Item Description

When the Simpsons first came on the air I... well, let's just say that I had a problem.

Back before Beavis and Butthead, before South Park, before whatever has lowered the bar farther since I stopped watching television in about 1999, there was Bart Simpson.

He was an "underachiever and proud of it." I liked him because he got my principal's panties all in a bunch. Now he's as harmless to American children as Mickey Mouse. What a wonderful age we live in.

At any rate, at the height of the marketing blitz, I pretty much bought anything that had a yellow face on it, including the spread of magazines you see here.

First up are 9 issues of Simpsons Illustrated magazine from 1991-1993, including the premiere issue. I don't know if I stopped getting the magazine because it went out of print, or because I became interested in girls. At any rate, the magazines first formidable three years are fully represented here, so if you're a collector of such things... you know, collect away.

We've also got issues of Rolling Stone, Newsweek, and TV Guide with the Simpsons splashed across their covers, plus the Simpsons' Uncensored Family Album, which came from a time when they were still embryonic enough to slip in "Life in Hell" references.

At the same time I was accumulating all of these objects, I also bought a book called Simpson Mania which describes the phenomenon of people buying anything they can get with The Simpsons branded on it, the irony of which was completely lost on my 13-year-old mind.

If you think this lot is interesting, you should check my other auctions. I've also got a lot going of vintage 3-D, non-paperular Simpsons merchandise up this week.