Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Three Men And A Comic Book

Episode Date: March 9, 2016

The nerds have a real chance to shine this week, as Bart and Lisa head to their first comic convention and Comic Book Guy enters folklore/mythology…

This week's episode of Talking Simpsons is brought to you by Geek Fuel. Go to geekfuel.com slash lasertime to sign up for a box of geeky goodies sent to you directly. And if you sign up through geekfuel.com slash lasertime, you will get an exclusive Star Wars item worth $20 added to your first box. Ahoy, hoy, everybody, and welcome to Talking Simpsons, where we let the good times roll. This is your host, Bob Mackie. Who else is here today? Christopher Antisto. I'm Henry Gilbert, and I'm looking for a left Vulcan here. I'm Dave Rudden.

I wouldn't speak, sorry. You can talk about Carl Ustramsky and the Big Sideburns. That's your neck of the woods. Attention. So this is the Laser Time Podcast Network's chronological exploration of the simpsons today's episode is the season two episode three men and a comic book which aired on may 9th 1991 two days after my ninth birthday by the way uh what was happening on this historic day chris oh my god oh boy bobby uh fx2 a sequel to a movie no one remembers is released in the theaters uh william kennedy sm Smith is charged with rape, and Michael Landon appears on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show vowing to beat cancer. Oh, that all got a little dark.

Oh, man. That all got a little dark. I did not see that coming. On 302010, our show, which is basically all this that I just did, we talk about FX recently, a movie I fell in love with. Murder by Illusion, the story of an FX man who has to stage a witness protection murder in order

to... Finally, the special effects artist is the main character in a movie. The weirdest movie, I think, to get a sequel. I've never heard of this in my life. So, this episode of The Simpsons is all about comic books and it was my favorite episode yeah it is the one that speaks to me the most i love this

episode and it taught me like i watched this before i had ever gone to a comic book convention in case you're new to this and you don't know who i am like i run a comic book podcast. I've been to dozens of comic book conventions. I own too many comic books. But in 1991, I had only just started getting into comics. And this actually timed itself very well for the comic book boom of the 90s. In 1991, comics were selling better than they ever had. And by 92, they had gotten so big that the guys who were the best-selling artists at Marvel Comics split off to make Image Comics so they could sell millions of copies themselves and own their property. It was getting that big. Yeah, 92 is when I got into comics.

And I think this episode planted the idea in my head that comics are cool. Like, I would see them at Flea Markets and buy, like, Richie Rich, like Lisa did, for a dime. But I didn't know they could be as cool as, you know, what they present in this TV show. I found a stack of sad sacks at my uncle's beach house. Wow. And I read mostly Harvey comedy comics and Mad Magazine from the 60s. I read a lot of Archie, too. Before I learned, you're supposed to masturbate to it.

And the writers of the show. And I do love this. The comic convention on The Simpsons seems very small by Comic-Con standards of today. Because it is just comics. It made me wonder. So the writers of the show are also big nerdos, too. We talked about it on the nerds episode of Laser Time. But you could tell this sea change in writing nerds in shows like this where the nerds were writing nerds.

Instead of people who were making up what nerds were. These were people who had been to comic conventions writing about being in comic conventions. It's very observational. It's not like Screech or whatever. It's like these are what people do in their lives. Like here's them arriving at the convention. Hurry, Mom. If we don't get to the convention soon, all the good comics will be gone.

What do you care about good comics? All you ever buy is Casper the Wimpy Ghost. I think it's sad that you equate friendliness with wimpiness, and I hope it'll keep you from ever achieving true popularity. Well, you know what I think? I think Casper's the ghost of Richie Rich. Hey, they do look alike. I wonder how Richie died.

Perhaps he realized how hollow the pursuit of money is and took his own life. Kids, could you lighten up a little? I love that. They look alike because the Harvey artists sucked. But one thing I want to talk about. Suicide. Suicide. That is dark.

Before we get into the meat of the episode, this episode had a different focus at one point. It was originally supposed to be a parody of the movie Fist, starring Sylvester Stallone. What? Live to win. I've never seen it. I just know it's about the unions.

And this episode was going to be about Bart organizing a child's union. That was the third act. But then they turn into a parody of The Treasure of Sierra Madre, which is what we get to in the third act. Which is where the badges we don't need no stinking badges comes from. Not UHF, which I thought before seeing Sierra Madre. And they also quickly

said that Bart loves Radioactive Man. Radioactive Man, he rules. Never punches a bad guy without saying something cool. He's no wittier than the next superhero. Oh, yeah? Look. He knocks a guy into the sun and says, Hot enough for ya? I stand corrected.

And that was followed by Bart becoming his own superhero, too. Oh, God. The first time Bart... Bartman was already a merchandising phenomenon. I could go back... I have a 1989 corkboard Bartman that I've been trying to frame, but it's impossible. I just totally lumped that in with all, like, season one t-shirts. Yeah.

