Title/Issue no.---Cover Price (US$)---Main story number of pages
SIMPSONS COMICS AND STORIES
Simpsons Comics And Stories #1 $2.95
Containing the following stories:
"Lo, There Shall Come...A Bartman!" 12pp
"Bring Me The Head Of El Barto" 8pp
"Maggie's Excellent Adventure" 7pp
a) "Bartman": A Jaunty Matt Groening Production / Joltin' Steve Vance
- Script, Layouts, Inks / Mirthful Cinfy Vance - Co-plot, Colors /
Nefarious Bill Morrison & Jazzy Mike Anderson - Inks, Embelleshing
"El Barto": A Jolly Matt Groening Production / Nefarious Bill
Morrison - Story & Art / Mirthful Cindy Vance - Colors
"Maggie": A Smilin' Matt Groening Production / Joltin' Steve Vance:
Co-story, Layouts / Mirthful Cindy Vance: Co-story, Colors /
Genial Ray Supreme: Finished Art
b) Poster "Radioactive Man meets Bartman" (apparently only included
with direct sales edition for "Simpsons Illustrated" subscribers)
c) Krusty The Clown presents "Itchy & Scratchy's Power Tool Safety
Tips" ("Not a real public service advertisement"; Layouts by
Rascally Mike Polcino)
d) In the first story, Bart discovers that the creator of the
original RM comic lives at the Springfield Retirement Castle. He
befriends him and in his secret identity as Bartman tries to stop
the sales-driven demise of Radioactive Man...
In the second story, an all-out man-hunt for the dastardly graffiti
artist El Barto almost has dire consequences for Bart...
In Maggie's adventure, she goes on a slapstick-filled journey, but
amazingly remains unharmed.
e) The Bartman story was later reprinted in a smaller format as a
give-away with either "Wizard" or "Hero Illustrated" - I lost the
e-mail telling me about this (which was from Gary Nabors, I
think?). Sorry!
SIMPSONS COMICS
Simpsons Comics #1 $2.25 24pp
"The Amazing Colossal Homer"
Back-cover flip-over story: "Bart Simpson's Creepy Crawly Tales":
"The Collector" 5pp
a) A Matt Groening Production / Tim Bavington: Additional Inks
Flip story: A Matt Groening Production / Sondra Roy: Pencils /
Susan Grode: Inspiration
b) "First Issue Collector's Item!" with "Part 1 Of Ultra-Giant 4-Part
Bongo Universe Poster!" featuring the Simpsons (minus Bart...)
c) Greeting from Matt Groening on inside front cover (no Bongo Beat)
d) Homer is picked as guinea pig for Mr. Burns' rejuvenator ray and
the side-effects have him growing to monumental size; a Godzillaish
confrontation is avoided by the application of a shrinking serum-
cum-tranquilizer.
"The Collector" is a parody both of old horror comics and the over-
obsessive efforts at preservation of vintage books by today's serious
comics buff, starring Homer as the victim and Bart as narrator.
e) Just like in The Simpsons on TV there are lots of interesting details:
spot the "Empire Strikes Back" reference on page 23.
Simpsons Comics #2 $1.95 22pp
"Cool Hand Bart"
Back-cover flip-over story: "Patty & Selma's Ill-Fated Romance Comics":
"My Sister, My Homewrecker!" 5pp
a) A Matt Groening Production
Flip story: Tim Bavington: Inks
b) none
c) 2-page "Patty & Selma's Fascinatin' Fashions" cut-out & dress-up
dolls spread
d) Bart, Milhouse, Nelson, Jimbo, Dolph & Kearny are sent to Springfield
State Prison for a short-term anti-delinquency program where Bart
discovers he's sharing a cell with Sideshow Bob and ends up escaping
with him from a good ol' down south chain gang...
"My Sister, My Homewrecker!" has Patty exclaiming: "Holy jumpin' Moses!
Selma's new lover is Marge's husband -choke- Homer Simpson!"...
e) Reveals that Skinner wears a rug!
