Three Men and A Comic Book - Cultural References

Cultural References

At the beginning of the episode, Lisa reveals that she collects Casper the Friendly Ghost comics. Radioactive Man's origin is nearly identical to the Marvel Comics character The Incredible Hulk, as they both gained their superpowers from absorbing massive amounts of radiation during an experimental detonation of a gamma bomb. The warning from the convention MC not to ask questions about the death of Radioactive Man's actor Dirk Richter is a reference to the mysterious death of Superman's actor George Reeves. When Bart asks Homer for money to buy the comic book, Homer replies: "One hundred bucks? For a comic book?! Who drew it, Micha-ma-langelo?" This is a reference to the Italian painter and sculptor Michelangelo, whose name Homer cannot pronounce.

The Radioactive Man commercial for Laramie cigarettes that Bart and Lisa watch at the convention is a take-off of The Flintstones starring in Winston cigarette television commercials which aired during the 1960s. When Bart begs Mrs. Glick not to apply iodine to his wounded arm, she grabs his arm and the scene shifts to their silhouettes as Bart screams, mirroring a scene in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind. The accusation and suspicion that grows between the boys is similar to the plot of the film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. When Martin makes a squealing noise while falling in the treehouse, Bart calls him "Piggy" and threatens to stuff an apple into his mouth, resembling a similar quote from the 1954 book The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Bart trying to save Milhouse from falling from the treehouse is a reference to a scene in the 1942 Alfred Hitchcock film Saboteur.