Earlier today at San Diego Comic-Con, Simpsons producers announced the opening segment of this Halloween’s annual “Treehouse of Horror” episode will be guest animated by The Onion‘s legendary editorial cartoonist Stan Kelly.
A recent South Park episode making fun of President Trump caused a quite a stir, so it’s no surprise to see The Simpsons jumping on the bandwagon and “getting political.” And there’s nobody better to tackle the subject than Kelly, whose name is synonymous with political cartoons. A fixture in the pages of America’s finest news source, Kelly has been using his scathing wit to lambast anti-American elitists, scheming foreigners, selfish hussies, today’s no-good teens, and beeping gizmos since 1966. In recent years, “Sickos Guy,” a character originally from this cartoon, has “gone viral” as a “meme,”* perhaps due to his personification of today’s sick, modern times.
*Latest fad.
It is unclear if Simpsons producers were aware of Kelly’s clear distaste for the show, as expressed in this 2015 comic. Nevertheless, Kelly will soon join an illustrious group of cartoonists and animators who have been featured on the show, including Gary Larson, Roz Chast, Art Spiegelman, Eric Goldberg, Don Hertzfeldt, Alison Bechdel, Daniel Clowes, Bill Plympton, and Matt Groening. [Variety]
Outspoken super-animator John Kricfalusi was fired from his own show, The Ren & Stimpy Show, back in 1992. Since then, his television projects have been short-lived: The Ripping Friends lasted 13 episodes on the air, while Ren & Stimpy “Adult Party Cartoon” lasted a mere 3.