I think he wasn't in the show. I think he was merchandised, and then they put him in the show. Definitely, yeah. But this is his first appearance in the show. Too bad we didn't come dressed as popular cartoon characters. This looks like a discount for... Bartman! Who are you supposed to be?

I'm Bartman. Never heard of him. Full price. Oh, lousy ripoff. That I'm Bartman is a parody of the key from Batman, which was new at the time. Who are you? It's also funny that Lisa's saying they're not popular cartoon characters, her and Bart. It was a pointed thing.

I think that's, too, the same. The first time cosplay had been, maybe not, but they probably had conventions, too. They were all lined up for Grandpa's money. Oh, that's true. Damn, it was already on The Simpsons even. I want to make a quick aside, though, about Bongo Comics in general. Started just for The Simpsons?

Yeah, so it started in 96, but even at this point, Matt Groening was getting offers like, you guys should make Simpsons comics, and we want to license it, we want to license it. But Groening wanted more control over it, and it came to the point where his project was we're just gonna make our own I'm gonna have the imprint bongo comics or not imprint just the publication house and we're publishing Simpsons comics there and the first like look they're not great comics the first

the first year of it is actually pretty good and, and it gets so into parodying comic books. It is the satire of comic books. They always have a first page that draws you in, and then it's like a twist. No, it's not. It's not really that. Bart Mann had his own comic where the cover was a foil-embossed cover, and that was a plot point and a joke in the issue. And then same with Radioactive Man had the best comic, honestly, because you did a Cape Crisis on Radioactive Man. Yeah, because Radioactive Man's comic book,

which took inspiration from this show, it pulls moments that were in the comic book in this episode. That comic, it's like issue one is issue one, but issue two is issue 120. And it just jumps forward in time parodying silver age of comics bronze age of comics modern day comics grim and gritty watchman comics it's it's so specific i didn't get them all as a kid until i've read all those comics so there's a deep affection for this for comics with the sims definitely and i have

experience too because i subscribed to simpsons illustrated oh. Oh, man. And they cut off my subscription. That was the start of it. Yeah. My subscription stopped and there was a note that said you're going to be getting these comics now in the mail. So I got those first comics delivered to me. I remember there's a little bit of nepotism in there too because the Simpsons... Was that the one with Bart's dream house and the 3D glasses that you used?

It's a lot of Life and Hell style comics in there. But also featuring a comic appearance by Hey Arnold. That's right. Created by Matt Groening's brother-in-law. Craig Bartlett. Yes. Craig Bartlett is married to Matt Groening's sister, Lisa. He's an accomplished draftsman.

Totally. Hey Arnold just has a fascinating history of being animated by the Penny people from Pee-Wee's Playhouse for Sesame Street. But it was always produced by Groening. I think Groening's dad would film some of this stuff. All right, he was a filmmaker. I mean, Bongo comics, they were okay, but they kind of set this bad standard in my mind where when I read a comic today,

like Bob's Burgers comic I really like, Rick and Morty comic. Invader Zim comics are really good. Yeah, these are 80% to 90% as good as the shows. Bongo is like 75% at best. It's really weird. I tried buying them recently, and this is like, this is for babies. Well, the Adventure Time and Bee and Puppycat comics, those are good too.

But there were also a lot of, I like this too because there are a lot of just observational jokes about comic conventions that only attendees of a comic convention know. So can you tell me who Jolly Jeff Tate is? Jolly Jack Tate is, I thought it was Jolly Jack. a comic convention know. So can you tell me who Jolly Jeff Tate is? Jolly Jack Tate is... I thought it was Jolly Jack. I don't know. I haven't written down. Oh, no, it is Jolly Jeff. Jolly Jack Tate.

Okay, so that is a... It's a parody of many Marvel artists at the time. So in the credits of each issue in the 60s, Silver Age Comics, it would be written by Snap and Stan Lee, Jolly John Romita or the King Jack Jack the King Kirby. Not unlike a Simpsons Halloween episode. Exactly. Every day for comics.

EC Comics did the same thing. And actually Matt Garini would write a editorial in each Simpsons comic and I remember him complaining a lot about Nixon. I'm like, oh Nixon does suck. I'm 12 and now I know this. Thanks. Nixon was bad. Same with that Vice President. Crap. Kissinger? Spiro Agnew. Spiro Agnew. I'm 12 and now I know this. Thanks. Nixon was bad. Same with his vice president. Crap.

Kissinger? No. Spiro Agnew. Spiro Agnew. So bad. Anyway, and it also leads to another joke that Otto's comic, like Otto's all up in this season. I forget how much they were like, they can go to Otto so often.

