Futurama Comics - Futuramics - Fan Site Dedicated to Futurama Comics By Bongo Comic Group

Futurama Comics #38 entitled Rumble in the Jungle was released Wednesday, July 23, 2008. The comic was written by Ian Boothby and penciled by Tom King. Fry and Bender have a hard time taking orders from Leela since she is their friend and it’s tough to treat her like their boss. And Leela is sick of the lack of respect the two show her as captain. So during a mission somewhere in space Fry happens to crash the Planet Express Ship into a planet. But luckily all escape before the ship impacts into the mountains. Before jumping Bender decides to use an all-lead parachute made out of toys he stole from children. Of course he drops like a rock to the ground. First we find Leela fighting with a robotic jaguar (on cover) who later finds out is the dreaded Leopard 3.0 by the Jungle Tech People. They ask her to be their queen and she agrees, right after she gets rid of the Fire Fox. After fighting the Fire Fox she sees her clothes are ruined and the people of the village give her an outfit made from the Leopard 3.0 because they recycle everything. (On cover)

Meanwhile Fry is finding its really hard getting around the jungle, unlike what Guns N’ Roses may have told him. Suddenly the Office Paperclip appears and asks he if needs assistance surviving in a jungle. But later finds out it’s a hallucination brought on by heat and exhaustion. Eventually Fry carries on to find Bender covered in computer bugs and hallow out. All that remains is an empty shell and a note in which reads: “AVENGE ME!! Sincerely, Bender XXXOOO” So Fry vows to avenge Bender’s death. Along the way of carrying the heavy shell of Bender he slips on a malt liquor bottle that Bender drinks, and further down he finds a racing form, fighting roosters and Fry’s wallet. Now all Fry has to do is follow the trail to whoever did this to poor Bender. Further down the trail Fry finds two guys sitting under a tree with empty malt liquor bottles around them and a box with the words “Robot Parts” written on it. The plan is to carefully grab Bender’s parts and sneak away, which of course doesn’t happen. The men wake up and immediately summon for help using their cell phones (which they do by banging them on drums). Fry runs away but is followed to a cave where he becomes trapped. With some quick thinking Fry takes Bender’s legs, Bender’s Torso, and Bender’s arms on himself to become IRON FRY!

The guys run up to Iron Fry only to find out punching and kicking him hurts and they run away from him, but Fry has a thirst for revenge for his metallic buddy. The men running away return to their queen (who is Leela) and ask for her assistance again in saving their little village. As the battle begins they realize who each other are. Leela thinks that Fry skinned Bender and has gone mad from the jungle heat and Fry finds out that she is the leader of the ones who did this to Bender. So the battle begins and Fry soon finds out that he has tricks up his sleeve with the Iron Fry suit on. After defeating Leela (or so he thinks) he’s ready to start handing out beatings when Leela comes swooping down and grabbing Fry with a vine from a tree. Fry finds that she cares more about her people that she does about Bender and him and pulls out her hair band. So with Leela gone, Fry is ready to give his revenge on to the people. They beg for mercy but Fry replies with: “Like you showed my best friend Bender B. Rodriguez?” After saying this one of the computers announces “Yeah you tell him!” in which Fry replies “Not now, Bender!” Bender is alive! They put his motherboard into this computer so he can do spread sheets more efficiently. Leela reappears and demands that they put Bender back like he was, in which they comply and later repair the Planet Express ship. So with everything back to normal they prepare to return home until Leela says she’s not going back. “I know it’s a simple life.” She says. “All they do is use their computers to ship books and movies from this Amazon Rainforest. But they listen to me as their leader. They respect me.” So Fry decides to stay because she’s staying and Bender stays because everyone is doing it. As they stand their admiring over there kingdom a loud BZAAAWR! Comes out from behind them and they panic and scream and jump to the side to prevent from being cut down like the trees around them. As they stand back up they find ____?____ walking out….

And that’s where I’ll leave it. I never spoil the endings, sorry. But I can tell you Leela does finally get her respect.

This issue was everything to be expected and then some. They finally got it right it seems like. The story was a quick read but it was an enjoyable one. I love the technical humor and jokes (Jaguar 3.0, Fire Fox, Amazon.com) And of course the little jokes like the Keg Coaster and the appearance of the Office paperclip thing asking if he can help Fry write his will and suggesting he use the Helvetica font. And Iron Fry rocks, it’s just too bad he can’t fly like Iron Man. And I’m sure the guys over at The Leela Zone will love Leela in her jaguar outfit. And even though I didn’t tell you the ending seemed to fit in some ways of what you would expect the TV show to end, with closure. Although, There were a few pages that seemed to have just been added in for filler because there seemed to be no reason for 56K-Zar, King of the lost savage world just over the mountains other than the to fill time. And on that note, remember, Yivo loves you.

Best Moments: Techie jokes and humor, the semi-death and rebirth of Bender and Leela in a jaguar bikini, Iron Fry

Worst Moments: Bender’s semi-death, the unnecessary dialog, it came to an end

My apologizes for the lack of updates to anything lately. I moved to a new house recently and getting the computer work area back up and running has been a long painful journey. As I type this I have the monitor sitting on top of the tower and I'm sitting on the floor in front of it. There are boxes everywhere and no desk. Things should be back to there normal self by the time the next comic comes out so please bare with me at the moment.

So I've had a few emails in the past months asking if I knew of a way to get a subscription to Bongo Comics. The answer is this: No. The only thing I know is that you can preorder the comics from our affilate website. BUT, I am considering having that option for people again. Awhile back I posted a poll asking if Futuramics provided a subscription service, would you be interested in signing up. 2 people said yes, 1 said no. That is three total... so that didn't impress me and I filed the idea away. But now I'm wondering if it is something in demand.

To begin with I would only provide Futurama Comics as a subscription service and possibly branch out to other Bongo Comic creations (Simpsons, Radioactive Man, etc.)

If this is something you think you would be interested in doing, drop me a line and that will give me more of an initiative to get something going for the loyal Futurama Comics fans out there. thumbsup