Return Of Bloom County. Sorta

Slartibartfast writes "According to mycomicspage.com, the entirety of Bloom County will be re-published on their site, starting St. Paddy's day, and at a "highly accelerated" rate of one week every two days, until the entire strip is up. In addition -- an extra-special bonus for us Berke Breathed fans -- his college predecessor, Academic Waltz, will also be run. One caveat: it's subscription-based. However, for $10, I'd call it a huge bargain. I'm signing up."

Comments

Offensive

[Graspee_Leemoor]

Isn't "St. Paddy's day" a bit offensive???

graspee

Re:Offensive

[Anonymous Coward]

And just how is finding fault with the text of the story offtopic and a troll? Fuckwit moderators.

Target demographic: 28-38

[Matey-O]

Or anybody that had any interest in current events in the 80's. I hope it aged well.

(I still remember the critters and Steve D on the wheelchair running from the AT&T deathstar logo on a billboard)

I think a 'buncha younguns(tm)' will miss out on the political satire.

Now, do this with Calivn and Hobbes!

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[RLiegh]

Strictly IMHO, but I believe that it's probably aged a lot better than other 'classic' comics (doonesbury comes to mind).

It's more dated than, say, 'peanuts'; but the quality is also better too. (again, IMHO).

I completely agree, however, that Calvin and Hobbes would be an even better choice.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[Finni]

Cutter John was in the wheelchair (typically playing the role of Captain Kirk), NOT Steve Dallas, who typically had little patience for that kind of play. Especially when they removed his transmission from his 'vette. . .

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[schon]

Now, do this with Calivn and Hobbes!

already done. Except that you can view some for free.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[Angry White Guy]

Actually, you can view them all for free. Their image directory is not protected, you can wget the whole damned thing if you know the naming convention, and it's not difficult to figure out(it's something like CH + YYYY + MM + DD.gif). A perl script and some time you'd have the whole thing in an hour.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[eXtro]

Calvin and Hobbes is already online, it's free, but you're restricted in how far back from "today's" comic you can see. You can become a subscriber and get full access though for 10 bucks per year. This doesn't cover only Calvin and Hobbes, it covers around 1000 other comic strips.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[sammy baby]

Tee hee.

"Not to say that we didn't try..."

Ah, Milo. How I've missed you & your friends.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[slothdog]

Er, did you actually try? The only ones in that directory are the ones that are in the free section. Everything else 404's.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[jridley]

I've been pulling them using a cron'd perl script since they started, so they have all been available at one time. Whether they all are now or not, I don't know.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[Angry White Guy]

Okay, I was a little off base. Here's the address from a year ago: http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ch/1991/ch910317. gif So the script would be : http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ch/YYYY/chYYMMDD. gif, and yes, they are all available. I think that the comic started in November 87, so you should be able to pound out a perl script in about 5 minutes.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[Angry White Guy]

Actually, only the luddites are restricted to how far they can go back. I posted the solution a bit further up.

Mass wget
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ch/YYYY/chy ymmdd. gif

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[slothdog]

And that still gives me:

Not Found

The requested URL /comics/ch/1991/ch910317.gif was not found on this server.

I must be having a bad day. I never could get the hang of Mondays.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[Teancom]

I pulled the first few years as well, then forgot about it for a while (doing it batch style, rather than daily). I'm sorry to say that ecomics.com has moved to a 'last two weeks free, pay for everything else'-service*. So you, having done it daily, are set, everyone else will have to pay. Of course, targz'ing them up by year and putting up on edonkey would be awfully nice :-)

*You'll note an exception to this is doonesbury, which is hosted on ecomics. He has (almost) every comic from the beginning, only missing a few at first, probably due to having lost them...

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[Angry White Guy]

I'm getting the exact same thing now.

Honestly it worked this morning. Their tech support must read /.

I've pulled the whole thing numerous times. Looks like I'll have to put up a mirror.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[themurph17]

at the website you can get calvin & hobbes emailed to you everyday, including the sunday comics. i do. i think you get 1 free comic per email address. anymore you have to pay.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[sugrshack]

well... that's because Doonesbury is and always has been "dated," in that it is directly relevant to current events (there's very little side-stuff). It's actually still that way, and if you check it recently (IMHO) you'll notice that it is still right on target.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[anotherone]

I've got a CD with every C&H ever on it... All sorted into a nice HTML interface. and you can't have it.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[Fulcrum of Evil]

you can't have it.

