Treehouse of Horror Monopoly

I've been looking forward to this set, but didn't realize it was already in stores.

Description: Buy, sell & trade the infamous Treehouse of Horror haunts, including Springfield Cemetery and Burns' Secret Laboratory. Features never-before-seen art from FOX. Includes six collectible glow-in-the-dark tokens: Alien Maggie, Fly-Head Bart, The Collector, Dracula Burns, Werewolf Ned and Donut-Head Homer. For 2 to six players.

Sounds like a good way to spend Halloween night, especially if you're like me and live in a town where trick-or-treating has been all but banned this year for safety reasons, since the streets are still lined with huge piles of debris from Hurricane Rita.

Of course, without those pesky trick-or-treaters to deal with, maybe I can finally spend a Halloween night watching horror movies in peace instead of being constantly interrupted by a ringing doorbell...

Happy Halloween!

MacHomer

The one-man stageplay by Rick Miller, which tells the story of Macbeth using the voices of over 50 different characters from The Simpsons, has hit the road for its 10th anniversary tour across the U.S. and Canada. Homer Simpson stars as MacHomer, and Barney Gumble plays (naturally) MacDuff.

Official website

Articles:

Mmm, 'MacHomer'

MacHomer: The Simpsons Do Macbeth

Website Update

Added to the Super Simpsons Handbook:

Nuclear Power Man and Iron Foot, a.k.a. Heroes For Rent!

And their deadly nemesis, Disco Inferno!

Also, revealed for the first time, courtesy of Bongo Comics' own Bill Morrison:

The names of the 2 mystery members of Superior Squadron!

Bongo Comics for January 2006

Here are the Bongo Comics solicitations from the November Previews, which hit comic shops this week:

The Simpsons Comics #114
by Rogers & Ho

Get the 411 on the good people of Springfield, as you become privy to the phone conversations, the wrong numbers, the latest gossip, and the bad connections of everyone in town. Wish for the ish with all the dish (if you get our gist)!
32 pages, $2.99

Futurama Comics #23
by Boothby & Delaney

A space anomaly and some reckless piloting by Bender bring about the reappearance of Planet Express' earliest crew once presumed dead. But when the old crew turns out to be far supererior to the current crew, one of them has got to go! However, the now stellar and once interstellarly lost crew may not be all they seem to be!
32 pages, $2.99

Simpsons Classics #7
by Matt Groening

The Simpsons are chosen to live in an experimental biosphere, but the family adventure soon turns into a desperate fight for survival. Then, Bart and Milhouse become comic creators and take on the publishing giants, but they'll need superpowers to fend off the plagiarizing bamboozlers and copyright infringers who are anxious to make the creative duo's cash cow their own. Also, Sargeant Seymour Skinner and his Grovelin' Grunts go to war and Jimbo Jones takes centerstage in Wedgie Comics! Collects Simpsons Comics #12-13.
Magazine, 64 pages, $3.99

November Sweeps Episodes

From Comics Continuum:

Fox has released details for the November sweeps episodes of The Simpsons.

Following is a rundown:

* Sunday, Nov. 6: Former athletes Terry Bradshaw and Dennis Rodman, playing themselves, stir up tricks and treats in the annual "ghoultide" Halloween trilogy, "The Simpsons' Tree House of Horror XVI." The episode begins with "B.I.: Bartificial Intelligence" when the Simpsons adopt David, a newly developed artificial robot son, to replace Bart after he falls into a coma.

In "Survival of the Fattest," Mr. Burns invites Homer and his friends to his gigantic estate for a hunting tournament, but Homer and the gang learn they are the ones being hunted on "The World Series of Manhunter," hosted by Bradshaw. In the final segment, "I've Grown a Costume on Your Face," a costume contest goes awry when a real witch turns all the Springfieldians into real-life versions of their costumes, leaving only Maggie with the power to reverse the spell.

* Sunday, Nov. 13: Observing that Marge is lonely, Bart offers to spend time with her. After they go on tandem bike rides and decorate Bart's tree house as a "teahouse," the bullies from school dub Bart a "mama's boy." When Marge finds out that Bart's schoolmates are teasing him, she gives him the necessary tools to win back his reputation. Meanwhile, Homer teams up with Moe and joins a professional arm-wrestling circuit.

* Sunday, Nov. 20: In "See Homer Run," Homer's inability to embrace Lisa's Father's Day book the same way he does Bart's Father's Day Toolman causes Lisa to develop DDD (Disappointed Daughter Disorder). Meanwhile, Bart steals the "Bart Boulevard" street sign and causes a huge pile-up. While Mayor Quimby creates The Safety Salamander spokesperson in response to the accident, the town still forces the ineffective Mayor into a recall election. Homer, longing to win back his daughter's love, takes the spokesperson position, and after a heroic run as the Safety Salamander, he runs for Mayor -- along with every other unqualified Springfieldian.

