To my continued delight, the continuity of sub-minor characters can vary drastically between wildly inconsistent and remarkable attention to detail. Ms Norton falls under the latter.
Lisa's familiarity with this librarian is revisited in season 3's "Lisa the Greek" - it seems clear the same shot was even used as reference.
2024-03-28 09:00:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
I'm not gonna sugar coat it: "Dead Putting Society" is one of the lighter episodes we've had. Not many numbered characters to look forward to, and not many bonuses, we're really scraping the barrel here.
HEY, SPEAKING OF BARRELS:
I'm guessing this is a mug and not a tiny man trapped in the Flanders rumpus room, but you can never be too sure. I peeked ahead to see if it/he was still visib...
2024-03-26 09:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
TWO major characters in a row? It almost feels silly establishing Larry as a major character when Maude was just around the corner. This episode features the Flanders family quite heavily - more heavily than any prior episode - so it makes sense that we complete their little quartet.
Like many Springfieldian wives, Maude is established mainly by her relationship to her husband, but her basic p...
2024-03-25 09:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
I've given the most important characters a prime spot at the front here. I don't think we'll see Tony Bennett again, but his milestone of being the first celebrity to voice themselves is huge. I think Larry is the MVP, even if most people couldn't name him.
What did we learn from "Dancin' Homer"? Not much about baseball, that's for sure, I feel like less of an expert on sports than ever. Although I did use the term "MVP" in the last paragraph, so maybe I do know some things. We've settl...
2024-03-22 09:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
We're ending the episode with the most significant character introduced! More people could name the Capital City Goofball than Larry I'd wager, but Larry appears in FAR more episodes. He has even appeared in Moe's Tavern a few times prior to this, including in "Some Enchanted Evening" (the first production episode), where Moe even refers to him by name:
But he finally makes his debut in this p...
2024-03-21 09:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
We have one more character to cover before we wrap this episode up, but we're gonna skip ahead briefly to spotlight these two background characters.
The guy on the left has no interesting trivia and we will ignore him immediately.
The guy on the right is Richard Sakai. Sakai has been a producer on The Simpsons since the very beginning, having worked with James L Brooks since 1977. He's b...
2024-03-19 09:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
The last of the fully named characters in this episode is visible only behind frosted glass, so I've had to take some artistic liberty in drawing him here. At least his one shot makes his name nice and clear.
He's never seen in the show again after firing Homer, but I discovered he was named after a real baseball manager, a detail added by writer Ken Levine. This episode is even mentioned in r...
2024-03-18 09:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
We're circling the runway on this episode, but the nature of having two major scenes in two different stadiums means we're meeting a lot of random staff members with no purpose beyond this episode.
In a live action sitcom, a character with one line like this would be a lot more work - you'd have to cast a whole different new actor, and pay them accordingly, which would just seem unnecessary fo...
2024-03-14 09:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
This lady is throwing me off a little!
Her design is very familiar and I cannot figure out why. It feels like I've already drawn a white version of her, but I cannot find any evidence of her existing before this in my 2+ year archives. Perhaps I was thinking of 2024-03-11 09:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Another smartass remark from the crowd:
I like to approach these characters with as much information as possible, so here's everything we know about this gentleman:
- Dancin' Homer doesn't make him wanna cheer.
- That's it.
I'm finding it more difficult to identify if some of these obscure characters have further appearances beyond this, but I suppose this scene is not locate...
2024-03-07 09:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
As decided by last month's poll, the Patreon Print for this month will be "742 Evergreen Terrace"! I've done a few of my watercolours as prints before, but never for the Patreon Print, I hope people like it! I think they look pretty good, if I do say so myself! I miss doing these watercolours!
If you'd like this A5 print delivered directly to you, please be a £10 or higher member for this month! Make sure your address is available there and it'll be sent out once you're charged at the ...
2024-03-05 09:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
We come to a point in the episode where a bunch of people in a crowd get to have odd little remarks that qualify them for this project. Cherish these moments while you can, because eventually these crowds will be populated by familiar characters such as Comic Book Guy or Sideshow Mel, and there will be no room for these strangers to shine any more.
This guy yawns, in a shot that looks like it's out of a Sunday newspaper strip:
2024-03-04 09:00:02 +0000 UTC
View Post
I know I said I wasn't going to cover every character in the baseball crowd, but let's look at a couple of them, why not?
That lady does not look happy to be there. I feel bad for her, she got all dressed up! And blocked the guy behind her's view! These Capital City slickers, they're a bunch of goofballs, I tell you.
This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" se...
2024-03-01 09:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Ooh I love these ones, the ones where I have to make up a bunch of their details. Here's all you see of this fella:
It's entirely possible he has stolen Homer's outfit from the locker room, but Homer does not seem to notice. I do not know if he is selling buns or condiments - his box seems...
2024-02-29 09:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
I regret to inform you that it is another ex-wife.
