Matthew Abram Groening is an American cartoonist, television producer and writer from Portland, Oregon.
Groening is best known as the creator of The Simpsons. He is also the creator of Futurama and the author of the weekly comic strip Life in Hell. Groening distributed Life in Hell in the book corner of Licorice Pizza, a record store in which he worked.
He made his first professional cartoon sale to the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978. The cartoon is still carried in 250 weekly newspapers.
Hundreds of Futurama designs - from early rough sketches to full-colour final models and layouts - with a good amount of commentary (approximately 25 pages of text, plus a few comments and boxouts on the pages featuring art). Beautifully laid-out and printed on lovely paper stock.
It was amazing to see some more behind the scenes of one of my favourite shows. The insight into the colour choices and line-art were very revealing as to why Futurama has such a distinct look from other animated shows. The 3 page panels are breathtaking; epically the one of the Planet Express ship, which I would hang on my wall given the opportunity.
I do wish there was more; some of the text pages felt like they were struggling to be filled, and some of the characters didn't receive comments at all.
That being said, this is still fantastic and I intend to revisit it in the future-ama.
Mostly about the art, but also some great stories about the show’s origins and early ideas. 26 years later and we are still here. It just won’t stay dead!