The Onion AV Club Interviews Matt Groening

http://www.avclub.com/content/node/47771

Bongo Comics for July 2006

The new Diamond Previews hit comic shops today, so here we go:

Simpsons Comics #120

by Bates & Delaney

It begins with the pursuit of a home run ball and ends with the downfall of America's greatest pastime. One man will rock the very institution of Baseball down to its foundation in pursuit of the American dream... and lots and lots of money.

Simpsons Classics #9

Patty & Selma lose their jobs at the DMV, and the Simpsons end up with two more cigarette-smoking mouths to feed. Things begin to look up for Marge's twin sisters when they take new jobs as flight attendants, but the skies above Springfield will never be safe again. Then, don't touch that dial! Bart & Lisa turn a local cable access station into a big broadcasting concern. Check you local listings to see if they have the maverick manner to outmaneuver Murdoch. Collects Simpsons Comics #16 & 17.

Futurama Comics #26

by Boothby & Kazaleh

After a freak accident with Professor Farnsworth's Time Rifle, Leela is blown to past, present, and future bits, dividing her into her toddler, teen, and elderly selves. Any way you look at it, there's a whole lot of Leela going on.

Futurama Volume 3: Time Bender TPB

by Boothby, Lloyd, & Delaney

The four-part trilogy returns in an all-new trade paperback collection. Fry, Leela, Bender, and Professor Farnsworth's clone/ward Cubert take an intergalactic trip, and when they return to Earth, they find the planet uninhabited. First, our merry band of messengers must fight off alien invaders bent on claiming the planet as their own. Then they must go in search of their missing colleagues as well as billions of citizens from Planet Earth. And before long the intrepid crew quite literally goes to Hell and back again. Will the world ever get back to normal, or is everyone totally boned?

The Dumbest Audience Ever Polled

Sunday night I watched the new episode of The Simpsons, "The Wettest Stories Ever Told," twice. The first time with my 11-year-old son, the second with a group of thirtysomething friends. Both times, everyone involved laughed their asses off, because this episode is hilarious. The '70s references in the Poseidon Adventure parody alone make the whole thing worthwhile. (And the commercial for the remake, Poseidon, was icing on the cake).

Afterwards, out of perverse curiousity, I checked one of the message boards run by Simpsons "fans" to read their reactions, and naturally they were almost universally panning it as one of the worst episodes ever. Here is an actual quote from one of the posts:

Not a lot of people are familiar with the Mayflower, the Mutiny on the Bounty or the Poseiden Adventure, so it's hard for people to relate or understand the plot. The previous historical trilogies picked much more well known stories.

Wow. Just... wow. Assuming this had been posted by a nine-year-old, who might deserve to be cut some slack, I checked the person's profile. He (or she) is 20. I'm starting to understand the bandwagon that claims that The Simpsons hasn't been funny for years. The show hasn't jumped the shark, the audience has. At least the vocal internet one.

They don't seem to be able to grasp the idea that if they are some combination of too clueless, young, uneducated or unhip to get the humor in a Simpsons episode, they aren't the target audience. And that, my friends, is comedy gold.

Isn't It Ironic?

Ironic Punishment 2
Originally uploaded by roadkillbuddha.

My Ironic Punishment Deluxe Boxed Set arrived at Paper Heroes today in the new comics shipment. This is especially cool considering that the local Suncoast and Toys 'R' Overpriced stores don't have them yet, and comic shops tend to be the last places to receive this kind of action figure. Ironically, however, Diamond Comic Distributors still managed to screw me by not shipping us our copies of Simpsons Comics #117.

"Girls Just Want to Have Sums"

(Click promo card to enlarge)

The April 30, 2006 episode of The Simpsons:

Springfield is in an uproar after Principal Skinner makes a sexist comment at the end of an Itchy and Scratchy musical. Principal Skinner is replaced by Melanie Upfoot, a women's educational expert, who decides to divide the school in two: one for boys, and one for girls. Studious Lisa soon becomes frustrated when she isn't learning anything from girls' school.

When the Principal refuses to allow her to take math at the boys' school, Lisa decides to dress up as a boy. While Bart teaches her the ropes of boyhood, Lisa wins the math award at the Student Achievement Awards and learns what it's really like to be a part of the boys' club.

Frances McDormand guest-stars as Principal Melanie Upfoot.