The Simpsons came about because of publishing rights. James L. Brooks was looking for a filler segment on his forthcoming Tracey Ullman Show on the newly developing network, Fox. Brooks had come across an issue of Matt Groening's Life In Hell and the producer wanted it to fill in segments of the sitcom whenever the writers had trouble ending a sketch. Groening realized that he would have to give up a slew of rights if Life In Hell went animated. So Groening developed a new series based on his family and friends from his childhood in Portland, Oregon.
During the first season of The Tracey Ullman Show, The Simpsons alternated places with another animated short called Dr. N!Godatu about an optimistic therapist who recalled zany episodes with her patients. The Simpsons debuted in the third episode of The Tracey Ullman Show. It became an immediate success. By the second season, Dr. N!Godatu was gone and it was The Simpsons all the way. Soon, watchers of the sketch series were putting the live action segments on mute, only to hit sound while things got animated.
A spin-off of a Simpsons holiday special materialized in December of 1989. Animator David Silverman helped to refine the rough Matt Groening art style into something more sleek and fluid. 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire' was an immediate success and an instant Christmas classic. The following month, Fox took a gamble with a 13-episode mid-season replacement run of animated episodes.
The past 20 years had not been very kind to live-action animated series in prime time. But Fox was consistently running fifth place out of a 4 major network ratings war and needed a hit. Needless to say, the gamble paid off. Jump ahead to 2023 and The Simpsons are now in their 34th season. The cartoon series shows no signs of stopping. In January, the longest running animated series in TV history was renewed for an impressive 35th and 36th season!
In 1993, Matt Groening went back into comic book publishing. Bongo Comics, named after one of Groening's rabbit characters from Life In Hell, published mostly titles based on The Simpsons. However, Bongo also published a handful of non-Simpsons properties including a 12-issue sketch series based on the art of Sergio Aragones and an adaptation of Nickelodeon's Spongebob Squarepants. In 1995, Groening created Zongo Comics, an imprint devoted to adult oriented series. Zongo only released a pair of minis before going defunct about a year later. Oddly enough, neither Bongo nor Zongo released a Life In Hell comic book.
The last Simpsons comic book was published in 2018. Issue #245 was the jumbo-sized swan song. Over the course of the series 25 year run, a number of talents worked on Simpsons Comics. Bill Morrison, Phil Ortiz, Ian Boothby, Gale Simone, Michael Allred, Kyle Baker, Aragones, even glam rocker Alice Cooper contributed to a wide number of stories that starred America's favorite family.
Just like the TV series, the comic book version of the Simpsons skewered every aspect of modern day life, pop culture and social norms. In this issue, the Simpson family is selected to be a Neilsen Family. When their viewing habits are reviewed, analysts discover that the Simpsons reflect the exact center of the populace. Soon, everything the Simpsons like, including favorite foods, clothes and even their hairstyles are what the citizens of Springfield are sporting! So, Homer, Marge and the kids decide to switch things up!
In the backup story, Comic Book Guy looks at a series of rejected Bongo Comics titled 'Crap Nobody Wanted...'
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
Completing this review completes Task #28 (Humor Story) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.
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