Posted on 07/13/2015 3:55:50 PM PDT by iowamark
Fans of the well-loved comic strip Bloom County are celebrating this morning, after cartoonist Berkeley Breathed issued the first panels of his satirical strip in decades.
Breathed won a Pulitzer Prize for his work on Bloom County back in 1987; two years later, he quit producing it. On Sunday, he posted a photo of himself to Facebook in which he sat in front of a computer screen with an empty cartoon template titled Bloom County 2015.
"A return after 25 years. Feels like going home," he wrote.
And on Monday, one of Breathed's central characters, Opus, awoke from his long slumber with a question:
"That was some nap!! How long was I out, Milo?" "25 years."
Breathed released the new strip via Facebook. The most popular comment on his post seems to sum up many fans' response: "And suddenly the world is back in alignment. Thank you Sir."
Fans of Bloom County had been anticipating the strip's return — particularly after Breathed responded to a commenter's request for new material last week by writing, "Watch this space."
The strip's return promises to reunite readers with Opus, Bill the Cat and other characters that were previously seen just in Breathed's two Sunday-only strips, Outland (1989-1995) and Opus (2003-2008). They're likely to have plenty to talk about: Bloom County, whose small-town characters often found absurdity in America's cultural and political life, returns as the country heads into a new presidential election season.
It's unclear whether Breathed will syndicate his new work in newspapers; he recently recalled how an editorial dispute with a publisher had a direct role in his decision to quit cartooning in 2008. His Facebook postings, Breathed said earlier this month, are "nicely out of reach of nervous newspaper editors, the PC humor police now rampant across the web ... and ISIS."
When Bloom County went idle in 1989, it was one of several clever and inventive comic strips, such as Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side, that were beloved by fans and yet were also comparatively short-lived. Today, devoted fans are treating its return as a small miracle.
"As every day there's some part of my childhood dying off, this morning I awoke to see one part be brought back to life," a reader named John Lowry wrote on Facebook. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart Mr. Breathed, you made my day!"
This claims he broke his back, not his neck as I heard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Breathed#Personal_life
And then a boating accident as well.
Bill looks good!
Life is better with a little Steve Dallas in it.
I thought it was a sail plane thingie where he got hurt.
SHOE was one of the best strips and a personal favorite but are the two guys still doing it after McNelly death? I believe they took it over after the second year.
Oliver Wendell Jones was my favorite character.
Apparently, a lot of other FReepers kept the same comic saved. :D
Wiki says he had both accidents, and almost lost an arm in the boat one.
Poor Bill.
He had Donald Trump’s brain transplanted into his head when an anchor was dropped on Trump.
Hilarity ensued!
I liked Bloom County okay. Breathed could be achingly funny, though he could also get under my skin with some of his political stuff. I’ll give the comeback strip a chance.
Truth be told, though, I’d have been a lot more excited if the story was about Bill Watterson bringing back Calvin and Hobbes...
I liked Bloom County okay. Breathed could be achingly funny, though he could also get under my skin with some of his political stuff. I’ll give the comeback strip a chance.
Truth be told, though, I’d have been a lot more excited if the story was about Bill Watterson bringing back Calvin and Hobbes...
Glad to see him back. I have a stuffed Bill the cat I’ve always carried with me when I fly. It’s my right seat good luck charm. My uncle gave it to me when I first started to fly.
My uncle gave me a Bill the cat stuff toy when I first started to fly. It’s been my right seat mate all the time. People who later flew with me would look at it then me then at it again wondering......
THANKS! I don’t remember the last time the put a compilation book together.
Henry Payne and Gary Varvel are also good.
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