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| Matt Groening: The Definitive Doodler |
Born on February 15th, 1954, Matt Groening
(MG) grew up in Portland Oregon. Groening began his doodling career at an early
age - in fact, it was the first day ofschool. Matt admits, however, that his
doodling during class hours often resulted in a visit to the principal's
office. Yet despite the disapproval of his teachers, Groening refused to give
up his labour of love. In 1977, Matt graduated from the
"Evergreen State College" in Olympia, Washington. According to an
article in the book "Simpsons Mania," Evergreen was not exactly your
average college - it didn't give grades and had no required classes. While at
Evergreen, Matt spent most of his time working on the school's newspaper and
later headed to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a writer. Instead of writing
for a newspaper or magazine, Matt worked as a chauffeur and
"biographer" for an 88-year old movie director. Matt's
career took a drastic turn when he created a cynical comic entitled "Life
In Hell" which was based on his early experiences in Los Angeles. The
comic strip was centred on a bitter and simply drawn rabbit named
"Binky." Other characters in the comic were Sheba (Binky's
girlfriend) and two identical characters called Akbar andJeff (resembling a
mutated Charlie Brown). In 1980, "Life In Hell" debuted in the Los
Angeles Reader, a weekly newspaper where Groening served as editor. Life In
Hell became a huge success for Matt and the comic, after ten years of
existence, is featured in over 200 newspapers in both the United States and
Canada. Several books by Groening including "School Is Hell,"
"Love Is Hell," "Work is Hell," "The Big Book of
Hell," "Akbar and Jeff's Guide to Life," "Binky's Guide to
Love" and "Love is Hell - 10th Anniversary Edition," can be
found in local bookstores. Matt's cartooning career, however, did not end there
.... On September 8, 1986, The Simpsons made its debut as a two minute
sketch on the Tracey Ullman Show. According to Groening, he had received a
phone call from James Brookes who wanted him to do some animation for the
popular show. Matt quickly drew five brand new characters for the presentation
- characters that would inevitably garner a huge following of fans. The
Simpsons was Groening's first experience with animation. The Simpsons earned
instant acclaim by critics and fans when in 1990, it debuted as the Fox
Network's highest-rated program. Over the last eight years, the show
has won an Emmy award and made history for becoming the longest running prime
time animated series on television. The Simpson family, comprised of Homer,
Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, are named after, but not based on, Groening's
family. Matt's father and son are named Homer, his mother is named Margaret and
his younger sisters are named Lisa and Maggie. Bart is an anagram of the word
"brat", however, Groening insists that Bart is not a portrayal of
himself. As well, many of the characters such as Chief Wiggum have been named
after various streets where Matt was raised. With the success of his
show, Groening when onto form the "Bongo Comics Group" in 1993. As
the publisher of Bongo Comics, Groening has created four different comic book
titles including:"Simpsons Comics," "Radioactive Man,"
"Bartman" and "Itchy and Scratchy Comics." Groening has
also produced two special comic series: "Lisa Comics" and Krusty
Comics." The Simpsons Comics are currently still in production today and
have published over 30 issues. Groening has also published a number of books
about the Simpsons including: "Bart's Guide to Life," "Making
Faces with the Simpsons," "The Rainy Day Fun Book," "The
Simpsons Family Album." Simpsons merchandise like T-shirts, posters, video
games are still extremely popular with die hard fans. This past year, Groening
and FOX have produced several new Simpsons collectibles including two Simpsons
calendars, a book called "The Simpson's Guide to Springfield,"
memorabilia such as Christmas ornaments, comic books and the third Simpson's
album, "The Yellow Album." Groening's most recent project
has been the creation of a new animated series entitled, "Futurama"
which debuted in March '99 and has also become a hit with fans. |
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