They hate him now. But his joke of the school guy who drives a school bus by day but by night, that whole thing. I think that's like an Ed Roth parody. Is that the guy's name? Heavy Metal. I think it was a Heavy Metal. Heavy Metal Frank Fazzetta reel feel to me. Oh, you're right.

I'm thinking of something else in a later episode. This is one of the dorkiest episodes ever, and I'm having a great time. And that his bus man character got its own backup story in a Bongo comic. I remember reading at least one of those. Otto was way ahead on the whole zombie craze, too. He really was. It used to be only Hesher dudes like him would be into zombies.

Driving dead! What if you drove over zombies and stuff, man? Double guitars! Tooling Otto's here. Let me play my line of the show. That's the joke. And thank you for pumping almost $300 into the local economy.

Not that one. All youthful high spirits have imparted a glow to this old warhorse. You might say I feel like Radiation Man. That's Radioactive Man, jerk. I stand corrected. That's Radioactive Man, jerk! I live my life by that statement of, It's Radioactive Man, jerk! I correct people like, You mean that?

You didn't know this? Does he follow that up by, like, Get that kid's name. No one makes a fool of him. Well, have fun, and be sure to clear out by six for the Shriners. Get that punk's name. No one makes a fool out of Diamond Joe Quimby. Do we still have Shriners?

Have they all passed on? I have that in my notes. Do Shriners still have a place in this world? I've never seen them in person. I just know they drive little cars and have money for charity. They had a gas-controlled train that they'd bring to birthday parties in my hometown, and they had their own lodge and everything. And then one day,

that train tipped over and killed a couple kids, and the Shriners disappeared from Tallahassee, Florida, never to be seen again. They left a bunch of Fezzes behind. All I know is that Jack Chick of Religious Tract fame

does not like the Shriner. Who does that asshole like? He likes himself. Like, 90% of Christians, he hates them. He likes Protestants, right? Is that his deal? Yeah, Catholics are out to get you. All these other sects of Baptists, they're out to get you too. But okay,

then there's also the Laramie cigarettes advertisement. Oh, yes. Ah, these Laramie cigarettes give me the steady nerves I need to combat evil. Gee willikers, radioactive man. Wished I was old enough to smoke Laramie's give me the steady nerves I need to combat evil. Gee willikers, Radioactive Man. Wished I was old enough to smoke Laramie's. Sorry, Fallout Boy.

Not until you're 60. Look out! So we'd sort of seen Radioactive Man to this point, kind of. Like in, for example, the comic book taken off of the shelf in Barts of the Genius. Like, you should read that comic. No, they fucked it up. I don't know if they did it intentionally, fucked it up or not. But the joke with Radioactive Man 2 is that he looks like Homer.

And that just like Krusty looks like Homer. And that Bart loves these guys who look like his dad, but he doesn't respect his dad. He doesn't recognize his dad in things that he loves. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And I think that was the first Fall Out Boy. Yeah.

Future punk band or whatever they are. They were named by their fans. They didn't want to be named Fall Out Boy. They just let a fan name them and it stuck. I remember in high school,

there was a band in our high school called Mayor Quimby and I'm like, guys, you're trying too hard. There was a band called Flanders who toured and Evergreen Terrace, I do believe, is a semi-popular band. Yeah, I knew those guys. How many are there? And the Laramie scene, too, that was way more the adventures of Superman with George Reeves than 66 Back.

Yeah. That's what it was about, including Dirk Richter's. Dirk Richter's Sorted Death is's sordid death is somewhat similar to George Reeves George Reeves was not that bad I didn't get that until this episode

that it's they're not talking about Adam West who for some reason has been a part of all our lives in a cornball fashion has no bad

no bad shit to say about him I'm pretty sure they say his body was found in a bullet riddled bordello and I'm pretty sure

it's a parody of how Bob Crane died Bob Crane it's kind of a mix of Bob Crane and George Reeves. His head was caved in with a tripod. He was left to die.

Killed by Willem Dafoe. Oh, okay. In the movie Autofocus. Wait, is it the bordello that's bullet riddled? Or is it his body that's bullet riddled? In a bordello that is maybe not. His bullet riddled corpse in the bordello he was found. I assume he was shot within the bordello, not from outside.

Yeah, and also the mention of the very Broadway acting of his old. Yeah, very Faye. His mention of Rum Tum Tugger. I always kept that in mind. When I finally saw Cats, I was like, Rum Tum Tugger, that's the character that he plays. That was Buddy Hodges, right? That's a great name. Buddy Fall Out Boy Hodges.

And then that leads directly into another first of this episode who, boy, this guy, you can't keep him down. I show you something very special if you promise to put your grubby little hand behind your back and keep him there. Behold. Wow. Radioactive man number one. Another? I bet it's worth a million bucks. It is, my lad.

