Reviewer: Jesse Baker
Story Title: Night of 19 Screams / Tales From the Kwik-E-Mart / Krustine / The Power Plant of Pain
Written by: Ty Templeton (Night of 19 Screams) / Gail Simone (Tales from the Kwik-E-Mart) / Scott Shaw (Krustine) / Hillary Barta (The Power Plant of Pain)
Pencilled by: Ty Templeton (Night of 19 Screams) / Jill Thompson (Tales from the Kwik-E-Mart / Scott Shaw (Krustine) / Hillary Barta (The Power Plant of Pain)
Inked by: NA
Colored by: NA
Lettered by: NA
Editor: Bill Morrison
Publisher: Bongo Comics
The eighth special based upon the long-running tradition of “Treehouse of Horror†Halloween episodes, Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror #8 follows the same tradition of the previous years’ edition of the series, in that it gets famous writers and artists to write far-out Simpsons stories with a Halloween theme to them. This year’s big names are limited mainly to Gail Simone, who gained famed with her humor column “You’ll All Be Sorry†at Comic Book Resources and later went on to write Deadpool and the Deadpool spin-off Agent X.
The Stories
Night of 19 Screams: Ty Templeton’s story stands out as the best of this special. After getting electrocuted while watching television, The Simpsons family returns to haunt Grandpa, who was fiddling with the TV when the family got electrocuted, only to find out that Homer has willed the home and everything in it to nearly everyone in time. Now the Simpsons must help Grandpa rid the house of everyone so that they can rest in peace.
Easter Egg moments: A Poster for Herb Powell (Homer’s half-brother)’s Baby Talker, and Comic Book Guy and Agnes walking down the street with T-Shirts saying “Dungeon Master†and “Slave†respectively.
Tales from the Kwik-E-Mart: Gail Simone’s contribution is a total and complete letdown despite a cool premise: The Simpsons fight off various cereal mascots. Told in poetry prose by Apu (who’s dressed like the Old EC Comics version of the Crypt Keeper) and limited to only five pages, the story fails to deliver despite the potential the idea has.
Easter Egg moments: Humorous Tombstones make a return with “Grunge†and “VHS†being featured on the gravestones.
Krustine: The real clunker of this special, has Homer buy a cursed car off of Krusty the Clown and turns into a monster while driving in it.
Easter Egg moments: Milhouse, who’s name comes from the middle name of Richard Nixon, dresses up as the infamous ex-President for Halloween.
Power Plant of Pain: While dumping toxic waste, Mr. Burns gives us an alphabet lesson through telling horrific tales of terror based upon each letter in poetry form. The most graphic of the four tales, the 26 tales focus on the bulk of the Simpsons cast including such as Sideshow Bob, Principal Skinner, Cletus the Slacked-Jaw Yokel, and the Rush Limbaugh parody character Birch Barlow. This one’s probably the funniest of the stories in this special, even though Night of 19 Screams is the better written of the two.
Easter Egg moments: Saddam Hussein is seen burning in hell alongside Osama Bin Ladin in the “D is for Devil†story, along with graffiti being seen on a wall next to where Mr. Burns is lounging about that proclaims that “The Onionâ€, a popular satirical magazine, rocks.
