Original air date: 2/4/2001 (produced in 2000)
Production code: CABF-08
The Comic Book Guy bans Bart and Milhouse from his store, but is forced to take a sabbatical from working at the Android Dungeon after suffering a heart attack during a Tom Savini Q&A session. He reluctantly lets Bart and Milhouse run the store.
Worst. Tropes. Ever.
- Acquainted with Emergency Services: Bart makes a bet with Homer to eat a spoonful of rotten baking soda which he agrees to:Lisa: (dialing) I'll call Poison Control. (talking on the phone) Fran, it's me. Just a heads-up.
- And This Is for...: The Biclops comic book cover shown to Milhouse has the titular hero beating up someone and saying it's for making him cry.
- As Himself: Tom Savini.
- Audience-Alienating Premise: In-Universe, Milhouse wastes tons of money stocking the Android's Dungeon with copies of Biclops, a comic book about a nerdy, glasses-wearing superhero that nobody wants to buy.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: Bart tells his audience that, once the tape starts playing, it won't stop... because the stop button is broken.
- Big Eater: Homer had been banned from Gallagher's live appearances for eating his watermelon.
- The Bore: Milhouse's idea of having fun during a shopping spree is to use fabric softener at a laundromat.
- Bowdlerization: Ralph's line when he originally walked into the "Adult" section of the comic book store was "She's hungry!", but the censors rejected it and it was replaced with "Everybody's hugging!"
- Brick Joke: One of the police confessionals in Comic Book Guy's stash has Ned Flanders talk about Homer releasing a radioactive ape into his house. The ape shows up at the end of the episode, giving Ned a hard time in his car.
- Blind Without 'Em: Milhouse takes off his glasses to fight, and immediately puts them back on.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Comic Book Guy.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: One of the secret tapes shows a General saying whoever is watching it must be the President of the United States. He hopes the President is a man.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Milhouse's Imagine Spot where Lisa dumps him because he's not a full manager.
- Dropped-in Speech Clip: Homer eats some expired baking soda and goes on an "antacid trip" that takes his taste buds back. The ensuring hallucination features audio from Johnnie Cochran's "If it doesn't fit..." defense from the O. J. Simpson trial, President Nixon's resignation speech, and Neil Armstrong's "One small step for man..." quote.
- Escapist Character: In-universe. Nerdy superhero Biclops is one for Milhouse—and clearly, only Milhouse, since no copies of his comics sell.
- Even the Rats Won't Touch It: A non-food example; when Bart and Milhouse are put in charge of Comic Book Guy's shop while he's unable to work, Milhouse ends up buying several boxes of a comic book called Biclops about a superpowered nerd with glasses. It's a huge flop and Bart complains that not even the birds want to use them for their nests. On cue, an angered bird flies inside with an issue of the comic, tears it to shreds and flies away.
- Fan Disservice: Comic Book Guy in bed with Agnes Skinner. Clothed or not, it's still disservice-y. When they are caught in bed by the cops, Eddie is so repulsed that he has to hold in a vomit.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The pictures on the "Banned for Life" wall are of Nelson, Sideshow Bob and Matt Groening (though some viewers mistook the Groening caricature for George Lucas).
- Goofy Print Underwear: Milhouse has My Little Pony underwear.
- Grail in the Garbage: What makes the Guy ban Bart and Milhouse is the fact that Martin Prince's mother arrives with some memorabilia that Martin collected to sell... which includes such things as an alternate ending to The Empire Strikes Back where Chewbacca is Luke's father, anti-jiggle breast tape Carrie Fisher had to wear when playing Princess Leia, and the like, the Guy then tries to swindle Martin's mom to sell all of it for $5 (after having a fangasm) and Bart and Milhouse tell Mrs. Prince that it's priceless stuff (her response: "back to the leaky basement it goes!").
- Grievous Bottley Harm: Lenny attempts this on Comic Book Guy when the latter calls beer the nectar of the nitwit. The entire bottle shatters in his hands.
- Hollywood Heart Attack: What happens when Comic Book Guy's Rage Breaking Point is reached re: his customers laughing at Tom Savini making a fool out of him. As befits his character, he describes the symptoms of his attack in a fashion resembling old-school comic book narration.
- Hollywood Silencer: Parodied with Marge's squeeze-bottle silencer
- Hypocritical Humor: This exchange occurs when Comic Book Guy turns down beer:Comic Book Guy: I'll pass! Beer is the nectar of the nitwit.
Carl: Hey, are you knocking beer?
Lenny: Nobody badmouths Duff!
(Lenny smashes a bottle, attempting to stab Comic Book Guy with it, but the entire bottle shatters in his hands.)
Lenny: Aw, piece of crap!- When Agnes and Comic Book Guy first meet:
Agnes: Outta the way, tubby!
Comic Book Guy: Oh, pardon me, Oldie Hawn.
Agnes: Oh! Why, you ill-mannered sack of crap! - Jerkass:
- Comic Book Guy is at some of his most condescending: he talks down to Bart and Milhouse for not seeing the price on the back of Radioactive Man #1000 and bans them for warning Martin's mom she was being stiffed. However, his bitter attitude catches Agnes' eye, and he softens up towards her.
