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 (22) (Please sign in to comment)
Brian K
said, 7 months ago
I wish it was 1984 again
simpsonfan2 said, 7 months ago
If not for Chappaquidik, who knows what he could have done.
capnLaz
said, 7 months ago
It took him YEARS to get over that!
Tandembuzz said, 7 months ago
I don’t recall him EVER getting over that in some peoples’ minds.
Sisyphos said, 7 months ago
Unpleasant dreams!
NebulousRikulau
said, 7 months ago
Politics was so simple and CLEAN back then.
sigh
K.C. Fahel said, 7 months ago
1984…sigh
Vlad Taltos said, 7 months ago
@Tandembuzz
Yes, well, it’s hard to accuse your opponent of a war on women when YOU’RE the one who’s actually killed any.
sdebarr said, 7 months ago
@Tandembuzz
His passenger never got over it either
brickster said, 7 months ago
Rosebud……
hariseldon59 said, 7 months ago
I love the Bill the Cat lamp shade.
Lee-Anne Griffin said, 7 months ago
@NebulousRikulau
Sarcasm I assume? Politics have ALWAYS been horrible. It is just we forget. If you think they are bad now, study elections of the 19th century. They make today’s politics look like a polite party.
Rainfoot said, 7 months ago
Given the war on freedom, women, and the world. It is 1984.
Omnius said, 7 months ago
I’m glad it isn’t 1984 again, no stinking Ronny Raygunz as president jacking up our national debt to make himself look good.
elbeck said, 7 months ago
Oh yes, the good ol’ 80s, when the crooks in Congress had inhabited the revered dome of DC for three decades instead of one term and, hand in hand with the Reagan administration, laid the groundwork for the offshoring of jobs.
God, I miss those days. There was a scent of economic dismemberment in the air, creative destruction.
(And I want a Bill the Cat lamp,too.)