Matt Groenig's Secret Homage for Elfquest on the Simpsons

Do any of you remember the old forth grade clas on the Simpsons? Bart was involved in much mischief, and meanwhile along with his pranks, he was goaded on by his fellow classmates, Lewis and Richard.

(from Simpsons wiki)
Richard is a gray haired student at Springfield Elementary School.
Contents [show]http://simpsons.wikia.com/index.php?title=Richard &image=Richard-png
Biography Edit
[url=http://simpsons.wikia.com/index.php?title=Richard& image=Richard-png][/url]
Richard appears frequently in events involving the Springfield children, and is occasionally involved in mischief. After school he often participates in the school band and plays catch with Milhouse and Lewis.

Matt Groenig was definetly paying homage to Richard Pini with the Simpsons' character Richard, considering that Richard of the Simpsons always wore an argyle with one single diamond, much like the curvlinear sending sign of the elv tribe.

I have seen a lot of Simpsons episodes, eespecially the first seasons, where Richard was featured frequently, and I can recall many instances where the character Richard is featured, always wearing a shirt with the sending sign, even Donning elfquest for the class portrait.

Typically, if a character is based on a real person or is homage to a person, the information confirming that as a fact would written up on the characters trivia section on their wiki page. =/

Well, a lot of the original nuances of the show were forgotten from the time of inauguration of the Simpsons until the time of the webpage that I drew from. Most of the subtle insertions are lost for the ardent fans of the show.

In my opinion, much of the real magic, found in the form of sociological commentary, was lost in the Simpsons after the "137th episode". Richard was a character used less and less, whereas the writers seemed to forgetabout him and focus on plots involving only Milhouse.

I think I make a pretty good case by proxies of the qualities of Richard, perhaps, for the probability that this character was somehow drawn for, remotely attributable towards, the sending Sign.

The essence of the "sending sign" predates elfquest, and can be found (in its 4-pointed form) most in Orthodox Christian artwork and iconographia, something for which I am adoringly the critic. It is easy to begin counting up the instances of its appearances in other cultures.

Matt Groenig was probably using Richard as a token character because of the paradox of having 3 or 4 fingers. He thought 3 fingered (plus one thumb) characters were more natural to draw on cartoons, and obviously his show was less practically drawn, more universal therefore, than elfquest. Elfquest predates the Simpsons; his homage is the indication that he was searching for the same magic which links his characters to the connexion with the inner child.

It is interesting, therefore, to see supposedly human based on the developer from elfquest, with the 3 fingers. Is this the bridge which unites social fiction with dream?

That is a possibility. "Life in Hell" premiered as a self-published comic, the year before Elfquest.

I second.

The most prominent characteristic a of a die-hard fan is, the s/he knows (wants to know) everything about the stuff in question.

If I would include a Richard Pini reference into a comic, film, book, whatever, it would be a bearded guy.

The diamond-shaped sign is, if at all, rather a reference to something else.

I am not interested in whether people who like the Simpsons realise that Richard is linked with elfquest. I am simply stating that there are 3 connexions between Richard Pini and the character of the show:

- elf hands
- sending sign
- the name Richard.

There is no reason to be discouraged or doubtful about this. Matt Groenig is a subtle recluse, and the psychological genius of Richard Pini and Matt Groenig are rivalled in a certain labyrinthine aspect of life, as we know it. Matt Groenig was undoubtedly aware of Richard and Wendy Pini's work as a fellow independent Comic-Book artist and writer during the 1980's.

They gave the Simpsons characters four fingers because it's was cheaper for the show and easier for the artist.

Truth to tell, I don't see the connection at all - and I suspect I'd know via one channel or another whether or not this character was based on me. I don't think it is. The four-fingered hands is an animation convention going back to Mickey Mouse, or further - four fingers are easier, and thus less costly, to animate than five fingers. As close as they may seem in form, a diamond and a sending star are just not the same thing. (To my eyes, any diamond on clothing reminds me of argyle socks.) And, not to put to fine a point on it, there are a lot Richards in the world - it's entirely possible that Matt Groenig knows someone else in his circle with that name, that he wanted to spoof. I've never had gray hair (well, not as drawn on this character) and I've sported a beard since I was 20. "Simpsons" caricatures are pretty consistent in their faithfulness to the look of the original person.

I'm not saying this supposition couldn't be true, just that I think it unlikely in the extreme.

I would SO like to see one or both Pinis on "The Simpsons," or any other cartoon or sitcom.

I haven't seen all of these episodes, but writers and cartoonists appearing on "The Simpsons" have included John Updike, Thomas Pynchon, Gore Vidal, Jonathan Franzen, Tom Wolfe, Stephen King, JK Rowling, Stephen Jay Gould, Alan Moore, Daniel Clowes and Art Spiegelman. (The last three appeared together.)

Unlikely, if true. As Richard himself said, if it were intended as a caricature of him, it'd be a guy with a beard. Secondly, there's only a vague resemblance between his shirt-diamond and a Sending-sign; a Sending sign is more "puckery", and in color editions, only the outer bits are purple. Thirdly, a lot of animated characters have four fingers, including the rest of the Simpsonscast, barring God, who honestly doesn't show up that often. Fourth, who's Lewis? The only kids in Ms Krabapple's class that I can think of are Bart, Milhouse, Martin Prince, this bloke, and Sherri and Terri. Was he the pale (like albino) kid? I mean, yeah, grey hair's weird in a fourth-grader, but so's blue hair, or albinism, or having your hair apparently be a part of your skull. I doubt that this theory is true, and until I have a statement in an interview with Matt Groening or one of the show's writers in that era explicitly stating that Richard the character was based on Richard Pini, I'll continue to do so.