Signed book: Love Is Hell, ‘Special New Mini-Jumbo Edition.’ First Pantheon Edition. NY: Pantheon Books, 1985. Softcover, 9 x 9, 46 pages. Signed prominently on the inside front cover in black ballpoint, "Matt Groening, 4/23/86," who adds a rare full-length sketch of Snarla the cat standing on Venice Beach, with Groening adding a speech bubble inscription above, “To Michael & Katie.” In fine condition, with some light creasing to front cover.
This delightfully early sketch of Snarla, a side character in Groening's celebrated Life in Hell comic strip—and who bears a noted resemblance to Lisa Simpson—was drawn almost exactly a year before The Simpsons premiered on The Tracey Ullman Show (April 19, 1987), and more than three-and-a-half years before Springfield’s finest made their Fox network debut on December 17, 1989. Drawn in his first published book, this marks the earliest Groening sketch that we have ever offered.
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