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.

Simpsons One-Shot Wonders: Bart Simpson's Pal Milhouse #1

The second of 18 total Simpsons One-Shot Wonders. I knew that there was a Milhouse comic book. I just didn't know that it was part of a rudimentary series of specials devoted to some of Springfield's otherwise minor residents. Professor Frink, Police Chief Wiggum and Jimbo are among those who I've learned were given the singular starring role treatment beginning in 2012. I just don't think Lisa nor Bartman, who starred in 3 of these one-shots, deserved the honors as both of them had series runs at one time or another during Bongo Comics' impressive 25 year run. 

I found this book at this year's 301 Endless Yard Sale. One of my former students and her friends were doing a sale and I found a couple of Simpsons comics that I didn't have for only a buck apiece. I chose to read Milhouse first because of the interesting cover. I remember someone from the show being chased by that airplane a la Cary Grant in North by Northwest and I thought the image of Milhouse as Conan the Barbarian was pretty rad. Unfortunately, the concept of the book doesn't quite seem to match the way Milhouse acts on the TV show.

The general idea behind the 2 main stories is that poor, awkward, nerdy Milhouse is so desperate for friendship that his best friend is his over active imagination. I've been watching The Simpsons ever since their days as filler on The Tracey Ullman Show and while Milhouse is definitely a dweeb, I've never noticed that he got lost inside his own head. Daydream retreats by Homer? Absolutely! By Milhouse? Not so much. Okay, never...

The second story at least seemed a bit more plausible. Milhouse gets thrown into his locker by Nelson. Trapped, Milhouse imagines that the locker has a secret entrance to a gigantic secret headquarters where he's international super spy 00! 

The three back up stories were more on par with canon Milhouse. Bart learns it's his best friend's birthday and arranges to bribe everyone at Springfield Elementary into making it Van Houten's best one yet. But soft-hearted Bart doesn't last for long as he then sets up Milhouse to prank Mrs. Krabappel and eventually rats him out without conscience. Lastly, Milhouse teaches you how to make the best prank phone call ever without getting in trouble for it with Bart acting out all the steps by ringing up Moe's tavern. 

Finally, one-shots editor, Louis Lane talks about the Springfield specials he has in store. A book about Homer when he was a kid was on tap next at the time. The first special starred Ralph Wiggum and the letters page saw Milhouse answering in his school mate's stead. It was funny. Though I clearly didn't understand that inside joke about someone's made up name. I googled it and I still don't get it. Also as a bonus, there's a 'hot rod' type sticker of Milhouse that looks like it was made by Ed ' Big Daddy' Ross, that after 13 years has lost its adhesive quality and yet remains inside the comic as if by magic.

With the news about our bombing of Iranian nuclear sites last night, I felt like I needed something light to read. I got that last night. A couple of laughs as well as a chance to think about something else other than complete and utter nuclear annihilation. It just seemed more like a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode instead of a regular season broadcast.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.