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| Review by Lily Fierro |
Warning: Usually, I write most of these reviews for a general audience. Given the nature of this week’s comic book, I will write this review from a bit of a different perspective…
The television show, Bob’s Burgers, has entered the comic book world!
As a loyal watcher of the show, I admittedly was thrilled when I saw the release of the first trade volume of the comic book incarnation in March.
Bob’s Burgers Volume One compiles issues 1-5 of the series, with each issue including a section to represent each family member of the Belcher family: Tina’s Erotic Friend Fiction, Bob’s Burger of the Day Ideas, Louise’s Unsolved Mysteries and Curious Curiosities, Letters From Linda, and Gene Belcher Presents.
For fans of the show, each section expands on each character’s eccentricities alluded to in the show or featured for a single episode, making the comic book series a fun pairing with the television series. Though the comics can stand alone, the television episodes establish the character of each Belcher, and the comic book series expands on the personas we’ve grown to love from the show.
To understand the connection between the comic book and the television series, let’s dive into each of the sections of the comics!
Tina may quite possibly be the fan favorite for most Bob’s Burgers fans (she’s certainly is mine!). As a teenager experiencing puberty, Tina channels her attraction to the opposite sex into an awkward venue: her erotic friend fiction.
On the television series, we learn of the existence of the this erotic friend fiction in the second season, and ever since, we wonder what lies in all of Tina’s friend fiction volumes. Well, the comic book addresses that curiosity, creating fan fiction from Tina’s perspective where her personal friends replace characters in popular media (be it our media or the media of the Belcher world), and Tina saves the day, wooing the boys around her and winning the adoration of her primary crush, Jimmy Jr.
In this first volume, expect a range of friend fictions set in space, in the Old West, and of course, in the world of the Equestranauts. Like the show, each episode of Tina’s Erotic Friend Fiction hilariously alludes to motifs and character arcs familiar to most audiences and develops its comedy by subverting the motifs and arcs to fit the awkwardness of Tina’s thoughts and desires.
Bob’s Burger of the Day Ideas
One of the small and oddly exciting parts of the show is the reveal of the burger of the day.
Whether Bob Belcher describes it, or the audience passively sees it in the background, the burgers of the day always have cheesy, corny names guaranteed to make you laugh and feel a little bad for laughing. Building on this audience fascination with the burger’s of the day, the comic book introduces other possible burgers of the day, presented on a page of a notebook with the hand-written burger taglines we’ve come to love from Bob Belcher, burger extraordinaire and culinary naming genius.
Through the names of the burgers in both the comic book and the television show, we get the sense of Bob’s own dry sense of humor and his great love for introducing uncommon ingredients to the beloved American burger.
Louise’s Unsolved Mysteries and Curious Curiosities
Admittedly, this is one of the weaker sections in the comic book.
Though Louise’s mysteries have funny moments, much of Louise’s humor and allure comes from her voice and delivery (i.e. Kristen Schaal’s voice talent).
Consequently, Louise’s Unsolved Mysteries and Curious Curiosities feel less like extensions of the boisterous, blunt, and uncompromising Louise of the show and more like zany stories with Louise as a distant character in them because we do not learn more about her as a Belcher family member and an overall concern to society.
Letters From Linda
Linda Belcher loves herself. She terrifies me and makes me laugh, but really, the idea of her as a mom scares me to death.
Always full of “great” (and embarrassing) ideas for inventions, songs, shows, and really anything you can think of, Linda has unique outlandishness and overconfidence, making many of her comments so beyond reality and feasibility that you cannot respond with anything beyond a chuckle. Letters From Linda showcase Linda’s unbridled thought process and confidence at their very finest.
Focusing on everything from her love for wine in everyday tasks to her cleverness in inventing, Letters From Linda delivers just enough Linda Belcher to make you laugh without shuddering at the thought that she could exist in the real world.
Gene Belcher Presents
Never for the faint of heart when it comes to farts, Gene Belcher’s stories and songs are highlights of the television series; in fact, when thinking about my favorite moments of the show, the snake song in season three’s It Snakes A Village immediately comes to mind. Interestingly, even though the comic book tellings/showings of Gene’s imagined musicals lack the blaring voice that makes his songs shine, they still pack the same sense of humor with their absurd, bizarre, and over-the-top lyrics.
Throughout the Gene Belcher Presents segments, Gene Belcher remains his uninhibited self, presenting songs and comments in his musicals which are guaranteed to concern you while making you wish the musicals (and all of their accompanying mischief and silliness) could emerge in real life.
Expect to hear from Gene in his burger suit, Gene with robots, and of course, Gene and his farts.
As mentioned before, Bob’s Burgers Volume One best stands as a companion piece to the television series. Though each section of each issue of the comic book series could stand alone, they do rely somewhat on a connection and familiarity to the specific characters.
With that being said, if you are a fan of the television series, pick this first volume up! It will make you laugh, shudder, and laugh all over again as the Belcher family personas continue to develop on the pages and on television.
