Futurama Comics

"Futurama Comics"

The front cover of issue #1
Story Multiple
(based on characters created by Matt Groening)
Ink Multiple
Pages 25
First publication November 22, 2000

Futurama Comics is a comic book series published by Bongo Comics and based on the television series Futurama. It has been published bi-monthly in the United States since November 2000 (apart from a brief break for the crossover). It has been published in the United Kingdom (with an altered order) and Australia since 2002 and four trade paperbacks have been released. During the production hiatus between 2003 and 2006 and from 2013 to present it is the only new Futurama material being made. The comic book series continues its run, even after two cancellations of the TV series.

Premise

In the year 3000, the crew of the Planet Express delivery company make cargo shipments to unusual planets, as well as having adventures back on Earth. The main characters include Philip J. Fry, a slacker from the 20th century who was cryonically frozen for 1,000 years, cycloptic ship captain Leela, and an alcohol-fueled, troublemaking robot Bender. The comic will often make more use of supporting or minor characters than the series, such as Zapp Brannigan, Cubert Farnsworth, the Robot Devil and Inez Wong.

Format

Each issue consists of at least one story of around 27 pages (occasionally brief stories also appear), and a letters and fanart page. There are also full-page mock advertisements marketing futuristic products (such as Brain Slugs), which parody the kinds of coupon offers found in other comic books.
Special editions of some issues are published on occasion; a variant of the first issue available only at Comic Con 2000 featured a golden background, rather than red.

In a similar vein to the parent series, each issue features a humorous caption on the cover (for example, "Made In The USA! (Printed in Canada)"). These captions also vary according to where it is sold. Coinciding with the change in format in issue 59, the caption was abandoned, along with the original logo. Each issue is a self-contained story which lasts one issue (though the Time Bender Trilogy spanned three issues) and it is printed in the standard 6⅝" x 10ΒΌ" size.

