'Simpsons' Cartoonist Busy, Happy

LOS ANGELES (AP) â€” Before ``The Simpsons'' came ``Life in Hell'' for Matt Groening. <br><br>The 46-year-old cartoonist says he created the ``Life in Hell'' weekly comic strip

Monday, December 4th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) â€” Before ``The Simpsons'' came ``Life in Hell'' for Matt Groening.

The 46-year-old cartoonist says he created the ``Life in Hell'' weekly comic strip in 1977 to vent his frustrations about living in Los Angeles.

``When I moved to Los Angeles, I thought it was horrible,'' Groening said.

Now, Groening says he's busier and happier than ever.

``I think this is a great town. There are fantastic restaurants and bookstores,'' he said.

In addition to running a comic book publishing company and producing the third season of ``Futurama,'' he still draws ``Life in Hell,'' whose caustic rabbits inspired some of the characters on ``The Simpsons.''

Groening says he does so because he feels in complete control of the strip.

``Because these enterprises have gotten so big, a lot of the fun stuff gets taken away from me and I end up sitting in really boring meetings about budgets and scheduling,'' he said. ``It's fun to go home or to my studio, sit down with a blank sheet of paper and draw a cartoon all by myself.''