Bart Simpson is the little hell-raising son of Homer and Marge Simpson. He's in the fourth grade, and he's the scourge of his teacher, Edna Krabapple, and Springfield Elementary School's principal, Seymour Skinner.

Bart's dog, Santa's Little Helper, has gotten them into a few scrapes. Once, he needed a stomach operation, and as a result, Marge lost the lottery, Maggie had to wear a Crown Royal bag as a dress, Lisa had to give up the saxophone, Homer had to give up beer, and Bart had to get a bad haircut. Everyone was mad at him, so he ran away and became one of Mr. Burns' attack dogs. But Bart found him and everything was happy.

Another time, Bart gave him away in exchange for Laddie, a wonderdog. But he changed his mind and went looking for Santa's Little Helper. Groundskeeper Willie had him for a while, and when Bart asked him where the dog was, he replied, "I ate him!" Bart gasped. "I 'ate the way 'e looks, an' I 'ate the way 'e smells! 'e made a mess on the floor an' I 'ate that, too! Ye hearrrrd me!" But Santa's Little Helper and Bart were happily reconciled, and they've been together ever since.

He and Homer have their tensions. I remember in the first episode of the Simpsons that I ever saw, Bart switched his standardized test with Martin's, and got into a gifted school. Homer took him out to all these places and played with him and spent all kinds of quality time with him. After Homer found out that he wasn't really gifted, he chased him through the house and tried to strangle him. But when all is said and done, Homer really loves Bart. Marge calls him her "special little guy." Ain't that sweet, folks?

Bart was one of the first Simpsons characters to be found "cool" by the masses. He coined such phrases as "Ay, caramba!" and "Don't have a cow, man." Personally, my favorite is Homer, but lots of people love Bart as well.

Bart is a classic Simpson's character, and he'll be around for a long time. So I'll dig up more on him later.

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