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 (12) (Please sign in to comment)
rayannina said, 5 months ago
28 years after this strip first saw the light, and Mondale is STILL waiting …
Clotty Peristalt said, 5 months ago
Jesse’s oratorical style always made me laugh, but then I’m highly allergic to preachers and Southern preachers in particular. What a buffoon.
bpullin said, 5 months ago
I’m just allergic to whore-mongering, race-baiters.
Vonne Anton said, 5 months ago
Portnoy (?) came in for a nap, got a workout instead.
SwimsWithSharks
said, 5 months ago
@rayannina
28 years after this strip first saw the light, and Mondale is STILL waiting …
Keep hope alive.
bhinkle said, 5 months ago
Oratorical flair “covers” a number of flaws, such as bias and racism. Such a mean, small, hateful man, Rev JJ.
Hook-nosed bagel eaters indeed.
‘Course he can’t help it – hate and racism is a part of his culture, and we have to respect the cultural diversity.
elbeck said, 5 months ago
Jesse & Jesse, i.e., Jesse Helms and Jesse Jackson. I never understood why those two never ran together on a ticket. It would have made for great political theater, and that’s all we’re left with today.
Teresa said, 5 months ago
@bhinkle
Course he can’t help it – hate and racism is a part of his culture, and we have to respect the cultural diversity.
Cultural diversity, yes. Hate mongering? Hypocracy? No and No!
Olongapojoe
said, 5 months ago
God this is dated, Jesse’s supporters have shrunken so much, that today Oliver Wendell Jones would be a Republican.
Night-Gaunt49 said, 5 months ago
@bhinkle
No we don’t have to respect all aspects of any culture. Especially those who are violent, racist, sexist etc.
Night-Gaunt49 said, 5 months ago
@Olongapojoe
No Oiver wouldn’t be unless he believed Ayn Rand and R.J.Rushdoony.
sdebarr said, 5 months ago
is Mondale still alive?