D'oh! 'Simpsons' stamps not as cool as we had hoped
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My expectations for the U.S. Postal Service's new "Simpsons" stamps were probably a little too high. Because after seeing them on the postal service web site Thursday morning, I'm a bit underwhelmed.
I'm no philatelist -- stamps for me are just the means to get my mail where it's going. But I am a pretty big "Simpsons" nerd, and I think, given the expansive universe that the show occupies (the stamps are part of its 20th anniversary celebration), I was hoping for something that reflected the wonders of Springfield.
That's not what the postal service is giving us. Rather than stamps picturing the nuclear power plant, Springfield Elementary and 742 Evergreen Terrace, or Bumblebee Man, Blinky the three-eyed fish or even Milhouse, all the stamps offer are head shots of the Simpson family -- a shocked-looking Homer, alarmed Marge, smiling Bart and Lisa and a cranky Maggie.
The last time a piece of precious pop culture was memorialized on a stamp, the "Star Wars" folks did a really good job with it, with hand-drawn images of the Millennium Falcon, Boba Fett and Chewbacca that evoked the movie's poster art from 1977. It was pretty cool.
The "Simpsons" stamps, unfortunately, are just stamps. You can order them here.
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Rick, I love the Simpsons and "The Simpsons" -- the characters and the show -- but I actually am OK with the stamps focusing in on just the family and not the extended universe. Although I did slightly enjoy the Moe episode this past week, I more often than not get bored at episodes focusing on the other Springfieldianites. It feels like the more time they spend on their yearly Skinner, Burns, Krusty, Moe, Milhouse, etc. episodes, the less developed the Simpsons themselves become.
I will offer this critique of the stamps though: I do wish they had included the other regular members of the FAMILY: Abe, Patty and Selma, and maybe a shared stamp of Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II.
I don't dislike the stamps as much as the article writer, but I don't like the appearance of the characters. The drawing reminds me of the old early episode appearances of the characters not the cleaner more refined drawings that they are today.
There is no excuse for not having an Itchy & Scratchy stamp!
Matt Groening created the original artwork for the stamps. It seems to me they have their creator's stamp of approval...
personally, i think the stamps are perfect. i'm gonna get me some!!
...but oh yeah Blue Sean, i agree that an Itchy & Scratchy stamp would've been nice. :)
This writer's rant about the Simpsons stamps is silly and childish. Only an elitist would whine about the main characters being depicted on US postage. Stop complaining.
I agree with the weriter. These are ok, but with the vast amount of possibilities 20 years of "The Simpsons" has to offer, it seems like another quickie sell-out marketing deal rather than something special.
These stamps are as tired as the program, which should have been pulled years ago! Worst stamps ever!
Thanks to "Comic Book Guy" for making me (in the spirit of the show) laugh out loud -- something neither the article, the other comments, or (alas) the stamps did.
That's the worst drawing of Homer I've ever seen in my entire life!
The rest look more or less okay, though I wonder why Maggie's so mad.