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 (20) (Please sign in to comment)
thebird55 said, 2 months ago
Opus has left the meadow.
exoticdoc2 said, 2 months ago
That performance went right down the tuba.
nazzofoggenmach said, 2 months ago
refreshing! usually it’s the guitar player ya gotta mug.
thebird55 said, 2 months ago
@nazzofoggenmach
That’s what I’m countin’ on. Nothin’ yet.
Paula R. Stiles
said, 2 months ago
Sometimes, you just gotta suffer for your art.
Sisyphos said, 2 months ago
It’s so hard to find Lavoris mouthwash (with that zesty cinnamon flavor) nowadays; I don’t know if it’s even made anymore.
But everyone loves a tuba virtuoso!
Stray9999 said, 2 months ago
Definitely a Magnum Opus.
Thirdguy said, 2 months ago
He shoulda been in 8 mile. He could have given M&M a run for his money!
blackash said, 2 months ago
The narrative spoken in hushed golf match announcer tones.
djc928 said, 2 months ago
@Sisyphos
mail order or at Dollar Tree!
hariseldon59 said, 2 months ago
Bit of trivia: Marie Osmond divorced her first husband in 1985, then remarried him in 2011.
Sir Osis of Liver said, 2 months ago
The fourth movement of this Mozart masterpiece involves a collective drum performance, using a penguin as the drum.
Omnius said, 2 months ago
Opus is a perfect metaphor for what’s wrong with the republican party, totally off pitch with the rest of reality-based life.
mtc3999 said, 2 months ago
A compliment to tuba players everywhere…
goprendek said, 2 months ago
marie osmond is still a hot piece of …… yowza!