Three Men and a Comic Book

Plot

At a comic book convention dressed as Bartman, Bart finds the first issue of Radioactive Man for $100 at Comic Book Guy's Android's Dungeon. Lacking the money, he takes a job for Mrs. Glick, performing hard labor including weeding carnivorous plants, feeding her cat, and scrubbing sludge off her roof, for which she pays him only fifty cents. Bart then persuades Martin and Milhouse to pool their money to buy the comic. Unwilling to let it out of sight, they spend the night in Bart's treehouse, growing increasingly paranoid as a thunderstorm approaches.

When Martin gets up to use the bathroom, Bart ties him up, thinking he plans to steal the comic. Milhouse tries to alert Marge, but Bart tackles him, causing Milhouse to fall over the side. Bart catches him by his sleeve, and Milhouse admits he only wanted a Carl Yastrzemski baseball card. A gale of wind takes the comic; Bart chooses to rescue Milhouse, and the comic blows outside, where it is shredded by Santa's Little Helper and struck by lightning. The next morning, the boys reflect on how their inability to share led to its destruction.

Production

Jeff Martin wrote the episode, and Wes Archer directed it. It marked the first appearances of Comic Book Guy, Mrs. Glick, Radioactive Man, Fallout Boy, and Bartman. The character of Comic Book Guy was partly based on a clerk at the Los Angeles Amok bookshop, who, according to writer George Meyer, would sit on a high stool with a condescending attitude while eating fried clams with tartar sauce from a large container. Matt Groening said the character represents every comic-bookstore guy in America.

Hank Azaria based the voice on a college neighbor nicknamed "F." The writers chose the name "The Android's Dungeon and Baseball Card Shop" during a late-night session, assuming they would not reuse it. Mrs. Glick was inspired by an elderly woman for whom Jeff Martin and his brother did yard work as kids, earning only fifty cents for hours of labor. Cloris Leachman voiced her. The episode parodies The Wonder Years, with Daniel Stern providing the voice of an older Bart, just as he had voiced the adult Kevin in that show.

Stern's brother David M. Stern, a writer on both series, helped the Simpsons writers perfect the parody's phrasing and idioms.

Cultural references

Lisa collects Casper the Friendly Ghost and Richie Rich comics, and Homer references Wonder Woman. Radioactive Man's origin mirrors The Incredible Hulk, involving gamma radiation. The convention MC's warning not to ask about the death of Radioactive Man's actor Dirk Richter references the mysterious death of Superman actor George Reeves, with the bordello mention possibly referencing Bob Crane's 1978 murder. Homer mispronounces Michelangelo when asking who drew the comic.

Bart's inner monologue parodies The Wonder Years, voiced by Daniel Stern. Martin describes the comic as "the stuff dreams are made of," echoing The Maltese Falcon. The Radioactive Man cigarette commercial parodies The Flintstones' Winston ads. Bart's iodine scene mirrors Gone with the Wind.

The boys' suspicion parallels The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Bart calls Martin "Piggy" and threatens to stuff an apple in his mouth, referencing Lord of the Flies. Bart saving Milhouse from falling references Saboteur. The episode title references Three Men and a Baby.

Reception

In its original broadcast, the episode finished twenty-third in the ratings for the week of May 6–12, 1991, with a Nielsen rating of 12.9, equivalent to twelve million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on Fox that week and the first time The Simpsons beat The Cosby Show in the ratings. Reviews have been mostly positive. Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide praised its use of new characters and called it the best of the Bart-focused episodes of the season, noting the psychological meltdown in the third act as hilarious.

IGN named it the best episode of the season. Gary Russell and Gareth Roberts commented that some jokes may pass by viewers without a passing understanding of comic books. Doug Pratt criticized the episode for not being inspired enough and called the Wonder Years parody pointless. Bryce Wilson of Cinema Blend named it his favorite episode of the season, praising its cultural references.

Michael Roberds praised the Treasure of the Sierra Madre parody as clever. Colin Kennedy of Empire ranked that parody as the ninth-best film parody of the show. Nathan Ditum of Total Film named the Saboteur reference the 25th greatest film reference in the show's history.