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In a series of social media posts made to Bluesky on the morning of Sunday, August 9th, 2026, legendary comics writer Gail Simone shared some of her thoughts on The Simpsons Sunday funnies strip, which was syndicated in newspapers from 1998 through 2004. Simone, who wrote many of the strips, revealed that every Simpsons strip had to feature at least a cameo appearance from one of the members of the Simpsons family… with two exceptions. Can you guess who the two exceptions were?
Bongo Comics
Simone is, of course, a household name for those in the comics know. This is thanks in no small part to the term “fridging.” The phrase “women in refrigerators” was coined by Simone in 1999 to describe the unfortunately common comic book trope of a female character being introduced only to be promptly and unceremoniously killed off so as to further a male character’s narrative arc.
In 2000, Simone wrote her first comic script: two stories for Simpsons Comics #50, published by Bongo Comics. According to one the posts made to Bluesky, “Scott Shaw read [Simone’s CBR] column and told them they should hire [her],” describing Bongo as “an amazing company” and crediting Bill Morrisonand Terry Delegeane for keeping the quality so high. Simone clarified in another post that her early work wasn’t from her Women in Refrigerators site, but were rather “comedy gigs” earned thanks to her CBR column.
Simone continued to write for Bongo, but her work soon expanded to encompass work for both Marvel and DC, where she penned influential runs of many titles, including Deadpool and Bird of Prey. However, while she many have plenty of titles under her belt at the Big 2 (and other publishers besides), Simone still fondly recalls her time at Bongo, reiterating in another post, “Bongo was awesome.”
The Simpsons Comics
Simone credits her success at writing the Simpsons characters to the fact that she “was one of the writers who could nail the ‘feel’ of the voices without just resorting to catchphrases,” which she believes “came from doing [her] comics parody column, You’ll All Be Sorry, where [she] imitated different comics creators for satire’s sake.” This also explains how she so accurately captured the voices of Grant Morrison and Mark Millarin a particular Simpsons Comicspanel (iykyk).
Simone also revealed that one of the strips she wrote, which featured Groundskeeper Willie, was Simpsons creator Matt Groening’s favorite.
Among the additional details shared by Simone was the fact that every Simpsons strip had to feature at least one of the Simpsons family members, at least in a cameo role. But there were two characters who Simone says were exceptions to this rule and could anchor a strip themselves. Eventually, Simone revealed the two exceptions: Krusty the Clown and Ralph Wiggum. While Simone said Krusty made sense to her, she “never understood why Ralph was an exception, but he’s so fun to write!”
Did you guess correctly? Because I sure didn’t!
The Simpsons Comic Strip Cavalcade
If you haven’t had the chance to read The Simpsons Sunday comics strip, you aren’t alone. As Simone observed, the strip “never really caught on in the US but it was very high quality,” noting that she’s “really proud of the ones [she] did.”
She also revealed that Bongo was so impressed by her work on the strip that they asked her to write a series of YA novels featuring Lisa Simpson as an amateur detective. Tragically, this series never came to pass. I openly mourn the loss.
But it isn’t all bad: soon you will be able to enjoy The Simpsons comic strip for yourself, even if you missed reading it in the newspaper. On October 6th, 2026, Abrams ComicsArts is publishing The Simpsons Comic Strip Cavalcade: The First Collection of Simpsons Sunday Strips, featuring 144 full-color pages of Simpsons Sunday strip goodness.
Will you be checking out the collection at your local bookstore, comic shop and/or public library when it arrives? Did you correctly guess the two exceptions to the rule that every Simpsons Sunday strip feature a member of the titular family? If you’ve already read the strip, do you have a favorite? Be sure and let Comics Beat know, either here in the comment section or over on our social media page.
