Simpsons Stamps

Like some bad April Fool's joke, USPS announced yesterday that The Simpsons characters Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie will be on five 44-cent (the first class postage rate beginning May, 11) stamps later this year.

Artwork for the images was done by the cartoon's creator Matt Groening and will be available for preview April 9 on the USPS website, according to the report.

The stamps also will mark the longest-running primetime comedy's 20th anniversary this year. The Simpsons was first shown in December 1989. Since then more than 400 episodes have been broadcast.

An episode in September 2005 revolved around the construction of a stamp museum next to the Simpsons home. After much protest ("We'll be at the mercy of weekend philatelists...."), the museum is built elsewhere. Apparently daughter Lisa (she's the 'brainy' one) is a stamp collector or was least interested in seeing the newly relocated museum' s current exhibit and lecture on the upcoming "The Wild Beasts" stamp.

In another epispode, son Bart decides to try stamp collecting. Homer responds: "Son, stamp collecting is like life. It stopped being fun a long time ago."

The United States is not the first country to honor the Simpsons with their own stamps. Shown above, a 2005 souvenir sheet from Australia.

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