Top-notch artwork by Phil Oritz, Mike DeCarlo and Art Villanueva cannot rescue a lackluster trio of tales by Patric Verrone in Simpsons Comics.

The first story spoofs Jumanji of all things. Bart and Milhouse find a board game called Admanji, and as they play, animals from advertisements fill the room. I'm afraid I'll need more than that. All the story does is visually check off things like the gorilla that tests Samsonite luggage and the Coca-Cola drinking Polar Bear. Verrone does not actually put together a joke out of them.

The next story sends up Charlotte's Web. Verrone in this tale simply reminds the reader of better laughs from The Simpsons Movie. Everybody remembers the ditty, but combining the epithet Spider-Pig with the web-weaving plot device isn't really a gag. It's not even much of a pun.

It took me a moment to recognize what literary work Verrone poked fun at in the Santa's Little Helper's escapade. Apparently, it's Cujo, but instead of growing rabid, the dog becomes uber amorous. Nick Riviera's Viagra substitute serve as the catalyst, but the story just isn’t funny.

Next, we have The Incredible Journey with Santa's Little Helper, Snowball and Maggie. The creative team contributes expert choreography, especially the Three Stooges martial arts sequences. The colors evoking natural settings are easy on the eyes, but I did not laugh once.

Stampy gets a short review in the next story, and it shares the same problem with the others. There's nothing in the tale worth a single giggle.

Finally, the Simpsons cast transforms into animals in a goof on Animal Farm. You cannot help admiring the way the artists transmute the cast into recognizable animal counterparts, but the tale does not instill titters.

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