I'll let you have it for a hundred because you remind me of me. My God is 30. Then you cannot have it. But I must. Until this moment, I never knew why God put me on this earth, but now I know to buy that comic book. Your emotion is out of place here, son. Your emotion is... I know they have to make it a realistic goal, but $100 for the first Radioactive Man?

There is absolutely no way any number one, unless Radioactive Man is one of the most unpopular comics of all time and nobody but Bart cares about it. Maybe it was a reprint. Who knows? Maybe. That's what I think. In my head, I just think, knowing the comic book guy we would later get to know, he would just have a reprint and fake it and sell it to kids for $100. This reminds me of something I don't want to go into but want to leave a little bit of breadcrumbs for. I am constantly looking to buy a Simpsons animation film.

I search probably once or twice a week. It is fruitless in that they're either all stolen or, well, and usually thousands of dollars. They didn't sell the Simpsons animation cells very much, but I'm constant pursuit and I'm closer than ever or it's one of those stupid reproductions like if you visit somebody who claims to like animation but it's all like I bought this at the Disney store it's like authentic animation still and it's like that stock picture of Bart posing with a skateboard yeah

matted on top of the nuclear power plant with no perspective like that is nothing it was drawn by nobody yeah but comic book guy is such like from his appearance in this you would never think that he would be one of the most memorable characters or beloved. I think you mean Jeff Albertson, Henry. Fuck that name. He has no name.

He's a comic book guy. He was named recently. But Henry, I think you, and me kind of, but he's one of the characters that you latch on to because I have tons of friends like that who love that character. There's at least a little bit of me in him, too. Like, you see him, and as I get older, closer and closer to that. But no, this is something Matt Grading has said in a million interviews,

and I've even heard this secondhand from people who've met him, that everybody thinks their local comic shop owner was that comic book guy, especially in the 90s. Like, The one story I'd heard of, the late owner of the comic shop in Berkeley, he was a

big wig in the comic book store industry in that small world. But the people who worked there were like, he's a comic book guy. This guy's a totally comic book guy. And then when they met Matt Groening, they were like, you mean it about Man X, right? And then Matt Groening just says, of course

I did. But really, it's there's a million guys like this comic book guy. Yeah, it's like just an amalgamation of all of them together. A guy who lords over, who acts smarter than everybody and who lords over a shop, but it's just a loser. There are at least ten people on my phone who are my comic book guy. How dare you, Chris.

There's at least four people at this table. If you don't know who it is, it's you. At this point, he wasn't the audience surrogate character yet commenting on why the show sucks. Yeah, that was almost a step over the line for him, I'd say. Yeah. How we use electricity can be smarter, cleaner and greener.

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And if you go to geekfuel.com slash lasertime right now, you can get a free Star Wars item worth $20 just for signing up for a mystery box. What's in the mystery box, you ask? Six to eight items, an exclusive t-shirt, and a $50 value of Kit and Kaboodle featuring famous stuff from Marvel, DC, Nintendo, Zelda, Game of Thrones, Pop Figs, pint glasses, posters, you never know quite what it's going to be, but it's like a delicious geeky gift that shows up at your door whenever you feel like it. And oh, guess what? They've had Simpsons stuff involved in the box in the past so go to geekfuel.com slash laser time right now

sign up for one of their boxes get it as a gift for a geek in your life and get a free $20 star wars item right now honestly like the episode is all downhill from here. Really? No, it's good. I love it. Once they leave the comic book shop, some of my most quoted lines come from the old lady. Before we leave there, Bob,

did you notice a certain arcade prodigy in the crowd? Oh, what was that kid's name? Howie? Howie, yeah. I didn't see him, no. They only have so many stock kids. Yeah, but it's like, yeah, this kid's good at video games. And then he disappeared after that, I think.

So Bart asks Homer if he'll give him money. Hey, what does everyone say to dinner at Krusty Burger? Hi, Homer. Whoa, you really are a sport, Dad, taking us out to a fine restaurant like Krusty Burger? All right, what are you getting at? I need $100 for a comic book. $100 for a comic book? $100 for a comic book? Who drew it, Michael Malangelo?

Oh, please, Dad. I want this more than anything in the world. Well, T.S. I did not know that meant tough shit. I bet the censors didn't know it was tough shit. It means tethered swimming, apparently. I do say T.S. a lot, because I try to avoid cursing. My mom always said tough titty.

Mine too. I like tough titty. She was in the brigade in World War II, the tough titty brigade. Then came one of the best jokes they ever did with a reference anyway. So maybe a part-time job is the answer. Oh, Mom, I couldn't ask you to do that.

You're already taking care of Maggie and Lisa. It's such a handful. She means you should get a job, stupid. Me? Get a job, stupid. Me? Get a job? Were they serious? I didn't realize it at the time, but a little piece of my childhood had slipped away.

