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Owl or Nothing

Wikisimpsons - The Simpsons Wiki
Owl or Nothing
Owl Or Nothing.png
Comic Story information
Released: January 2011
Comic series: Simpsons Comics
Pages: 25
Written by: Ian Boothby


Owl or Nothing is a Simpsons Comics story first printed in Simpsons Comics #174.

Synopsis[edit]

"While Lisa's best humanitarian instincts lead her to restore an injured owl to health, Homer's base behavior towards his fellow man intrigues Mr. Burns, who takes advantage of those qualities in a 'get rich quick' real estate scheme."


Plot[edit]

At Springfield Elementary School, Bart presents a bird that had been named in honor of Principal Skinner due to the money raised by the school for the Springfield Bird Sanctuary, The Flaming Blue Wiener. Skinner is surprised as the bird was supposed to be named the Skinner Sparrow, but since Lisa was busy at the Bird Sanctuary, Bart got to present the bird, and changed the name of it at the last minute. Meanwhile, at the Bird Sanctuary, Lisa is looking after an injured owl, who she calls Mr. Hoots. Mr. Hoots had been injured six times before this incident and Lisa questioned why he got hurt so much. As Lisa goes to eat the lunch that Bart made for her, she finds that there's an airhorn in the lunchbox instead, which goes off and sends all the birds flying away.

At the Power Plant, Lenny and Carl watch the birds fly off whilst Homer bends down to pick a penny off the floor. Homer is then hit by Waylon Smithers' car, who didn't see Homer in the road. Some of Smithers' Malibu Stacy dolls fell out of the car during the collision, which Smithers reveals are in his car because he had to move from his home and find somewhere in the suburbs to live. Since Smithers was currently staying in the Bachelor Motel, he had to store his Malibu Stacy dolls in his car. Back at the Bird Sanctuary, the employees discuss the missing birds and decide to let Lisa look after Mr. Hoots until all the other birds return.

At home, Lisa tries to make Mr. Hoots a nest, but the owl makes a nest out of her homework instead. The bird then tries to carry off Snowball II and Lisa decides to put bells on Snowball and Santa's Little Helper to stop Mr. Hoots from taking them. In the backyard, Homer complains about Mr. Burns to Santa's Little Helper when Marge goes to talk to him. When Mr. Burns' name is brought up, he appears from next door and reveals that he's helping find Smithers a new house to live. After Homer causes an accident that sets a tree on fire, Smithers decides to stay in the motel whilst Mr. Burns gets an idea.

Lisa continues trying to nurse Mr. Hoots back to health and he ends up attacking Sherri and Terri. Meanwhile, Mr. Burns calls Homer to his office to discuss a plan to drive property values down in neighborhoods so he can buy up cheap houses to sell. After promising Homer free beer for helping, Homer accepts the offer. That same day, Lisa takes Mr. Hoots to The Veterinarian to get a checkup. The veterinarian tells Lisa that the wing is healing nicely, but the bird himself is a jerk, which is probably why he kept getting injured. As Lisa leaves the vets, she realizes that Mr. Hoots is a lot like Bart so starts using reverse psychology, telling him to not do things that she wants the owl to do in order to get him to do them.

Homer starts moving into houses around Springfield and causes trouble at each neighborhood, which drives house prices down. Due to Burns' plan being so successful, he sets his eyes on Olympus Estates, Springfield's richest and most exclusive gated community. Back at the Simpson house, Lisa reveals to Marge how she got Mr. Hoots to listen to her and how he's only a jerk to other jerks now. However, the birds had all returned to the Bird Sanctuary, so it opened up again and Mr. Hoots went back to the Sanctuary. Meanwhile, Homer, Lenny, and Carl have a paintball fight at Olympus Estates, driving property values right down.

Due to Mr. Burns' plan working so well, he entered a coma due to an overload of evil joy. Smithers explains to Homer that until things go wrong with his scheme, he'll stay like that. Meanwhile, at the Bird Sanctuary, Mr. Hoots had managed to get hold of Bart's lunchbox with the airhorn and used it to cause all the birds to fly away again. The birds all flocked to Olympus Estates, which snapped Burns out of his coma and he went to chase the birds out personally. However, several of the birds picked up Burns and flew off with him.

Reprints[edit]

Comic issue Release date Country
Simpsons Comics #198 May 10, 2012 800px-Flag of the United Kingdom.svg.png


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