Even if I say pretty please with sugar on top?

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[Anonymous Coward]

Although, to be honest, it feels like the 80's are here again ... Star Wars being reactivated, weird secret wars, massive budget deficits coupled with tax cuts for the rich, Kissenger, Negroponte, Cheney, Bush, nuclear proliferation, christ all mighty! What's next, A Flock of Seagulls???

We need Bill the Cat and we need him _now_

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[anotherone]

eh, sure, why not

give me an FTP or something to upload it to, I've got no hosting. It's 117 megs uncompressed, I'll rar it but it's mostly gifs so I doubt it'll be a lot smaller.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[j_woolf]

I think a 'buncha younguns(tm)' will miss out on the political satire.

Actually, I read through Classics of Western Literature last night... the political satire rather nails the Bush whitehouse.

It's Reagan redux. Breathed is a prophet!

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[t0qer]

LOL I remember sitting at the breakfast table when I was 12 one sunday when the best jingle to star in a strip ever came across my paper...

(Sung to "Felix the Cat")
Billy the cat
The wonderful wonderful cat
If he can't find a litter box
He'll go straight in your hat!
Billy the cat
The wonderful wonderful cat!
---

That song still gives me a smile.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[Moses Lawn]

You'll note an exception to this is doonesbury, which is hosted on ecomics. He has (almost) every comic from the beginning, only missing a few at first, probably due to having lost them...

Interesting, that. A bunch of years ago I worked on a CD product called "The Doonesbury Anthology", which was a collection of all the Doonesbury strips, with historical context, games, animations, etc. We (i.e. some poor temp slobs) had to scan in all the damn things, many of which were only available from newspaper clippings. There were a few (mostly the early ones) that are missing, mainly like you said, having disappeared into the mists of time.

This was just before the Doonesbury site went up, so those are the same images. Let me tell you, *that* was a hellacious job. Half a dozen scanners going full time, always behind schedule, all on slowass Pentium 90s (this was mid-1995). We had to dig up the strips from a bunch of different places, mainly because, for tax purposes, Garry Trudeau doesn't keep the original drawings (can you imagine what an original Doonesbury is worth?)

It's a shame the company (since assimilated into nothingness) screwed the marketing up so bad - we did two other Doonesbury products that also went thud. Has anybody ever heard of the Doonesbury Screensaver or the Election Game? (Of course, there are good reasons, perhaps. The screensaver didn't work with Windows 95 and the election game was in Visual Basic. Ah well. The comics were cool.)

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[JonnyElvis42]

Now, do this with Calivn and Hobbes!

Done!

Just go here and sign up (you're limited to one comic per email address, but you can get Calvin and Hobbes, in addition many current strips). It's not on the week-in-two-days schedule, but it is cycling through the comics.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[ChodaBoy]

Now, do this with Calivn and Hobbes!

Already done here.

Re:Target demographic: 28-38

[Carnivorous Carrot]

This electronic republishing is for the three of you who didn't buy the 30-lb. compilations for $1.98 on the bargain tables at Borders 10 years ago.

Taco's scheme to get more subscriptions

[DeadSea]

"If we get users comfortable with shelling out cash for web content, maybe more of them will buy slashdot subscriptions. Let's run some articles about compelling web content for sale. After people are used to buying the good stuff, maybe they'll subscribe to /."

</conspiracy>

Re:Taco's scheme to get more subscriptions

[Anonymous Coward]

Just get UA to let you mirror Dilbert. :)

Now that's worth paying for...

[TopShelf]

To get access to an entire run of a comic strip is indeed a value worth paying for. While I'm not much of a fan of this particular strip, I hope this works out - it could serve as a model for other strips as well.

Speaking of, what other strips would people like to see republished online?

Re:Now that's worth paying for...

[SN74S181]

I'd like to see Doonesbury republished, except... ooooh... a few years back I figured out how to hack the HTML serving their comics and I download the whole archive and have it on CD.

Naw, we don't need Doonesbury.

Re:Now that's worth paying for...

[govtcheez]

Speaking of, what other strips would people like to see republished online?

Calvin and Hobbes and the Far Side would be the only two anyone should ever need.

Re:Now that's worth paying for...

[Zathrus]

You may want to try here for Calvin and Hobbes. Far Side doesn't appear to be online, at least not officially - but if you Google for it, you'll get to read one of those nifty DMCA complaints.

