Slashdot Mirror
Berkely Breathed Interview
TrentC writes "Ever wonder what happened to Berke Breathed of Bloom County fame? Well, so did Scott Kurtz (creator of PvP) and Chris Jackson (creator of In2It). Kurtz put out a call for information as part of his 30th birthday wish list and managed to acquire a means of contacting Breathed. Breathed wasn't necessarily happy about being tracked down, but agreed to do the interview anyways.
The first part of the interview is currently running on the front page of the PvP site, and the second half of the interview is currently running on the front page of the In2It site." Not to sound like the Bloom County fanboy that I really am but Breathed is, IMHO, an amazing artist.
By far the best comic quote ever uttered, especially out of the mouth of a penguin.
Ed
For the longest time I was sure that illiad was Berke Breathed. The artistic styles often matched far too well, the style of the humor and stories so close.
Then I noticed the same thing with some other web comics. After a while I started picking up the same (Albeit same in a Calvin-knock-off-way) vibe from all the Bill Watterson-esque webcomics out there.
So I went back, reread my Bloom Country/Outland collected editons, and realized something.
Berke Breathed is one of the greatest daily comic creators ever. Far beyond of the tepid humor of Peanuts, flying up there in the glorious airspace shared by Gary Treadau, Billl Watterson, and Gary Larson. His work influenced comic creators in the best ways possible, and now he is honored with imitation.
There are some great cartoonists publishing primarily or exclusively for the Web. (Aside from User Friendly, I'm a big fan of Kevin and Kell and a lot of the Keenspot comics.)
Could we please have some Slashdot interviews with some of the folks behind these comics?
Stupid job ads, weird spam, occasional insight at
"Chris: Do you have any regrets about not drawing Bloom County any more? Do you miss it?
Breathed: If the world still read the comic page... and if they weren't the size of 2 stamps... I would still do it. But their days as a topic of national conversation are over I fear. There are a great many more distractions of a more visceral nature to compete with. Too small, too quiet."
This comment brought tears to my eyes. Berke used to make cracks about comics as a dying phenomenon in his strips. I remember a "Star Trek" parody involving the endlessy shrinking size of comics in particular. Another distinct memory is of the time Opus spent working as a cartoonist, calling himself a "stripper," and being treated as a wage slave to editors demanding gag-a-day humor slapped together in time for a deadline.
He is so right that people no longer read and discuss comics. I remember discussing Bloom County and Doonesbury as a child with friends and family, now the only way it comes up is when a buddy and I discuss a webcomic, or I have to explain all the perverse/obscense/obscure webcomics I stick up at work. I truly miss having conversations about politcal candidates who wear "Frederick's of Holywood peek-a-boo panties" (From Breathed's 1988 election coverage) or little Ronald-ann sticking it to Rotney Washington the crack dealer.
Now I bask in the glory of webcomics, creations of the purist love. Bound only by themselves, webcomics fill a void created by the American newspaper editors' misunderstanding of what may be the most important art form since mankind learned to write.
Hopefully Berke will see this, and maybe get stimulated to do work online.