Six Characters in Search of a Story

"Six Characters in Search of a Story" is the fourteenth comic issue, which was released 23 July, 2003 in the US.

The Story

 * This comic can be read as a whole or from the perspective of either Fry, Bender, Hermes, Leela, Amy or Zoidberg. This article focuses on the whole of the story.

Act I
The Professor announces his latest invention (this comic) and explains how it works before falling to sleep. Unfortunately for Hermes, this means that the meeting will have to be delayed until the Professor wakes up. The rest of the staff head off to the Professor's secret room. They discover that it's full of incomplete inventions, everyone finds something to look at but no one thinks Fry's repeater is very good, he dismisses it to find something better. Bender has a copying machine, Hermes an invisibility ray, Leela a matter transporter, Amy a Hologramophone (creates 3D image of anywhere in the universe) and Zoidberg a Mr Microphone. Fry wants Bender to copy the microphone, he refuses. Hermes discovers that none of the devices are tested, and are probably dangerous. Amy proves her device works by showing a hologram of the professor, who says something about it shredding the fabric of space-time. Zoidberg switches his device for a reverse camera (Reality Generator). Fry takes the microphone and he and the others leave the room, meanwhile Zoidberg successfully creates a sandwich from a photo with his device. The microphone is in fact a device to stop time, after brief use he removes and drops a battery, whilst Bender begins copying himself. Copies are now with all staff members. The battery is leaking some sort of goo. Hermes' Bender accidentally fires the invisibility ray, which reflects off a disco ball and hits, among other things, Amy's Bender's head, the time microphone, the copier (which is now producing invisible Benders) and Hermes. Leela uses the transporter on herself. Amy spots Kif in a compromising position.

Act II
The goo continues to expand, the Benders fight among themselves, Leela has become distorted, Amy pulls a tiny Kif from the hologram, tearing space-time, and Zoidberg creates a pig-chicken-fish. The group go to the professor for help. He refuses to help despite the huge mess, including Zoidberg's creature, which has reproduced. Kif comes up with a plan, which uses the various pieces of technology to suck up all the damage and extra life forms into the hole and revert the damage. Everything returns to normal and the Professor promises to create more new ways to read comics.

Trivia

 * This is the first comic to break the fourth wall, this also occurs in US#020, US#046 and the game.
 * The comic is readable in seven ways, another subplot involving Scruffy failed to eventuate.
 * It seems that the comic is an attempt at the style of episode seen in "Three Hundred Big Boys", except crammed into less space.
 * This comic's title is spoofed off of the play title "Six Characters in Search of an Author."

Fast Forward

 * Bongo promises, through the Professor, to experiment with other methods for reading comics. The promise was fulfilled in US#020.
 * An episode in Season 6 called "Benderama" will feature a similar copying machine which is also used to duplicate Bender.

Goofs

 * In most of his frames, Kif is missing his sleeves. We could assume it is a slightly different uniform if it weren't for one sleeve's appearance in one frame.
 * When the characters are leaving the secret room, if the comic is read in its entirety, the departures of Fry, Bender and Hermes overlap. It is particularly noticeable as Bender places the copier in the doorway (1st Bender departure) before Hermes walks through the doorway and Fry re-exits, the copier is still there on Bender's second exiting frame.
 * After the transformation is complete, in the next frame she appears, Leela has boots on both her hands and feet.

Special Features

 * The Bongo Beat, news from Bongo Comics.

Characters
(In alphabetical order)


 * Amy
 * Bender
 * Fry
 * Hermes
 * Kif
 * Debut: Kif's unnamed sister
 * LaBarbara
 * Leela
 * Nixon's head
 * Prof. Farnsworth
 * Scruffy
 * Zoidberg

Comic Credits

 * Script
 * Patric M. Verrone
 * Pencils
 * Tom King
 * Inks
 * Phyllis Novin
 * Colors
 * Joey Mason
 * Letters
 * Karen Bates
 * Editor
 * Bill Morrison
 * Bender Wrangler
 * Matt Groening