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Simpsons Comics #62, 70, 76, 126, 148
Simpsons Comics Get Some Fancy Book Learnin'
Gather round for some high-spirited and fortune-filled fables when Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, takes on the world's most beloved literary classics! Mount Olympus will never be the same when Homer presents The Iliad and Ned Flanders takes a turn as Aesop. Then, in a tale of biblical proportions, Bart meets the most famous underachiever of all time, the Prodigal Son, and Abraham Simpson finds it is not so easy to keep a covenant with God when you have a son like Homer. Next, Marge is Persian princess Scheherazade, who must impress the impulsive King Moe-mar Shahryar every night with a story in order to save her own neck. Then, Bart does the Bard, man, when the students of Springfield Elementary perform, measure by measure, virtually every one of William Shakespeare's plays in one midsummer night. Finally, Lisa attempts to win over Rod and Todd Flanders with the lovely and endearing Danish fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen.
128 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2010
5 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
Matt Groening
1,007 books434 followersMatthew Abram Groening is an American cartoonist, television producer and writer from Portland, Oregon.
Groening is best known as the creator of The Simpsons. He is also the creator of Futurama and the author of the weekly comic strip Life in Hell. Groening distributed Life in Hell in the book corner of Licorice Pizza, a record store in which he worked.
He made his first professional cartoon sale to the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978. The cartoon is still carried in 250 weekly newspapers.
Groening is best known as the creator of The Simpsons. He is also the creator of Futurama and the author of the weekly comic strip Life in Hell. Groening distributed Life in Hell in the book corner of Licorice Pizza, a record store in which he worked.
He made his first professional cartoon sale to the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978. The cartoon is still carried in 250 weekly newspapers.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 21, 2018
Another great Simpons volume. In this one the Simpsons put their own spin on famous stories throughout history. They go after Fairy Tales, Aesop's Fables, Greek Myths, Bible Stories, Shakespeare and more. As always the art looks like it's from a Simpsons episode so no worries there. Fun stuff.
March 2, 2017
Bart gets to meet the most famous underachiever of all time. Abraham Simpson finds it very hard to compete with god when he has a son like Homer Simpson my most favorite part is when they are in the kingdom. I recommend this book to people that like comics.
December 27, 2016
This was lots of fun.
September 30, 2025
I was a little skeptical about whether I would like this collection of Simpsons comics or not. I'm not really a fan of the episodes that take place during a different era. But I want to own all the Simpsons Comics there are, regardless of the book being a floppie or a trade. So I gave it a shot. Thankfully, these issues were more like a Treehouse of Horror, spoofing individual works of literature than that god awful episode from 2017 that took place entirely during medieval times.
There's 5 issues that comprise this volume. Each focuses on a single subject. Hence why I was a little hesitant that I was going to like this one. Greek Myth, Fairy Tales and stories from The Bible are among the classics spoofed. Ian Boothby wrote every issue with artwork and colors being provided by a number of talents. Boothby did a fine job making cramming in numerous references and quick jokes like a standard episode of The Simpsons. And he managed to do it without getting too irritatingly repetitive. Every once in a while a joke from earlier in the issue would reappear. But Boothby used considerable restraint not going overboard with those gags. Too bad current Simpsons writers can't learn from this!
Surprisingly, the issue that I thought was the best was the one which dives into God's holy word. I was a bit on edge thinking it would be blasphemous. But Boothby did something brilliant that lessened some of the irreverence. He had Bart tell the stories! With the Sunday School teacher out sick, Bart retells the story of Noah's ark, Abraham and Isaac and The Prodigal Son to Rod and Todd with hilarious results. Bart getting details wrong isn't so much a criticism of the Bible; it's what kids actually do! It's why I love Little Lulu and Foxtrot so much. It reminds me of the mixed-up adolescents I teach on a daily basis.
I really was pleasantly surprised by this one. There were several laughs to be had. Some great gags and a few biting commentaries. In a word, it was CLASSIC Simpsons humor and it was very much appreciated in a day where there's getting to be less and less to laugh about.
