Bongo Comics for May 2007

The Simpsons Summer Shindig #1

by DiGerolamo and Yambar

"The world is Bart's playground and we are merely along for the ride, so when Bart hits the fairgrounds this summer amongst the townsfolk of Springfield, he definitely doesn't play fair! Visit the beach with Homer and learn proper surfside etiquette; do time with Bart in summer school; beat the heat with Lisa; and find out how to make the most out of the lazy days of summer with the whole Simpson family!"

Simpsons Comics #130

by Boothby

"Marge is cleaning house and everything must go... on sale on the internet! But as all the Simpsons' worldly possessions and fond memories go out the door, it becomes apparent that only one person is buying the buried treasures... one person who might bring about the end of the Simpson family forever!"

Futurama Comics #31

by Boothby

"Leela takes Nibbler to the veterinarian and gets some shocking news... her cute little Nibblonian has worms -- worms that cause wormholes. Nibbler's disgusting ability to open portals to new worlds at the drop of a... well, you know, is at first considered a blessing, until the two-way wormholes put the DOOP in deep doo-doo!"

See also: The Big Beastly Book of Bart Simpson

Big Beastly Book of Bart Simpson

Due in May:

"Big Beastly Book of Bart Simpson" TPB

"Bart Simpson gets brutal with a brilliant and brand-new collection of comics and stories brimming with bitter rivalries, baseball gone bionic, bully bonding, and babysitters gone bad. Bart and Homer find themselves up a creek when they go fishing together. Bart tries to elude haunted detention slip with his name on it. Principal Skinner bribes Bart to keep him on his best behavior, while Nelson Muntz hosts a guide to adult nerds. Bart reveals the secrets to staying home sick, and when he makes the cheerleading squad, shows off his unique brand of school spirit. And to top it all off, Maggie and Moe find themselves mulling over a murder mystery. Bart Simpson is here to soothe the savage beast!"

Futurama Comics #30

Due next month:

Futurama Comics #30

by Wein and Kazaleh

"One of the benefits of living 1,000 years into the future is that all your worthless junk can suddenly become very valuable. Fry starts his own Internet auction business, but is some evil bidder doing the evil bidding of an evil biddy?"

Bart Simpson #34

Due next week:

Bart Simpson #34

by DiGerolamo & Griffith

"Lisa finds her self in a load of trouble when she tries to do an unsupervised load of laundry. Bart meets a new friend from way out of town. On a lazy day, Bart and Milhouse make a fort out of a refrigerator box. And finally, Uter displays his penchant for physics as he teams up with Bart on the playground."

Beach Blanket Bongo

Due next week:

Simpsons Comics Vol 15 "Beach Blanket Bongo" TPB

"Catch a wave of good humor and hang ten with the Simpsons in their newest, gnarliest comic collection. Homer, Lenny, and Carl think they will be living the sweet life when they all opt for Mr. Burns' early retirement plan, but their former boss' tropical island retirement community turns out to be for the birds -- literally! Bart meets a reclusive B-movie director who announces that his collection of horror, science fiction, and Radioactive Man memorabilia is up for grabs, and every geek, nerd, and dweeb in town sets out on a quest to get their sweaty little hands on it. Krusty the Clown becomes Springfield's newest doctor, and it's not long before he has the town in stitches while delivering big laughs. Principal Skinner takes you into the inner sanctum of Springfield Elementary to reveal untold tales of the Permanent Record File! Bart's arch nemesis, a now surgically altered Sideshow Bob, is released from prison, and Bart must figure out which newly arrived citizen is really Bob in disguise. Then, not to be outdone, Sideshow Bob's brother Cecil arrives on the scene with revenge on his mind and a grudge against Lisa Simpson. So sit down by the seashore and slather on the right amount of SPF to prevent you from being over done by the fun."

Simpsons Comics #127

In comic shops today:

Simpsons Comics #127: "Simpson Family Robinson Crusoe"

"A three-hour tour turns into a long-lost adventure, stranding the whole Simpson family on a deserted island in a classically illustrated tale of survival."