Re:Now that's worth paying for...

[govtcheez]

I've actually got all the Calvin And Hobbes comics (formatted nicely by someone else by month and year), but I'd really like to see it in a wider release (AFAIK the guys that put them together scoured ucomics, as well as a couple otehr sites, before they finally got them all...)

Re:Now that's worth paying for...

[Savatte]

Mark Trail. I just have to know if all the characters looked the same back in thr 40's.

Re:Now that's worth paying for...

[SN74S181]

Put it this way: I find most of the 'web based' comic strips unintelligent. Who cares about post-modern narcissist drivel? Get over the sarcastic angst, kids.

I think Little Orphan Annnie is funny. Pogo rocks. L'il Abner is cool too.

Re:Now that's worth paying for...

[mjackson14609]

Speaking of, what other strips would people like to see republished online?

Odd Bodkins.

Re:Now that's worth paying for...

[ShadowDrake]

If they're selling access to the strip for $10, how about a CD for $15? I've tried some web-based comics (User Friendly and Chopping Block), and while they're okay to read on a day-to-day basis, the lag waiting for image after image to load if you wanted to read a month or year's worth at a sitting would be annoying.

Content worth paying for

[guacamolefoo]

I already have most of the books, plus the floppy little record (which I should convery to mp3 (and ogg)) and I'll still probably sign up for this. Lord, how I miss Steve Dallas now that I've grown up and become him.

I'll also make sure that I look at all the comics out there that are derivative of Bloom County (almost wrote B.C. there) today. The guy was funny and he obviously had a huge impact otherwise.

This is just a neat idea and a bargain price. Count me in, baby.

GF.

Re:Content worth paying for

[Keighvin]

You'd probably like Sluggy Freelance, they're obviously heavily influenced by Bloom County and the later Outland. Musing on grassy knolls and what not - plus, it's a great strip overall.

Re:Content worth paying for

[Anonymous Coward]

My Billy and the Boingers "floppy" is at the dump. It was on the turntable when the turntable died. :( I suppose I could just go buy another now that I have a job and all...

Re:Content worth paying for

[dillon_rinker]

plus the floppy little record

"You really stink! (way oh, way oh, way oh!)
You really stink, girl!
You really stink! (way oh, way oh, way oh!)
But I love you."
(blatt, blut)" ---(Tuba solo)

I bought a record player solely to listen to that "floppy little record." Good times...

Best...Comic...Ever....

[Kevinv]

I didn't think MyComics was worth signing up for until this became available. Bloom County rocks! And $10 a year is the right price.

How is this a bargain?

[elmegil]

Go buy the complete works, you can probably even find them used for less than cover price. Then you don't have to be in front of a tube to enjoy them, you aren't at the mercy of their business model, you've got higher resolution print copies, and you don't have to print and bind them yourself if you want all those advantages.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[NFNNMIDATA]

You can only find them used - they've been out of print for years.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[Anonymous Coward]

You should actually price the complete works before making this statement. They are very expensive used, as they have been out of print. I tried to buy them for our kids, $75 for one paperback...

Re:How is this a bargain?

[fmaxwell]

Go buy the complete works, you can probably even find them used for less than cover price. Then you don't have to be in front of a tube to enjoy them, you aren't at the mercy of their business model, you've got higher resolution print copies, and you don't have to print and bind them yourself if you want all those advantages.

You sound like the old people who don't understand e-mail (and I'm 41, so when I say "old" it really means it). They think that they have to print out their e-mail, photos and all, in order to see it. I sent a color photo to an older relative and she asked me why I sent it to her when she doesn't have a color printer.

If you manage to locate and purchase all of Bloom County in book form, what do you do if you want to e-mail one of the cartoons to a friend. Tear out the page and scan it? How do you read the strips in chronological order? What do you do if you want to be able to see the comics at home and at work? Roll a handtruck of Bloom County books into and out of your office each day? Yeah, that'll impress the boss. While books are nice (I have a house full of them), they are not always ideal.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[elmegil]

You sound like an idiot who can't read what I wrote. Unless I have a laptop and wifi, I can't read bloom county on the pot or in the kitchen, for example, unless I print it out. If I do print it out, 72dpi is likely to be inferior resolution to anything I would get in a printed volume. Unless this company stays in business forever (fat freaking chance), I pay my subscription and oops, they go out of business and I lose access to everything.

