Comic Book Guy
Jeff Albertson, commonly known as the Comic Book Guy (CBG), is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the second-season episode "Three Men and a Comic Book", which originally aired on May 9, 1991. Comic Book Guy is the proprietor of a comic book store, The Android's Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop. He is based on "every comic book store guy in America"[9] and represents a stereotypical middle-aged comic-book collector. He is well known for his distinctive accent, disagreeable personality and his catchphrase, "Worst [-] ever!"
Comic Book Guy
"Three Men and a Comic Book" (1991)
Matt Groening
Jeff Albertson
Male
Proprietor of The Android's Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop
Role in The Simpsons[edit]
Profile[edit]
Comic Book Guy (who states Jeff Albertson to be his real name in the episode "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass"[10]) is a nerdy, snobby and quarrelsome man. He is best known for his eloquence and crabby, sarcastic quips. He is obsessed with collecting comic books and is an avid science fiction buff. He holds a master's degree in folklore and mythology (having translated The Lord of the Rings into Klingon as part of his thesis),[11] as well as a degree in chemical engineering,[12] has an IQ of 170, and is a member of the Springfield branch of Mensa.[13] He is morbidly obese and has long hair, which he always keeps tied in a ponytail.
His catchphrase is the declaration "worst/best [subject] ever", sometimes to the point of breaking the fourth wall. For example, in the episode "Saddlesore Galactica", he wears a T-shirt saying "Worst Episode Ever". Another example of breaking the fourth wall occurs in an episode when Comic Book Guy's chair collapses, and he sarcastically says "Ooh, a fat man falls. Real original."[14] Despite his solitary life, in The Simpsons Movie, minutes before his anticipated death, Comic Book Guy says that his obsessive comic book collecting has been a "life well spent". However, in "Treehouse of Horror VIII", when a nuclear missile homes in on him, he says to himself, "Oh, I've wasted my life", although the Treehouse of Horror episodes are not part of the normal Simpsons canon. In the 2008 episode "Any Given Sundance" it was revealed that he is also a writer and posts to his own site called "Ain't I Fat News", a take on the real-life movie review website Ain't It Cool News.[15]
Romance[edit]
Comic Book Guy was once married in an online role-playing game. He and his Internet wife contemplated having children, but that would have severely drained his "power crystals".[16] In Season 16's "There's Something About Marrying", he hopes to wed a Xena: Warrior Princess cardboard figure. While part of an intellectual junta that briefly ran Springfield in "They Saved Lisa's Brain", he proposes plans to limit breeding to once every seven years (a reference to the Vulcan blood fever of mating, called Pon farr), commenting that this would mean much less breeding for most, but for him, "much, much more".[13] He is a virgin well into his forties,[17] but becomes sexually and romantically involved with Principal Skinner's mother Agnes.[18] He later dates Edna Krabappel after she leaves Skinner at the altar.[16] They are nearly married at a science fiction convention with Skinner and Bart trying to stop the wedding, but Edna changes her mind, preferring not to be tied down to a relationship. Comic Book Guy is not particularly surprised by this, saying, "There are a million valid reasons, but which one did you pick?"[16] When Edna gently explains "It's like I'm DC Comics, and you're Marvel", he accepts the comparison without any rancor. In "Married to the Blob", Comic Book Guy marries Kumiko Nakamura, a Japanese manga artist.
Character[edit]
Creation[edit]
Comic Book Guy was partly inspired by a clerk at the Los Angeles comic book shop who often "[sat] on the high stool, kind of lording over the store with that supercilious attitude and eating behind the counter a big Styrofoam container full of fried clams with a lot of tartar sauce."[9] Groening noted:
Merchandising and other media[edit]
Comic Book Guy is featured on the cover of the twelfth season DVD. He appears on other media as well, including T-shirts and drinking glasses.
In The Simpsons Game, he explains all the clichés that the player comes across during the game. Comic Book Guy has appeared in his own five-part comic book, in which his death influenced a nerd and geek gang war.[30] The Simpsons Library of Wisdom includes a volume entitled "Comic Book Guy's Book of Pop Culture".
Comic Book Guy appears in Hit and Run as a drivable character, the host for bonus mission level four and host for a level seven mission. He is also a passenger in Road Rage.
Comic Book Guy makes a cameo appearance in the season two finale of The Cleveland Show saying the line, "Worst. Cameo. Ever."[31]
Comic Book Guy makes a brief appearance in the Simpsons/Family Guy crossover episode "The Simpsons Guy" to say "Worst. Chicken Fight. Ever."
Comic Book Guy makes a brief appearance as the clerk of "Karl's Komics" selling comics to Chip Flagston of Hi and Lois, March 25, 2018.[32]