November 6, 2024 – 2024 marks the 25th anniversary of Simpsons creator Matt Groening’s Emmy Award–winning television series, Futurama. Now, Abrams ComicArts, a division of ABRAMS, will publish The Art of Futurama, the first-ever art book to delve into the development and history of the series. This deluxe, 176-page hardcover art book features commentary from Groening, showrunner David X. Cohen, and producer Claudia Katz, as well as from the show’s writers, animators, and voice actors.
Beginning in 1999, Futurama ran for four seasons on Fox, where it earned a devoted and passionate fanbase. In 2009, Futurama returned for three more seasons before it was canceled in 2013. Hulu revived the series again in 2022 for its eight season, and additional seasons have been greenlit. The show has won six Emmys and nine Annie awards and inspired numerous comic books and games. TV Guide named Futurama one of the Greatest TV Cartoons of All Time.
This first and only Futurama art book examines the first seven seasons of the series, which first aired on Fox beginning in 1999. Readers of The Art of Futurama can dive into the development and visual history of all 150 episodes, including brand-new content, never-before-seen concept art, sketches, developmental work, and a complete episode guide.
“When the show premiered on March 28, 1999, it was heralded as one of the best-looking shows on television,” writes Claudia Katz in her forward. “This book is a tribute to all the talented artists who helped mold, build, and shape the beautiful, stunning, epic and (twenty-five years later) ever-expanding Futurama Universe.”
The series follows Philip J. Fry (voiced by Billy West), a slacker who was cryogenically frozen for 1,000 years. He wakes in 30th century New York and begins working as an interplanetary delivery man alongside his boss, the mad scientist Professor Farnsworth(John DiMaggio), his one-eyed girlfriend Turanga Leela (Katy Sagal), and his robot best friend Bender (DiMaggio).
“Abrams has a long history with Matt Groening and books on The Simpsons,” said Abrams ComicArts Editor-in-Chief Charles Kochman. “We are honored to expand our publishing to include The Art of Futurama, working closely with Matt and his team on this comprehensive and definitive visual history, one that is a must-have for any animation, television, or sci-fi fan.”
The Art of Futurama by Matt Groening will be available in bookstores on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, and in comic book shops on November 13, 2024.
About the Book
THE ART OF FUTURAMA
A VISUAL HISTORY OF MATT GROENING’S CULT CLASSIC ANIMATED SERIES
By Matt Groening
Introduction by David X. Cohen
Foreword by Claudia Katz
Abrams ComicArts | November 12, 2024
U.S. $35.00 | CAN $44.00 | U.K. £25.00
Hardcover with acetate jacket | 176 pages w/ 3 gatefolds
11-3⁄8″ x 9-3⁄8″ | Full-color illustrations throughout
ISBN: 978-1-4197-7350-1
Matt Groening is the creator and executive producer of the Emmy Award–winning series The Simpsons, as well as the creator of the animated television series Futurama and Disenchantment. In addition to supervising the ongoing production of these television series, Groening wrote and illustrated Life in Hell, a weekly syndicated comic strip from 1977 to 2012. He lives in Los Angeles.
David X. Cohen is a longtime collaborator of Matt Groening and an animation mainstay, having written for The Simpsons in its late-middle-early days before becoming the head writer, showrunner, and executive producer of Futurama. Cohen has won four Primetime Emmy Awards, two of which are for Futurama as “Outstanding Animated Program.”
Claudia Katz is the Emmy Award–winning executive producer of Rough Draft Studios, where she has produced Futurama, Disenchantment, Tarantula, Drawn Together, Full English, Clash-A-Rama, Looney Tunes, Napoleon Dynamite, The Simpsons Movie, and more. She has received an Annecy Award for her work on The Maxx, Emmy, Annie, and Hugo Awards for Futurama, and Emmy Awards for Star Wars: Clone Wars I & II.