I fail to see how I need to read bloom county at work, and it seems unlikely that much of it is going to be so wonderfully relevant that I suddenly feel a need to email that one strip to my friends. And if for some reason I do, I don't have to rip pages out of my book to scan it.

The only legitimate counter I've seen to my position that this is no bargain is the point that this is apparently going to be the complete set, not just what was published in books. That'd be pretty spiffy, actually.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[Monkey Angst]

I tried to buy them for our kids, $75 for one paperback...

Good heavens! Where do you buy your used books?

Re:How is this a bargain?

[UrGeek]

"don't have to be in front of a tube to enjoy them"

What is wrong with being in front of a tube? Being in front of a tube is one of my favorite places to be! Especially in the dark with only the beloved Trinitron CRT as the sole light source. Heaven.

"you don't have to print and bind them"

And just why would you want to do a dumb thing like that? All I ever print is snail mail for those Luddenites in my life without email or an occasional resume.

Keep it electronic. Never use paper unless you absolutely have to. Why else would we have all of this disk space?

Sheesh.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[jgerman]

I lose access to everything

Or maybe, just maybe, stay with me now: You save all of the strips and burn them to disc. And then you have them for as long as you want, plus you've paid only $10 to get them.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[elmegil]

How is it a troll to respond to someone who called me an idiot who doesn't understand technology?

Re:How is this a bargain?

[fmaxwell]

You sound like an idiot who can't read what I wrote.

What sound like a self-impressed, myopic jerk who cannot understand that others might not want to read Bloom County the same way that you do. But since you brought it up, my reading comprehension is fine and I am probably your intellectual superior.

Unless this company stays in business forever (fat freaking chance), I pay my subscription and oops, they go out of business and I lose access to everything.

Ever heard of the save option in your browser? Ever seen a web crawler? You subscribe when they have $10 worth of Bloom County (whatever that is to you) and then save it to your hard drive. Then, every so often, go back and get more -- all of which is just gravy since you already got your $10 worth the first time.

Unless I have a laptop and wifi, I can't read bloom county on the pot or in the kitchen, for example, unless I print it out.

Maybe you like to carry stacks of books between where you gorge yourself and where you excrete the results, but many others do not. Suppose you are at a friend's house and want to show him a Bloom County? Are you going to drive home, dig our the books from under your stack of toilet paper rolls in the bathroom, and then return to his house?

I fail to see how I need to read bloom county at work

So you need to read it in the kitchen or while on the toilet, but can't possibly see a time when you would want to read it at work, say at lunch, when taking a break, etc.? You are as shortsighted as you are rude.

it seems unlikely that much of it is going to be so wonderfully relevant that I suddenly feel a need to email that one strip to my friends.

If it's not funny enough to share with friends, then why do you want to read it at all? Bloom County was not a collection of cartoons from the editorial pages. It had everything from parodies of creationists to Mick Jagger being interviewed by a "Farm Report" TV show. How is any of that less relevent today than it was at the time?

And if for some reason I do, I don't have to rip pages out of my book to scan it.

Right. You can just mash the spine of a 20 year old paperback book down flat on your scanner. Those books will hold up just great that way.

Next time, don't assume that you have the only "proper" way to do something and that everyone should share your values. If someone has limited shelf space, the books are not as good an option. If someone wants to share Bloom County with physically distant friends and family, the books are useless. If a person wants a copy that will never deteriorate, never become damaged by water, and is in chronological order, there are no books that will work.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[Anonymous Coward]

Really? I have all the BC books, and all the Outland books. Maybe it's time for a tasty profit.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[elmegil]

Ever heard of the save option in your browser?

Ever heard of a licensing agreement?

I am probably your intellectual superior.

Ah, right. Look in the mirror, monkey, that ain't no philosopher there.

Suppose you are at a friend's house and want to show him a Bloom County?

Ah yes, this happens to me all the time. Suddenly the Bloom County Spirit takes me over, and I must show my friend that strip right now. Lucky for me, this supernatural event also enables me to redraw the strip perfectly from memory.

If it's not funny enough to share with friends, then why do you want to read it at all?

I shared it with my friends at the time, thanks. I can loan a book to a friend too, instead of asking them to pay $10 themselves or violate the likely license agreement. If you've read anything Breathed has said about the topic, and have any respect for him and his opinion, you know it's not going to be as free as you claim to share strips.

