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go to page 2 Most of the panel was dedicated to Simpsons, Treehouse of Horror and Bart Simpsons Comics. Towards the end the topic of discussion centered around the Summer crossover event involving both Futurama and the Simpsons. Bill Morrison explained that Matt Groenind had always been against such a crossover in order to keep the distinct but also to solidify that Futurama is real, while the Simpsons is just a show. How is Futurama real you ask? Well, since Futurama is the future, and the future is not yet written, Futurama could be a probable occurance. The Simpsons are occuring now on our television screens and we can all tell that they are not real. So spoke Bill Morrison while channeling Matt Groening. So, it was up to Ian Boothby to pitch the idea and come up with a plausible explanation as to why they could be real. His idea was that since the Simpsons are a show involving merchandise, comics and the television show as well that all of these items would still exist in the future. Yes, the Simpsons are still going strong in the year 3002. The idea is that the real characters of Futurama are able to project themselves into the comic book of the Simpsons and interact with Bart, Homer, Marge and all the other misfits of Springfield. So the entire crossover will be based around the Simpsons Comics universe! The artist on the series is James Lloyd and the Ian Boothby was gooshing with enthusiasm over the pages that he has seen. Unfortunately, Lloyd was not on the panel but there were some teaser pages hung up at the Bongo booth and they do look fantastic! This is going to be a very cool two part comic and the only dissapointing thing about it is that it wasn't available at the show. End of August it will be coming out so make plans now. I took the best pictures I could of the art work so hopefully you will get a good idea on how good it is going to be. It was great to see characters like Leela and Lisa, Bender and Homer and Fry and Bart all interacting together. Also, there was some artwork which I think will be the cover of the forthcoming collection of Futurama Comics called Futurama-Orama. See the pictures here and here. The reason given for Futurama Comics bi-monthly status given by Bill Morrison is the lack of artist available to them. Bongo Comics is a pretty small operation despite the number of books they produce and they just don't have the qualified staff available to them that can handle all the characters on model. This is why Futurama Comics is on temporary hold while the Crossover occurs. Look for Futurama Comics to hit the shelves again afterwards with some really great stories. On the new calendar, all the images are based off of 'bad' comic book covers. All the new art work are basically homages to comic books past with plenty of material provided by Scott Shaw! who heads up a panel at San Diego dealing with bad comics. Be sure to pick this up as it is another winner that will look great on your wall next year - oh what a great way to pass the year! On the topic of Futurama's cancellation there is still a consensus that it is not cancelled and that new shows have not been ordered yet. I think everybody involved is really hanging their hats on this technacality. The backlog of shows means there are still some to fill out another season of Futurama at which time Fox will evaluate the situation and make a determination to continue the show or cancel it at that time. There is still a slight glimmer of hope so lets keep the pressure on the folks over at Fox by continuing to write letters and sign that petition if you have not already. Inkworks Cards is apparently still mulling over wether to do Futurama trading cards. With such a wonderful job done by them for the Simpsons it would be great to see them pick up Futurama as well. One thing that I am sure holding them back is the future of Futurama. Dark Horse Comics expressed concern over it and cited it as one of the main reason for discontinuing the pop-out people line as well as future endevours with the Futurama license. The hiatus of Futurama is really having long ranging reprocutions. Dark Horse has already dropped out, Inkworks Cards is having second thoughts and one could only wonder where RocketUSA will end up in all this. It would be a shame not to see the Zapp Brannigan ray gun produced Another fun thing to do at the show is getting sketches from the Bongo Comics artists. This year there were less sketch and sign sessions but we still managed to get a couple. I mistakenly lost track of time and missed Matt Groening's only appearance at the Bongo booth. I am counting the days until next year to ensure that I am on time for it. The unfortunate thing for me trying to get Futurama sketches is the lack of Futurama artist available to do them. Really the only people who will do Futurama sketches are Phyllis Novin, Bill Morrison and Matt Groening. The problem being Groening and Morrison are very popular and don't do too many signings which leaves only Phyllis Novin. A word about Phyllis that hopefully will not offend any fans of hers or Phyllis personally. She is very slow in sketching and typically has difficulty fleshing out the characters in a believable manner. That and she will only do the main characters - Fry, Leela and Bender. I had originally asked for a Nibbler but had to settle on one of Leela. You can see the results here. LESS THAN HERO (SPOILERS) Now onto the episode. Leela is looking forward to spending the day with her parents on the surface and makes a date with them and arranges to get some above ground passes for them. Zoidberg gives them some creme to rub on their infected areas that he purchased off of a traveling salesman. When Fry and Leela are attacked they realize they have superhuman powers. Later they find out that it was the creme provided by Dr. Zoidberg that has done it for them (even if they don't have control over sea creatures). They agree to don alter egos to fight crime, Leela as Clobberella and Fry as Yesterday Man, aided by Bender (I forget his alter ego but think royalty) who wants to fight crime with them. All is well until the Mayor of New New York enlists their help in stopping a jewel heist by the Zoo Keeper. Bad news for Leela as the heist is scheduled for the day she is to meet her parents at the same museum. Because of the Zoo Keepers tardiness, Leela misses her date with her parents and they feel rejected because of it. Trying to console them she is left without any choice but to tell them that she is actually a super hero and was not able to meet them because she was on the job and not ashamed of them. Swearing them to secrecy Leela believes her secret is safe. Of course, her father cannot keep a secret and quickly Leela's secret identity is revealed to the Zoo Keeper. Using this information, the Zoo Keeper kidnaps Leela's parents and holds them for ransom until the dynamic trio steals the jewel for him. With no alternative they set out to heist the jewel from the museum. Unlucky for them they have run out of creme and have no more super powers. They manage to steal the jewel, however and give it to the Zoo Keeper who keeps his promise to let Leela's parents go. Leela lets her parents know she did it all for them and is not ashamed to have them as parents and they in turn let her know that they are not disapointed in her. This is going to be a great episode. There are plenty of one-liners and sight gags here. A very quick episode and as mentioned before the remix of the opening theme is a keeper. The gang in their costumes is real fun to see as the whole show is a bit of a spoof on the old Batman television show. Look for the fight scene in the middle of the episode where Bender punches a thug. Anyways, this episode will air at some point as part of Season 5 on Fox or as David X. Cohen so aptly put it: 'Whenever the hell they feel like it.' |
