User Reviews

The twenty-first episode in the second season of the Simpsons is a very fine episode that has some funny results. I can also relate to this episode because of some very similar childhood events. I love how watching this show can bring back some fond memories. This show also has some good themes on friendship.

In this episode, "Three Men and a Comic Book," Bart desperately wants the first edition of a Radioactive Man comic book, but Homer refuses to give him the money for it. So Bart convinces Martin Prince and Milhouse to pool their money together so they can buy it. But their friendship is tested when everybody wants the comic book for themselves.

Overall, this is a funny episode and one of the better ones of the second season. The final ten minutes are the best because of the confrontation between the friends which results in an unsurprising, but funny result. I rate this episode 9/10.

Bart saves money to buy a comic book.

This is an enjoyable character episode for Bart.

The plot involves some good parody of the nerd/geek subculture and is an epic tribute to movies like 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre'.

Bart's doomed attempts to raise $100 are pretty funny, especially his exchanges with Mrs Glick. I love the line about her wedding dress.

When events move to the treehouse we have my favourite moments as Bart slowly turns into Fred C. Dobbs. All the movie tributes in the episode are great, but I do love this one, plus Martin's 'Maltese Falcon' line is nice.

The introduction to Comic Book Guy is a good one. This character is so well observed and one of the writer's most recognisable parodies from life.

When I was in high school, two guys named Dennis and Lyle spent six hours collecting leaves on an old lady's yard. When they finished, she gave them each a dime. As she watched they spent the next hour throwing all the leaves back in the yard. Gets you right here. Bart has a similar experience, working to buy a valuable comic book. Soon it becomes a horror story.

I love this one a whole lot, it's definitely among my firm series favourites for sure. To me it's so wonderfully structured and classic, the way everything plays out in a mellow but very fun and engaging pace. I really don't find there to be a flat note in the whole thing, it perfectly flows and pays off. Bart's love for the comic book is so excellently captured, I think it really gets that magical childhood feeling of when you see something that's magical to you and you just know you've gotta have it no matter what, and I love everything in the story to do with Bart doing all he can to gather the hundred bucks for the rare issue of Radioactive Man number one that the awesome Comic Book Guy in his first ever appearance on the show, allows Bart to have at such a bargain because as he hilariously puts it, is "because you remind me of me." I love the whole sequence where they're in the Krusty Burger and Bart's pestering Homer for the money while a guy with a smoke in the background watches on. Marge's sweet little story is a highlight, where she tells of how when she was a little girl she agreed to become her sisters' slave to earn the money to buy herself a toy oven, and it also reveals the origin of Patty and Selma's trademark gravelly voices! I think my favourite part it is when Bart is doing odd jobs for the old cranky lady who tricks him into saying thank you after she rewards his torturous labour with just two quarters! Eventually Bart does get the comic but probably not at all like he wanted, as he's forced to share ownership of it with Millhouse and Martin after they all pool their money together to make up the hundred, which is something that any kid ever would be absolute loathed to do! It all comes to a stormy head later that night during a sleepover at Bart's treehouse where after going a little nuts with comic fever, Bart is forced to choose between saving the comic or Millhouse... Sure know the one that I would have opted for.. The comic is sadly left in tatters and they all learn a valuable lesson in not sharing...sort of! Such a priceless episode, and I still love it. You can tell that it was written by people from a generation that loved to read their treasured comics as kids, and I find that this makes for a heartfelt little tribute to that. A real early gem of the series. X

Another amazing episode in Season Two. This one deals with the first issue of Radioactive Man, a comic series of which Bart would become quite smitten with over the show. This is also the first appearance of Radioactive Man. Awesome!

Not enough of Homer Simpson, but still enjoyable, but not so funny. 7.5/10.

The story deliver a sweet message in the end, but totally not the same level as usual.