Todd Umbarger: May 2007

Monday, May 21, 2007

The Simpsons Superabundance Has Only Yet Begun

Today on the Comedy Central Insider there's a post linking to Destination Creation, a peculiarly anonymous all-around graphics outfit located somewhere on Earth that may or may not employ a man named A. Saleem. The CC feature was about Saleem's method of applying "the human touch" to Our Beloved Simpsons. There's a cool video showing the transformation from Irish Catholic school lacrosse coach to America's favorite deadbeat dad ("beat dead").

Always one to steal another's thunder, I couldn't resist putting the Destination Creation work alongside my own "Child Abuse Is Funny", which I did in the summer of 2002. The general reaction to the Saleem work is similar to what I heard after I fatuously used my piece as a promo card: "That's creepy". While I was immensely proud of my early Photoshop work, it was because of my Simpsons parody that I learned about marketability. I'm sure no one hired me off that card because they were scared shitless.

Now that Fox is full PR-swing for the movie, it seems like time for Simpsons fans to dive head-first into the oncoming deluge of "memorabilia". I have about a hundred of these 6"x8.5" cards that probably won't garner much freelance work, so I'm giving them out to who ever wants them. E-mail me your address, I'll eat the 41¢ stamp and send you one. I figure that'd be the same amount I could've spent on a Homer Simpson Talking Shower Radio.