So, if you weren't plugged into the comic book news cycle. Then you probably haven't heard that Bongo Comics has ended the Simpsons comics after a 25 year run. Now if your probably wondering why am I writing about this and not anything DC and Marvel related. Well let me explain to you my history with comics.
My First Time So back when I was little I used to remember that Tuesday would be when my would buy me a new magazine. They would usually be stuff like Thomas: The Tank Engine or Wallace & Gromit. But on one very rare occasion I would buy a Simpsons comic. But then around 2007 and 2008 I would start reading them. I mean by myself. Again, slow learner. Then I would read them on a regular basis along with the Star Wars magazines. The comics felt like the Simpsons it their heyday, with funny plots, art which feels like the show, but still. We had cool issues which had characters from the show come back, like Hank Scorpio, those French anti-freeze wine guys from way back in the first series and Spider-Pig (remember when people sang that in the playground, I'm old) it's great for long-time nerds.
The comic had several spin-offs, with Bart Simpson getting his own title, which had several stories involving Bart, but other citizens of Springfield, or the Super Spectacular* a great parody of super comics. We even had Treehouse of Horror which, like the TV equivalent parodies horror movies, the comic equivalent parodies old horror comics, like EC. This helped me feed my interests in comics and looking back at it now. It was a great parody of comics.
Now I Get It If you ever get moment where you look back at stuff you liked as a kid where you remember a joke which you understand is a reference to something you probably didn't understand that existed. Well looking back at Simpsons Comics now. That's me now.
Looking at the Super Spectacular Comics, I can now understand the jokes at Simpsons comics. We had an story which was a parody/homage of Dikto Spider-Man and other early comics. They had an entire story which was a parody of the Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross story Marvels. They poked fun at the ridiculous lengths capes were during the 90's. It was a big joke.
Another series was the Bartman spin-off, the Batman parody. This comic had a crossover parody with the Icthy and Scratchy Comics and the main Simpsons comic where after Icthy and Scratchy escape from the TV (comics, amiright) and causes a nuclear disaster with every resident of Springfield becoming comic book characters. There some ones who are recognise but there are some cool jokes that went over my head, with the bullies being parodies of Youngblood and WildC.A.T.S. (the All Saints and NSYNC of super hero teams). As a kid, joke went over my head, as an comic book loving adult, I understand that reference.
There was also an issue where they did an anthology where did the Simpsons in the style of comics from other countries, like Herge's Tintin.
The comics also had guest stars. Guest stars who were related to comic books, imagine those episodes where Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Dan Clownes and Art Spiegelgman appeared.
(This is how first discovered these guys)
The guest stars in the comics come from fun little cameos. In one issue where the Simpsons went to Scotland with Groundskeeper Willie, they meet renowned Scottish comic book creators Grant Morrison (All-Star Superman, Happy! and Multiversity) and Mark Millar (every comic book movie made by Matthew Vaughn). They later have a fight with each other who had the best X-Men run. Also Pat Boone appeared.
And there wasn't comic book creators appearing on the pages. This particular comic was written by Gail Simone. Yes that Gail Simone. She also did a lot of the Bart Simpson comics as well. Garth Ennis wrote a short story in the Treehouse of Horror comics which parodied Alien. Yes. Garth Ennis, the writer of Preacher and pretty much all Punisher stories that people will talk about. That story was scary remembering it now.
And also as the Simpsons itself was a parody of other American sitcoms, with the family being not perfect and being animated and skewing tropes of the genre. We got possibly one of the best parodies of crossover event comics. The Death of Comic Book Guy. The Death of Comic Book Guy: The Perfect Parody of Event Comics
So if you know anything about comic book storytelling, it's like a soap opera, with have ending up with amnesia, with have storylines which were all a dream, cliffhangers, aliens** and most importantly. Hyped up deaths. It's been a long trend, where they kill off a character make it a big deal. We have both companies do this trend with the list of following character deaths. +Death of Superman-1992 +Death of Hawkman-2016 (Got a book this year) +A Death in the Family-1988 (Jason Todd, Robin. He got better) +Death of Wolverine-2014 (Came back this year) +The Death of Captain America-2007, 2008 (He's still alive) +Death of Spider-Man (That was the Ultimate Universe. He's dead. He ain't coming back) The Simpsons made a comic book miniseries where they satirised this trend. It was a funny comic book, but with an engaging plot. We had fun little references to stuff, from other famous death, to trends to other comics and they even did an EC Comics shout out in the end. It's a fun little comic miniseries as funny as it is heartfelt. It's like Who Shot Mr. Burns when they spoof Who Shot JR?***
Conclusion
So the Simpsons comics where funny comics, which like the show poked fun at their own medium. It had famous writers like Gail Simone, Garth Ennis and Chuck Dixon. Had various spin-offs which were good. It introduced me to comics books and had a hand on making me the nerd I'm am today.
*This retrospective is from a UK perspective so it was possibly a different name in the UK. **That actually happened. ***Ask your parents.
