Posted on 07/14/2015 6:28:16 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
SEVEN YEARS AGO, Berkeley Breathed, trim and grinning, sat in the D.C. offices of his then-syndicate, the Washington Post Writers Group, and shared old stories and well-remembered personal anecdotes. I listened to him speak with a kinetic quickness; he was charismatic, a bit rushed and more than a bit restless. He recounted a nautical accident, and I couldn’t help but think: This sounds like a man ready to tack toward a new direction.
Within months that year, Breathed announced he was ending his comic strip “Opus.” The beloved penguin of three decades would apparently flap his flightless wings no more.
“I drew the last image ever of Opus at midnight while Puccini was playing and I got rather stupid,” Breathed told me at the time of the penguin’s farewell ‘toon. “Thirty years. A bit like saying goodbye to a child — which is ironic because I was never, never sentimental about him as many of his fans were. I think ‘Madama Butterfly’ pushed me over the top, though. He suddenly seemed alive, really. Rare for me.”
Then suddenly, on Sunday, Breathed teased (via Facebook) the return of Opus. I, like most all Opus fans, raised an intrigued eyebrow of hope. Then yesterday, we were rewarded: Breathed posted a full strip of an awakened Opus who had Rip Van Winkle’d his way through a quarter-century and now was freshly aroused. The slumbering waterfowl had returned … to a Milo puberty joke.
Yes, “Bloom County,” the Pulitzer-winning ’80s strip that once attracted tens of millions of daily readers on the still-mighty wings of the Reagan-era newspaper syndication model, was back. And still frisky, at that.
So just what fresh burst of creativity had hatched this little beauty?
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I’ve got a full bound set of Calvin & Hobbes. I miss that strip, Watterson made me laugh almost every day. I’m slowly making my way back through it.
That just reminded me that somewhere I have a VHS tape of A Wish For Wings That Work
My wife bought me large stuffed Bill the Cat and Opus dolls. Still today they reside on the top of one of my bookcases in my office looking down on me as I type this reply.
Let us now get Calvin and Hobbes back and I will be even more delighted.
Hey, you’re missing out on an opus thread :o)
“Broads, bucks and Buicks!”
Breathed and lawyer wannabe Steve helped me overcome my embarrassment while recuperating from the shame of being a former fatuous/vapid Doonesbury fan.
Billy and the Boingers - “I’m A Boinger”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNKCPk1tl9Q
Billy and the Boingers - U Stink But I Love U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odUt-lDH85k
I am over joyed. One of the funniest and sharpest comic strips ever. It will be interesting to see where this all goes
You ever notice that he looks like Obama?
Bill’s ears aren’t nearly big enough.
It’s sad because today it would be conservatives.
THAT ONE was always my favorite Bloom County - how I wish it still applied...
Follow the money.
Need Calvin and Hobbs and The Far Side back. Let’s go Waterston and Larson! You all had enough free time, get with it!
this gives the flavor of fearless Calvin, not deterred by the burdensome fears of Mom
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