* Sunday, Nov. 27: In "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas," featuring Lily Tomlin as a guest voice, Homer has an altercation with the Easter Bunny at the Mayor's egg hunt, causing Marge to be shunned. A lonely Marge decides to join a women's group called the Cheery Red Tomatoes and agrees to help with an upcoming charity drive -- robbing Mr. Burns of his Faberge egg collection. Meanwhile, Lisa's plans to spend a summer in Italy hit a bump when she learns the first requirement is being fluent in Italian, so she takes on a teacher from a classified ad -- who turns out to be Milhouse.

Ty "The Guy" Templeton

One of the many things I missed while being offline was a message posted to this blog by Ty "The Guy" Templeton, who's been one of my all-time favorite creators ever since the Justice League International days. More recently, he worked on Dan Slott's awesome Spider-Man/Human Torch mini-series.

Templeton was the writer/artist on one of my favorite Bongo issues: Bart Simpson #17, "Legends of the Bartman Family" (responsible for a number of entries in the Super Simpsons Handbook). In Simpsons Super Spectacular #1, Ty wrote and drew the Pieman story, and illustrated Chuck Dixon's "The Crimespree on Springfield 2," starring Bartman, Houseboy, and Bartdog. He also wrote and drew Rob Zombie's "House of a Thousand Donuts" in Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror #10.

Special thanks to The Guy for stopping by. Keep up the good work, and I hope you'll be back.

Simpsons Super Spectacular #2

by Boothby, Delaney, Lash, and Brereton

Superheroic Barts of many worlds (Bartman, Stretch Dude, and Cupcake Kid) are summoned into yet another world by an unlikely ally to battle side-by-side against the tyrannical ruler of the planet, Bart Simpson (!) in “The Extraordinary League of Barts!” And on the flip side, Radioactive Man and the “marvels” of Zenith City are viewed through the camera lens of a prickly photographer in “Bongos,” an all-comic, all-painted tale by Batton Lash and Don Brereton. Super Simpsons! Super special! Super Spectacular this December!

CBG #1611 -- Simpsons Cover

(As always, click to enlarge)

No More Roofing It

Hurricane Rita Aftermath -- Final Update

Finally, my horrific ordeal is over. After 3 weeks without electricity, another week without cable television, another week without telephone service, and yet another week without (gasp!) internet access, my home is back to normal, more or less. Yesterday was a banner day: Not only did the cable modem suddenly start working again, but the roofers finished putting the new roof on the house, which means that the incessant banging finally... ceased.

Of course I'm exaggerating... my "ordeal" was really just an extended inconvenience. Many people had it -- and still have it -- a lot worse, between Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. But the experience definitely made me appreciate the little things a lot more. Like blogging.

In other words, regular updates of "Crisis on Infinite Springfields" resume today. It's good to be back.

CBG #1611

If you check out the bottom left corner of the cover of Comics Buyer's Guide #1611 above, you'll see the issue includes a story about the current "Treehouse of Horror" comic. The copy I bought this week actually has an all-Simpsons cover, but as I'm still a refugee from Hurricane Rita, I don't have access to my scanner.

The article includes an interview with Len Wein and Marv Wolfman about their stories in Bart Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror #11, which I've been misidentifying on this blog as #10 for some reason. (In my defense, Bongo editor Bill Morrison never corrected me on the error, either). Previous blog entry about "Squish Thing" and "The Sub-Basement of Dracula" here.

"From the town of Springfield..."

"...He's about to hit a chestnut tree..."

Collector Alert: Homer Simpson as Fred Flintstone on the cover of TV Guide. For the full story, check out The Simpsons Channel.

Simpsons Comics #110

Thanks to Excalibur Comics, Cards, & Games in Texarkana, Texas (or is that Arkansas?) I was able to acquire a copy of Simpsons Comics #110 yesterday. Special thanks to the highly knowledgable Colin, who answered my son's unending stream of Heroclix questions (and who remained amiable even after my son started an impromptu fortune-telling session with a 10-sided die and predicted a variety of horrible fates for him).

My review: If you only read one comic book to help distract you from the knowledge that you are a Hurricane Rita refugee and your house won't be livable again for at least 3 weeks... make it Simpsons Comics #110. Seriously, this issue is highly entertaining and cheered me up immediately. The final videogame-themed splash page alone made it worth the cover price (for spoiler details, check out the Comments below). Ian Boothby has done it again.

This week: The previously discussed Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror #10.