Forever. Bart, what are you staring at? Nothing. He didn't say it and neither did I, but at that moment, my dad and I were closer than we ever... Bart! Stop it! Sorry.

I like how on the nose that track is. It's so perfectly Wonder Years. And then it made me think... It's the actor. It's Daniel Stern, Marv of Wet Bandits fame. Yeah, and he's the brother of David Stern who wrote episodes on the Simpsons. Oh my god! That's how they got him. Wonder Years was one of the biggest

shows on television at this point. Oh, for sure, yeah. How did they got him That's how they got him Because this was Wonder Years was one of the biggest shows On television at this point Oh for sure yeah And I didn't How did they get him involved With a direct parody Wow It made me laugh so hard Yeah

As a kid even For us like The first two seasons of The Simpsons Are a lot of like references From the 50s and 60s You may not get it This is a very long joke About something that

We were probably all also watching Yeah at the same time Yeah so it was like This is amazing This is the funniest thing That's ever happened on The Simpsons. And one thing that struck me as odd, and I think it's because I've been listening to the Doughboys podcast, which is about chain restaurants.

It's great. But the idea of a family going out and sitting down for a fast food meal is just so bizarre now. It's outlandish and strange. Now that they're like hobo havens around California. Well, at least here. Only food less than $10. And then Bart works hard to get some money,

which I do. I say this a lot. Is this, Chris, your kind of the show? That's the joke. No. Americanize this, my good man. All those coins were only worth three lousy cents? Let the good times roll.

Again, love blue collar, Hank Azaria, Charles Bronson character. It never does an entertaining. Like five people have that voice so far in The Simpsons as of this point. I was concerned I'd have to use the death jingle for this, but Cloris Leachman's still alive.

Playing old ladies for 30 years now. And she's great, and she's a James L. Brooks friend. That's how she got got. I love her. She, in this episode, is a fucking hoot. She is my favorite thing. Please, I'm married.

That must be what's turning me on. Stop it. S'more. Sexy. But genuinely arousing. Every line. She has one of my lines at arousing. Every line. She has one of my lines at the show. Is it in this one?

Today we wash Beulah. You know what that is? Some old lady thing nobody's heard about for 50 years? No. It was my wedding dress. But then I dyed it black and it became my morning dress. Great story, lady. The whole sequence with Bard at her house brought up very vivid memories.

My next door neighbors were an elderly brother and sister. Oh, God. Whoa. But the elderly brother had a train set. So me and my little brother, we would go over there. Yeah, we thought it was so fun, but it's also like, this place smells weird, and their TV is old, and they have nothing fun to watch, but train sets. I did like hanging out with old people for some reason. I had next door neighbors who were old, but my friend Charlie had an old lady who lived, she's really old. All she did was watch these soaps and had two Doberman pinchers that we would just play with all day in a yard that was completely unkempt that we'd be paid to occasionally weed.

But you'd be paid more than two quarters. It's payday. I'll wager you've been looking forward to this. Oh, yes, ma'am. Here we are. Two quarters. Two quarters. You deserve every penny.

You know, I've told a lot to my girlfriends about you, and they have chores, too. Two quarters. But you didn't say thank you. Listen, lady, I can leave without screaming, and I can leave without saying a bad word, but there is no way that I am saying thank you. You're welcome. All right, then, off you go to spend it on penny whistles and

moon pies. Moon pies. I constantly say to spend it on penny whistles and moon pies. Mr. Burns would fall in love with her, I think. My favorite line of hers is a great old lady line when she's administering his first aid. The iodine thing, well, check that off again on the list, like

another Gone with the Wind parody scene when she is applying the iodine. It's a parody of the scene where people are getting their legs amputated. The line, they never improved on iodine, could easily be put in Mr. Burns' mouth. As I try to explain to millennials what iodine is. And I also liked Homer's reply later, like, you know, my day, two quarters was a lot of money. Not really. I also liked Homer's reply later, like, you know, my day, two quarters was a lot of money. Nah. Not really. So my quote of the episode is also at her place, when she's reminiscing about her brother Asa, who held the grenade too long, and just the, his whole thing, I got it right here.

This one's for you, Kaiser Bill. Special delivery from Uncle Sam and all the boys in D Company. Yeah, Johnny, Harrison, Brooklyn Bob, and Reggie. Yeah, even Reggie. He ain't so stuck up once he get... It pans away, and then you just see a leg fly and land in front of the camera. Now, there's too many good Glick lines. Like, the Glick sequence is pretty great,

and it doesn't have much to do with the beginning or end of the thing. I like her creepy dark house, and I also like the ribbon candy that's just a giant concealed mask that no one has touched in like 40 years mrs anderson to me like yeah and that's such a kid yeah that there's bart is such a kid that i could identify in this episode too just because it was so the search for money like that's like i need 100 and i only have 35 i got to get every dollar i can get and also finding out that there was candy you didn't want. Because the idea of like, I love candy.

