Futurama Comics 24

Futurama Comics 24
March, 2006

Cover Title: N/A
Cover Credits: Matt Groening, Bill Morrison, Mike Rote
Script: Ian Boothby
Pencils: James Lloyd
Inks: Andrew Pepoy
Colors: Colorbot 3000
Letters: Karen Bates
Editor: Bill Morrison

Twice Told Tales of Interest
Futurama Comic foray in to the tales of interest episodes of the show wherein questions are asked to the What If machine and we get to see the answers to these questions played out. While Bender is playing poker with Fry and taking all of his money while he sleeps, Leela breaks up the game to which Bender then takes the Professor's What If machine and builds a body with arms and legs so that he may play with Fry and the What If machine. After losing his trademark red jacket, Fry inadvertently asks the question what if everyday was X-Mas.

During this segment we see that Earth President Nixon has appointed the Robot Santa Secretary of Defense in exchange for his X-Mas wish of world peace forced on the public by Earth's increased military might. The Robot Santa's first act is to rid the world of all nuclear weapons by launching them all at the same time which creates a nuclear winter. Everybody is drafted in to the Robot Santa's Elf Army where they are forced to construct new weapons for Robot Santa. The Professor and Leela concoct a plan to defeat the Robot Santa by building a giant Robot Easter Bunny (Robot Santa's arch nemesis) where in space the fight it out against a large Robot Santa robot. Robot Santa has kidnapped Amy and when she falls on the self destruct button that spells the end of Amy, Robot Santa, and the story.

Fry then wants to know what if his life was more like a sitcom. The comic then breaks in to the alternately drawn story:

I Dream of Leela
Pencils: Mike Kazaleh
Inks: Mike Kazaleh

Fry is an 'astronaut' who crash lands on a beach and releases the genie Leela from her lamp who immediately tells Fry that she just wants to be friends. Fry accidentally breaks Leela's lamp making her homeless but Fry offers his place as a place to crash at. To protect herself from his advances she turns him in to a frog and then later a dinosaur. As they try and find her a new lamp to live in Leela finally gives in and grants Fry one wish - he wishes for a girlfriend and who should walk in immediately but Amantha the Witch (Amy as Samantha the witch from Bewitched). Amantha insults Leela and they then proceed to get in to a fight where our story ends.

Another fun issue by Ian Boothby who manages to weave in multiple characters, scenarios, and plot points all within the confines of the Futurama universe.

This issue is very much in the vein of what I would love to see as an annual much like the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror annual. Offbeat stories using the Planet Express crew and not always done on model (although Mike Kazaleh typically does a fine job on his art he is definitely going off model here on the I Dream of Leela sequence)