I was first introduced to the comics Life in Hell and Ernie Pook’s Comeek when I moved to San Jose in 1985 for grad school. The weekly independent newspaper, The Metro, carried Matt Groening’s and Lynda Barry’s graphic artistry. I loved their work.
Life in Hell was satirical, biting and irreverent. Akbar and Jef, the identical gay characters, were a slice from my own life since my roommates, Mike and Mike, a gay couple, looked exactly alike. Ernie Pook’s Comeek was sweet and painful to read. The story lines of poor kids dealing with abusive or uncomfortable situations mirrored my life as well as the lives of the kids in the group homes that I worked in. There was something about her art that resonated with me.
I had the opportunity to see Groening and Barry on stage together as they discussed their long friendship.
Groening and Barry are 40+ year friends who met in college. He was the newspaper editor who said he would print anything that anyone would send in. Barry took that dare and began submitting on a regular basis, thus their friendship began. At one point, Groening was in love with Barry and even asked her to marry him but she turned him down.
They discussed their family upbringing. The Simpson characters are based off Groening’s real family. His real life sister Lisa was in the audience. They really have a sister name Maggie, their mom was Margaret (Marge), and father was Homer. I had no idea. There were parallel names and characters spanning life and fiction. Barry described her dysfunctional yet funny family and how they shaped her artistic pursuits.
It was wonderful to see the minds behind some favorite stories and characters.