As for kitchen/restroom reading....it's a damn shame someone so intellectually superior can't understand the idea of an "example" wherein you list one or two items that fit a general class (in this case, the class of all places that aren't in front of a CRT tube; I spose you probably don't spend enough time elsewhere to really understand that idea though).

Next time don't assume that because I point out that there are lots of places I would want access to this that aren't in front of a tube, and therefore I don't consider the idea to be a bargain, that I'm claiming that everyone who does want it on their tube is an idiot--I meant just you were being an idiot, because you talk as if by stating one thing I'm denying all other things.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[elmegil]

Myself, I have a life that takes me lots of places that aren't in front of my tube. Since we don't have universal WiFi yet, the only other option for portable information is things printed on paper, eh?

Re:How is this a bargain?

[elmegil]

Powell's books, www.powells.com:

• Loose Tails, $9.95
• Toons for our Times, $6.95
• Penguin Dreams, $6.95
• Bloom County Babylon, $6.50
• Billy and the Boingers Bootleg, $6.95
• Tales Too Ticklish to Tell, $5.00
• Night of the Mary Kay Commandoes, $7.95
• Happy Trails, $7.95

They don't appear to have Classics of Western Literature, but that was a collection, it's not entirely clear that it had unique content. And they don't have One Last Little Peek, which definitely does have unique content. But then, you might find that one somewhere else. (like http://cagle.slate.msn.com/store/fbloom.asp which has it for $11.95, not the $65 that Amazon thinks is the best used price)

Unless you're looking for "like new mint condition", I can't see why someone would be charging $75 for one paperback. And if you want them for your kids, I don't think you'd want the mint copy anyway....

Re:How is this a bargain?

[boanerges]

No. It's not the ONLY other option. I have tons of comics that I compiled into single files using www.comicguru.net and they are available for viewing on my Ipaq anytime I feel like pulling it out of my pocket. I have had a subscription to ucomics to download comics for awhile so I am overjoyed to finally have Bloom County available.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[elmegil]

So the licensing agreement lets you make copies for whatever purpose you want? I find that hard to believe. It seems much more likely that the licensing agreement says you aren't allowed to duplicate the content, period. I would be pleased to be proven wrong...but I think it's unlikely given typical licensing agreements.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[fmaxwell]

Ever heard of a licensing agreement?

You're kidding, aren't you? It's a friggin' 20 year old comic strip, not the latest copy of Adobe Photoshop. Do you report your coworkers for having photocopies of Dilbert strips that are in violation of copyright law? We are talking about the the same thing.

Ah, right. Look in the mirror, monkey, that ain't no philosopher there.

That would have really stung if I had any respect for your opinion.

Suddenly the Bloom County Spirit takes me over, and I must show my friend that strip right now. Lucky for me, this supernatural event also enables me to redraw the strip perfectly from memory.

You're a sad little man. I, on the other hand, am frequently reminded in conversation of humorous cartoons and quotes and like to be able to share them when they come to mind.

I can loan a book to a friend too, instead of asking them to pay $10 themselves or violate the likely license agreement.

What license agreement is preventing you from showing your friend something on a computer screen? You seem to know so much about the "license" that will apply to this venture, so tell me.

If you've read anything Breathed has said [pvponline.com] about the topic, and have any respect for him and his opinion, you know it's not going to be as free as you claim to share strips.

If you had understood the interview at the link you provided, you would have seen that Berke Breathed was against plagiarism, not some guy photocopying or e-mailing a particular strip to a friend:

Scott and Chris: Any cartoonist that grew up in the 80's was probably influenced by Bloom County. However, as more and more people publish their work to the net, we're amazed at how blatantly people will borrow from your work and present it as their own. How do you feel about that?

Berke: Show me. I'll sue their little asses.

Or were you referring to some other passage?

it's a damn shame someone so intellectually superior can't understand the idea of an "example" wherein you list one or two items that fit a general class

Are you referring to your inability to understand my "examples" of e-mailing a cartoon to a friend or showing it to him on his computer (these being examples of where an online version would be preferable to a printed one)?

I meant just you were being an idiot, because you talk as if by stating one thing I'm denying all other things.