Any candy is great. Who cares? And instead, oh no, ribbon candy is garbage. Like, all these, the tea has garbage candy. I did the same in my,

the oldest comic in my local comic store in the jerk waterberg of Tallahassee, Florida was Fantastic Four number 24. And I had to work weeks doing odd jobs to get the $35 to this comic from 1964.

Oh, and also, this episode has another first on top of comic book guy. Ha ha, now you look pathetic. Ha ha! There we go. That's the first ever ha ha. There's good ha ha. The first true ha ha. In the previous episode, there was

a three-laugh ha-ha. And very sleepy. But that was the first punchline to a joke like, Bart looks pathetic selling lemonade, and then point. I think it would get a little more punctuated after this, but that is the line. We found it finally. And also, I did

like the bit, Bart selling Homer's beer. Jimbo's in the background that shot, implying that he sold it to children. Like, kids got it too. Why would Bart have scruples like that? And then he tricked the police. Like, whoa, it must be thirsty work being a cop. Eventually, they get their money together, and they talk to the comic book guy. You let me have it for $40?

$40? Forget it. You made me get off my stool for that. It's all I've got. I sold seeds. I visited my aunt at the nursing home. I fished a dime out of the sewer, for God's sake. No way. What do you want?

Can I have it for $35? No, no. Freaking kidding. I do not need this. I've got a magic degree in folklore and mythology. Excuse me. Bam. Folklore and mythology.

I love that. Take that, guys. Before we move on Folklore and mythology. I love that. Take that, guys. Before we move on, we missed one thing I really loved, and it's about – we're talking about kids earning money, and Marge talks about how she earned money by waiting hand and foot on her sisters. And actually, my line of the show is either Patty or Selma saying, we want those dress shields hand-washed and drip-dried. I didn't know what a dress shield was. It's to protect your clothing from your blood from your menstrual cycle. Yeah.

That's what a dress shield is. So they're making you do the – Oh, blood from your menstrual cycle. Yes. Oh, that's a more disgusting... Yeah. That's a lot grosser. Well, and same with that oldie song she's singing. Venus. That is a song from the 60s they would have been listening to. It's an unrecognizable song

in the deep voice of Patty. I think it's Patty is the one who sings Venus. So I think that's how that explains the origin of their husky voices. They were smoking instead of doing chores. So that's where that origin came from. Because they sound normal right before. Yeah. But they get their money together and they get $100 to buy their comic. Wait a minute, Martin.

If you, Milhouse, and I went in together, we could buy a copy of Radioactive Man number one right now. Wow! Stuff dreams are made of. It smells like my grandpa. Uh-oh, looks like rain. We better get this baby home. Uh-oh.

Looks like you bought more than you bargained for yeah that felt like it was the end of a an EC comic or a Tales from the Crypt episode yeah like the last panel and also it felt like the last time you'd see comic book guys

we learned in old money old men don't smell like comic books they smell like the hallway of a hospital. That's right. I don't like physical media anymore, but the smell of a 30-year-old comic is something. Oh, I love it. Love it.

And just, I love them reading over the comic and just the origin of Ray Rackman. I had just wrote my first comic called Slugman, and then I saw this episode. And as a 10-year-old, hey, Chris, The Simpsons thinks what you wrote was hacked because this is the exact origin. Caught on barbed wire, caught in an explosion. My pants. Caught on barbed wire.

Good Lord. Choke. An A-bomb. Becoming radioactive. becoming radioactive from this day forward I shall call myself Radioactive Man so that's how it happened

such a great reading from Harry Shearer I love hearing him in these early episodes it's great if I had to say what comic book origin it's most like it's most like, yeah, it's definitely the Hulk. But in general, Marvel origins, DC origins were like,

a science thing happened or a spaceman's here. But in Marvel origins, at least in the Silver Age, it was radiation attacks someone in some way. It's a radioactive spider bite. Leftover radiation created the X-Men. The leftover radiation from the A-bomb. Gamma bombs. That's the biggest one. Hulk builds, or Dr. David Bruce

Banner, builds the gamma bomb. It blows up on him when he's trying to save some kid from getting caught in the explosion. And he gets stuck and hit with the bomb just as Radioactive Man does, and then comes out of it as the Hulk. He absorbs all the gamma radiation

and is the Hulk now. And so that's totally, that's, I think, the closest one they took it from. That's like an old understanding of radiation. I don't know if you've seen The Atomic Cafe. It's a bunch of old... It is the best. ...nuclear safety shorts thrown together.

Oh, yeah. To tell a story. Just shield your eyes from the radiation. You'll be fine. It's like, all those people are dead of cancer now. Nuclear safety shorts thrown together. To tell a story. Just shield your eyes from the radiation. You'll be fine. It's like all those people are dead of cancer now. Favorite mystery science riffs. He's like, ah, it looks to be radioactive. And he's like, as we know, it'll only hurt you if you touch it.

