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 (32) (Please sign in to comment)
simpsonfan2 said, 4 months ago
And this was back in the days before a zillion cable channels.
kittenpah said, 4 months ago
Oh, man. I know some guys that would be really up for an all ping pong channel.
Sisyphos said, 4 months ago
Heheheh. I might watch the ping-pong channel for a while. But ultimately, I’m with Opus in his daring counter-culture action!
NebulousRikulau
said, 4 months ago
But I LIKED Manimal…
A SAINT said, 4 months ago
900 channels and nothing is on.
James
said, 4 months ago
Oh it gets worse Opus…much worse.
Meg Locklear said, 4 months ago
@simpsonfan2
and still nothing to watch
bpullin said, 4 months ago
One of the main reasons we got rid of the cable. Crap on tv, and paying way too much. Everything we like to watch is available online anyway.
K.C. Fahel said, 4 months ago
What would Opus think of “Jersey Shore” and “Real Housewives”?
masterskrain said, 4 months ago
And you wonder why I’m perfectly content not having Television reception, OR cable availability where I live…
masterskrain said, 4 months ago
@K.C. Fahel
That may be the first time anyone has ever used the words “Think” and “Jersey Shore and Real Housewives” in the same sentence!
TiggerLeBounce said, 4 months ago
Good for Opus!
Sir Osis of Liver said, 4 months ago
When we see a being as gentle as Opus perform mercy killing, we know that the pain and suffering must have been unbearable.
L Carter said, 4 months ago
“Blow up your tv…”
Tetonbil said, 4 months ago
“Throw away your paper….”