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'Bloom County 2015': Berkeley Breathed Revives Comic Strip
NPR ^ | 7/13/2015

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!"


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; US: Iowa
KEYWORDS: berkebreathed; berkeleybreathed; bloomcounty; comicstrips; opus; stevedallas
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To: Salamander

I bought an autographed lithograph of this off of his website. Hand drawn Bill the Cat on it as well. Money well spent.


41 posted on 07/13/2015 4:34:42 PM PDT by rednesss (fascism is the union,marriage,merger or fusion of corporate economic power with governmental power)
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To: longfellow
GoComics and ArcaMax are my go-to sites for daily funnies- they have the classics that are still good such as BC, Hagar the Horrible, Wizard of Id, Andy Capp. Also recommended if you enjoyed Far Side is The Argyle Sweater.
42 posted on 07/13/2015 4:38:06 PM PDT by Squawk 8888 (Will steal your comments & post them on Twitter)
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To: EveningStar

He leans Left. His characters are great. I for one and excited he is returning.


43 posted on 07/13/2015 4:39:45 PM PDT by cornfedcowboy
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To: Redbob
"an ultralight boating accident...

During which he lost all his guns!


44 posted on 07/13/2015 4:39:49 PM PDT by Kartographer ("We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.")
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To: Squawk 8888

Excellent, thanks. I just checked amazon, no Shoe books in a long time.


45 posted on 07/13/2015 4:40:07 PM PDT by longfellow (Bill Maher, the 21st hijacker.)
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46 posted on 07/13/2015 4:41:16 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: Anitius Severinus Boethius

I agree I even have a stuffed Opus in my den. His work done for the movie ‘Secondhand Lions’ was even good. One of my favorite books of my youngest Daughter was ‘A wish for Wings that Worked’.


47 posted on 07/13/2015 4:41:56 PM PDT by Kartographer ("We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.")
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To: iowamark

Meh. Call me when “Calvin and Hobbes” comes back.

CC


48 posted on 07/13/2015 4:42:25 PM PDT by Celtic Conservative (Sufficient unto the day are the troubles therof)
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To: iowamark

I still have my copy of Penguin Dreams And Stranger Things.

I love Bloom County!!

Truly inspired comedy!


49 posted on 07/13/2015 4:42:47 PM PDT by StormPrepper
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To: iowamark

Meh. Call me when “Calvin and Hobbes” comes back.

CC


50 posted on 07/13/2015 4:43:17 PM PDT by Celtic Conservative (Sufficient unto the day are the troubles therof)
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To: EveningStar

I think that Berke was personally liberal but he often made fun of the Left.


51 posted on 07/13/2015 4:48:41 PM PDT by iowamark (I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy)
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To: DemforBush

Watterson did some “guest” work last year, you know. I wonder if he’s toying with the idea of making a comeback?


52 posted on 07/13/2015 4:50:02 PM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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To: SkyDancer

I imagine you have seen the Opus Christmas special; “A Wish for Wings that Work”. It’s a GREAT one. Was only on for one year and we got it on video. It’s on youtube now. We would watch it with the kids every year. Didn’t seem to disturb them too much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLccxrDgi5U

Dear Santa:

I have wings that don’t work - I prefer to blame Congress.


53 posted on 07/13/2015 4:53:23 PM PDT by 21twelve (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185147/posts It is happening again.)
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To: Kartographer

See my post 53 about the movie from the book.


54 posted on 07/13/2015 4:54:57 PM PDT by 21twelve (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185147/posts It is happening again.)
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To: 21twelve

I cut this out of the Sunday paper and it has been pinned to the wall next to my computer ever since as a reminder!
55 posted on 07/13/2015 4:57:14 PM PDT by Kartographer ("We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.")
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To: DemforBush; Celtic Conservative
For your consideration - Go check out Pearls Before Swine on the Yahoo comics section.

Stephan Pastis, author of PBS reached out to Bill W. and asked him if he would contribute.

Bill did a guest appearance on the PBS strip, and you can totally tell by the artistry.

Not much, but it's a taste, and very coolly done.

56 posted on 07/13/2015 5:15:31 PM PDT by onona (Obama's entire term reads like a John Semmens post.)
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To: iowamark
My favorites were after Pat Oliphant got his knickers all in a twist about Bloom County willing a Pulitzer Prize and claimed that Breathed stole his itty bitty penguin.

Berkley belittled him unmercifully in his strips.

57 posted on 07/13/2015 5:27:54 PM PDT by OSHA (One despises and wants to destroy the United States, the other is a dead terrorist.)
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To: iowamark

Ok, so let me get this straight:

We’ve got an election where Cliton is running against Bush
We’ve got warnings about an ice age coming
Russia is saber rattling again
And now Bloom County?

Tell me time travel is not possible.


58 posted on 07/13/2015 5:30:51 PM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: iowamark

59 posted on 07/13/2015 5:31:07 PM PDT by CtBigPat (Free Republic - The grown-ups table of the internet.)
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To: EveningStar; SaveFerris; Salamander

60 posted on 07/13/2015 5:32:03 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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