Simpsons Comics #3 $1.95 20pp
"The Perplexing Puzzle Of The Springfield Puma"
Back-cover flip-over story: "Krusty, Agent Of K.L.O.W.N." 6pp
a) A Matt Groening Production / Tim Bavington: Additional Inks
Flip story: A Groening * Castellaneta * Lacusta * Vance * Morrison
* Bavington * Vance Production
b) none
c) none
d) When Principal Skinner goes away for a convention, the hallowed
school mascot goes missing, and it takes super sleuth Lisa to find
the culprit...
"Krusty, Agent Of K.L.O.W.N." shows some Keeping Law & Order With
Novelty Items, lots of really stupid gadgets, and mucho 70ies
psychedelic artwork
e) Plenty of private eye stuff here, such as Lisa reading "The Maltese
Falcon"; "Krusty" is parody of "Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD" comic
Simpsons Comics #4 $2.25 21pp
"It's In The Cards"
Back-cover flip-over story: "The Gnarly Adventures Of Busman" 5pp
a) Matt Groening: Player To Be Named Later / Bill Morrison & Tim
Bavington: Finished Art / Phil Ortiz: Art Assist
Flip story: Tim Bavington: Inks / Matt Groening: Fellow Traveller
b) "Exclusive Simpsons Trading Card Inside!" of Willy "The Dupe" Dipkin,
2nd base for the Springfield Isotopes
c) none
d) Homer skips work and Bart school so they can go to the free beer
and baseball cards day at the Springfield Isotopes' stadium, where
Bart's mischief leads to an unexpected increase in value of a Willy
Dipkin trading card; meanwhile the substitute staff at Springfield
Elementary give Bart and Lisa's schoool careers a new direction...
In "Busman", Otto is a cool dude who fights evil vampires in a post-
apocalyptic war zone, man...
e) "Busman" has been Otto's project for a long time: he pitched it to
an artist at the comics convention in "Three Men And A Comic Book";
the card story apparently is based on a real incident that happened
around 1989 and involved a baseball card of someone called Bill Ripken
that had "F*ckface" written on it.
Simpsons Comics #5 $2.25 26pp
"When Bongos Collide!"
a) Matt Groening: Nuclear Regulator / Tim Bavington: Inking Assist
b) "Exclusive Simpsons Trading Card Inside!": Black Belch (Barney as
superhero) Smell-o-rama card (smells of cigarette smoke and hot dogs
among other things); also has some more panels to be read with the
decoder screen from Itchy & Scratchy 3 (see below)
c) Wraparound cover continues on back (no flip story this issue)
d) Picks up the action where Itchy & Scratchy 3 (see below) ended:
Itchy & Scratchy run amok in real-life Springfield and their actions
at the power plant have the effect of turning everyone in the town
into costumed superheroes with special abilities... everyone except
Bart(man), that is, who discovers an interesting twist to the story
at the end... (to be continued in Bartman 3)
e) The newly-super-empowered Springfielders are parodies of superheroes
such as the Incredible Hulk, Youngblood and WildC.A.T.S.
Simpsons Comics #6 $2.25 21pp
"Be-bop-a-Lisa"
Back-cover flip-over story: "Chief Wiggum's Pre-Code Crime Comics":
"The End Of El Barto" 5pp
a) Matt Groening: Head Roadie / Tim Bavington: Inks
Flip story: Matt Groening: Bailiff / Tim Bavington: Inks
b) None
c) None
d) One last cheap recording session before she gives up her
unappreciated sax turns into the road to stardom for Lisa when
Otto's band record on top of her playing and Spazz (speed jazz)
is born. Will Bleeding Gums save Lisa from selling-out?
