The Read Menace!

Act I
The characters from books have taken over New New York and the Planet Express delivery crew, along with the Professor, Amy, Zoidberg and the Simpsons attempt to escape in the Planet Express ship. They are soon attacked by pulp fiction spaceships and so, lacking a good plan, to go faster they paint flames and lightning bolts onto the ship. When they take a break from painting, Bender throws a beer towards Homer but he misses it and the bottle blows up the ships. They are then brought aboard the Nimbus which has been taken over by Springfielders under the leadership of Smithers who is living out his dream of being a space pirate. Leela asks for help to save Earth, but Smithers refuses until he is told that Mr Burns is dating Mom. Back in Earth's atmosphere, Smithers presses the wrong button and everyone falls out of the Nimbus, renting parachutes on the way, they land in a crowd of fictional characters. The New New Yorkers and the Simpsons are attacked by characters from their favourite books, Bart tells them that his family is also fictional and the Simpsons are allowed to go.

Act II
They reach the Planet Express building and look through the Professor's inventions for ways to stop the fictional characters. Lisa uses the What-If Machine to ask what if they knew how to defeat the fictional characters. They go to Fry's apartment and take a page out of the first Simpsons Comic and put it in the vortex the fictional characters came out of, this causes the giant Homer from that comic to emerge. They offer him a beer if he stops the fictional characters. It works, but then they have the giant Homer to deal with. They hire Sal to move the vortices and are able to send giant Homer and the rest of Springfield back to their mental realms. Later, as Larry and Igner reminisce over their brief time with two parents, inside MomCorp Mom uses a lock of hair to create a clone of Mr. Burns...

Trivia

 * The What-If machine only allows three questions a year.
 * This is the first time the Space Pope has spoken.

Continuity

 * Bart finds a yoghurt filled cap in Fry's drawer, it is unclear if this is the same cap, or yoghurt, from "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back" but if so it has moved from Planet Express to Bender and Fry's Apartment

Outside References

 * Also appearing on the cover of this issue is the main character from Bongo's ''.
 * After becoming a space pirate, Smithers dresses up like the anime character Captain Harlock.

Goofs

 * Hattie's clothes are the wrong colour.
 * When Bender falls apart, his eyes are balls instead of long bulbs
 * Morbo and Linda appear to have once more been placed in New New York rather than Los Angeles.
 * Leela requests twelve parachutes but only eleven are used as Marge is carrying Maggie.

Characters
(In alphabetical order)
 * Agnew
 * Amy
 * Bender
 * Cubert
 * Dwight Conrad
 * Fry
 * Hattie
 * Hermes
 * Igner
 * Kif
 * Larry
 * Leela
 * Mayor Poopenmeyer
 * Mom
 * Morbo
 * Nibbler
 * Nixon
 * Professor Farnsworth
 * Sal
 * Smitty
 * Space Pope
 * URL
 * Walt
 * Zapp Brannigan
 * Zoidberg

The Simpsons Characters
(In alphabetical order)
 * Bart Simpson
 * Hans Moleman
 * Homer Simpson (issue #87 and issue #1 variants)
 * Lisa Simpson
 * Maggie Simpson
 * Marge Simpson
 * Mr. Burns
 * Smithers

Other Fictional Characters

 * Mayor
 * Mayor
 * Mayor
 * Mayor
 * Mayor
 * Mayor
 * Mayor
 * Mayor

Comic Credits

 * Story
 * Ian Boothby
 * Colors
 * Rick Reese
 * Pencils
 * James Lloyd
 * Letters
 * Karen Bates
 * Inks
 * Steve Steere, Jr.
 * Editor
 * Bill Morrison