The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror #14

October 3, 2008

The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror #14 (Bongo Comics)
By Steve Niles, Glenn Fabry, Ian Boothby, Nina Matsumoto, Gilbert Hernandez

It’s the 14th annual issue of the Simpsons‘ venerable Halloween extravaganza, and this year is kind of a mixed back. Steve Niles and Glenn Fabry kick things off with “30 Days of D’Oh,” a parody of Niles‘s most famous creation. When Homer accidentally causes a nuclear meltdown that causes most of the town of Springfield to turn into flesh-eating monsters, the survivors try to hole up and survive. It’s not a bad parody at all, and it’s nice to see Niles is able to have fun with himself. Ian Boothby and Nina Matsumoto‘s “Murder He Wrote” is a parody of the Japanese Deathnote series. Bart finds a mysterious notebook that begins brutally killing anyone whose name is written in it. What will Springfield’s bad boy use it for? The story is funny enough, but Matsumoto‘s manga style doesn’t really lend itself well to Bart Simpson’s world. Finally, indie star Gilbert Hernandez brings us “Homerstein Conquers the World,” the epic tale of a giant monster that’s part man. It’s silly, it’s funny, it works. It’s not the best Treehouse ever, but it’s not bad either.

Rating: 7/10