Reading more like a Mad Magazine than a ported Treehouse of Terror episode, this addition to The Simpson's line of comics has its ups and downs as far as parodies tend to go. The stronger lines are those rooted in traditional horror writing - so the episodes based on Poe, King and Moore find their foothold faster and seem to lend themselves much better to the world of Springfield. A parody of Lord of the Rings, on the other hand, ends up being rather uneven with the presence of the Simpsons either being very funny or very tiresome - and, at times, jarringly age-inappropriate for the characters.

Other episodes similarly fall into strong and not-so-strong executions. Comic Book Guy's intermittent costumes are entertaining on several levels - the evolution of his physique, the sheer number of Cons he attends in costume (even the Fantasy Baseball Camp Con!), and the detail in his costumes. Where an episode like 101 Ways to Die in a Kwik-E-Mart decides to peter out on a 12-101 The Jerky Aisle: 'Nuff Said when maybe it could have simply been 10 Ways to Die.

This is a fun read for fans, but don't expect it to live up to the Treehouse television episodes. ( )