That's right. Henry, were you upset that they didn't have a backing board? Yeah, it was a loose one. The comic's not going to keep in shape if you don't have a backing board. They were turning the pages with tweezers held over a candle like which i didn't i've never heard of that but that's how in the south how we take off ticks my parents had to explain to me that's like cauterizing the thing or getting all the germs off it that's sterilized sterilized okay so the random number generation thing i i'm now looking into it as that Martin was fixing the game.

He was the smarter one of them, and he was definitely going to steal it. But do you guys think it was more innocent than that? Do you think that he meant it to be, well, it's Saturday, so I guess I'll just take it. I think that's the amount that he was leveraging it. Today is my day. I'm taking it. But otherwise, it seemed like it was even...

I knew other 10-year-olds that if we agreed to something and then they took it, I'd never see it again. At worst, I think he was going to stick to the three-day... He would make it so he gets it three days a week and Bart and Milhouse only get it two each. But otherwise, I think he's on the level. You think he was on the level? He wanted to help when he's all tied up and stuff. I think it was implicit that I thought up this idea thought up this idea, so I should get it first.

Kind of. That's what I got from it. Okay. Yeah. I don't know. Well, maybe it's just me as a, an overly trusting 10 year old who would lend things to friends.

Oh yeah. Friends and quotes who then would just, you'd never see it again. Like 10 year olds have no sense of responsibility or sharing or respect or, or even respect for their own things. Like my comics back on Cape crisis. You do. You've learned You're better than

a tendril. Do we have that argument they're having about the numbers? No. But we do have their battle music which definitely was reused lots of times. It's one of my things I lament being gone from The Simpsons whenever there's a minor action sequence. The sound from a 70s cop show.

We want to keep this comic forever so the last one alive will have the honor of being buried with it. What do you mean the last one alive? I meant years from now. Yeah, sure you did. Bart, don't push him. I knew it.

You're both against me. Well, nobody makes a sap out of Bartholomew J. Simpson. Quit it. You quit it. No, you quit it! I fucking love that music thing. I took it to be more like Leonard Bernstein,

West Side Story, kind of, like, knife-swinging guys. It also sounded like police squads transitioning sequences. It's the same era. Or it just sounded like

library music. Like, we got this out of the library. This is just royalty-free stuff. It's used a lot in The Simpsons. The Marge, yeah. Marge, though, just lets it go. I would think if my mom found me choking two other boys who were also choking me, that my mom would go

like, you know what? The sleepover's over. Oh, this is the first appearance. Is this the first appearance of the rumpus room? The Simpsons rumpus room? They reused that for that wings joke in season three. That's right. Design of wings. Who cares? And this third act is the best animation we've seen on The Simpsons.

These camera pans, these colors, these shadows. A lot of emotion expressed, too. And I did think Martin was innocent when he was trying to get up to go to the bathroom. He was not trying to steal something. Bart's in the wrong from then on, I think. Her dear friend Martin was trying to steal a comic book. Let's tie him up! Bart, is this how you treat all your guests?

Sly Piggy will stick an apple in your mouth. He can't take any chances. We'll have to take turns watching him. Okay, I'll go first. So that's your little game. Let old Bart get nice and drowsy. Then when his back is turned, wham! Well, it is not gonna happen, see? You're going

crazy, Bart. I'm telling your mom. Hey, Martin, tell him what we do with squealers. I don't know. Is it worse than what you do with people that have to go to the bathroom? I got it. I don't have that clip here either, but when he's trying to save Milhouse too

if I wasn't tied up right now I could be saving the comic as we speak this is total Sierra Madre it's a great movie it's about how men's lust for gold tear them apart and destroy all their lives sorry I do love Milhouse's potential last words I just wanted the Carlos Trebski with the sideburns

the big sideburns. I don't know if kids today are still like this, but when I was in the late 80s, early 90s, and I loved baseball so much and would collect baseball cards, I was obsessed with players from the 70s way before my time. My cousin is. He's a fool into baseball. He knows people from 20 years ago?

He does. The two years I collected baseball cards mean, I lived in it. The two years I collected baseball cards was when I lived in Atlanta. And so Hank Aaron was the be-all, end-all of baseball there. So I was very into Hank Aaron. Yeah, I'm talking like the most, not the most generic people, but people who never will get Hall of Fame. But just like, you know, this guy with the sideburns. Somebody Mr. Burns would reference him.

