Simpsons Comics # 51
“Bart and Lisa and Marge and Homer and Maggie (to a lesser extend) vs. Thanksgiving”
Writer: Scott M. Gimple
Penciller: Oscar Gonzalez Loyo
Inker: Tim Bavington
Colorist: Art Villanueva
Letterer: Karen Bates
“What Would Happen If…Cletus Went To College??”
Writer: Scott M. Gimple
Penciller: Phil Ortiz
Inker: Scott McRae
Colorist: Art Villanueva
Letterer: Karen Bates
Cover Date: October 2000
Rating: 
Now that Thanksgiving is around the corner, this week I’ll take a look at Simpsons Comics # 51 that celebrates the holiday in the most hilarious way.
While Thanksgiving is a time for families to come together and break bread, it’s not that way for The Simpsons. In this issue, Lisa is protesting Thanksgiving, Bart wants to get to Try ‘N Save to buy the hottest video game and Homer invited the gang at Moe’s for Thanksgiving dinner……without telling Marge, and to matters worse, Homer ate the entire turkey; Lisa and Grandpa head to a casino where the former gets a good look at the commercialism of Thanksgiving, Homer, meanwhile, gets roped into helping Smithers free Mr. Burns from the clutches of three angry turkeys after his guillotine malfunctioned (“Drat It! I knew Volvo couldn’t build a better guillotine”- heh, heh) then Bart comes across a group of orphans and sacrifices the release of a video game to give them a Thanksgiving they will never forget.
I really enjoyed how all the subplots of this issue came together in a timely manner and the sillier moments really help make this story amusing such as Homer and Smithers wearing containment suits to rescue Mr. Burns, then Smithers activates a fail-safe in Homer’s containment suits (By releasing bird seeds – Yeah, it’s extremely silly) while Marge will go to any lengths to secure a turkey (There’s a brilliant Indiana Jones reference thrown in for the heck of it); This story succeeds in being goofy but it does make for a great Thanksgiving story. The backup feature “What would happen if…Cletus went to College??” sees Springfield’s resident slack-jawed yokel enrolled in Springfield University and brings his unique (and bizarre) way of life for the academic side, it’s a funny story and it fills up the rest of the issue. This issue of Simpsons Comics is a laugh romp from beginning to end and still holds up as a reminder that this is series is by far funnier than the past few seasons of the show. And that’s saying a lot.
Next week, I’ll kick off my reviews of Hawkeye stories in honor of the Disney+ series so thanks for sticking around and I will see you all next time.
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