Mary Trainor: Script
John Costanza: Pencils
Phyllis Novin: Inks
Art Villanueva: Colors
Karen Bates: Letters
Bill Morrison: Editor


Click image to enlarge.

"The Italian Bob" Wins WGA Award

The Writers Guild of America has announced the winners for "outstanding achievement in television and radio writing during the 2006 season," and John Frink won in the Animation category for "The Italian Bob."

Three other episodes of The Simpsons were among the nominees for WGA Awards: Dan Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta for "Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore," Don Payne for "Simpsons Christmas Stories" and Matt Selman for "Girls Just Want To Have Sums."

25 Hours and 24 Minutes

"24 Minutes" is set to become the landmark 400th episode of The Simpsons on May 20, 2007. Featuring 24's Jack Bauer and Chloe O'Brian (guest-voiced by Kiefer Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub) it will tell the story of Springfield Elementary's CTU (Counter Truancy Unit), presumably in real time.

Before that, however, the March issue of Simpsons Comics will contain a 24 parody of its own:

Simpsons Comics #128

by Boothby & Ortiz

"It's the longest day of Homer Simpson's life! With the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant set to self-destruct and the lives of everyone in town at stake, only one man can set things right and save the world in the next 25 hours. If only he would put his pants back on!"

Manga-Style Simpsons Comic from Bongo

Last month spacecoyote announced on her deviantART Journal that she'd been hired by Bongo Comics to do the pencils on a manga-style Simpsons comic book. To the left is her rendition of Lisa Simpson in the style that she'll be using in the comic.

She also mentions that she's been contacted by 20th Century Fox about working on mechandising art for Futurama, in conjunction with the upcoming relaunch of the television series.

These job offers came, of course, as a result of the massive popularity of the manga-style Simpsons and Futurama cast pictures she posted on deviantART:

The Simpsonzu

Futurama: Super Happy Fun Show

For more updates, you can read her LiveJournal. Also, check out space coyote dot com.

Battlesimpsons Galactica

Back in May 2006, artist Dylan Meconis started posting his Simpsonized caricatures of the main characters from Battlestar Galactica on his LiveJournal blog.

I just noticed that he's added a few from Season 3, including this one of Lucy Lawless as D'anna Biers.

Click the link above to check out the rest.

Update: Simpsons Video Game Accessories

I thought it was odd yesterday when I couldn't find a web presence for Solutions 2 GO, Inc., the company that will soon be releasing Simpsons-themed video game accessories.

As it turns out, their website is http://www.simpsonsats2g.com/. You can see pictures of some of their stuff on the left, which they promise will include "products for all platforms including Playstation 2, Playstation 3, PSP, Nintendo Wii, Gameboy SP, DS Lite and Xbox 360."

(As always, click the image for a better look).

New Simpsons Video Games & Accessories

There hadn't been any news on The Simpsons video game front for over a year. Back in November 2005, EA announced that they had signed a deal to develop multiple games based on the series, and then never mentioned it again. Until yesterday, that is, when they announced that they would be releasing a game based on the Simpsons Movie. Woo-hoo!

Another company, the Canadian-based Solutions 2 GO, Inc., will be releasing a line of Simpsons video game accessories, including "gaming controllers, carrying cases, accessory bundles and much more, covering all the major consoles, including next generation and hand-held gaming systems." The company is set to show off the new accessory line at next week's American International Toy Fair in New York (Feb. 11-14), so hopefully we'll have some pictures soon. (Even sooner than I thought: Here's the UPDATE).

Homer's Oscar Picks

Click image to enlarge, but be warned! There are spoilers for "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The Departed."

"Infinite Annihilation of the Heroes"

Yes, DC Comics fans, The Simpsons comics are making fun of you.

