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)
Sisyphos said, 5 months ago
Oh, ohhh-oh ohh! HaPpY FoUrTh biRtHdAy, BILL the CAT!
Hero of a lost generation!
D-squared said, 5 months ago
Who let Portnoy in there?
Vonne Anton said, 5 months ago
Barry Manilow never looked so good and made so much sense!
masterskrain said, 5 months ago
I still have my original Stuffed Bill the Cat. He sits on a showcase top with my stuffed Opus in his lap!
Penny Robinson Fan Club said, 5 months ago
@D-squared
Complaint?
dbig 1oohh said, 5 months ago
@Vonne Anton
Barry Manilow and sense is as much a contradiction in terms as Military Intelligence.
Night-Gaunt49 said, 5 months ago
Elvis’ BD today.
Black4dder said, 5 months ago
I gotta believe that when Phoebe from Friends sang her greatest hit, ‘Smelly Cat’, it was inspired by Bill.
Caldonia
said, 5 months ago
@Vonne Anton
That is hilarious!
BTW, Bloom County was the wittiest, most inventive strip ever. Even the walk-on characters were absurd!
AmyGrantfan51774 said, 5 months ago
I joined Go Comics yesterday this is my first comment on Bloom County started reading it last year after someone mentioned it in a letter in TV Guide Bill the Cat is funny isn’t he????…I thought he was