You wrote: Go buy the complete works, you can probably even find them used for less than cover price. You presented that as the answer for everyone -- and, in fact, encouraged people to forego the electronic version, never considering that it might have advantages for many people.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[Anonymous Coward]

How is it a troll to respond to someone who called me an idiot who doesn't understand technology?

He didn't call you anything. He said your message reminded him of old people that think that they have to print their email and photos. You then got nasty and started with the name calling ('idiot', 'can't read'). That is why you got modded as a troll.

I read your response to him and thought 'what a dick!' You started this by telling everyone to buy used books rather than support the website and then got all huffy when people disagreed with your reasons. If you want friendlier messages, then do not start a thread by telling everyone what to do and acting like anyone so does something else is wrong.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[fmaxwell]

Or maybe, just maybe, stay with me now: You save all of the strips and burn them to disc.

And he wondered why I was not in awe of his technical prowess...

Re:How is this a bargain?

[jgerman]

Must be a windows user, a *nix (and by association I imagine an OS X guy) would use wget and be done with it.

</cheap joke>

Re:How is this a bargain?

[elmegil]

and, in fact, encouraged people to forego the electronic version, never considering that it might have advantages for many people.

Care to show me where I said that? Which part of "buy the complete works" says "and don't use any electronic version"?

Re:How is this a bargain?

[elmegil]

Since I'm not in a rush to go sign up for this service that I don't see as any bargain, I'm not in a position to quote their license in detail, but most of the "subscription" comic sites require you to agree to certain terms of use in addition to paying for the content. If they didn't, why make you pay, right? "You have to pay for access to this content but then you can give it for free to all your friends and also put up your own web page of everything and make local copies of it" is not a commonly working business model, certainly not for comics.

I don't care what you think about the good sense of copyright restrictions, but the fact is they do exist, and you're quite likely to have to agree to them to get access to this site. Legally speaking, you're not going to be authorized to make your own copy to read wherever you like, copies to send to your friends, or any of the rest of that. You seem hot to sign up, so if there is no such agreement, go sign up and tell me so already.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[elmegil]

And just in case your intellectual superiority misses it (I'm banking on that actually), I'm talking about the entire body of work here. If you haven't copied the entire thing, my point that if they go out of business you lose access still stands.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[fmaxwell]

You seem hot to sign up, so if there is no such agreement, go sign up and tell me so already.

You are the one making claims about what is in the license agreement. The burden of proof is on you.

"You have to pay for access to this content but then you can give it for free to all your friends and also put up your own web page of everything and make local copies of it" is not a commonly working business model, certainly not for comics.

Did I suggest giving all of the content out? No. Did I suggest putting all of the content (or even any of it) on a web page? No. That's what we refer to as a Straw Man argument.

And just in case your intellectual superiority misses it (I'm banking on that actually)

Don't. You'll lose money.

, I'm talking about the entire body of work here. If you haven't copied the entire thing, my point that if they go out of business you lose access still stands.

So why wouldn't you copy the entire thing? I, and others, seem to get that.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[fmaxwell]

So the licensing agreement lets you make copies for whatever purpose you want?

Try going to the page and you will find things like:

My Comics Page lets you create the comics page of your dreams -- on the Web or by e-mail.

On My Comics Page You Can...

Build and view custom comic pages on the Web, and have them e-mailed to yourself daily with all your comics on ONE page.

Save collections of your favorite comics so you can read them again and again.

All that their "Terms of Use" document states is: Displaying, storing, copying, or otherwise making available any content from the Site on another website without the prior written permission of uclick is expressly prohibited.

There are no prohibiitions of copying material to your own computer, e-mailing selected comics to friends, etc.

Since I have done your research for you, perhaps you can stop pontificating about what you believe might be in their agreements.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[fmaxwell]

Care to show me where I said that? Which part of "buy the complete works" says "and don't use any electronic version"?

Quit grasping for straws and playing with semantics. Your message didn't say 'buy it in book form, too.' Further messages from you have downplayed the value of the electronic form. Your meaning was clear.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[elmegil]

oh, right, "You can't seem to understand that you don't have to print things out to read them" isn't calling me an idiot at all.

Re:How is this a bargain?

[elmegil]

Save collections of your favorite comics

That's using their "my comics page". That does NOT say "save it on your own computer". It says you can collect your favorites in one web page, that they store for you ON THEIR SYSTEMS. That email you get? It seems likely that it's an HTML page that links back to, you guessed it, their copies of the original strips.