I think I was told that the older cards were naturally worth more money. Yeah, so I just assumed they were more valuable and worth seeking out. I guess the ending felt weird to me just in that I've seen Milhouse fall eight times that far in later

episodes, not just in the Fugitive parody, but horrible things have happened to Milhouse so I get 12 foot fall for him now like he's like who cares he'd be fine he's a cartoon but in this you can imagine him like he probably would at least break a bone yeah it would be it would have been pretty bad for millhouse in the end and then they just pull him back in and everything's fine though it it's so sad but then like it gets so destroyed the lightning lightning bolt strikes it's so sad, but then, like, it gets so destroyed. The lightning strikes it even. It's, again, God is intervening to teach them a lesson. Once it hits the side of, like, it gets caught on the entrance,

it's probably lost, like, half its value. It's getting water damaged and, uh... Tragic. But it's salvageable. But then comes the moral of the story. It's no use, fellows. Another comic book has returned to the earth from whence it came. We worked so hard and now it's all gone.

We ended up with nothing because the three of us can't share. What's your point? Nothing. Just kind of ticks me off. I don't know if Nancy Cartwright is doing it on purpose. She had a cold. On the commentary they mentioned Nancy had a cold when they were recording. But they kept it because she would had a cold on the commentary they mentioned nancy had a cold when they were recording but they kept it because that works she would have even more kid i want to do a

like a wiki uh section about characters who have colds and sitcoms and it's not like acknowledged because it's not a part of this it's like a thing that i always notice like oh chandler has a cold in this episode of friends but they don't talk about it is that when he got so much of a cold he got really fat and was that a difference could got so much of a cold he got really fat and became killers? Or was that a difference? Could I have more of a cold? The defining aspect of John Benjamin's children characters

is they all have perpetual colds. Jason. Red Dead. Red Dead. Has he ever been on The Simpsons? I wonder.

Really, it's quite an oversight if that happened. They had Ben Schwartz on that episode and Nick Kroll and it's like, yeah, they're not playing themselves and they're really good voice actors. You should totally

do this a little often. Ben Schwartz did an amazing, during every Simpsons ever, the big FXX marathon. He did a live commentating on it and writers and producers of the show came in, including, he talked to the original casting director on it.

She's never been on the commentary, so I was getting tons of shit in there. She talked about what an asshole Lawrence Tierney was when they were recording the Marge Be Not Proud episode. It's amazing. Look it up, guys. It's great. Even without the accompaniment, it's a great viewing thing.

He's the voice of BB-8. Good for him. But anyway. That was Three Men and a Comic Book. We should say that the title's based off of Three Men and a Baby. Very popular. Yeah, inexplicably so. Directed by Leonard Nimoy.

Leonard Nimoy. He would have thunk. But in the process of a sequel, I believe it was in production as we speak, for the Gutenberg, Ted Danson.

They already made one sequel. They did? Three Men and a Little Lady. It was already out by this time? No, I don't know. No, I don't think it was. But yeah,

this episode means a lot to me still does of the season two episodes i wouldn't say it is my all-time favorite of season two but it was definitely when i had the vhs is the one i really watched the most it's a good kid episode everything is very relatable yeah as a little kid as somebody owning comics as a as a 10 year old obsessed with collecting comics it really spoke to me it taught me about comics a lot about comics and it goes to to me. It taught me about comics. A lot about comics. And it goes to so many interesting places.

Like Comic Convention, Old Lady House, Dangerous Treehouse. Coin Collecting is even in there for a second. And you got Comic Book Guy all up in a deal. Yeah. I like it. So, yeah, that was Talking Simpsons, everybody. I have been your host, Bob Mack. You can find me on Twitter as Bob Servo.

Also, I write for Something Awful and US Gamer. And I also do the classic gaming podcast, Retronauts, which all these guys have been on. If you want to find that and listen to it, go to usgamer.net or just look for it in your podcast program. Everybody else, what do you do? What are you up to? Laser time, baby.

We're coming up on the season finale, aren't we? What? Of The Simpsons. Oh, yes. I thought you meant of laser time. No, no. I just went for that hiatus. We'll be there for you,

even if this show ends in the second season I don't know if it will But there's always the first season episodes on Patreon And possibly a season recap episode More on that later Patreon.com slash LazerTime LazerTimePodcast.com If you want just Talking Simpsons

TalkingSimpsons.com And if you liked our bit about the things that happened on this day in Simpsons history We have a whole podcast that's like that 30-20-10 where we go through the whole podcast that's like that, 302010, where we go through the pop culture events 30 years ago, 20 years ago, and 10 years ago that week in history. It's a lot of fun. As is, if you liked all this comic book talk that I front-loaded the episode with,

you will get all that and more on Cape Crisis, my comic book podcast. Give that a listen, everybody. And Chief Popcast, the pro wrestling podcast featuring wrestlers like Nazi smasher. I love that guy. So yeah, that was talking Simpsons. Everybody will be back next week with a brand new episode. See you then. Wow. Infotainment.