HORROR

Review by Chris Gage

BART SIMPSON'S TREEHOUSE OF HORROR #7 - 2001 By various creators, including Garth Ennis, John McCrea, Troy Nixey, Stan Sakai, and Mark Hamill. Bongo Comics $4.50

Like THE SIMPSONS' TV show Halloween Specials themselves, the annual BART SIMPSON'S TREEHOUSE OF HORROR comics aren't what they used to be. I'd imagine it's tough being original when

1. you only have a few pages to work with,
2. you have to be accessible to younger readers yet still be scary, and
3. other creators have already parodied the best classic horror/sci-fi films in years past.

Though it had its moments, I confess I was hoping for more from this one, largely because of the high caliber of the contributors.

The cover is fun, as is the "Destroy All Simpsons" back cover by Dan Brereton, (parodying the Godzilla flicks, natch). For me, the funniest part of the book was the creator bios, in which contributors describe their Halloween pranks that went awry and other memories of the holiday.

As for the stories, Garth Ennis and John McCrea's "In Springfield No-One Can Hear You Scream" is a "bad dream" story derived from the ALIEN films. There's not much of a plot; "bad dream stories are easy for writers because you can do whatever the hell you want and know how it's going to end (wake up, everything's normal - or is it?) and it feels like the creators just kind of dashed it off and had fun with it. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just that I know these guys can do better (I feel terrible saying that because they're such nice guys, and John McCrea always draws me these great sketches at the San Diego Con. But what the hell, they can talk smack about my movies if they want to, God knows I haven't written CITIZEN KANE yet!). I definitely got the feeling that not being able to get as nasty as they're used to held them back, although there is a great double entendre involving Smithers.

Stan Sakai's "Im Not In Springfield Anymore" is a Wizard Of Oz parody starring Lisa. Though definitely aimed at kids, it has fun moments (Smithers as a flying monkey, Comic Book Guy as the Wizard). Troy Nixey's "Homer Erectus" starts with an amusing premise (Homer is found frozen in ice by 19th century explorers and thawed out for study) but doesn't really go anywhere and definitely suffers from "how the hell do I end this story" syndrome.

My favorite tale of the issue (though it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm such an extreme comic book geek) is Mark Hamill's "Catastrophe in Substitute Springfield". Rather than using horror films as his inspiration, Hamill parodies the Silver Age Superman Bizarro stories. Filled with comic-book in-jokes, the story shows what happens when a "Redundo Ray" creates imperfect duplicates of Springfield's denizens (Bizarro-Homer is handsome and intelligent, Bizarro-Bart quotes Srcipture, etc.). The last page, in which the artists get to draw the Simpsons characters as real people, is priceless, and Hamill's dialogue is both witty and true to the show.

Recognizing that the creators had a tough row to hoe, I give the book, as a whole, two Rabid Fanboys for the adult reader, although if you want to share your horror jones with impressionable young kids without turning them into future serial killers, its perfect.

This review copyright 2001 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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