Pure Pop Culture

[UPDATED]
In case you missed it last night, here's a couple of links to the guest appearances of Alan Moore, Art Spiegelman, and Dan Clowes on The Simpsons last night. This one has better quality, but this one includes the little coda at the end of the episode. Enjoy them for as long as Fox will allow them to remain on YouTube.

[UPDATE--That first one's dead now, but here's another one that's still better quality than the longer one.]

The comics material was pretty funny, but more so if you recognized the various in jokes. Of course, it necessitated a certain suspension of disbelief. When it comes down to it, the entire premise was ridiculous. Moore, Spiegelman, and Clowes were all appearing at a signing at a new store that was competing with Comic Book Guy's Android's Dungeon. Now, any fanboy worth his salt knows that Alan Moore doesn't do signings. What could the writers have possibly been thinking?

But there were a lot of fun references and ideas. I loved Art Spiegelman putting on his Maus mask to go into battle. If he'd only had a couple of brushes, as well, he could've been a two-fisted painter. It's no surprise at all to find out that Lisa identified with Enid and Rebecca of Ghost World, and it's only appropriate that she's deflated when Clowes shares his schematic for Batman's utility belt. And who doesn't pine for those days under Alan Moore's charge when Radioactive Man was a heroin-addicted jazz critic who wasn't even radioactive. And where do I have to stand in line to get my own DVD copy of Watchmen Babies in "V for Vacation"? I can't wait to see Li'l Rorschach and Li'l Ozymandius surfing their troubles away with Young Dr. Manhattan along for the ride.