Wiggum and his bumbling cops hunt El Barto but end up mistakenly
arresting a certain other Springfield criminal...
e) The "pre-code" bit refers to early comics from the 40ies, before
the Comics Code Authority, lampooned in Radioactive Man #1, came
into existence (usually known as the Golden Age of comics, I
think)
RADIOACTIVE MAN "Bart Simpsons Favorite Comic Book"
"No.1" "Nov. 1952" $2.95 11pp & 18pp
"The Origin Of Radioactive Man" & "Dr Crab's Commie Comics"
a) A Matt Groening Production
b) Enhanced cover with glow-in-the-dark skeleton printed on
Radioactive Man's body; part 4 of the giant poster, featuring
Radioactive Man
c) Greeting from Matt Groening on inside front cover (no Bongo
Beat); back cover parody of Charles Atlas bodybuilding ads:
Become a superhero for $10 in only 15 years!
d) "The Origin" sees rich playboy Claude Kane III hit by a nuclear
test blast, transforming him into the "brightly-garbed champion
of justice, this defender of the USA, this enemy of
nonconformity, this Radioactive Man!"; in "Dr.Crab's Commie
Comics" Radioactive Man (with the help of some giant props)
fights the subversive influence on America's youth (including
Rod Runtledge) of trashy horror comics...
e) Plenty of references to the almost generic origin-of-soandsoman
stories that appear in first issues of superhero comics series;
the second story captures the censorship mood of the McCarthy
50ies and the moralizing over comics like those published by
late MAD Magazine supremo Bill Gaines (as I said above, check the
"Annotated Radioactive Man" for details)
"No.88" "May 1962" $1.95 26pp
"Magmo The Lava Man" (in 4 parts: "The Molten Menace Of Magmo The
Lava Man", "Alone Against The Lava Man", "If This Be My Origin...!"
and "The Final Slugfest")
a) A Groggy Matt Groening Production / Sleepless Steve Vance,
Bleary-Eyed Bill Morrison, Somnambulistic Cindy Vance
b) none
c) Inside front cover parody of novelty item mail-order ads (X-ray
glasses, midget spy camera, hypnotic whirly disc, secret nose
radio, you know the stuff!); "A Brain-Blasting Bongo Filler
Page!"; back cover retro/fake 60ies ad for Itchy & Scratchy Show:
"3 all-new episodes this season! Saturday mornings at 5:30 right
after the Farm Report on UHF Channel 91 in Springfield!"
d) Radioactive Man and the Superior Squad dispense of a nuclear
generator, only to set free Magmo, who captures Fallout Boy and
then wreaks havoc in Zenith City before being vanquished by
Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy; being captured gives Fallout
Boy/Rod Runtledge plenty of time for reminiscing, hence the "Epic
Re-Telling Of The Origin Of Fallout Boy!"...
e) This seems to be a parody of the 60ies Marvel Comics and the
various superhero leagues (the Superior Squad are: Captain Squid,
Purple Hart, Lure Lass, Weasel Woman, Bug Boy and Plasmo), and
there's a funny reference to Spiderman's origin in Fallout Boy's
own origin re-telling, when he flicks a radioactive spider off
his hand before it can bite him.
"No.216" "August 1972" $1.95 26pp
"See No Evil, Hear No Evil"
a) Matt Groening: Unindicted Co-Conspirator / Shaun Cashman:
Additional Inks
b) none
c) Inside front cover ad (with "free" coupons) for Krustyland
Amusement Park, formerly Krusty's Hog Farm, Slaughterhouse and
Petting Zoo; back cover parody of ad for plastic toy soldier
"Vietnam War Fun Set"
d) Radioactive Man hits the road with the newly-named Bleeding Heart
and the Black Partridge in search of Fallout Boy, who's fallen
under the spell of the evil Reverend Spoon and become a hippie...
or has he?
e) The ultra-groovy and, like, socially conscious 70ies get the
parody treatment, especially artist Neal Adams (try reading the
distorted script making up the Black Partridge's force beams):
the cover and the visit to Bleeding Heart/Miles Mando's new pad
are lifted straight from the "anti-drug" issue no.85 of Green
Lantern/Green Arrow.
