Who actually published Simpsons comics
Every Simpsons comic came from Bongo Comics, the publisher Matt Groening set up in 1993 specifically so the Simpsons had a comics home that wasn't handed to one of the big two. That matters when you are searching, because Simpsons books are frequently listed under Marvel or DC by sellers who have not looked at the indicia. If you are hunting a specific issue and coming up empty, try searching the publisher rather than the title.
Bongo ran until 2018, which is a long life for an independent, and produced far more than the main title. Alongside Simpsons Comics itself, which reached over 240 issues, there were spin-offs for Bartman, Radioactive Man, Itchy & Scratchy, Lisa, Krusty and the Treehouse of Horror annuals.
The issues worth knowing about
Simpsons books are not Silver Age keys and nobody should pretend otherwise. What they are is a genuinely collected niche with a small number of books that carry real premiums, and a very large number that are common and cheap. Knowing which is which is the whole game.
Radioactive Man #1 (1992)
The first appearance and origin of Radioactive Man, done as a straight parody of a Golden Age origin story. Published December 1992 at a $2.95 cover price, which was higher than the standard Bongo book of the period. This one predates most of the line and is the closest thing the Bongo catalogue has to a proper first appearance key.
Worth knowing before you buy: there is a scarce Bartcode edition variant of this issue that trades far above the standard cover. Check what you are actually being offered, because the two are not close in value and the listings do not always make the distinction clear.
Bartman #1 (1994)
Bart's superhero alter ego getting his own title, and the issue collectors ask about most after Radioactive Man. The first print carried a silver foil cover at $2.95, against $1.95 for the standard version, and crucially the foil edition has no barcode on the cover. That is the quickest way to tell them apart at a glance, and it is worth doing, because the foil is the one people want.
Simpsons Comics & Stories #1
An early Bongo release that turns up in collections regularly and gets mistaken for the first issue of the main Simpsons Comics run, which it is not. Different title, different series. Sellers conflate the two constantly.
Treehouse of Horror annuals
The Halloween specials ran annually and pull in buyers who do not otherwise collect Simpsons books, partly because the horror parody covers are genuinely good. Later issues in the run had smaller print runs than the early ones, which is the reverse of what most people assume.
What makes a Simpsons book worth more
- Foil and variant covers. Bongo used foil enhancement sparingly, so where it exists it separates a common book from a scarce one.
- Condition, more than usual. These were bought by children and read to death. High grade Bongo books are genuinely harder to find than the print runs suggest, because almost nobody bagged them at the time.
- Complete runs. Individual mid-run issues are cheap. Assembled runs sell for considerably more than the sum of their parts, simply because building one from scratch takes years of patient hunting.
- First appearances within the line. Radioactive Man, Bartman and Lisa's own title all have first issues that carry a premium over the rest of their runs.
Why these are hard to find in Britain
Bongo distributed unevenly outside North America, and UK newsagents mostly carried the reprint magazines rather than the American format comics. The result is that British collectors chasing the original US issues are usually competing for copies that were imported in small numbers or brought back individually. It is not that they are rare in absolute terms, it is that they are thin on the ground here specifically, which is exactly why they are worth stocking properly.
Selling us your Simpsons comics
We buy Simpsons and Bongo books, whether it is a handful of issues or a full run. Unlike a general dealer who will lump them in as filler, we price them as their own thing, because we know what the foil Bartman and the Radioactive Man variants are actually worth rather than treating every Bongo book as a pound box comic.
If you have a collection, tell us what you have and we will make an offer. We collect from anywhere in the UK and pay before the boxes leave.