"In the Swim"
Writer: Ian Boothby
Artists: Phil Oritz(p), Mike DeCarlo(i), Art Villanueva(c)
Publisher: Bongo
This year's Springfield Nuclear Plant Outing takes place on Burns' boat, Gone Fission. The safety procedures, which give a twist to the old “women and children first” credo fashions four pages of inspired mayhem. Phil Oritz times the "animation" perfectly to draw out comedy from the slapstick.
The incident on the Gone Fission spins off the B story that focuses on Lisa with the immortal words:
"Vegetables have never saved anyone's life."
The boating trip we learn served another purpose, to allow Mr. Burns to rid him self of radioactive waste. I guess that mutant tree and squirrel objected finally objected. Burns gets the notion to have Homer float the Springfield Channel to thus quell the flapdoodle over the long term effects of the radioactive dumping in the channel.
More events slip a whale into the channel, and here Boothby does one of the strangest things. He parodies the revenge story Orca. This obscure movie that came out in the seventies starred Rex Harrison as a seaman responsible for killing a killer whale's family. "Whales never forget," and the Orca soon exacts a calculating vengeance on Harrison. Killer Whales are of course remarkably intelligent, and the premise of the movie made sense, as does this whale recognizing Homer.
Obviously Homer would not kill a whale's family. His crime was more mischievous, but that doesn't cut any slack with the whale. You may think these scenes with the whale attempting to punish Homer for his misdeeds of long ago would eventually fizzle out, but Boothby keeps things fresh with hilarious dialogue as the Crayon imbedded in Homer's brain shifts.
Using characteristic body language and physical comedy visuals Oritz and DeCarlo energize these aquatic takes on a severely toned down "Itchy and Scratchy" run. Despite making use with a limited environment none of the panels ever look boring. The colors by Art Villanueva again give the scenes added punch. Just his recognition of a blue sky that gradually darkens, as you look higher and the attention to the water's different shades gives the scenes tremendous weight.
Boothby ties up his A story with its B side in a completely absurd way, and Lisa becomes in the epilogue an unfair victim of ribaldry. In short, I laughed until I shed tears.
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