Bloom County, a 1980s cartoon-comic strip that dealt with socio-political issues as seen through the eyes of highly exaggerated characters (e.g. Bill the Cat and Opus the Penguin) and humorous analogies.
Creator Berkeley Breathed's first regularly published strip, Academia Waltz, appeared in the Daily Texan in 1978. The strip attracted notice from the editors of the Washington Post who recruited him to do a nationally syndicated strip. On December 8, 1980, Bloom County made its debut and featured some of the characters from Academia Waltz, including former frat-boy Steve Dallas and the paraplegic Vietnam War veteran Cutter John.
Bloom County earned Berkeley the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1987. The strip eventually appeared in over 1,200 newspapers around the world until he retired the daily strip in 1989, stating, "A good comic strip is no more eternal than a ripe melon. The ugly truth is that in most cases, comics age less gracefully than their creators". The comic continues in recirculation on GoComics!
© Berkeley Breathed - All Rights Reserved.
Bliss by Harry Bliss
Bo Nanas by John Kovaleski
Comments (10) (Please sign in to comment)
cleokaya (THE FLASH)
said, about 4 years ago
Payback, MoFo!
ejcapulet said, about 4 years ago
Serves you right, ya creep!
Orgelspieler said, about 4 years ago
Milo’s awful strong for a kid his age, isn’t he?
jrbj said, about 4 years ago
While I have a physical disability, I am in no way “handicapped”, nor am I “crippled” thank you very much. But I do get the point of the cartoon that a large number of the population are totally rude and uncaring where disabled people are concerned. People without a disability parking in a designated disabled parking space is one of my pet peeves. I’ll call for the services of a police officer whenever I see someone doing that. On the other hand, there is not much I can do when people push me out of their way, or run into me with a grocery cart or large, wheeled luggage etc. And if I should drop something, you’d be amazed at the number of people who would rather die a slow painful death rather then help me pick up the dropped object. You know, most of us who are disabled aren’t really asking for “special” treatment, but we’d really appreciate a little consideration and respect.
Orgelspieler said, about 4 years ago
@ jrbj - Be patient, we’ll get there eventually. Common politeness started dying in the 70s, and then got a bad rap during the 80s and 90s, when there was a lot of really poor “sensitivity training” going on. At its worst, it gave people the idea that to hold a door open, help pick up spilled packages, etc. was not actually polite, but could instead be construed as an insult (or worse) by the female, or disabled person, or senior citizen.
And then the people who got out of those old habits of common politeness all went and had kids. This might take a while to correct.
cleokaya (THE FLASH)
said, about 4 years ago
I always try to be courteous when dealing with people; holding doors, waiting in traffic so another person can complete a turn, offering to help a person carry a heavy load, etc. I had a pleasant surprise recently, as I was lamenting the rudeness of teenagers. A young man, with a shocking green mohawk and piercings, opened a door to enter a store ahead of me then stepped aside and held the door for me. As I thanked him he replied “You’re welcome sir.” He made my day.
massha said, about 4 years ago
jrbj - Roger has a point. My own silly cousin came home fuming a few years ago, absolutely livid - this man on the street terribly, terribly insulted her “for being a woman.” The details of the terrible offense? - why, the lout offered to help her carry her heavy duffel bag! I bet you after having her give him a piece of her mind, the genteleman thinks twice about offering assistance to people! (talk about ruining it for everybody…)
ForeverAllstar said, about 4 years ago
I love holding doors open for guys nine times out of ten it makes them smile and they always act surprised when I do it too. (I’m a girl if you did not already guess)
Coffee-Turtle said, about 4 years ago
jrbj… this strip was from the early 80’s. we didn’t know better back then. no political correctness issues either. There are a lot of Steve Dallas’s in the world. (well, this incarnation of Steve).
RinaFarina said, about 4 years ago
I don’t understand. How did sensitivity training teach people NOT to be polite? I would have thought that being sensitive to others’ feelings, situations, etc. would make a person MORE likely to help by holding the door open.
SIGH…