After all, moguls like Steven Spielberg and stars like Robin Williams have made careers out of their creepy clingings-on to childhood. But it's especially bad for the cartoonist. Look at any animator's cubicle and you'll find a stash of toys and collectibles that most adults would find embarassing to own. Since most children who grow up to be cartoonists were the misfit, geeky, put-upon kids, their actions as adults are usually directed as acts of revenge against a culture and a society that devalues and dehumanizes them. That is why a lot of modern cartoons have a lot of anger and humiliation in them.
Cartoonists are about one step away from turning into Columbine kids.
Groening, who have earned millions of dollars, won various awards, and have come to enjoy the trappings of celebrity, are the exceptions to the rule. Like the intercontinental railroad of the 18th century, the toons your kids enjoy today was built on the blood and backbreaking labor of disposable people. It's been a ruin of many a poor boy. And god, I know, I'm one.