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 (9) (Please sign in to comment)
Sisyphos said, 7 months ago
Yay, Opus! THPPFT, Milo!
Pigman said, 7 months ago
“thppft” indeed.
einarbt7 said, 7 months ago
Good for you Opus, I second that “thppft”.
Kneejrk said, 7 months ago
What is that under his right arm/wing?
WebSmith said, 7 months ago
Under his wing, Opus is holding his helmet that we wears when flying with Cutter John on the “Enterpoop” wheelchair.
Craig Linder
said, 7 months ago
@Kneejrk
I think it’s an inflatable rubber duckie.
Strod said, 7 months ago
Today’s strip corresponds to Wednesday, July 22, 1987. The strips for July 23, 24 and 25 are missing from the archives.
Does anyone recall what the strips may be about and maybe shed a light on why we seem to be missing them?
Black4dder said, 7 months ago
I know this sequence appears in Classics of Western Literature: Bloom County 1986-1989.
susanwobb said, 7 months ago
They can’t just “cancel” someone’s lease! He has to have violated it somehow. “Eschew Penguin Lust” is a clause in there? I doubt it! Sue ’em, Penguin!