MORRISON MONDAYS celebrates International Olympic Day… By BILL MORRISON Monday is International Olympic Day, and in recognition of this day that commemorates the founding of the modern Olympic games in 1894, I present a cover that I drew for a special Simpsons comic book that Bongo produced for our UK publishing partner, Titan Comics. Simpsons Go for the Gold was created to take advantage of the 2012 London Summer Games, but Bongo also decided to print our own version to offer as an exclusive book, available only at San Diego Comic-Con that year. I recall having a conversation during production with our attorney who told me we had to be careful about a few things. Apparently, the Olympics organization jealously guards certain names, and even nicknames, so we couldn’t use the term “Summer Games” for example, and we definitely couldn’t us the word “Olympic” anywhere on the cover. We came up with “Go for the Gold” and that passed muster. The Olympics people were also very touchy about the use of a torch in any unofficial Olympics-related products, and especially the image of someone running with a torch. I researched historic photos of the Olympic torch and tried to design something that didn’t look like anything they had ever used, but ultimately, my drawing was still problematic. Somehow, the Bongo version went to press as I originally drew it with Homer holding the flaming torch and roasting a hot dog as he runs, as did some other international variants. But the UK version didn’t make it to the printer without a little surgery first. Someone, I don’t recall who, decided to play it safe and 86 the torch. So, for those of you who’ve seen the UK version of this book and always wondered why Homer is running with a flaming weenie on a stick and awkwardly balling his free hand into a fist for some reason, now you know… the rest of the story! — Want more MORRISON MONDAYS? Come back next week! Want a commission? See below! — MORE — That Time MARVEL Actually Published My AVENGERS Story — in Full SIMPSONS Style. Click here. — THE ESCAPIST SERIAL That Should Have Been (Or, How I Was Once Mistaken For a Nazi). Click here. — Eisner winner BILL MORRISON has been working in comics and publishing since 1993 when he...