Futurama/Simpsons Infinitely Secret Crossover Crisis Review

***THIS REVIEW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE NERD BLITZ PATREON***

Just for a bit of background, like most kids of the 90s, The Simpsons were a staple of my youth.
For fuck sake, that show and those characters were the epitome of the phrase “Pop Culture Phenomenon” without even a hint of hyperbole back then.
So, of course, I loved it.

That brings us to Futurama, and, if you guys have listened to that one episode of Doom Does…, you know I loved that show from the jump.
That’s a show that even if I didn’t quite understand every single joke or reference they would make it always made me feel smart for having watched it.
Which, I suppose, is incredibly ironic considering the main character.

Now a crossover between them, though many may consider it a no brainer given Matt Groening co-created both, seemed out of the realm of possibility given the starkly different tone of both.
One, a classic American sitcom with a slight twist.
The other, a wacky Sci-Fi series that leans into all of the genre tropes, hard.
But it damn sure happened, so let’s see how well it was pulled off!

As always, consider this your official ***SPOILER ALERT***

Covers By Matt Groening?: No solid credit is given, but given how highly polished all of the characters look, I’d say it’s probably a safe bet that it is indeed Groening.
Even if not, they’re just big splashy comic book perfection.

Art By James Lloyd: The art is kind of standard for these type of TV animation tie-in books, the style of these cartoons are never overly complicated and the art reflects that.
Sometimes the characters slip a little off model, but it’s rarely so far off that it distracts from the overall feel of the piece.
Simple and effective.

Story By Ian Boothby: The Planet Express crew is headed out to make a pick up from a planet full of collectables, when they land they’re surprised by the evil brains from the classic Futurama episode The Day The Earth Stood Stupid.
The brains have hatched a scheme to con folks into slabbing their comics and make art disappear to lower the collective I.Q. of Earth and make humanity easier to destroy.
Which leads to the crew being thrown into, and sealed inside of, an old Simpsons comic Fry had been reading.
Ya know, that ol yarn!

This is a book that I’m positive somebody, somewhere out there, would read and almost immediately bitch about because it’s drowning in fan service.
Which is an idiotic, brain dead, dipshit complaint!
The only reason any TV show gets a second season, a movie gets a sequel, or either get tie-in comics would be to service the fans that enjoyed the shit that came before.
So yeah, this bastard is dripping with fan service, and this is one fan who is waiting, pants around ankles, to be serviced long, lovingly, and, no matter how weird, with ample eye contact.

The main thrust of the story is the crew trying to figure their way out of this comic, all the while they’re having strange interactions with the citizens of Springfield, and it works!
You ever thought about what it would be like to have Farnsworth and Frink tinkering together?
That happens, meat bag!
How about Leela & Lisa bonding over being outcasts?
Yep, that’s here!
How about Fry & Bart, ya ever wonder how they’d interact?
Wonder no more!

One of the highlights of the Futurama comics, much like the show, were the references and easter eggs.
We super nerd, pop culture freaks love that shit, and this has an abundance of it, and before shows and movies made that a selling point I will add.
From the continuity references, to the other franchises and even other comic companies being thrown around.
Chances are, your nerd heart will find something it loves in here and be happy.

If I had a complaint about this book, it would be the same complaint I had about the Futurama comics in general.
These books aren’t super concerned with telling a 100% logical and tightly woven narrative that comes to a satisfactory conclusion after 22 pages, they’re here to make jokes.
Oh, the offense!
This hardcover collected edition I have has both 2-part crossover miniseries in it, but in my research I was surprised to find they were released roughly 2 years apart.
And the reason behind that was because the cliffhanger ending to this first arc was just meant to be a joke, with absolutely no plans for a follow up.

So that alone tells you, they’re just here for the jokes, which is totally fine.
But it also leads me to having to be in the mood to read a Futurama book.
Cause if you just throw this shit at me on a random day where I may be craving some depth, there is the distinct possibility of me being highly irritated.
My point in telling you all of this is that this series by design was just mindless, harmless fun.
Shut your brain off and enjoy it, gang.

Of note, before I leave you good folks to stop reading my brain excretions, also included in this collected edition, after the first arc concludes, is the highly meta comic issue that the Planet Express is transported into.
We see slight snippets of it early on in the actual story, but it is pretty damn interesting to read the actual issue within the issue.
So if you have a chance to pick up this aging hardcover, that’s a fun extra to have.
Let me know if you want me to review it and I will gladly oblige, gang.

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