"Bart Version 2.0"
Writers: Tony Digerolamo
Artists: Ryan Rivette(p), Mike Rote(i), Joey Mason(c)
"Diary of a Mad Sax Camper"
Writers: Jesse McCann & Sean Williams
Artists: Brian Iles(p), Mike Rote(i), Chris Ungar(c)
"Bart's Junior Camper Demerit Badge Manual"
Writers: George Gladir & Eric Rogers
Artists: Mike Worley(p), Mike Rote(i), Chris Ungar(c)
"Bad Hair Day"
Writers: James Bates
Artists: Joey Nilges(p), Mike Rote(i), Art Villanueva(c)
"Invasion of the Baby Snatchers"
Writers: Tony Digerolamo
Artists: Luis Escobar(p), Patrick Owsley(i), Rick Reese(c)
Publisher: Bongo
Bart Simpson Comics boots up with an original bit of sci-fi shtick courtesy of Tony Digerolamo of the oft-funny independent fantasy book The Travelers. Mr. Digerolamo as is the theme of Bart's eponymous comic book mixes him with Professor Frink for some unwitting deviltry that offers several humorous jokes based upon the television series' continuity.
Mr. Digerolamo recycles a setting the setting and props from one episode for a freshly scented panel. Topical humor also comes in the form of a very familiar toady to a certain dictator, and a certain trilogy becomes the source of a few laughs. The gags while funny do not run amok. There is a plot threading the funny and a smart ending to a very witty problem.
Next, we load up the bus for Mr. McCann & Mr. Williams' story of Lisa's woe. The story bears some resemblance to the misadventure of Kamp Krusty, but Mr. McCann and Mr. Williams alter the ending to create a thoroughly characteristic reason for Lisa to stay at the spider-hole.
The quick two page manual of Bart's advice for earning Junior Camper merit badges breaks down to eight panels of near stand-alone sight gags. Not all of them work, but all are pleasant diversions.
"Bad Hair Day" succeeds despite having none of the funny cast members. Lisa and Marge are more like straight women on the show, and Maggie is often more of a prop. That there disaster begins with the mean-spirited Selma and Patty makes the well-produced amusement an even greater met challenge.
Mr. Digerolamo returns for the last story, and this one came as a surprise. It's very much like the second episode of a Maggie television series. When not a prop on the show, Maggie is actually a quite competent action heroine. She was the one who shot Mr. Burns. She led a great escape of babies from a particularly nasty baby sitter. Mr. Digerolamo evolves these attributes naturally to the stars, works in Maggie's sharpshooter skills and her acumen for adapting to any situation. Along the way he parodies Star Wars, Aliens and Flash Gordon as well as physics.
The various art teams on each tale amend their style to near duplication of Matt Groening's designs. Ryan Rivette in "Bart 2.0" comes up with a stylized nasty appearance for the title character. He exquisitely caricatures the aforementioned dictator and comes up with a fairly straightforward depiction of a citywide disaster. His sense of comic timing is evident in scenes in which plain old Bart exhibits his "spark" by sabotaging Milhouse.
Brian Iles in a very short time conveys the putridness of the Saxophone Camp, and Mike Worley nicely times the gags in the short two-page manual. Joey Niles does something pretty amazing in "Bad Hair Day." He actually shows Selma and Patty having a good time. Mike Rote does an amazing job of enhancing the detail in each of the stories, and Chris Ungar and Art Villanueva provide the appropriately confectionary colors we expect to see in the Simpsons.
Colorist Rick Reese and inker Patrick Owsley evoke the eerie mood of sci-fi horror of which "Invasion of the Baby Snatchers" is a partial tribute. Artist Luis Escobar concocts all sorts of interesting designs for the alien babies and again drops them through the lens of Matt Groening then pops in on Metaluna for his inspiration for the title antagonists.
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