"Three Men and a Comic Book" is the twenty-first episode of Season 2, and the show's 34th episode overall.
Synopsis[]
Bart becomes obsessed with buying the first issue of Radioactive Man, but can't scrape together the $100 he needs to make it his own, even after working for the elderly Mrs. Glick, who hires him to do yardwork. Enlisting Milhouse (who was more interested in getting a baseball card) and Martin (who also wanted the first issue of Radioactive Man) Bart is finally able to buy the comic, but ends up fighting with his two best friends over who gets to keep it.
He doesn't have enough money in his own allowance and his parents refuse to give Bart extra money. So, Bart turns to Mrs. Glick, who has some rather unsavory chores around the house that he can do, but she only gives him 50 cents for his hard work. Bart returns to the comic book store, only with a few cents extra, and runs into Milhouse and Martin. He talks them into pooling their money and buying the first Radioactive Man Comic from Comic Book Guy. None of them want to let the comic book out of their sights and plan to spend the night together in Bart's treehouse. As a storm approaches, Martin devises a plan so that the three boys have equal access to the comic. As he attempts to leave with the comic, Bart stops him. Bart gets progressively more paranoid and becomes convinced that the other two are conspiring against him.
Eventually, each boy is at each other's throat. When Martin gets up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, Bart thinks he is planning on stealing the comic book and subsequently ties him to his chair. When Martin tries to complain, Bart tells him they will stick an apple in his mouth if he doesn't keep quiet.
Meanwhile, the storm is raging more, and Milhouse falls out of the treehouse as a gust of wind takes hold of the comic so that it flies towards the entrance. Bart reaches out to grab Milhouse by the hand. He is forced to choose between Milhouse and the comic. Martin reminds Bart that if he hadn't had tied him up, he could have saved the comic. After mulling over his options, Bart chooses Milhouse and pulls him up into the treehouse. The comic flies out the door before Bart can grab it, and to the boys' collective horror, is shredded by Santa's Little Helper and zapped by lightning. Marge comes outside to get the boys back in the house and offers them hot chocolate and imitation marshmallows.
The next morning, the boys reflect on how their inability to share lead to the destruction of the comic book. However, they never noticed that the final panel was not shredded and was peacefully being a nest mat for a mother bird.