Issues

Issue # Title Plot summary Caption Release date
1 Monkey Sea, Monkey Doom! FEISTY FIRST ISSUE! November 22, 2000
2 ...But Deliver Us to Evil! SLIMY SECOND ISSUE! January 24, 2001
3 The Owner of Mars Attacks! NEW VERSION 3.0! March 28, 2001
4 D.O.O.P. the Right Thing! BLOATED WITH COMEDY (in Alien Language 1) May 23, 2001
5 Who's Dying to Be a Gazillionaire? PRESENTED IN 2-D! NO GLASSES NEEDED! (UNLESS YOU NEED GLASSES) July 25, 2001
6 Xmas Time Is Fear PRINTED IN MINT CONDITION! October 24, 2001
7 New Year's Rockin' Evil NO ANIMATED CHARACTERS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS COMIC BOOK! January 23, 2002
8 Planet X-Press Men A NEW HIGH IN LOWBROW ENTERTAINMENT! March 27, 2002
9 Freaky Fry-Day MADE IN THE U.S.A.! (PRINTED IN CANADA) May 22, 2002
10 The Big Sweep HOW'S MY DRAWING? CALL 1-800-555-MATT! November 27, 2002
11 The Cure For the Common Clod THE MOST INFLUENZAL COMIC OF ALL TIME! January 22, 2003
12 Sideshow Fry LET YOUR FREAK FLAG FRY March 26, 2003
13 The Bender You Say STICK A FORK IN IT...IT'S FUN! May 28, 2003
14 Six Characters In Search of a Story MEAT-BAG TESTED, BENDER APPROVED! July 23, 2003
15 Fry Me to the Moon! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT ANIMATED! October 8, 2003
16 Kickin' It Old School NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER'S FUTURAMA! February 4, 2004
17 The Time Bender Trilogy - part one 4 OUT OF 5 ALIENS RECOMMEND... May 26, 2004
18 The Time Bender Trilogy - part two: Boned to the Future NOMINATED FOR 12 GLORVNAXX AWARDS! July 28, 2004
19 The Time Bender Trilogy - part III MORE FUN THAN A BARREL OF BRAIN SLUGS! September 29, 2004
20 Bender Breaks Out BIG ZOIDBERG BENDER ISSUE June 8, 2005
21 More Than a Filling! Presented in BENDER-VISION October 12, 2005
22 A Fit Worse Than Death No caption November 23, 2005
23 The A-Team HEY MEATBAG! BUY THIS COMIC OR BACK OFF! February 1, 2006
24 Twice Told Tales of Interest WHAT IF YOU BOUGHT THIS COMIC? March 22, 2006
25 Robot Robin Hood NOW WITH MORE FUTURE, LESS RAMA! May 24, 2006
26 A Whole Lotta Leela! THE #1 SELLING COMIC OF 3006 July 26, 2006
27 Rotten to the Core KEEP ON TREKKIN'! October 4, 2006
28 Let's Twist Again PLEASE READ RESPONSIBLY! November 22, 2006
29 Downsized! APPLY DIRECTLY WHERE IT HURTS! January 24, 2007
30 Fry & the Double-Bag, Must-Have Item! GET YOUR 30TH CENTURY FIX! March 28, 2007
31 As the Wormhole Turns DARK MATTER HAPPENS! May 23, 2007
32 Doctor What IN SPACE, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU READ! July 25, 2007
33 Attack of the 50-Foot Amy CONSULT A DOCTOR IF LAUGHTER LASTS MORE THAN 4 HOURS! September 26, 2007
34 Planet Michelle ATOMIC BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED! November 28, 2007
35 Son of the Sun INTELLIGENTLY DESIGNED! January 2008
36 You Don't Wanna Know Jak! Science FACT! (As Far As You Know!) March 26, 2008
37 Full Metal Racket The Yoke's On You! May 28, 2008
38 Rumble In the Jungle YIVO LOVES YOU! July 30, 2008
39 Rust In Peace BOOTHBY - LLOYD - PEPOY September 24, 2008
40 Robot Santa's Little Helpers ROGERS - KAZALEH - DAVIS November, 2008
41 Soldier Boys ROGERS - DELANEY - DAVIS January, 2009
42 Homeward Boned ROGERS - DELANEY - DAVIS March 25, 2009
43 Welcome to My NightMall BOOTHBY - DELANEY - DAVIS May 27, 2009
44 The Fry and the Furious! CHICKS DIG GUYS WHO READ... July 29, 2009
45 Anthology of Interest II LOBSTERPALOOZA September 30, 2009
46 Follow the Reader PLEASE BEND RESPONSIBLY! November 25, 2009
47 Chitty Chitty Bend Bend 100% SPRUNGE-WORTHY! January 27, 2010
48 Claw and Order PLANET EXPRESS GOES GREEN... REALLY, REALLY GREEN! March 24, 2010
49 Dummy Up! SIZE MURDERS! May 26, 2010
50 Your Mother Wears Pilot Boots BONUS MIND BENDING BLACK LIGHT POSTER INSIDE! July 2010
51 Fry Cook THE BLACK LIGHT BONANZA CONTINUES! September 2010
52 Ro-Botox COLLECTIBLE BLACK LIGHT POSTER #3 OF 6 INSIDE! November 24, 2010
53 A Bump in the Flight COLLECTIBLE BLACK LIGHT POSTER #4 OF 6 INSIDE! January 26, 2011
54 How Much is that Mutant in the Window? COLLECTIBLE BLACK LIGHT POSTER #5 OF 6 INSIDE! March 23, 2011
55 The Trouble with Trilogies COLLECTIBLE BLACK LIGHT POSTER #6 OF 6 INSIDE! May 25, 2011
56 You Want Fry With That? IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT! July 27, 2011
57 Steampunk'd LET OFF SOME STEAM, PUNKS! September 28, 2011
58 Boomsday ANOTHER BONGO HIT! November 2011
59 How to Secede Without Really Trying February 1, 2012
60 The Bot Who Cried Wolf March 28, 2012
61 Troop Grit May 30, 2012
62 Lost Our Leela August 1, 2012
63 Igner-ants is Bliss IT'S MECHANIZED MAYHEM AS... ROBOTS GO WILD! October 3, 2012
64 Secret Santa November 28, 2012
65 The Sun Also Raises IT'S ICE COLD WAR. CAN EARTH SURVIVE? January 30, 2013
66 The Board Game Games March 27, 2013
67 Tartar House 5 May 29, 2013
68 Futuramarutuf Aug 27, 2013
69 Don't Go Taking My Heart! Oct 23, 2013
70 The Devil and Professor F. Feb 26, 2014
71 Pizza Wars May 28, 2014
72 Trading Spaces September 3, 2014
73 Night of the Automated Dead November 19, 2014
74 What the What If? February 25, 2015
75 Bendership Galactica July 1, 2015
76 Captain Brannigan, The Windbag Soldier September 2, 2015
77 New New New York November 18, 2015
78 Little Orphan Android February 24, 2016
79 Kif of Death! May 18, 2016
80 Bender Wants YOU! To Buy this Comic. August 24, 2016
81 A Touch of Medieval! November 23, 2016

