Steampunk'd

Steampunk'd is the fifty-seventh comic issue, released 28 September, 2011 in the US.

Act I
Fry open his eyes and finds himself at Applied Cryogenics on midnight of 1999. He decides to play along, but when he falls from the chair he misses the tube. Instead a sentient space/time portal sends him to a steampunk version of England in 1899. Quickly meeting and becoming friends with a robot named Benderplate over an ale, Fry is brought to the offices of the Planet Posthaste delivery service. After introductions to the staff, Hermes enters and informs the staff that they are to take Lady Wong to the moon. Fry is surprised that they can sail to the moon in a steam powered dirigible, but Leela explains that they'll be using the express method instead. The ship is promptly fired from a cannon.

Act II
On the way to the moon, the HMS Nimbus hails them and Rear Admiral Zappdash Brannigan demands they surrender Lady Wong. The Nimbus leaves after being hit by the dark-matter canon. The crew escort their client to the kingdom of the moon men so she can acquire a business licence for one of her opium dens. Zappdash and Kif arrive to convince the moon men to licence Slurm instead. However when the moon men drink the Slurm, they become dragons and begin attacking. After watching helplessly as his friends die, Fry finds his way to the ship. In the ship a dragon grabs Fry, but reveals himself to be Scruffy in a costume. Ashton Kutcher's head appears to tell Fry that he's just been steampunk'd, this whole adventure was an elaborate hoax. Angry, Fry tries to kill Kutcher.

Trivia

 * In light of the fact that there isn't such a thing as space air and that they are in a studio at the end, despite having been on the moon, it's likely that the entire story took place in the studio.
 * Benderplate's name is possibly a reference to, a fictional robot created by American artist Paul Guinan, that lived in the late 19th and early 20th century.
 * In the fake Steampunk universe, Planet Express is known as Planet Posthaste Delivery Service.

Alien Language Sightings
Page: 19

Location: Slurm vending machine

Language: AL1

Translation: DRINK

Continuity

 * Once again, New Year's Eve 1999 is revisited.
 * Hermes' interest in marijuana has previously only been implied, this is the first time we've seen his "prize-winning herb garden".

Allusions

 * "Steampunk'd", both the issue's tittle and the name of Kutcher's show, is a reference to and .
 * The Slurm jingle sung by Kif alludes to Coca-Cola's past as an elixir containing cocaine.

Goofs

 * The solicitation claims that Fry was frozen for 3000 years, rather than 1000.
 * Kif's name is misspelt as "Kiff" on page 11, but is later correct on page 19.
 * Steampunk Zoidberg's gloves are initially coloured like his claws.
 * The Conrad family's home is now pink, but has been repainted once before. More importantly; it doesn't seem to be inside a dome any more and now seems to be an apartment building on the inside despite looking like the same house from outside.
 * The deceased Free Waterfall, Jr. appears. However he has also appeared in Bender's Game since his demise.
 * It is unknown how the Steampunk'd crew accurately recreated the night Fry got frozen. Nibbler and Bender are the only ones who could know how it went, however, if Nibbler said anything they would find out about his secret mission and probably begin to question him, and Bender was there on the night he was frozen, however, he was not there at the exact moment Fry fell into the Cryo-Tube. Even if he was, Bender was under the control of the Alien Scammers, meaning he was too busy trying to kill Fry to notice or remember the surroundings, and Bender does not usually remember past situations. The only other person who could possibly know how the night went is Professor Farnsworth, as he saw it in a What-if? scenario within a What-if? scenario in "Anthology of Interest I".

Special Features

 * Mini-Comic - Zoidberg Makes a House Call
 * Zoidberg pushes Hermes to the Conrad family home in a hover chair. The human has two broken legs as a result of a failed attempt to kill the doctor. As LaBarbara and Dwight are away with her parents. Zoidberg is going to look after Hermes. After taking the TV remote's temperature, he eats all the food instead of making Hermes' dinner. After taking a quick bath, Zoidberg finds some plants to possibly make a salad with, but sets them on fire with a candle. Subsequently, as the smoke billows out onto the street, Hermes is arrested for contributing to the congregation of hippies in a public place.

Characters

 * Amy
 * Debut: Ashton Kutcher's head
 * Bender
 * Free Waterfall, Jr. (mini-comic only)
 * Dwight
 * Fry
 * Hermes
 * Kif Kroker
 * LaBarbara
 * Leela
 * Nibbler
 * Professor Farnsworth
 * Scruffy
 * Smitty (mini-comic only)
 * URL (mini-comic only)
 * Zapp Brannigan
 * Zoidberg

Comic Credits

 * Script
 * Jesse McCann (main comic)
 * Eric Rogers (mini-comic)
 * Pencils
 * John Delaney (main comic)
 * Carlos Valenti (mini-comic)
 * Inks
 * Andrew Pepoy (main comic)
 * Ken Wheaton (mini-comic)
 * Colors
 * Robert Stanley (main comic)
 * Nathan Hamill (mini-comic)
 * Letters
 * Karen Bates
 * Editor
 * Bill Morrison