The funny thing about this lady is that she is voiced by Nancy Cartwright - they tend to avoid using Nancy for incidental side-women as the show goes on, but occasionally you'll catch a fully-grown woman like this who sounds suspiciously like Bart. ...
2024-02-26 09:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
One of two ex-wives that Marge gets to meet. I hate to define these women exclusively by the status of their previous marriage, but that's all the show really gives us to go on here.
These are characters so obscure that they don't even get a mention on the Simpsons Wiki as far as I can see, so ...
2024-02-22 09:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Another baseball announcer, this time for the big city team.
He's framed very similarly to our old friend Dan Horde from earlier in the episode (remember him?), perhaps the director (Mark Kirkland) is making some comment about how as much as Homer has advanced through the ranks to the big time job, everything is still essentially the same.
2024-02-19 09:00:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Oh boy! A WEIRD post!
Listen, sometimes you may hear me complain about having to draw seven characters for a single day's worth of post, but let's be clear about this: weird posts like this are great and are my favourite. Let's break this down:
As part of Homer's conversation with the Capital City Goofball before his big debut at the Capital City Game, we have a brief pan across the locker room, in which we see several players.
2024-02-15 09:00:05 +0000 UTC
View Post
The Goofball is an A-lister of D-listers, mainly due to his memorable design.
He shows up periodically throughout the show, and is instantly recognisable - there are too many appearances to list them all, but we'll look at some of the more memorable ones. He would next appear in the "Do The Bartman" music video a few weeks after this episode. He is somehow much shorter than Krusty.
2024-02-12 09:00:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
The people have spoken! It was a close vote (the frontrunner for the first few days didn't even make the top three!) but this month's print will be "Delightfully Devilish", one of my more popular recent pieces! I like this one, it's silly, and served as a good ease back into more comic work.
If you'd like this A5 print delivered directly to you, please be a £10 or higher member for this month! Make sure your address is available there and it'll be sent out once you're charged at the en...
2024-02-09 09:21:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Personally, I find this one to be quite significant! When Tony Bennett passed away last year, one of my first thoughts was about he was the very first celebrity to voice themselves on The Simpsons, a tremendous achievement considering how many others did it after him. What a trendsetter!
Yes, prior to this the show has had guest stars (Albert Brooks, Penny Marshall,) and we've had real-life fi...
2024-02-08 09:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Let's provide pictorial evidence that I did not imagine any of these crazy designs before we proceed.
This is a...
2024-02-06 09:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post
This girl is a fan...well, "favourite" seems a bit strong. But she's a fan acknowledgement at least, I've seen people say they like her design. She's one of two children who does not seem fussed about Lisa leaving Springfield for Capital City, along with Janey.
Her most memorable appearance is as a potential sock thief, in season 3's "Lisa the Greek":
2024-02-05 09:00:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Feels like a long time since we had a good ol' fashioned Patreon print vote-o-rama!
SO I have selected seven recent potential pieces for the next three Patreon prints (February, March and April), and it's up to YOU, the wonderful smart person reading this, so select your favourite! The winner(s) will be available at the £10 or higher tiers!
Here are your candidates:
"She Admitted ...
2024-02-02 09:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
My main positive takeaway from this week is that I have now learned how to spell "Caribbean", mainly because I have gotten it wrong every single time I've written or typed it until literally just there (look back further in this run-on sentence for proof.)
The other noteworthy thing about these guys is the amazing speed at which they are able to switch positions (or outfits) between shots.
Oof, this week. Can we skip this week? No? This project is the only thing giving you joy in this increasingly broken world? Okay then.
These two gentlemen are voiced by Dan and Harry, in a very stereotypical fashion that the show would definitely now steer away from. I don't think they're particularly "offensive" (disclaimer: I'm the whitest of white dudes), but there is something off about th...
2024-01-29 09:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
As with characters 0100 and 0200, we hit a milestone number with a character you barely remem...
2024-01-25 09:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostHi! If you follow me on social media (a practice I do NOT recommend) then you may have seen that I stared a new daily comic this week! One panel a day, every day, for the rest of my life, or until the story finishes, or until I slip up.
I thought that I'd offer a little preview of what's to come here! Here are the first 18 days worth of panels, in case you wanna read ahead a little! Think of it as a kind of cold open for what I'm hoping will be a larger narrative. I'm figuring out other...
2024-01-24 09:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Another fun opportunity to document one of the main family's alternate outfits! I'm not even gonna provide a screenshot of this one, you know where it comes from. It comes from Dancin' Homer. You know. The episode we're covering.
Less obvious, is the t-shirt salesman from the montage of Homer's antics.
This is a fun little meta-commentary on the show's meteoric rise in popularity and the...
2024-01-23 09:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
This character emerges mysteriously to offer Homer a job.
He feels like a sort of prototype Rich Texan, the wealthy southern gentleman who has the money to buy an entire sports team. In later episodes the Springfield Isotopes are owned by the Duff corporation, so this guy is never a relevant factor a...
2024-01-22 09:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post