There's 5 issues that comprise this volume. Each focuses on a single subject. Hence why I was a little hesitant that I was going to like this one. Greek Myth, Fairy Tales and stories from The Bible are among the classics spoofed. Ian Boothby wrote every issue with artwork and colors being provided by a number of talents. Boothby did a fine job making cramming in numerous references and quick jokes like a standard episode of The Simpsons. And he managed to do it without getting too irritatingly repetitive. Every once in a while a joke from earlier in the issue would reappear. But Boothby used considerable restraint not going overboard with those gags. Too bad current Simpsons writers can't learn from this!
Surprisingly, the issue that I thought was the best was the one which dives into God's holy word. I was a bit on edge thinking it would be blasphemous. But Boothby did something brilliant that lessened some of the irreverence. He had Bart tell the stories! With the Sunday School teacher out sick, Bart retells the story of Noah's ark, Abraham and Isaac and The Prodigal Son to Rod and Todd with hilarious results. Bart getting details wrong isn't so much a criticism of the Bible; it's what kids actually do! It's why I love Little Lulu and Foxtrot so much. It reminds me of the mixed-up adolescents I teach on a daily basis.
I really was pleasantly surprised by this one. There were several laughs to be had. Some great gags and a few biting commentaries. In a word, it was CLASSIC Simpsons humor and it was very much appreciated in a day where there's getting to be less and less to laugh about.
May 9, 2024
The Simpsons is a cartoon family a lot of us have grown up with on television. It is a franchise that has spanned television, movies, video games, theme park rides, and even comic books. After being in the air for so many decades, it isn't surprising that there are hundreds of comic books based on the show.
This one is broken up like many episodes of multiple shorter stories with a theme. The ones on this graphic novel run from Shakespeare to Bible stories, all with the Simpsons brand of humor. The art is right out of the show and keeps its consistent across every story.
While the graphic novel is good, it doesn't hit the highs of the show. There are funny moments, and it is all generally well done, but there is not a fantastic issue like there is of the show. It won't win over any new fans, but any people already fans wouldn't be disappointed to pick it up.
This one is broken up like many episodes of multiple shorter stories with a theme. The ones on this graphic novel run from Shakespeare to Bible stories, all with the Simpsons brand of humor. The art is right out of the show and keeps its consistent across every story.
While the graphic novel is good, it doesn't hit the highs of the show. There are funny moments, and it is all generally well done, but there is not a fantastic issue like there is of the show. It won't win over any new fans, but any people already fans wouldn't be disappointed to pick it up.
July 28, 2017
A fun read. A few clunkers in the mix, but some of the stories and jokes were genuinely clever. Wish the show was still as well-written as the comics!
July 1, 2019
It's special to have the stories under one theme and somehow linked to each other... The creativity is well shown with Simpsons version of a lot of classics :)
September 12, 2022
An entertaining read! It was great to kill a couple of hours with. Finished the whole thing in one night and it even made me chuckle a couple of times. Would recommend.
November 15, 2024
Tässähän oli jopa hauskoja juttuja, jotka toimivat. Yleensä nämä simpsonien sarjisversiot ovat kuivakoita, mutta nyt oli useampikin vitsi, joka hymyilytti.
December 30, 2018
Wasn't my favorite, I liked the Big Bad Book of Bart Simpson better. But it was still good.
January 18, 2012
I picked this one up for me. Yes, I like the Simpsons even though I don't watch regularly. I was just too tempted to see how the Simpsons would skewer the great stories from the past, and I wasn't disappointed. The Simpsons start with the ancient Greeks, from the gods to Aesop. Moving across the continent, they give a hilarious twist to fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Aladdin washes his hands of the genie in "Arabian Nuts." Old Bill Shakespeare may be rolling in his grave by the end of his plays in comic form. Finally, Bart goes to Sunday School, where somehow, the Prodigal Son ends up at the Tower of Babel. I laughed my way through this collection, but the jokes are much funnier if you already know the stories.
