"Batter-up Bart"
"The Three Stages of Teaching"
"Cuff It Up"
Writers: Tony Digerolamo; Tom Peyer; Jason Bates
Artists: Jason Ho(p), Mike Rote(i), Nathan Hamill(c); John Delaney(p), Howard Shum(i); Art Villanueva(c);Luis Escobar(p), Patrick Owsley(i), Hamill(c)
Publisher: Bongo
The first story in Bart Simpson Comics does not immediately grab your attention. Oh, the opening jokes make you giggle, and the spoof on The Bad News Bears with Professor Frink in the Walter Matthau role adds to the funny, but what really makes this tale uproarious is the extra umph given to it by the presence of a well known Bongo villain. His presence also knocks Tony Digerolamo's tale out of the ball park by making it an alternate universe tale with shades of the Fantastic Four being incorporated into a one panel origin.
Jason Ho's pencils capture the Groening framework while adding high tech mech nuance to the escalating diamond duel. Of particular note is the splendid looking Japanese styled action on the final panel. Mike Rote's inks through a light touch deftly enhance Ho's pencils, and Nathan Hamill's colors make everything complimentary to the eye.
Tom Peyer from Legion of Super-Heroes returns from limbo for a brief three pager detailing Lisa's "Gallileo Seven." John Delaney who is more accustomed to a less stylized cartoon arena does an excellent job in rendering Lisa's slow descent into education hell. Inks by Howard Shum seem at times a little too heavy but adequately enhance the artwork while Villanueva provides his usual masterful coloring even if for three pages.
In the final story James Bates offers a loopy parody on The Defiant Ones. In this version Bart and Nelson are cuffed together and must escape museum security and find their way out of their predicament. Bates uses the props of the genre to create faux suspense. The guillotine gag is in particular an inspired twist, and the core to the gag makes realistic sense. Luis Escobar through his timing in the panels milks the fake tension. Owsley's inks give the work added dimension and colors by Hamill take on a more down to earth note but does not shuck aestheticism as the kids leave the candy-codified trappings of Springfield.
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