Legendary Status: Bill Morrison Talks BONGO Comics, MAD Magazine, and More!
This interview was conducted by Chris Doucher, Editor-in-Chief, Writer and Comic Panel Moderator for GeekNerdNet. (Image credits to: Bill Morrison and GeekNerdNet)
Bill Morrison at Calgary Expo 2023. (Image credit: Chris Doucher/GeekNerdNet)
I don’t normally start off my stories this way, but I want to say this about artist Bill Morrison: He is simply an incredibly nice person. And has a wit to match the best of them. At the 2023 Calgary Expo, I was lucky enough to not only meet him and do the interview you’re about to listen to, but I also moderated a spotlight panel talking about his career, and hosted two super-fun sketch duels throughout the course of the show. Morrison grew up in Detroit working for automotive companies drawing car manuals. Later on in the interview Morrison gives his insight on how foundational his start in technical drawing was to other jobs throughout his career. And, eventually, he made the big move to Los Angeles to work on creating movie posters.
However, we kick off our conversation a bit later in his career and talk about how he was only the fifth editor-in-chief of MAD MAGAZINE. A moment which is not lost on Morrison. The story behind his meeting with Dan DiDio at the time, where he was offered the top job at MAD MAGAZINE is pretty fantastic. Another amazing franchise, and one where he got his big start and foray into comics, was his time working in The Simpsons empire with his friend, Matt Groenig. Morrison was brought in to draw the characters for any and all merchandise, including t-shirts, party napkins, video game boxes, bed sheets and everything you can imagine. The breadth of that work is simply mind blowing and so fun. Here’s a little backstory to BONGO COMICS. Simpsons creator Matt Groening negotiated to own 100% of the publishing rights when he sold The Simpsons to FOX. This way, like many other licensed properties, the comics weren’t being farmed out to a third-party entity. This is where Morrison comes in. Goening had brought him in to work on the first Simpsons comics, which actually appeared within the pages of The Simpsons Illustrated Magazine. After two years, the decision was made to turn their second annual of The Simpsons Illustrated Magazine into a pure comic book, and they even renamed the mag: Simpsons Comics and Stories. That came out as an incredible success and from there, Groening decided to launch Simpsons in comic book format under the name BONGO COMICS. Morrison started out as Art Director/Writer/Artist and after the first year, when Steve Vance left, he was named Editor. After a few years at the helm of BONGO COMICS, Groening met with Morrison and asked him to help out with visualizing the characters for a new show he was pitching called FUTURAMA.
On this note, go ahead and aim your ray gun at the play button and listen to the interview with Morrison, where he talks about the inner-workings of how he helped create characters for FUTURAMA (eventually becoming Art Director for the show), and his time at MAD MAGAZINE. Plus, listen to why Morrison uses the name Atomic Battery on social media and for his studio.
Thanks for being more than generous with your time, Bill!