Before I ever saw The Simpsons segments on The Tracy Ullman Show, I was following the work of Matt Groening. I don’t know how I came across the Life In Hell strips, but I do know that I bought Love is Hell, “a series of relationship-themed Life in Hell strips, in book form,” early in 1985, probably from FantaCo, the comic book store where I worked.
This description from Amazon will suffice: “Love Is Hell is the answer to all your Quandaries de l’Amour, or, as we say in American, Love Quandaries. Inside, you’ll find handy tips on everything from Getting the Love You Deserve to Getting Your Heart Broken into Millions of Tiny Pieces.” I related heavily to this book because love is complicated.
The description of the author from Love Is Hell suggests the Portland, OR-born artist spent his childhood… “swimming in the grizzly bear pool at the abandoned zoo.” He kept drawing “despite the rapping of his knuckles and the confiscation of his cartoons at school.”
I also bought other In Hell books like School Is Hell, Work Is Hell, Childhood Is Hell, and Akbar and Jeff’s Guide to Life. Doesn’t the cover of School Is Hell look… familiar?
Wikipedia notes: “Life in Hell caught the attention of Hollywood writer-director-producer and Gracie Films founder James L. Brooks… In 1985, Brooks contacted Groening with the proposition of working in animation… which would turn out to be developing a series of short animated skits… for the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman Show.
The Simpsons!
“Originally, Brooks wanted Groening to adapt his Life in Hell characters for the show. Groening feared that he would have to give up his ownership rights and that the show would fail and take down his comic strip… Groening conceived of the idea for the Simpsons in the lobby of… Brooks’s office and hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family.”
In case you wondered, as I did, why the Ullman version of The Simpsons was so crudely drawn, “Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings.” While the characters were named after his family members, except Bart, who was an anagram of Brat, the cartoon does not reflect his relationship with them.
I watched The Simpsons religiously from 1989 to 1999. The DVD of the first glorious season is in my collection. The Simpsons CD called Songs In The Key of Springfield is terrific, including hits such as In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Jazzman, Baby On Board, and several variations on the ending theme. Somehow, the show fell off my radar in the 21st century, although I did see the 2007 Simpsons movie, which was… okay. Even without my viewership, The Simpsons has become the longest-running U.S. primetime animated series and sitcom.
I’ve not embraced Futurama in the same way. But because of In Hell and The Simpsons, I want to thank Matt Groening as he hits three scores and ten.
I first chanced upon, and loved, “Life In Hell,” when it was serialized in Washington, D.C.’s “City Paper,” (that market’s “Metroland”) around 1982. The books just fueled that love, and I have distinct memories of watching the very first broadcast episode of “The Simpsons” with friends, party-style. I also watched about 10 seasons of the show faithfully, then drifted away. I also never clicked with “Futurama,” though I did really like “Disenchantment,” which seems to have been kicked to the curb to allow Groening to return to the more popular “Futurama.” Bottom line is dude has given me a LOT of joy and giggles over the years, so yes indeed, happy birthday to a great writer, illustrator and entertainer.