- Martin's mom is no better herself, taking items out of Martin's room and intending to sell them without his permission, then putting them in a leaky basement instead, where their value will depreciate.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Comic Book Guy has a heart attack after an angry condescending rant at Tom Savini and their guests and nearly banning them for life. He then acts like a condescending ass at Moe's and they kick him out. Finally, he ends up in jail for possession of illegal tapes.
- Logo Joke: This was one of the episodes that repeated characters' lines for the Gracie Films logo.Agnes: Why, you ill-mannered sack of crap!
- May–December Romance: Comic Book Guy (late 20s, early 30s) starts dating and developing a serious relationship with Agnes Skinner, an old-age pensioner.
- Mushroom Samba: Homer goes through an antacid trip after eating a spoonful of decades-old baking soda from the back of the fridge.
- Mystery Meat: At an international food festival on the Springfield Squidport, Marge orders chicken tandoori at an Indian booth and Homer orders beef Wellington at a London booth. Underneath the boardwalk, a worker puts slabs of "All-Purpose Meat" on conveyor belts to their respective booths.
- Nerds Speak Klingon: After he gets thrown out of Moe's, Comic Book Guy ask himself "Is there a word in Klingon for loneliness?", looks in his pocket dictionary. "oh, yes. Garr'dock!"note
- Never My Fault: Bart is angered by Milhouse wasting the store's profits on a highly unsuccessful comic book, but it likely never would have had happened if he had been doing his job as co-owner/manager, was there when the Plan Nine salesman came to the store and had talked Milhouse out of making a clearly bad business deal. On the other hand, Milhouse is still largely to blame for being foolish enough to buy a large amount of comics just to impress Lisa, even though she is clearly not interested. It's subverted in that Bart even admits fault in thinking Milhouse could run the store by himself.
- Nice Character, Mean Actor: Mr. Rogers isn't nearly as nice when he's drunk.
- Noodle Incident:
- How did Sideshow Bob, Nelson, and Matt Groening get banned from the Android's Dungeon?
- How did Homer get a hold of a radioactive ape, and how did it trick him into having it stay at Ned's place?
- How many times has Homer gotten poisoned to the point where the family has Poison Control on speed dial and are on a first-name basis with the operator?
- Nose Nuggets: When perusing Comic Book Guy's secret VHS stash:Milhouse: He's got the videotape of Kent Brockman picking his nose. (puts in tape) LOOK! HE'S PICKING HIS NOSE!'
- Only Useful as Toilet Paper: Millhouse is suckered into buying thousands of copies of Biclops, a comic book so crappy that birds won't even use it in their nests and can't even be used for smacking people.
- Ret-Canon: Comic Book Guy's wall of people banned from the store was originally introduced in the Simpsons comic books in the mid-'90s before being used here.
- Self-Deprecation: Bart and Milhouse try to buy "Radioactive Man #1000" for 10 dollars — Comic Book Guy is less than amused, and notes that the book is in "perma-mint" condition, with even spilled soda flying off harmlessly onto lesser comics — with the scene revealing a bunch of now wet Bongo comics.
- Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: Bart points this out at the end of the episode, stating they haven't been to school in "Days and days and days."
- Shout-Out: Biclops is a nerdy version of X-Men character Cyclops. A potential customer (Kearney the bully) asks if Biclops has a girlfriend named Lois Lame. Biclops himself is a co-creation of Plan Nine Comics.
- Sinister Surveillance: The Comic Book Guy's video vault contains a number of secret videos, including surveillance footage from all over town and such things as real alien autopsies and illegal alien autopsies.
- Take That!:
- In the original script and closed captioning, Bart orders Milhouse to mark down the South Park merchandise until someone actually buys it (in the actual episode, Bart tells Milhouse to put the Poochie merchandise on clearance and throw in some Supergirl comics).
- Biclops is also a take on the absurdly lame characters created to try to provide advertisements on commodities like toothpaste and fast food.
- When Bart and Milhouse find the Comic Book Guy's illegal video vault, one of the videos in the collection is "Godfather III: The Good Version".
- Title Drop: When Comic Book Guy wakes up in the hospital:Dr. Hibbert: Young man, you've had what we call a "cardiac episode."
Comic Book Guy: Worst...episode...ever! - Totem Pole Trench: Homer, Bart and Milhouse attempt to fool Comic Book Guy using this to get into the Android Dungeon. Unfortunately, he saw right through it the moment he saw it, then thanks Homer for tipping him off to it.
- Transforming Mecha: Bart and Milhouse use action figures that turn into an axe and a watering can during their fight before accidentally uncovering Comic Book Guy's stash of bootlegged videos.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Comic Book Guy to Bart and Milhouse for saving his life. Though he does cave in and allow them to run the store.
- Vomiting Cop: Eddie throws up on seeing Agnes and Comic Book Guy making out in bathrobes.Lou: It's okay. If it doesn't affect you, you're not human.
- Worst. Whatever. Ever!: The title is a reference to Comic Book Guy's Catchphrase, and is even used as a Title Drop, seen above.
- You Must Be This Tall to Enter: Bart sets a minimum height requirement to enter the adult section. He promptly lets Ralph tiptoe his way in.