"No.412" "October 1980" $2.25 26pp
"In Ze Clutches Of Dr. Crab"
a) Matt Groening: Spin Doctor / Tim Bavington: Additional Inks
b) "Exclusive Skybox Trading Card Inside!" of Radioactive Man
"No.411,Sept.1980"-cover
c) Back cover ad parody: "Coming soon to the Springfield Second-run
Discount Movie Palace: Radioactive Man III! Starring Troy McClure
as Radioactive Man"
d) After freeing himself, Fallout Boy and the Superior Squad from
Dr. Crab's trap, Radioactive Man is killed by a particle blaster
and buried, but returns as Dark Radioactive Man, who turns on his
former allies...
e) In Bongo Comics' own words: "80ies-style action featuring the
ever-so-tragic Death of Radioactive Man and the oh-so-inevitable
Return of Dark Radioactive Man" (I originally thought that the
much-hyped death of Superman and "Batman - The Dark Knight
Returns" were the prime targets here, however I have since
learned from Marc Singer's RM guide that this issue is actually
a quite specific parody of a comic I didn't know about called
Uncanny X-Men, and the death of someone called Jane Grey who
turns into Dark Phoenix or something); the other 80ies trend in
comics, the graphic novel, is parodied in "No.679" below.
"No.679" "January 1986" $2.25 26pp
"Who Washes The Washmen's Infinite Secrets Of Legendary Crossover
Knight Wars?"
a) MG: Media Consultant / Tim Bavington: Finished Art
b) "Exclusive Simpsons Trading Card Inside!": a more elaborate than
usual drawing of the Atomic Avenger (art by Abel Laxamana)
c) None
d) Radioactive Man not only has to deal with the break-up of the
Superior Squad due to President Reagan's ban on costumed
superheroes, but with a collision of various universes as well
e) A brilliant parody of not one but three "classic" eighties
graphic novel-style comics: Watchmen, Batman: The Dark Knight
Returns, and the multi-issue-multi-title-crossover by DC, Crisis
On Infinite Earths. Again, check Marc Singer's annotations, for
instance on the way the panel layout keeps changing in synch with
the title being parodied at the time!
"No.1000" "January 1995" $2.25 26pp
"In His Own Image"
a) MG: Hat Training / "Vancoptics" Colors: Mike Sakamoto
b) None
c) Radioactive Man Sketchbook page purporting to be by Morty Mann,
the original creator (see Simpsons Comics & Stories #1 above),
and showing RM's evolvement through the ages of comics (actual
art: Bill Morrison); a "so long" to the Vances in Bongo Beat; and
an inside cover parody of the lengthy credits given to everybody
down to the assistant copy boy in today's comic books
d) Radioactive Man is forced to become more marketable by adopting a
grimmer image, encounters a new, down-and-dirty version of
himself, and battles his arch-enemy Dr Crab, now called Prawn,
leading to a trip back in time to his 40ies origins as Radio Man
and to a surprise reunion...
e) Parodies a practice in comics known as "retcon" wherein the
previous history of a character is rearranged to suit the present
storyline; also takes the mickey out of the violent and gritty
Image comics, such as Spawn. Again, the layout and art are great
in their imitation of the different styles.
BARTMAN "Bart Simpson, Archenemy Of Evil!"
Bartman #1 $2.95 28pp
"The Comic Book Caper"
a) A Matt Groening Production / Phil Ortiz: Pencils / Tim Bavington:
Additional Inks
b) Enhanced cover with Bartman about to fall into giant silver ink
vat (silver foil): "Aye Carumba! It looks like the next cover
enhancement is gonna be my blood!"; part 3 of the giant poster,
featuring Bart as Bartman
c) Greeting from Matt Groening on inside front cover (no Bongo
Beat); "Bart's Bottom 40"
d) During the school holidays, Bart(man) uncovers a scam involving
rare comic books with "enhanced" covers and perpetrated by Jimbo
Jones, Dolph, Kearney and the fat slob who runs the comic book
shop...
e) Contrary to the statement on the Skybox "Bart Simpson" trading
card that Milhouse is the sidekick "Houseboy", his function here
seems to be more like that of Commissioner Gordon in "Batman":
hence the summoning to the treehouse by Bartsignal.
