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Life In Hell




Groening started the comic strip in 1977 by Photocopy ing and distributing it in a small corner of the record store he was working in. By 1980 it had become so popular in the Underground that it was picked up by the Los Angeles Reader and has only grown in popularity since then. Today it is syndicated in over 250 newspapers around the world.

Beginning in the mid has remained in its "under construction" state since then.

Life in Hell was frequently a serial discussing various topics, e.g. Part 1 of Love is Hell. As television began to place more demands on his time, however, Groening came to almost exclusively feature 1-panel strips or 16-panel grids in which Akbar and Jeff exchange terse jabs. This later period also saw the increase of autobiographical strips, perhaps because Groening was influenced by the burgeoning alternative comics trend of autobio.

''Life in Hell'' is regularly referenced in '' The Simpsons '', primarily through Binky dolls owned by Maggie, Lisa & Bart.

In 1993 , Groening created Bongo Comics , a company that publishes '' Simpsons '' related comics, named after Bongo, a character from the comic strip.


RECURRING CHARACTERS


Binky is a bitter, depressed, alienated, and thus "normal", rabbit and star of the cartoon. He usually embodies dread.

Sheba is Binky's estranged girlfriend.

Hulga is Binky's one-night stand; she says: "What's fer breakfast?" (sic)

Bongo is Binky's illegitimate son by Hulga. He has one ear.

Snarla is Bongo's classmate/love interest. She is a cat.

Akbar & Jeff are described in various strips as "brothers or gay lovers; possibly both". Whatever the case, they are most definitely gay (at one point, it is revealed that all gays in their world look like them). They have large noses and wear Fezzes and Charlie Brown -like striped shirts. They have run numerous businesses over the years, including Akbar & Jeff's Tofu Hut, Akbar & Jeff's Earthquake T-Shirt Hut, and Akbar & Jeff's Bootleg "Akbar & Jeff" T-Shirt Hut.

Matt Groening appears in the strip as a bearded rabbit. He is also sometimes represented as Binky.

Will and Abe are Matt Groening's two sons, represented in rabbit form.

Gooey, Screwy, and Ratatouille are Akbar and Jeff's triplet nephews. The names are an obvious spoof of the Disney characters Huey, Dewey And Louie ( Donald Duck 's nephews).


BOOKS


  • ''Love is Hell'' (ISBN 0394744543)

  • ''Work is Hell'' (ISBN 0394748646)

  • ''School is Hell'' (ISBN 0394750918)

  • ''Box Full of Hell'' (ISBN 0679721118)

  • ''Childhood is Hell'' (ISBN 0679720553)

  • ''Greetings from Hell'' (ISBN 0679726780)

  • ''Akbar and Jeff's Guide to Life'' (ISBN 0679726802)

  • ''The Big Book of Hell'' (ISBN 0679727590)

  • ''With Love From Hell'' (ISBN 0060965835)

  • ''How to Go to Hell'' (ISBN 0060968796)

  • ''The Road to Hell'' (ISBN 0060969504)

  • ''Binky's Guide to Love'' (ISBN 0060950781)

  • ''Love is Hell: Special Ultra Jumbo 10th Anniversary Edition'' (ISBN 0679756655)

  • ''The Huge Book of Hell'' (ISBN 0140263101)



EXTERNAL FANSITES