Work sucks, especially if the object of your efforts doesn’t really last too long. That’s the lesson Bart learns in this particular episode.
Man, that trip to the Springfield Comic Con sure is something. It seemed to be attended solely by the juveniles of the town, plus Mayor Quimby. You know if The Simpsons ever goes to another one down the road we’ll see more adults besides Comic Book Guy, here in his first appearance.
And while a Bartman costume won’t get the three dollar discount, Bart can find a rare treat in the form of Radioactive Man #1. And it only costs $100. Considering what rare comics with first appearances go for in the real world, I am wondering how many pages are missing.
Bart first tries to earn money the only way he knows how: bug Homer. When other plans involving trading in foreign coins, depositing bottles for refunds, and selling Homer’s beer for a nickel a cup fails to get him the money, he goes to work for Mrs. Glick, one of those background characters who mostly just seems to be a little nutty but never says much.
That’s probably because she was voiced here by the great Cloris Leachman, as opposed to a regular cast member.
Speaking of, remember The Wonder Years? That was quite the thing back then. So, of course, that series’ narrator Daniel Stern does a couple lines as an adult Bart reflecting on the day in question. Except Homer keeps telling him not to stare off into space.
So, after earning 50 cents for a week’s worth of backbreaking labor, Bart is no closer to that $100 then when he started. OK, technically he’s a little closer, but not close enough. Marge’s story about getting a light bulb oven that allowed her two sisters to take up smoking and ruin their voices was of little help, but then Bart realizes he can get the comic if he, Martin, and Milhouse all split the cost.
Now, if only they could actually agree to share the thing.
A scuffle in Bart’s treehouse destroys the comic (and how!), and the boys learn absolutely no lesson at all.
But them’s the breaks.
Gabbing Geek 