Bartman #2 $1.95 26pp
"Where Stalks...The Penalizer!"
a) A Matt Groening Production / Jan Strnad: Script / Steve Vance:
Edits / Morrison, Bavington, Ortiz: Finished Art
b) none
c) none
d) Bartman fights the Penalizer, a hooded vigilante who is Bartman's
enemy in more than one way...
e) Check out the re-construction site of the giant donut (on page
17) that the colossal Homer wrecked in Simpsons Comics no.1.
Bartman #3 $2.25 26pp
"The Final Collision"
a) King of the Saucermen: Matt Groening / Script: Jan Strnad
b) "Free Skybox Trading Card Inside!" of Radioactive Man and Bartman
on a spinner card (string not included...)
c) Three pages of prize-winning readers' art from "Wizard" comics
magazine competition
d) The stunning conclusion of "When Bongos Collide" sees Bart bring
Radioactive Man to life with some truly space-age technology in
order to battle the rampant Springfield superheroes...
e) While most Springfielders develop special abilities and/or
costumes in keeping with their day-to-day characters, some of
them are also parodies of comic characters such as Thor, the
Joker and Vampirella.
ITCHY & SCRATCHY COMICS "Bart Simpson's Favorite Cartoon!"
Itchy & Scratchy Comics #1 $2.25 28pp
"Around The World In 80 Pieces"
a) A Matt Groening Production / Mike Milo: Pencils / Harry
McLaughlin: Finishes / Peter Alexander: Colors
b) Part 2 of the giant poster, featuring Itchy & Scratchy
c) Greeting from Matt Groening on inside front cover (no Bongo
Beat); "Inside Itchy & Scratchy" page giving detailed
descriptions of body parts ("Legs: rotate a full 360 degrees when
running at top speed"); "Arms Race!" draw-your-own page with
black-and-white outline pic of I&S sans arms; "Itchy & Scratchy's
Top 40"
d) Scratchy takes a holiday but finds himself penniless, so enters
a race around the world; guess who's his most fearsome
competitor...
e) TV newshound Kent Dachshund looks and sounds a lot like a similar
character in the Simpsons universe, as does action hero Wolfbane.
Itchy & Scratchy Comics #2 $1.95 28pp
"The Itchy & Scratchy Movie II"
a) L.B. Mayhem presents A Matt Groening Production / Story
by Dan Castellaneta & Deb Lacusta / Inks by Tim Bavington
/ Additional Art by Phil Ortiz & Abel Laxamana
b) none
c) No Bongo Beat; 2-page spread of readers' "Arms Race!"-art
d) I&S's boss L.B. Mayhem wants them to make a romantic comedy
for a change, with guest star Miss Dorothy Le Mew, but Itchy's
sabotage leads to a succession of directors and a vital re-cut...
e) Yes, the story was co-written by Homer's voice Dan
Castellaneta; the various directors have names that are
parodies of famous Hollywood filmmakers: Presto Sturgeon,
Howard Hawkley, George Cuckoo.
Itchy & Scratchy Comics #3 $2.25 27pp
"Labor Pains"
a) Matt Groening: Stunt Double / Mike Milo & Harry McLaughlin:
Story & Art Pages 1-22 / Steve Vance & Bill Morrison: Story &
Pencils Pages 23-27
b) "Exclusive Skybox Decoder Card Inside!": this is a speciallly
grooved foil in a tv screen-shaped cardboard frame that
you have to overlay on certain greyish areas in the story to
read hidden signs and messages (it also works with the second
series of SkyBox trading cards)
c) none
d) Scratchy quits and still gets blown up, hacked to pieces and
so on by Itchy while working at a series of casual jobs,
before enjoying filming with Itchy again; after cartoon
finishes on TV, Maggie has "Poltergeist"-like encounter with
set before I&S materialize in the Simpsons' living room: the
stage is set for "When Bongos Collide!", to be continued in
Simpsons no.5
e) At last count there were 9 different grey spots for the
decoder screen to be used on.
Achim Reinschmidt (carla@netspace.net.au) St Kilda Melbourne Australia