CBR Futurama-O-Rama

 

Futurama just came to an end recently. Again.

Here's hoping the show can somehow find a new-new rebirth in the form of more movies, here's a look back at how the comic book series started!

For more Matt Groening-related reviews, check these other pages below!

The Simpsons Movie / The Simpsons Game
Futurama Season 1 / Futurama The Game
Bender's Big Score / The Beast with a Billion Backs / Bender's Game / Into the Wild Green Yonder

Futurama vol. 5

Comic title: Futurama Volume 1: Futurama-O-Rama
Art by James Lloyd, Tom King, Pam Cooke, Steve Steere, Jr. & Phyllis Novin 
Written by Eric Rogers 

Published by Bongo Comics 
From 2002
Lineup Futurama series
Format: Trade Paperback collecting Futurama Comics #1-4.

The scifi parody show created by Matt Groening came to comics back in November 2000 through Groening's own Bongo Comics publishing company.

Futurama was then published as a bi-monthly since then. And for a while,  between 2003 and 2006 actually it was the only source of new Futurama material being made at the time!

Your typical issue usually runs for about ~27 pages long and is done in traditional pulp scifi comic books of old continuing the tradition of the show to poke fun at the genre as well as a honor it.

This means lots of mock-up advertisements in exchange for "coupons" (as a parody) for futuristic products and whatnot. Believe me, those are worth a read!

Each cover, more or less connected to the actual content, also features a funny, silly caption as to imitate the title screens from the cartoon.

The comics follows the on-going adventures of our Planet Express crew in the year 3000.

Fry, Leela and Bender continue their space-deliveries of unusual shipments on even stranger worlds!

In "Monkey Sea, Monkey Doom!", the gang is set to the basement (making its first appearance before the cartoon) to dig a giant hole to hide some tech from the cops! Fry finds an old box containing stuff from his era. When reading an old comic book, Fry decides to check on an old ad for sea monkeys. He is able to finally get them after all these years, but the poor creatures seem long dead. Nothing a gamma radiation won't change in this tale of all-out attack on New New York!

"...But Deliver Us to Evil!" sees two aliens, Rick and Lucy (mmh, I wonder where I heard those names before...?) that decide to join our crew to learn the ropes of a good delivery. Or is it actually something else going on here?

"The Owner of Mars Attacks!" sees the return of Amy's mom, Inez Wong. Leela competes with her to have the biggest "Needy Newbie" collection. Yay! Zoidberg can play too? And what secret really lies between these adorable critters? I'll say Collect 'Em All and you'll see!

Finally the big epic final! "DOOP the Right Thing!" sees Zapp Brannigan captured and made king of the Da Nang Tribe! DOOP sends Leela and Kif after the big idiot. Did Zapp get fatter or is he... pregnant??

The stories are all written by Eric Rogers.

They alternate between more random adventures and science-fiction-ysh parody that you could swear happened in-between episodes.

I particularly enjoyed the Apocalypse Now parody with Zapp.

The art is great, several pencillers & inkers worked together to make this comic look the best possible. They did a great job recapturing the show.

The great art along the tight script and you can almost hear the characters' voice in your head.

Overall, it's a fun recommended comic book for Futurama fans!

Nothing as epic, original and unexpected as the best shows on the show, but faithful and well done enough.

This "Futurama Comics" series was at its best when used to give some well deserved spotlight on minor and secondary characters, which the show sometimes couldn't afford to. Only Zapp's really the hero of a story in the last issue here, the rest is mostly Fry/Leela-centric, and Bender to a lesser extend.

Anyways, it's a nice start, with a first comic book "classic" angle, a great meta-start.

I give it:

2 / 3 Snoopies!