Bloom County 2019 by Berkeley Breathed for October 28, 2017

Will Breathed be making a habit of this? (rimshot)

Was BB inspired by the picture of the naked man on every pack of Camels cigarettes?

I wonder if today’s (really about 7-10 days before) artwork is drawn from the same 19th century artist as yesterday’s? Perhaps a little tribute by the author to someone whose work he enjoyed as a young man.

I particularly like the dog. Took a moment to get it.

Resembles the villainess in “The Little Mermaid”.

Do I see Gary Larsen peeking from the window?

Perhaps The Actress and the Bishop(s)?

I guess I started something….

I’m pretty sure this is all Berkeley Breathed….

When I searched, a Russian artist was suggested.

His style was similar but I found no work that looked like this.

Breathed is quite a fine artist on his own… that painting probably just had an antique quality he wanted to use.

It’s NOT Paul Knight again… the style, and I believe even the medium, are different…

and this is more modern.

Some people seemed to think I meant Breathed copied the painting yesterday….

but no one could do every brush stroke and have it come out identical.

The technique involves taking an actual print, or, probably, a digital image….

and using a program like Photoshop to draw or “paint” over it, or paste in bits of other images.

The Opus plush, liquor bottle, etc, could be drawn right onto the print, or be snippets of his own or found images, even photos, cut and pasted in.

The better you are at it, the less detectable the combining.

I’m just tuned into noticing because I’ve done it myself, when we could post pictures on GoComics.

I’m no Berk Breathed, and I only have MS. Paint… but among other things, I’ve cobbled together dozens of birthday cakes on Ballard Street….

pasting together parts of photos of cakes, maybe a cake stand, candles, etc into one image… and sometimes it’s hard to tell.

My friend StelBel right now creates very funny posters and other images,

turning movie posters and the like into vehicles for basset hound stars…

almost every Tuesday and Thursday on the daily Sherpa strip, “Cleo and Company,”

where she also collaborates with the cartoonist, Nighthawks.

http://www.comicssherpa.com/site/feature?uc_comic=cscwy

(There’s your plug for the week, NH…. LOL)

BTW I always thought that was a naked lady on the Camels.

Reminds me a bit of Felicien Rops’ “Pornocrates”, but in reverse.

I thought that was Rosebud at first glance, then I saw the markings! Very interesting, Berkeley…

I’m reminded of Larson’s classic The Far Side cartoon of the target right on the chest: “Bummer of a birthmark, Hal…”

There is so much to analyse here: is the image on the dog her alter ego, like Rose? Why are people (bishops? cardinals?) staring at her from the church? Why does she look like her dog? Do nuns own dogs?

Suitable for framing! This is neat!

Keep it up, BB!

I believe he’s channeling Edward M Gorey.

I’ll repeat this comment, so it won’t be buried in the replies. Upon reflection, I believe I see Berkeley’s theme: He is pushing for a second reformation in the Catholic Church (God bless ’em) and he wants Opus to lead it (thanks Jack, I missed it). The Church establishment, in the window, is threatened by societal pressure to allow women into the clergy, at all levels, and to end the requirement for celibacy in the priesthood. The latter would probably solve the problem of sexual predators in the priesthood (google hits at 219,000) as a life of celibacy would certainly make me crazy. Any thoughts?

Ok. I’ll admit it. I don’t get it.

Anyone notice the not so subtle resemblance between the dog and the owner?

This is an illustration from Brethed’s 2003 book, "Flawed Dogs: The Year-End Leftovers at the Piddleton “Last Chance” Dog Pound" about dogs given up by their owners for trivial reasons. The caption for this illustration is: “Rollo: Sister Sue was slow to see/The spots on gentle Rollo./But after Bishop noticed he,/Sister strolled on solo.” The wonderful summing up at the end of the book is: So in this world/Of the simple and odd,/The bent and the plain,/The unbalanced bod,/The imperfect people/And differently pawed,/Some live without love…/That’s how they’re flawed.

And now I have “Those Poor Unfortunate Souls” from Disney’s Little Mermaid singing in my head.

Seems few are mentioning the big busted cocktail singer cleverly designed into the dogs fur. Tail is the singers left arm and hand.

I guess the Bishops ran out of altar boys…

I knew that nun looked familiar…….Sister Francis from the eighth grade.

This comic might be in response to a recent article concerning a Japanese student that was ordered by his (US) school to die his hair to hide a picture/symbol that he had cut into his hair.

Rollo’s florid artiste is not much like Sister Sue; for that matter, “Sister Sue” is not much like Sister Sue. And the ranking clergy peering out the rectory (?) window probably have never seen such a dog before (nor, I dare say, have the rest of us).

So, as I see it, it’s just a banal everyday street scene, fraught with existential angst….

And the Dragoncat Award for Best LMAO goes to Berkeley Breathed!

Brilliantly done! Really makes me question that dog’s “breeding”…

From Berkeley Breathed’s Bloom County on Facebook: “Rollo”, our own early entry from BB himself for Bloom County’s Best-in-Show award during Flawed Dog Week. As BB put it so poetically: “Sister Rollo was slow to see, the spots on gentle Rollo. But after Bishop noticed he, Sister strolled on solo.”