real, full of emotion and pathos that transpires on the page. Not to mention quirky plots that just scream for a chance to be on the silver screen.

Here, a young boy and his out of work dad come across some magic cardboard that can bring anything to life. The caveat is that the duo is instructed to A) not ask for more cardboard and B) return any unused portions to the seller. Making matters worse, the neighborhood bully has sights on stealing the cardboard for himself in order to make an army of corrugated monsters.

A fantastic story. One of my favorites of TenNapel’s. The character of Boxer Bill might be one of my all-time favs. I loved this book and I cannot wait for the author’s next offering!

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Cardboard (Family Comic Friday)

  

Technically, this book was found in the adult section of my library's graphic novel section. Though, the librarians did combine teens with adult last year, so maybe that is where this book came from originally...

   I don’t care if this is more of an all-ages graphic novel than geared for adults. It's by Doug TenNapel (Earthworm Jim) and he's regarded as one of the greatest all-ages graphic novelists of all-time. With Cardboard, TenNapel has done it again. His books are so geared for Disney Pixar status that I expect something like this book to become one day the next 'Big Hero Six." The characters are realistic; full of emotion and pathos that transpires on the page.

   In Cardboard, a young boy and his out of work dad come across some magic cardboard that can bring anything to life. The caveat is that the duo are instructed to A) not ask for more cardboard and B) return any unused portions to the seller. Making matters worse, the neighborhood bully has sights on stealing the cardboard for himself in order to make an army of corrugated monsters.

   Cardboard is a fantastic story that deserves feature film treatment someday. It is one of my favorites of TenNapel’s. In fact, the character of Boxer Bill might be one of my all-time favs. I loved this book and I cannot wait for the author’s next offering!

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.