Bart Simpson: Prince of Pranks

I was a bit disappointed in this collection of Bart Simpson themed comics. Some of which was no real fault of Bongo Comics. Instead, the blame rests solely on trade paperback edition publisher Harper Collins. 

Some of the stories just weren't very good. (Though I think the parody of promotional comics starring Kristy the Clown and a bunch of McDonaldville clones was intentionally bad in a satirical kind of way. And I liked it!) The opener has Bart and Skinner switching roles for a day. Milhouse takes schoolboy Skinner under his wing and persuades him to pull an epic prank on Principal Bart. But before he can do it, Bart cancels school early and that's it. No real punchline to a tale that has a great but cliched plot with some fantastic gags throughout. 

The two tales starring Ralph Wiggum were probably the best. In one, Ralph is taken advantage of by Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney. Then then bullies return but it's Bart to the rescue when he starts a rumor that Ralph fought off a gang of bikers.

I'm currently reading a collection of Futurama comics. Also from Bongo Comics and compromised of a similar bullpen of talent, the Futurama books are far superior to what's inside here. Part of it I think is that less is more. The Futurama issues have just 1 large main story and 2 very small backups, if any at all. The Bart books are all made of shorts about 6-8 pages in length. And yet, each story tries to capture the formula of an episode of the Simpsons with a brief storyline that morphs into the main premise by the second act. An average of 7 pages per story just isn't enough time for a quality story that attempts to check off all the boxes of a Simpsons episode formula. 

Another thing hurting this book is missing talent. Gail Simone, Sergio Aragones and Ian Boothby are all absent. Their creative plots (and in Aragones' case, illustrations) have created some of my all-time favorite Bongo stories starring the residents of Springfield. I'm pretty sure that there won't be very many memories made from reading this volume.

Now for the thing that wasn't Bongo's fault but 100% the blame of publisher Harper Collins. My book was literally falling apart at the seams. At first, I thought that I could eliminate this problem and glue the pages back into the spine. But towards the end, probably the 3rd to last page, I discovered that 1 freaking page was missing!!!

I understand that this book is 15 years old and yes, I bought it used. But this is not the first book from Harper Collins that I have gotten that had this problem. What are they using as book binder glue? Spit?! As much as this was one of my least favorite collections of Simpsons comics, I still want to own a complete run of stories. So I could either trade this book back in, minis the page (I don't think that's ethical) or I hold onto it in hopes of getting a replacement somewhere down the road. It seems like a lot of hassle for a book that I didn't thoroughly enjoy.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Big Beastly Book of Bart Simpson

Once again, I had a time of feeling blue and I needed a pick-me-up. Enter this collection of Simpsons Comics starring everyone's favorite bad boy, Bart Simpson!

Just because these stories star Bart, that doesn't mean that the rest of the Simpson clan are absent. But it does mean that a majority of these adventures do occur at Springfield Elementary and his main foil is Principal Skinner. Barred from the new football team, Bart one-ups Skinner by joining the cheerleading squad... and surprise, surprise- Bart does really well!

Another great story involving sports has Bart and Lisa's little league team suddenly without a coach. So they turn to Professor Frink to lead them and they do really well thanks to the scientist's array of inventions and gadgets. Going all the way to the championship against the West Springfield lineup led by Frink's arch-enemy Doctor Colossus! With the title and personal pride on the line, the Springfield Championship game becomes an arms race between Frink and Colossus. 

There are so many other stories I could talk about. Sticking to the rule of 3, I'll focus lastly on the field trip to the Capital City Historical Museum. Faced with the prospect of being blackballed by the curator should a single student of Springfield Elementary step out of line, Skinner is sweating bullets; especially when Bart and Nelson get handcuffed together in the olde timey jail exhibit. With the head of the museum on their tail, Bart and Nelson are fugitives of exhibition hall justice! Of course, you know Seymour Skinner is going to get blacklisted!

Lots of fun. I so very miss Bongo Comics. Their Simpsons books were so very good. They entertained. They made me laugh. They brought up my spirits. If you love the Simpsons, don't miss out on the adventures of Bart Simpson! That overlooked spin-off is just as good as the regular Simpson books and a must for anyone wanting to collect the whole run of the Springfield Family of comics.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.