The Huge Book of Hell

Life in Hell #10

by Matt Groening

From the creator of "Life in Hell" and The Simpsons comes an oversized compendium of cartoons that explore the zany details of life in hell as Binky remains the last liberal rabbit on Earth, Bongo refuses to salute the flag, and Akbar and Jeff continue their anxious romance. Original.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Cartoon, Graphic Novels Comics

157 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Amar Pai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Groening announced recently that he's finally ending Life in Hell, after more than 30 years. R.I.P! I always enjoyed this strip. It holds up really well.

[David Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like this volume of the Life in Hell series isn't as good as the Big Book of Hell, but it's still pretty good. It's one of those situations where the author has kids and a lot of the comics become about the kids. Also there were more Akbar and Jeff pages, and they all seem to be riffs on the same basic joke. Still pretty good, but a bit of a step down from Matt Groening's earlier work.

[grundoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 I really don't get the huge (heh) ratings for this one. There are a few clusters of gems in here - particularly towards the end - but varied as it may be, the single panels rarely do a thing for me, and Akbar & Jeff are just tediously repetitive in such high dosage. This'd probably go down much better if spread out over a much longer period than just a sitting or two.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's literally ok! More of a curio for Simpsons fans than anything else. It's better than many humour strips, but still patchy, and I don't think it manages to make its lack of ambition into a virtue.

[Singles Going Steady Podcast · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Life in Hell books were always great favorites of The Beef People on the road. If you have not read Groening (rhymes with complaining) in his non-Simpsons iteration, your impending discovery of utter brilliance is enviable.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite of the "Hell" collections, probably because it contains a great mix of political commentary and a biographical mockery of Groening's own parenting abilities.

"I fy away, beard-face!"

[Sunayna]

Super for when you have nothing to do. Super also when you have too much to do. Much like The Simpsons, there is no real reason to indulge in it, but you just do anyway.

[Samra · Rating 5 out of 5]

super funny but a little dated because it was during the first Mr. Bush's prez years. i want more! wish he could do some of these jokes on the simpsons but ya no lol.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting a lot more :/
Abe is so funny!!! *thumbs up*

[Megalion · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never really gotten into the Simpsons but I had fun reading this book of Matt's older pre-Simpsons work.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

while this does at times tend towards being too wordy, a lot of it is really funny. the laziness in depictions has a charm to it. it's antithetical to Masamune Shirow's Appleseed in that. The snapshot of political discourse at the time is pretty interesting given how things are, today. it's another reminder that a certain publisher is right about free speech. It's just a ruse to subvert until you get to your desired degree of indecency.

Regardless, this is worth reading. it's a shame nobody ever recommended this to me.

[Juan Fuentes · Rating 4 out of 5]

El Groening más ácido. Imprescindible.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been years since I read any of the Life is Hell books. This one did not disappoint.

[Bibliothekebohemius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt Groening creó 2 de mis 3 series favoritas. Ahora también de uno de mis libros de cómic favoritos. Si tienes la oportunidad de leerlo. Tú sólo hazlo 🐰.

[Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me awhile to get on its very dry wavelength, but once I did, I couldn’t stop chuckling.

[mg_espi · Rating 4 out of 5]

90/2021 Madremía, la acidez y la mala baba de Matt Groening bien regadito todo con humor.

Me ha gustado mucho, vuelve a usar conejitos y dibujitos cuquis para contar que todo es un horror, este es de los tebeos que me prestan y luego acabo comprando para poder volver a ellos.

Todo bien, pero eso, mala baba.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before there were The Simpsons, there was Life in Hell. Dark and profane and hysterically funny.