THE "SIMPSONS"
THE "SIMPSONS"
Membership: "Bart Simpson," "Homer Simpson," "Lisa Simpson," "Maggie Simpson," "Marge Simpson"
Purpose: Trying to have a quiet, uneventful life
Aliases: None
Affiliations: None
Enemies: "Blackball," Scorpion (Mac Gargan), zombies
Base of Operations: Springdale, Connecticut
First Appearance: (Cartoon) The Tracey Ullman Show
(19th April 1987);
(Marvel version) Sensational She-Hulk#33 (November, 1991)
History:
(Sensational
She-Hulk#33) - Traversing Louisiana during a family holiday (see comments)
the Simpsons' family car stalled late at night near a cemetery. While
the father, Homer, sat trying repeatedly to turn the engine over, the siblings
Lisa and Bart sat in the back, and mother Marge held baby Maggie in her arms
in the front.
Lisa asked her father if they were going to be on their way soon, noting with concern that their location was awfully spooky. Marge tried to reassure her elder daughter, telling her that there was nothing out in the dark that wasn't there during the day, but Bart, staring out the window, challenged her assertion, asking "what about this bunch of zombies?" Assuming Bart was just being rude about some locals, his father, Homer, reminded him that he had been warned not to use that kind of language because it was impolite, but Bart responded that he had used the word correctly, pointing outside. Looking, Homer was terrified to see reanimated corpses lurching towards his window.
(New Warriors I#27 (fb) - BTS) - The Simpson family home in Springdale, Connecticut was invaded by Speedball's evil doppelganger "Blackball," who terrorized the family before moving on.
(New Warriors I#27) - Returning to Springdale, Speedball was mistaken by the police for Blackball and shot at; bouncing out of their way, he inadvertently smashed into the Simpsons' house. the family hid behind Homer as he pointed a gun at the intruder and angrily berated Speedball, asking why he had returned and telling him he had already done enough to the family. Speedball tried to explain to them that he wasn't the person who had attacked them previously, but was interrupted by the police surrounding the house. The Simpsons watched as Speedball built up his kinetic energies by rapidly bouncing around the room, then bounced out of their home at high speed.
(Spider-Man: Sweet Charity) - The Simpson family went for a picnic in the Poconos, where a hungry Scorpion stumbled across them. As Scorpion strode up to them, Homer fearfully told him to take what he wanted but not to hurt them. Contemptuously, Scorpion told Homer he had intended to take what he wanted anyway, adding that their food looked good, especially since he hadn't had anything to eat but wolf-meat all weekend. Bart announced that was gross, prompting the Scorpion to tell him not to judge, claiming it tasted like chicken. When Bart then asked "Who would eat wolf?" the annoyed Scorpion retorted that it was the same kind of people who ate smart-mouthed kids.
Trying to defuse the situation, Homer desperately offered a disinterested
Scorpion all the money he had on him, but begged that the villain not hurt
them. Munching on a sandwich, Scorpion responded that the only way Homer
would get hurt was if he said that one more time, because he was annoying.
Marge tried to explain, saying that her husband just meant he would do whatever
Scorpion wanted so long as he didn't hurt them. His mouth full of sandwich,
Scorpion angrily shouted that he understood this. Unthinking, Homer sought
confirmation, but only got "So you're not going to hur..." out before Scorpion
lost his temper and roared at Homer "What did I just say?" Declaring them
a hideous family, he screamed at them to get away from him, and the family
fled in terror.
Comments: Created by Matt Groening, brought into the Marvel universe by John Byrne and Keith Williams.
None of the family are named in any of their appearances, but since they are clearly intended to be homages to the Simpsons, I've used those names here. They are in quotes in the titles because those aren't official names, but I've dropped the quotes in the history, because using them repeatedly throughout that would just look messy.
Their appearance in Sensational She-Hulk#33 doesn't give their location
(other than being "on the surface" since most of the story that issue takes
place underground); however, the next couple of issues reveal that Black
Talon is raising zombies in the Louisiana region, near New Orleans. While
it's certainly possible that he was raising them somewhere else in
the country in #33, I figure it's a reasonable assumption to go with Louisiana
for in that issue too. Since the New Warriors appearance confirms they live
in Connecticut (per Google around a 22 hour drive/1500 miles approx. from
Louisiana), then either they moved home between stories (certainly a possibility
- I'd move too if my current home was situated near zombie uprisings!) or
they were on vacation.
An alien version of Bart, presumably unrelated to this version of the family (unless they are secretly disguised aliens) had a cameo in Silver Surfer III#41. The more standardly "cartoony" version of Bart turned up in cameos in Doctor Who Magazine#173, What The--?!#10, 21 and 25.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Simpsons have no known connections to:
A young boy with a smart mouth,
Bart was the family member who first spotted the zombies when the family
were in Louisiana and alerted his family to their presence, though he didn't
seem anywhere near as scared by their presence as his father was.
When Speedball invaded the family home, Bart did little but hide behind his father, though whether this was out of fear of the intruder after the genuinely threatening Blackball's prior invasion, or sensibly not wanting to stand in front of his father while Homer was waving a pistol around, wasn't revealed.
