In the first story by Paul Kupperberg, Bart turns over a new leaf, and the citizens of Springfield don’t quite know what to do. The story gives James Lloyd and Dan Davis a field day with the panels depicting Bart’s unflappable angelic expression contrasting with the wild takes from Lunch Lady Doris, Mrs. Krabappel and Principal Skinner who goes straight down a noir spiral that includes booze, accident and tragedy.
Ironically Bart’s completely innocent. It’s the people reacting to him that cause a Rube Goldberg inspired disaster. What’s the cause of this change in personality? Kupperberg saves that for a juicy punchiline.
In Sergio Aragones’ “An Easy Assignment” we must ask ourselves just how stupid is Bart. He’s given the assignment to find a cube. Simple enough, but….
Aragones’ artwork lends to a first season feel, and Bart was very stupid in the first season. So, thanks to the artwork, the premise of the story is a little easier to take.
In any case, Bart’s aided in his quest to cubedom by the brain-fried Otto, his father and Professor Frink. None of this involvement can be good, and Bart produces the kind of cube that could only happen in Springfield.
In the third story Peter Kuper takes Bart and Homer to sunny Mexico where they find a lost Aztec Civilization. Cause for celebration? Not exactly. Kuper takes advantage of the flexible reality to present familiar cast members in different clothing.
The story takes advantage of all the Aztec customs, including a hilarious moment of human sacrifice and chocolate indulgence.
Ray Tate’s first online work appeared in 1994 for Knotted. He has had a short story, “Spider Without a Web,” published in 1995 for the magazine evernight and earned a degree in biology from the University of Pittsburgh. Since 1995, Ray self-published The Pick of the Brown Bag on various usenet groups. In the POBB, as it was affectionately known, Ray reviewed comic books, Doctor Who novels, movies and occasionally music. Circa 2000, he contributed his reviews to Silver Bullet Comic Books (later Comics Bulletin) and became its senior reviewer. Ray Tate would like to think that he’s young at heart. Of course, we all know better.