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 (21) (Please sign in to comment)
capndunzzl said, 5 months ago
…Matt Decker and the U.S.S. Constellation.
dukedoug said, 5 months ago
@capndunzzl
More like Duck Dodgers in the 24-1/2 Century.
Paula R. Stiles
said, 5 months ago
How I loved the Starship Enterpoop adventures. They never got old.
Sisyphos said, 5 months ago
Luckily, cartoon characters can always (as Stephan Pastis puts it) un-die. Hurrah for Cutter John, the Starship Enterpoop, and its intrepid crew of spacey cadets!
bbadenov said, 5 months ago
@dukedoug
I claim this planet in the name of Mars … isn’t that lovely? Hmmmm?
D-squared said, 5 months ago
The Starship Enterpoop flies again!!!
D-squared said, 5 months ago
@bbadenov
“Where’s the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom!”
hariseldon59 said, 5 months ago
Must have fallen into a black hole.
Burnside217 said, 5 months ago
It’s always good to see Cutter John. One of my favorite characters in Bloom County.
Sir Osis of Liver said, 5 months ago
Ludicrous speed!!!
Troy Young said, 5 months ago
@Burnside217
Yep. He was one of my favorites, too.
twypsi said, 5 months ago
Good to see Cutter again. I look forward to his antics!
Omnius said, 5 months ago
Cutter survived, he called for the intoxicated nurse. Funny that the first panel shows us the official Olympic cartoon spoof, wasn’t that the Olympics held in the former Soviet Union (yes tea baggers there is no more Soviet Union) that the USA boycotted? Makes that even funnier.
Vonne Anton said, 5 months ago
I drive a star ship, too…in this universe.
dfrechet said, 5 months ago
He may not be able to walk, but at least he can fly…..