Free Comic Friday: Bongo Comics Free-for-All! 2010

Bongo Comics Free-for-All 2010
Scripts: Chuck Dixon, Sergio Aragones, Tony DiGerolamo, Ian Boothby
Pencils: Phil Ortiz, Aragones, John Delaney
Inks: Mike DeCarlo, Aragones, Andrew Pepoy
Colors: Art Villanueva, Jacob Glaser, Robert Stanley, Chris Ungar
Letters: Karen Bates
Editor: Bill Morrison
Released: May 1, 2010

With the 35^th season of “The Simpsons” set to premiere Sunday,* let's check out another edition of Bongo Comics Free for All.

As I've said before, this was always one of the issues I always grabbed on Free Comic Book Day, but I never made any Bongo products a regular purchase. I guess short, fun stories – even strong superhero parodies – couldn't overcome my fondness** for decades-long superhero continuity that didn't always make me angry.

This issue once again opens with a tale by the legendary Chuck Dixon featuring Krusty the Clown. With art by Ortiz, inks by DeCarlo and colors by Villanueva, it finds Krusty being pressured by the network to make his show more educational. In a segment with the Springfield Zoo's Jungle Jane, an endangered crocodile clamps down on Krusty's arm, and the episode devolves into a profanity-laced disaster that finds the clown sent to anger management classes.

Well, class. One short session – all he gets without insurance – leads Krusty to retire from show business and get a serious job at the nuclear power plant alongside Homer Simpson. When Bart tags along to meet his idol (which I'm sure only happened several dozen times on the show and who knows how many in the comics), he winds up trapped inside during a meltdown. As Mr. Burns locks the place down and everyone panics, Krusty keeps things calm by doing a comedy set.

Everyone survives, and Krusty does, of course, return to his show. But lest you think there's a lesson in here, it's because the network offered him more money after their replacement, “She's All That Grrlz,” bombed. It's a fun story that feels like it would fit as an episode of the show.

The next entry is a dialogue-free two-pager by Aragones with colors by Glaser, reprinted from “Bart Simpson” #50. It's the first of 27 “Maggie's Crib” stories by Aragones listed on the Simpsons Fandom wiki. In this one, Maggie resists being put to bed early and outwits Homer for some more TV time. It's a nice fit for another comic legend.

Next is “Homer Beats the Heat,” by DiGerolamo, Ortiz, DeCarlo and Stanley. The title is wishful thinking, as Homer tries to help Lisa deal with a sweltering summer she blames on global warming. The various methods he tries are funny enough, though they mostly come across as pretty straightforward cartoon gags until he takes her to the nursing home with Grandpa Simpson to be cooled off by “the icy cold hand of death.” That feels pretty Simpsons to me, as does his using countless aerosol cans of fake snow to make it seem like winter.

The final tale, is “The League of Extraordinary Barts,” by Boothby, Delaney, Pepoy and Ungar. It uses the multiverse concept to unite multiple Bart Simpson heroic alter egos – Bartman, the Cupcake Kid and Stretch Dude. The third one I hadn't heard of, though Fandom tells me he debuted 12 years earlier in the 10^th Treehouse of Horrors episode and has appeared in some other comic stories. He won me over from his introductory panel, as he's joined super versions of Lisa and Maggie fighting a Human Torch-like version of Homer's boss dubbed: Third-Degree Burns.

They've been brought together by an alternate reality Sideshow Bob, who actually isn't trying to kill Bart. He wants these variants to overthrow his reality's Bart, who has taken over the world using the technology of Professor Frink. Frink must do his bidding if he ever wants to see his beloved monkey, Mr. Bananas, again.

The trio make their way to Evil Bart's castle after battling alternate bullies and correctly guessing the password to get past Comic Book Guy, in the only appearance of the co-cover boy from this issue's Amazing Fantasy #15 homage. They eventually triumph over their villainous counterpart and teleport back to their realities just as Bart's recently freed slaves – the familiar residents of Springfield – charge the castle.

It's easily the highlight of the issue for me, showing an appreciation for and ability to laugh various comic book tropes, all through a Simpsons lens. Stories like this are why I have several more Bongo Free for All issues to cover in future installments of #FreeComicFriday.

* - Unless the writers' and actors' strikes messed that up, but I keep checking online and it still says Oct. 1.

** - Fixation. Addiction. Obsession. Why quibble over words?