In a thread on the DC Comics Message Boards -- titled "What should the next Crisis be called?" -- user "dcurep" articulately suggests that some of the entries in the "Events" section of the Super Simpsons Handbook (such as the Infinitely Secret Crossover Crisis, parts I and II) might be poking fun at recurring events in the DC Universe.

So, just for you, I'm posting a couple of pages from Simpsons Super Spectacular #4, released last week, in which Martin Prince describes the plot of "Infinite Annihilation of the Heroes" to Wendell. (Click the images to enlarge).

Simpsons Super Spectacular #4

Bongo Comics released Simpsons Super Spectacular #4 last week. Edited by the inimitable Bill Morrison, the new issue contains three stories:

Bartman in "Shadow Apocalypse of the Sciencester!"
Tom Peyer: Script
Ty Templeton: Pencils
Mike Rote: Inks
Nathan Hamill: Colors
Karen Bates: Letters
"Bartman meets his newest and perhaps least effective nemesis, the sinister genius known as The Sciencester! (Yeah, that's the best we could come up with)."

Bartman vs. Screamapillar in "Scream a Little Scream..."
Nathan Hamill & Jason Ho: Script
Jason Ho: Pencils
Mike Rote: Inks
Nathan Hamill: Colors
Karen Bates: Letters

"The Day Radioactive Man Quit!"
Batton Lash: Script & Pencils
George Broderick: Inks
Art Villanueva: Colors
Karen Bates: Letters
"Radioactive Man becomes aware of the fallout from his nuclear powers and decides to give up super-heroing forever!"

Batton Lash posted this message about his Radioactive Man story in the Supernatural Law blog:

Radioactive Man a la Shelly

Batton here: I've been writing the exploits of Bart Simpson's favorite comic book hero, Radioactive Man, for some time now, and many talented artists have illustrated my scripts. The current issue of Simpsons Super Spectacular (No.4, published by Bongo Comics), however, has the rare Radioactive Man story written and drawn by yours truly. It's a pastiche of a late 50's Batman story, done in the manner of "Bob Kane" (but really Bill Finger and Shelly Moldoff!). The story was inked by George Broderick, Jr (doing his best Charles Paris!). it was fun to do and I hope you will have fun reading it. Headlining the issue are a couple of new Bartman stories, brought to you by Tom Peyer, Ty Templeton, Mike Rote, Nathan Hamill and Jason Ho. So what are you waiting for? Simpsons Super Spectacular No.4 should be available at your local comics store now!

Check out the Super Simpsons Handbook for 3 new entries: The Sciencester, Kid Queasy, and the Cane Gang!

Manimals!

McFarlane Toys is releasing a boxed set based on "The Island of Dr. Hibbert" from "Treehouse of Horror XIII." It's got a release date of August 2007. There are more pictures at Spawn.com.

You can watch "The Island of Dr. Hibbert" below, thanks to the wonders of YouTube.

Also, I added a Manimals entry in the Super Simpsons Handbook today.

"Little Big Girl"

Episode JABF04: As a reward for a heroic act, Bart is granted a driver's license, and in an attempt to escape endless family errands and chauffeuring, he flees to a faraway town where he is romanced by Darcy (guest voice Natalie Portman), an older teenage girl whose expectations may prove to be too much for Bart.

Also, when Lisa struggles to find excitement and intrigue in her family heritage for a school presentation, she decides to take creative license in crafting her heritage as a Native American, since it's only for a school project. What begins as an innocent embellishment quickly turns into a web of lies when Lisa is chosen to represent the school, and "her people," at City Hall, and then as a keynote speaker for the National Native American Tribal Council.

"Little Big Girl" airs February 11.

"Springfield Up"

Episode JABF07: Famous documentarian Declan Desmond (guest voice Eric Idle) walks us through the lives of Springfield's most prominent inhabitants, from childhood to the present. Those profiled include Marge, Moe, and of course Homer, who attempts to convince Declan and his crew that he is a millionaire.

"Springfield Up" airs February 28.