Bart Simpson #1:
Son of Homer.

Bongo Comics had been publishing Simpsons Comics since 1993, a flagship title built around the whole family. For seven years, Bart was a headline name on the show but a supporting character in the comics, sharing page space with Homer, Lisa, and the rest of Springfield. Simpsons Comics Presents Bart Simpson #1, cover-dated late 2000, is the issue that finally changed that.

Why this specific issue matters

This wasn't a spin-off that fizzled after a handful of issues. Bart Simpson ran for a full sixteen years, one hundred issues, from 2000 all the way to March 2016. That kind of longevity is rare for a solo spin-off built around a supporting character, and it's exactly what makes issue one worth paying attention to, it's the true starting point of Bart carrying a book by himself, not just borrowing space in someone else's.

The "Son of Homer" framing on the cover wasn't just a tagline. It set the tone for the whole series, stories built specifically around Bart's relationship with his dad, his mischief, and his place in the family, rather than the ensemble format the main Simpsons Comics book used.

Bongo's own origin, briefly

Bongo Comics itself only exists because Matt Groening walked into comic shops in the early '90s, looked at what was on the shelves, and felt there wasn't enough genuinely funny material out there. He founded Bongo in 1993 alongside Steve and Cindy Vance and Bill Morrison specifically to fix that. By the time Bart got his own title in 2000, Bongo had already spent seven years proving there was a real audience for it.

Direct edition, and why that's worth knowing

This particular printing is a Direct Edition, printed clearly on the barcode itself. Comics from this era were split between two separate print runs, non-returnable copies sold through comic shops, and returnable copies sold on newsstands, and I've written a full explainer on what that split actually means and why it matters if you want the full story. Worth knowing before you assume any two copies of the same book are the same thing.

The bigger picture

Bart Simpson comics went on to spawn international editions too, Titan Magazines picked it up in the UK from 2001, and Otter Press launched an Australian edition in 2002. A single American comic launched in 2000 was still generating new international printings years later, which says a lot about how well "Son of Homer" as a concept actually worked. Not every character who's the face of a franchise gets a solo book that lasts. This one did, for sixteen years.