Absolutely hysterical cartoons about bosses & work in a big 12x12 format.

This early book by Groening was published with his then-girlfriend (and co-worker at the Reader), Deborah Caplan. The copyright page reads "'Work is Hell' is published by Deborah Caplan and Associates for Life in Hell." and "First Printing December 1985. Yay!"

The back cover features a house ad for other Life in Hell merchandise, full of Groening's witty, acerbic copy.

It was later re-issued in a smaller 9x9-inch format by Pantheon.

Long out of print, this big self-published edition exudes a lovely Great Pumpkin-esque sincerity.

Life in Hell ran from 1977-2012, in the LA Reader, then the LA Weekly, as well as other papers.

From Wikipedia:

Groening said that Life in Hell was "Matt Groening pure and simple," and explained that the strips were often weird or entirely different every week because of however he was feeling at the time of a strip's creation.

In November 1984, Groening's then-girlfriend (and co-worker at the Reader), Deborah Caplan, decided to publish a compilation of Groening's cartoons as a book entitled "Love is Hell". The book was an underground success, selling 22,000 copies in its first two printings.