Well, perhaps it's too hasty to write off Lee's writing career. As this comic proves, Lee can still turn a tale when he has a mind to. Spider-Man turns to his co-creator for some words of wisdom. Sick of fighting supervillains and selflessly laying his life on the line, Spidey wants to quit, but Lee convinces him that he's way too important a figure to ever hang up his tights: "If you ever quit, think of the people you'll put out of business! ... The animation companies! The movie studios! The comic book publishers! ... You're not just a super hero—you're a whole bunch'a industries!"
That story is followed by another story about Stan Lee written by a fan of his, some guy named Joss Whedon, and, finally, a reprint of an early Spider-Man story by Lee and John Romita Sr. Lee will be meeting other creations of his in the months to come, including Dr. Doom, the Thing and the Silver Surfer.
Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror No. 12
Bongo Comics
The same rules that apply to watching The Simpsons television show apply to reading Simpsons comic books. Even if the show itself isn't quite as hilarious as it was seasons ago, and seems increasingly tame in the face of the cultural ascendancy of the more daring Family Guy, South Park and Cartoon Network's Adult Swim shows, the Halloween specials are still can't-miss.
Likewise, if you're going to read one Simpsons comic each year, you had better make it their annual, oversized Halloween special issue, as Bongo always enlists some A-list comics talent to give the Simpsons characters the sort of wild, anything-goes twists the Halloween episodes boast.
This year, those talents include cartoonists Kyle Baker (King David, You Are Here), Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise) and Eric Powell (The Goon).
Each has a highly individual art style and sense of humor, so watching them try to fit their particular gag-writing and line-drawing into the Simpsons design mold results in some very interesting pop-culture discordance. And with characters as ubiquitous and long in the tooth as the Simpsons, a little discordance now and then is quite welcome.
Baker's "Blood Curse of the Evil Fairies" is probably the highlight, as Baker's style is so heavily influenced by animation (particularly the zanier Tex Avery-style stuff of old) that he's a perfect choice for a comic based on a cartoon, even one with such a static sense of movement.
Moore contributes "Homer's Ark," in which God asks Homer to build a space-ark to safeguard creation while the big guy sprays for roaches, and Powell offers "Portrait of a Groundskeeper," in which Groundskeeper Willie finds love in an unlikely place, and Powell finds an inspired way to make the obligatory Kang and Kodos cameos. If you ever suspected that lad magazines like Maxim heralded the end of human civilization, you're not far off, apparently.