May 14, 2012
The bible, Greek myth, Shakespeare....as the great philosopher Homer said so eloquently, “Booorrrrring!”
Well with this exciting volume, all those long winded “Wherefore art thous” and “Thou shalt nots” are simplified into colourful panels with a few bite sized words per panel, with all your favourite Simpsons characters standing in.
Noah’s Ark is great, Henry 5th with Professor Frink as Henry, Bart doing the Bard, King Moe-mar Shahryar, “Apu Baba and the Four Thieves” and “Sinbart The Sailor”, Ralph plays Humpty Dumpty, Itchy and Scratchy doing Titus Andronicus.
Well with this exciting volume, all those long winded “Wherefore art thous” and “Thou shalt nots” are simplified into colourful panels with a few bite sized words per panel, with all your favourite Simpsons characters standing in.
Noah’s Ark is great, Henry 5th with Professor Frink as Henry, Bart doing the Bard, King Moe-mar Shahryar, “Apu Baba and the Four Thieves” and “Sinbart The Sailor”, Ralph plays Humpty Dumpty, Itchy and Scratchy doing Titus Andronicus.
September 20, 2012
meh. silly. Normally I find the Simpsons silliness to be amusing, but this collection didn't do much for me. It was clever how many references they could work into a story, whether Shakespeare, the Bible, Greek myth, or any of the other genres being skewered. Maybe I just don't appreciate those genres being skewered? I don't know. I think it might have been funnier animated/ on TV. As it was, I read a bit each night before bed, to help me sleep like a baby. Yawn.
September 20, 2025
This is probably the best of the Simpsons Comic Book collections, maybe outside of the superhero ones. Some really fun Simpsons retellings of stories! Plus, it even sticks truer to the original stories than certain other retellings, especially with the Little Mermaid compared to the Disney version. In fact, I mentioned how they handled the ending of that to a Danish friend I had and she was surprised it was truer to the original story than the Disney movie!
October 31, 2014
Od komiksových Simpsonů jsem moc nic nečekal (resp. čekal jsem obvyklou úroveň) a velmi příjemně mě to překvapilo. Komiks paroduje klasické příběhy od bible přes pohádky a Shakespeara až po Ezopa a je to fakt prča. Některý kousky jsou slabší, některý naopak výborný. Jako celek super věc.
Moc si to nedovedu představit přeložené, protože to hodně stojí na slovních hříčkách.
Moc si to nedovedu představit přeložené, protože to hodně stojí na slovních hříčkách.
April 1, 2012
This is a good Simpson-ized take on classic stories and fables: from Aesop to Shakespeare, to Bible stories to Arabian tales, this is a pretty funny way of learning all the old stories from the past.
Great for Simpsons fans, too, including me.
Great for Simpsons fans, too, including me.
April 6, 2016
I really enjoyed this book. One reason I enjoyed this book was because the author Matt Groening use fantastic images that match the text in the book. This graphic novel has multiple scenes which is a nice and different way of writing comics usually.
Read
May 9, 2016This book has many different types of stories in the one book such as Julius Caesar, arab stories, etc. This book was really funny because of the jokes and how they changed the stories. I would recommend this book to people that watch the shows or like to laugh.
December 6, 2010
This Was an enjoyable book for me.Hahaha!!!
December 27, 2010
My little one thought this was amazing.
She's 8.
She's 8.
January 25, 2012
this book was so funny!! SGW :)
January 31, 2012
A great view on classical literature, from Greek mythology, to the Bible, to Shakespeare.
November 2, 2012
FUNNY!!!
August 17, 2013
sometimes, you have to take a break from reading books and read a comic book. this is one I picked up at the library. it served its purpose, although I found it a little boring for the Simpsons.
September 2, 2015
very cute Simpsons twist on classics
January 4, 2016
I really enjoyed this book. The parts I really enjoyed the most were the images and how descriptive they were and most of the time funny.
January 4, 2016
I really enjoyed this book!
May 15, 2011
It was really cool!!!!!:)
June 13, 2013
clever rather than funny.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews