The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror: Dead Man's Jest

Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror #5

by Matt Groening

Master of mirthful mayhem, Matt Groening, meets the monsters of rock (Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons, and Rob Zombie) in a heavy metal, Halloween-inspired rock 'n' roll odyssey of head-banging, tongue-wagging, dead-raising fright and frivolity. Ever "Mr. Nice Guy" Pat Boone gets in a "metal mood" with a twisted tale of dastardly demons and righteous redemption. From donut batter to ghoulish splatter, you'll be tricked and treated to a chaotic comic collection chock-full of thunder-clapping hell spawn, chainsaw-toting monkeys, televisions run amuck, bible camp ghost stories, lime-flavored squishee monsters, toilets of the damned, vampire tombs, the evil eye, and a very special tribute to EC Comics, the forebears of witty horror and suspense comic storytelling. It's the Halloween jam of the century that'll blow your mind and rock your soul! Get your grave on with Matt Groening's gigglishly gruesome and hellaciously hilarious comic collection of Halloween humor.

Genres: Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Humor, Tv

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Matthew Abram Groening is an American cartoonist, television producer and writer from Portland, Oregon.

Groening is best known as the creator of The Simpsons. He is also the creator of Futurama and the author of the weekly comic strip Life in Hell. Groening distributed Life in Hell in the book corner of Licorice Pizza, a record store in which he worked.

He made his first professional cartoon sale to the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978. The cartoon is still carried in 250 weekly newspapers.

Reviews

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is great when a book is full of laughs and moments of satire, but sometimes it can go a little overboard with it. While enjoyable I found it to be too much of a concentrated dose of The Simpsons. I do remember growing up watching The Simpsons and loving it. This one is definitely their style with multiple art styles shown.

Overall, a fun read for a Sunday morning, but nothing I’d seek out normally. Worth reading if you like The Simpsons. Worth reading even if not but shouldn’t be sought out very hard by the non-Simpsons fan.

[Fi's Journey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read this one after the other Horror Comic Simpsons, The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror: Hoodoo Voodoo Brouhaha (Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror).

Personally i liked the other one better than this one but to me I love the Simpsons as a fun comedy. They are just so funny and the characters are all fun to watch.

[Melanie Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like the Simpsons, you'll enjoy this. Also, if you are a fan of the Tales From the Crypt franchise, you'll probably appreciate that many of the comics are formatted similarly to and modeled after the original Tales From the Crypt comics. A fun read!

[Arman Waggoner · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's got monsters and Halloween in it!

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be my favourite one out of the simpsons graphic novels I own! It has Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons and Rob Zombie what’s not to love! The art work is amazing and it’s so nostalgic!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tell me you don't hear the voices when reading this.
Some amazing stories that would be great to develop for the TV show.
Mr Teeny is always a favourite.

[Dann · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the weakest entries in the series, The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror: Dead Man’s Jest is a bizarre comic collection. With loose (really loose) parodies of the Swamp Thing, Thor, and Friday the 13th, along with generic haunted amusement park, Ouija, and vampire stories, a broad array of horror subgenres are featured. Additionally, there are several guides and pamphlets; including Bart’s Ultimate Haunted House, Homer Explains Death, and So You’ve Been Given the Evil Eye. However, the comedy isn’t all that clever and seems to be more interesting in making insider jokes about the comic industry. Also, there’s a lack of focus, as the stories seem kind of slapdash and haphazardly put together. The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror: Dead Man’s Jest delivers a few laughs and has some entertaining bits, but it’s not as good as the previous books.

[Emilio Amaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like the best years of the show, this comic has very well written humor. I had so much fun reading this and if you're lucky enough to get your hands on it, you're bound to have a great time.

[Jon Hewelt · Rating 3 out of 5]

ReRead 1 May 2020
---
Previously read; currently playing catch-up.

Treehouse of Horror comics are usually pretty fun, but this one--containing rockstar-centered stories written by rock stars--is especially fun. Alice Cooper, Pat Boone (?), Rom Zombie and Gene Simmons all contribute to this anthology.

The writing's not consistent, and I don't know how much each musician contributed to their story's dialogue, but Dead Man's Jest goes to some strange places and I can appreciate that.

Plus, the art is really, REALLY good. A lot of times, the Simpsons Comics arts style is slightly off from the original and not-at-all pleasant, but in Treehouse of Horrors--especially this one--the styles are distinct enough from story to story to stand on their own and not need to mimic the original.

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of the weakest Simpsons collections I've read. The artwork was occasionally inspired, but often just dull. Part of it was that a lot of it was direct references to other stories/movies that I either hated in the first place, or didn't think the references worked (with one exception - there's an homage to a classic Weird Science comic issue that was very true to the issue, but they didn't really do anything with it beyond recreate it). The stories were all over the place, and the overall humor just didn't work. And there were a few too many rock crossovers here (KISS, Alice Cooper) that tried but failed to really make themselves worthwhile. Definitely not a classic Simpsons comic collection.

[James Sukkhamfong · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a a comic based on the tv series the Simpsons treehouse of horror. I really enjoy reading this book as it is one of my favorite tv series and I have never read any book from the Simpsons. I would recommend to people who are a fan of the Simpsons and like to read comic, so far I only have one book from this author as it was a gift from my friend. I think this book could be improve a little bit as it's get pretty confuse at some part but overall this book is really funny and have a lot of humor in it.

[angrykitty · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was just not up to par with the other treehouse of horror comics from the simpsons. it was weird, but there really wasn't one story that i thought was really of good quality, with the exception of maybe the last story....bummer.....

[Jericho Eames · Rating 4 out of 5]

A typical Simpsons comic book, funny funny funny.