Bart's smart mouth even in the face of danger asserted itself when the Scorpion crashed the family's Poconos picnic, backchatting the clearly angry and mentally unstable supervillain until even Bart realized he'd taken things too far.
--Sensational She-Hulk#33 (New Warriors I#27, Spider-Man: Sweet Charity
The family patriarch, Homer was attempting to restart their car during the foggy, zombied night in Louisiana. When Bart initially mentioned the zombies outside, Homer thought he was using the term as a derogatory euphemism and chastised him for this. Hearing Bart insist he had used the term correctly, Homer looked outside as Bart directed and screamed in terror to see actual undead wandering up to the car, with one right next to his window, leaning down to look inside.
Following Blackball's
home invasion, Homer tried to defend his family, and when the similar-looking
Speedball also smashed into their living room, Homer angrily tried to threaten
him with a handgun, though he was clearly reluctant to actually fire it (or
couldn't; perhaps it was a replica or he had no bullets) as he just stood
brandishing it for a number of minutes until Speedball departed.
When Scorpion crashed the family picnic, Homer repeatedly tried to appease the villain by promising abject compliance so long as he didn't hurt them, but Homer's repeated entreaties had the opposite effect to the one he'd intended, increasingly irritating the Scorpion to the point where he made it clear that he only intended to hurt them if Homer kept asking him not to. Not quick on the uptake, Homer started to ask for confirmation he understood this correctly, pushing Scorpion past his tolerance threshold; he screamed at the annoying family to leave, and they swiftly fled.
--Sensational She-Hulk#33 (New Warriors I#27, Spider-Man: Sweet Charity
When the family car broke down near a cemetery on a foggy night, Lisa sensibly decided it was spooky and queried when they were going to get on their way. Marge tried to reassure her that the dark contained nothing that wasn't there in the daylight, but Lisa's concerns were confirmed moments later when zombies lurched up to the car.
During Speedball's intrusion into the family home, Lisa merely hid behind her armed father, and, far more sensible than either her brother or her parents, she didn't try to engage the grumpy Scorpion in conversation when he stomped into the middle of the family picnic, but simply fled alongside her family when the opportunity was afforded to them.
--Sensational She-Hulk#33 (New Warriors I#27, Spider-Man: Sweet Charity
The baby of the family, Maggie slept in her mother's arms during their encounter with zombies, then later watched with apparent concern as her father shouted at Speedball and waved a gun around.
When Scorpion invaded the family picnic, she alone seemed happy to see him, apparently waving at the interesting new arrival as he trod on the family's blanket, then staring back at him over her mother's shoulder when the family fled.
--Sensational She-Hulk#33 (New Warriors I#27, Spider-Man: Sweet Charity
The family matriarch, Marge sought to be the voice of reassurance and calm. When Lisa remarked that they were stuck in a spooky spot during the car breakdown incident, Marge told her there was nothing to fear, as there would be nothing outside in the dark that wasn't there in the daylight (which was strictly speaking true, since zombies don't need to hide from the sun like vampires).
Marge
held Maggie and hid behind her armed husband when Speedball intruded into
their home, but otherwise didn't engage the hero.
During the picnic incident, she tried unsuccessfully to calm the situation when she realized Homer's babbling attempts at compliance were merely aggravating the situation, but her own responses to the Scorpion just made him even more annoyed, so she seized the chance to flee with her family when the opportunity was provided them.
--Sensational She-Hulk#33 (New Warriors I#27, Spider-Man: Sweet Charity
On the satellite Dynamo City, an alien resembling a three-eyed Bart Simpson watched as the Silver Surfer was thrown out of the Stim-Network building by a bouncer.
--Silver Surfer III#41
images: (without ads)
Sensational She-Hulk#33, p12, pan4 (main image)
New Warriors I#27, p10, pan4 (Homer protects his family from Speedball)
Spider-Man: Sweet Charity, p34, pan1 (family picnic)
Spider-Man: Sweet Charity, p34, pan2 (Scorpion intrudes into picnic)
Spider-Man: Sweet Charity, p35, pan1 (family flees)
Sensational She-Hulk#33, p12, pan3 (Bart)
Spider-Man: Sweet Charity, p34, pan3 (Bart)
Sensational She-Hulk#33, p12, pan3 (Homer)
Spider-Man: Sweet Charity, p34, pan6 (Homer)
Sensational She-Hulk#33, p12, pan2 (Lisa)
Sensational She-Hulk#33, p12, pan2 (Maggie)
Sensational She-Hulk#33, p12, pan2 (Marge)
Spider-Man: Sweet Charity, p34, pan5 (Marge)
Silver Surfer III#41, p22, pan2 (alien Bart)
Appearances:
Sensational She-Hulk#33 (November 1991) - John Byrne (writer, pencils), Keith
Williams (inks), Renée Witterstaetter (editor)
New Warriors I#27 (September 1992) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Patrick Robertson
(pencils), Larry Mahlstedt (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Spider-Man: Sweet Charity (August 2002) - Ron Zimmerman (writer), Darick
Robertson (pencils, inks), Rodney Ramos (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
Silver Surfer III#41 (September 1990) - Jim Starlin (writer), Ron Lim (pencils),
Tom Christopher (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
First Posted: 02/11/2019
Last updated: 02/11/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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"Homer"
"Marge"
Alien "Bart"