Specials

In 2002, it was announced that a special two-part crossover with the characters of Simpsons Comics would be printed. The mini-series was written by Ian Boothby and pencilled by James Lloyd. It was followed by another special in 2005.

Futurama Comics #1 (San Diego Comic-Con Exclusive 2000)

A limited-edition variant of Futurama Comics #1, exclusive to San Diego Comic-Con 2000.

Futurama/Simpsons Infinitely Secret Crossover Crisis

Issue # Title Plot summary Release date Cover arts
1 Somewhere Over the Brain-Bow! August 21, 2002
2 Liquid Diamond Is Forever! January 28, 2003

The Simpsons/Futurama Crossover Crisis II

Issue # Title Plot summary Release date
1 Slaves of New New York! January 26, 2005
2 The Read Menace! March 23, 2005

Futurama Returns (San Diego Comic-Con 2007 Exclusive)

A limited-edition teaser for the direct-to-DVD Futurama movies. A live reading of the comic by most of the original cast was included as an extra on the DVD of Bender's Big Score.

Delivery-Boy Man (San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Exclusive)

This comic was only available at San Diego Comic-Con 2010. It is based on the comic Fry wrote in the episode "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences", which had not aired at the time the comic was released.

Futurama Comics to Infinity! (San Diego Comic-Con 2013 Exclusive)

A 104-page collection featuring issues 23, 37, 39, and 45.[1]

Variations

Titan Magazines began printing Futurama Comics in the United Kingdom in 2002, with the first issue going on sale on October 3.[2] The UK version is a larger A4 size and there is a sidebar on the front cover previewing what is inside. The same content is featured in these issues as in the United States, but there are also competitions and more "fan art". The order of release is altered from the original line-up; the crossovers were published as part of the main series, pushing some issues back. US issue 7 was published as UK issue 6 to coincide with the release of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Captions are also changed as well, with the aforementioned issue changed to "Rise of the Machines!" and issue 3 reading "New Version 5.0!" on account of it being printed two issues later. "DOOP the Right Thing" was not published until issue 9.

Until issue 14, the comics were published bi-monthly. From issue 15 until issue 44 they were published monthly and, to avoid catching up with the US issues (which were by now quarterly), the issues were then split in two, though "Bender Breaks Out" was published as a full issue as otherwise the story does not make sense. From issue 45 onwards the comics are reverting to bi-monthly.
Special promotional editions are also published; a miniature edition of "DOOP the Right Thing" was included with an issue of the UK Simpsons Comics.

Titan ceased publishing Futurama Comics in the UK with the release of issue 67 (US issues 67 and 68) in August, 2013.

The comic began publishing in Australia in 2002 and follows the same release pattern as the US. However, until issue 16, they were published quarterly, going bi-monthly in late 2005. There are variations in the captions used; "A Fit Worse Than Death" was originally printed without one, with the Australian publishers adding "Medicine In The 31st Century".

Trade paperbacks

References

  1. ↑ "Bongo Comics Group". Comic-Con International. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  2. ↑ Press release (September 25, 2002) Do you want Fry with that? Titan Publishing. Retrieved from gotfuturama on March 4, 2007

External links

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