Halloween is coming up this week which means the annual episode of “Treehouse of Horror” on The Simpsons delayed by the ever boring World Series (go Boston since I dislike Colorado more) on Fox. Little do most people know that the same tradition has been going on for 13 years with the comic book but it’s retitled Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror probably for copyright reasons. This Comic Annual is always a treat since the publisher has guest writers and artists do a batch of horror-related stories with the characters drawn outside the style guidelines, if it suits the plot.
This year’s guest writers are comedians and comic fans Brian Posehn and Patton Oswalt doing parodies of Jaws and They Live respectively. The two remaining stories are written by regular Bongo staffers that carry on the horror theme excellently with Mr. Burns looking for the Fountain of Youth and Comic Book Guy’s cursed movie props. Posehn and Oswalt do excellent jobs because they know how to marry their love of geek culture with their comedic professions but not go over the top. I only wish Oswalt’s story were longer since he’s also known for doing script doctoring on the side.
The DVD of the Simpsons movie won’t be out until December 18 and Fox has postponed the Halloween special as always. So if you need a quick Simpson fix, I sincerely endorse Bongo Comics because it has been the exclusive source of any further Futurama adventures.