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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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