I miss the klasky-csupo simpsons days…

From the press release:

“We are emotionally moved by the Postal Service selecting us rather than making the lazy choice of someone who has benefited society,” said James L. Brooks, executive producer of The Simpsons.

Gold!

More hype for this junk… who cares.

Those drawings are really good looking. Looks better than the series!

I chossed the Bart stamp.

fishmorgjp: I care. Deeply. I’m going to keep entering the sweepstakes till I win me one o’ them posters, too.

fishmorgjp:
Yeah, nice. How many American television shows, animated nonetheless, have been on the air for 20 years non-stop? Whether or not the show has the same quality of it’s hey day, it’s still one of the more entertaining series on TV today. This is a milestone that should be celebrated. Do us a favor and show us how much you don’t care by not commenting.

Where’s the Frank Grimes stamp?

Why does Maggie look so angry?…

What Carlos said.

Thank god they’re going to have the actors there and not any of those pesky animators. (You know, the ones who actually draw the acting you see on the screen.)

There is no 20 year rule for the U.S. I’ve heard of though policies and actions don’t always coincide. There has been a standing policy not to do anniversaries unless they are really “big” ones like 50 years intervals because politicians were constantly proposing all sorts of anniversaries for special interests.

I see a kind of diversionary tactic going on here. The post office released the Star Wars stamps in 2007 coinciding with the movie’s 30th anniversary and featured illustrations of living actors in character. Why I say “diversionary” is that the USPS used the occasion then and I think now to divert attention from a postage rate increase plus a potential merchandise tie-in sales bonanza.

A somewhat interesting factoid was the reaction to the Disney memorial stamp issued soon after his death started a policy that any non-U.S. President has to be dead 10 years.

‘Cause when the Simpsons goes, what’s waiting in the wings at Fox to replace it? No doubt another fine “Family Guy” spin-off.

Actually, the “rule” you may be thinking of is that no living individual may be honored on a US postage stamp. Current USPS guidelines say that nobody may be depicted until at least five years after their death (with the exception of US presidents who receive a memorial issue after their death). Previously it was ten years. As fictional/commercial characters, this doesn’t apply to the Simpsons; but the Postal Service does prefer to issue commemoratives in conjunction with a significant anniversary. The twentieth anniversary of the series is a fairly significant milestone (in the Cultural/Entertainment world, if not strictly historical), and in the past couple of decades they’ve been more open to honoring commercial icons (like the Disney and Warner Bros. characters), if for no other reason than that they are cash cows for USPS. Check out the list of items for sale related to just the Simpsons issue on the official site.

i love these! the more ‘raw’ looking drawings of the simpsons!
i have the ‘big book of hell’ i used to read it all the time
as a kid and i would laugh out loud at how funny it was.
this makes me want to open it up and read some right now.

Those are some pretty fun drawings! Good on the artist for not xeroxing the model sheet and calling it a day.

The biggest surprise to me is that Matt Groening’s ubiquitous signature is absent!

Best. Postage. Ever.

Good, thanks for the information.

Stock up on Forever stamps now. They’re only 42 cents and will be good indefinitely!
(They’re the ones with the Liberty Bell)

Such stamps may be cash cows for the USPS but they ain’t enough of a haul to stop the removal of thousands of convenient mailboxes across the USA nor the closing of many USPS sorting facilities. Next the US Government should try painting big time cartoon character images on Amtrak trains and hawking related wheeled toy merch. We’ll be back to running steam engines in ten years.

I can’t wait to get some of these and mail out letters with the Homer stamp. That face is priceless!

I still have those Bugs Bunny commemorative stamps from yesteryear, I wonder how much it’s worth now?!

Posters of the stamps are available at postagestampart.com

“I miss the klasky-csupo simpsons days…”

…After seeing the K-C version compared to the current outsource, I have to disagree. There’s something about the first season or two’s animation that just doesn’t sit well with my eyes. I get the same thing from cartoons done in Squigglevision.

…On a different note, if the Simpsons can get stamps, why not the family that made that show possible? Why not a set of Flintstones stamps? They’d go over far better than a series of fracking Scooby-D’oh ones.

The rule against honoring or depicting living persons has gone a little fast and loose lately. The USPS put out stamps for Star Trek, the Beatles, and All in the Family as part of their “Celebrate the Century” series that only depicted the Enterprise, Ringo’s drumhead and the Bunkers’ living room set. Then they did the Star Wars sheet depicting the characters who were played by very much alive actors like Mark Hamill, perhaps on the basis that the design was painted and intended to portray characters instead of actors. (Yeah, and do the Simpsons belong on a stamp? Just as much as Darth Maul does.)