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)
Kosaka Jinnai said, 5 months ago
WOOOHAHAHAHA! How I missed this one of Opus learning how to speak English through Mr. Rogers, and all of its subtleties!
Sisyphos said, 5 months ago
Opus, cutting through the jabber and being cynical about Dick Clark (who lasted another twenty or so years). I did not watch Mr. Rogers, however—never.
K.C. Fahel said, 5 months ago
RIP, Mr. Clark. This New Year’s Eve won’t be the same without you. :(
skeeterhawk said, 5 months ago
Well! How dare BB suggest such a thing about DC!
In my ‘BC’ book, Opus is watching ‘Mr. Rogers Neighborhood’ (probably the same drawings) and a politician is on. He says the man is a public servant. “Can you say ‘public servant’?” Opus says, “Bozo.” “Very good, boys and girls.”
neatslob said, 5 months ago
@skeeterhawk
Opus has watched Mr. Rogers for language lessons at least a few times. I remember three specifically, including this one.
neatslob said, 5 months ago
@K.C. Fahel
But according to the Mayans, we wouldn’t be needing Mr. Clark’s services this year anyway.
masterskrain said, 5 months ago
@skeeterhawk
Opus was a huge fan of Mr. Rogers. He watched him all the time!
If you go through all 5 volumes of the complete Bloom County, you will see what I mean.
saywhatwhat said, 5 months ago
@neatslob
Don’t worry about that Mayan calendar thing. I have three calendars that all last longer. One goes to December 24 (it has cute little doors for each day). The other one goes to the end of the year and the last one takes up where that one leaves off.
saywhatwhat said, 5 months ago
By the way, I think Mr. Rogers was under rated.
hariseldon59 said, 5 months ago
@neatslob
No, not according to the Mayans. According to loonies who have misinterpreted the whole Mayan calendar thing.
el_flesh said, 5 months ago
OK Opus. Can you say “Teen- BOPPING”? It also keeps Mr. Clark feeling the young!
Vonne Anton said, 5 months ago
Hey, boys and girls, can you say “Dick Clark and Mr. Rogers together”?
-
“Creepy.”
Tacopielvr said, 5 months ago
Nancy seems to be listening too!
Tacopielvr said, 5 months ago
@K.C. Fahel
Dick died?
vwdualnomand said, 5 months ago
britain had their version of dick clark, his named was jimmy saville. who we later learned after he died that he was a pedophile who liked underage girls. and, there were rumors, but he was connected to the royal family, pm, police, conservative party, ozzie murdock, that no one investigated him. sad thing was he was knighted by the queen and the pope for his charity work.