4 out of 5

FCBD’s: Like a preview, they need to entice a new reader.  Unlike a preview, though, they need to have more inherent value, in my opinion.  I know they’re free, but as the core idea is to get people into comics, they shouldn’t be trailers – they should be complete experiences.

So I don’t find the Bongo Simpsons comics funny – like at all – but this FCBD is literally filled from cover to cover, and I think it’s a true representation of the comic.  It’s got some longer bits, some short bits, features characters any Simpson fan will recognize, and steps off the beaten path of “looks like the show” art styles, as a nice reality check of the flexibility offered in the comic world.

I try to avoid judging FCBD’s too much on whether or not I like the content, but one of the stories in here – David Seidman’s ‘What the Hole?!’ – is painfully dumb, and would not make it as an episode /subplot on television.  It’s a very lazy take on Homer’s laziness, pushing things too far into slapstick that doesn’t work too well with the series ridiculous-but-grounded vibe.  That story’s inclusion, as well as that the book doesn’t make any mention, except on the cover, of what benefits the series offers to a reader – I do like to see just a little something that lets us know that we can see these hijinx and more every month, blah blah – is what makes this a slightly imperfect FCBD representation, but otherwise, if you like this, you’ll like the other Simpsons books.  And that ability /desire to go from one to the other is big part of the push of these things.