This is a subscription service. There would be no point in saying "you can download all our content and then terminate your subscription as long as you don't give it to anyone else", and it seems pretty clear that is not what they're saying in any of the verbage you quoted. Care to try again?

Re:How is this a bargain?

[fmaxwell]

There would be no point in saying "you can download all our content and then terminate your subscription as long as you don't give it to anyone else", and it seems pretty clear that is not what they're saying in any of the verbage you quoted. Care to try again?

No, I don't want to "try again" since you just ignored the part of my previous post that showed conclusively that you were wrong:

All that their "Terms of Use" document states is: Displaying, storing, copying, or otherwise making available any content from the Site on another website without the prior written permission of uclick is expressly prohibited."

There are no prohibiitions of copying material to your own computer, e-mailing selected comics to friends, etc.

There is nothing in the agreement which prohibits you from saving the content to your own computer or showing it to a friend. Period. End of story.

Now do one of the following:

1. Prove that the agreement prohibits saving the content to your hard drive and showing it to friends.

2. Be a man and admit that your wild-assed guesses about the prohibitions in the agreement were wrong.

3. Be a worm and silently slink away.

I don't give a rat's ass about which one you choose, but I'm sick of wasting my time composing replies only to have you ignore anything for which you don't have an answer (examples: burden of proof, straw man argument, copying 20-year old paperback books on flatbed scanners, relevence of the cartoons, Berke Breathed interview referring to plagiarism, etc.).

Already signed up - Calvin & Hobbes too!

[Randar the Lava Liza]

I read an article about this last week, and checked out the site. It's a really great idea. Not only can you view these online, but you can setup daily emails with as many of these comics as you'd like. There's also a "collection" feature where you can virtually clip comics to save in as many libraries as you'd like.

Not only do they have Bloom County and will soon have Outland, but they have Calvin & Hobbes as well! $10/year is a pretty good deal for all these great comics. Color me convinced!

Great!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm signing up.

Would you mail me a copy? Comics want to be free too!

(For those who need but haven't had coffee yet, I'm pointing out the inconsistency of stealing music or software but paying for something (anything!) else. If you're already a thief, why impose arbitrary limits?)

Re:Great!

[terraformer]

It's an issue of value. Those who "steal" music (and that is debatable as to how many are outright thiefs and how many are out to "try-before-they-buy" the music) clearly believe that $18 a CD, which contains songs the listener is not interested in, is too high a price to pay. In the absence of any alternatives, theft is the only other option. Put true competition (of choice, price and flexibility) into the market and then those on Kazaa et al; can be called thieves.

For those paying for the comics, $10 is a fair price given that there are alternatives such as print, etc and this is simply another option. This may have problems in the long run because, for most, this is a lease agreement and not a purchase agreement the way a printed book is. Yes, you can save the images to disk but praticality for most users will rule the day.

Re:Great!

[JudgeFurious]

The difference is simple. This is priced in a reasonable manner for what it is. Actually it's priced very attractively if you are a fan of the strip. It's compelling.

Niether music nor software are priced in accordance with their value to the people who are supposed to be doing the buying. The typical CD is immensely overpriced unless you are a fan of that artist and enjoy everything he/she/they record. For most of us it's just not worth the price for a couple of tracks. Microsoft Office for example isn't worth half of what they price it at and a $50 game is just flat out stupid in my opinion.

Where games are concerned I play the demo sometimes. Other times I'll clone a friends copy to check it out. Legality has nothing to do with it. If it's more convienient to borrow and clone then I go that way.

If it's worth buying I'll buy it. In the past year or so I've bought 5 or 6 games like that. I still think they're overpriced at $50 a pop but if it's a good game I give them their reward.

The same thing goes for new music. Old music I don't pay for. In almost every case where I have older music on my hard drive that I've downloaded or borrowed/ripped then I once owned that LP/8-track/Cassette. The way I see it that music has been paid for. I'm not 100% compliant but for the most part I am.

New music on the other hand is all about not getting ripped off.

Re:Great!

[Fishstick]

Good point. Here's what I predict will be the rationalization:

"Evil music companies charge too much for CDs, musicians get too little of the profits. I don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong: music companies are ripping off us and the artists, so ripping them off in return isn't a big deal."

"OTOH, comics are cheap - at most they cost the price of a newspaper. The strip writers are fairly compensated for their art. I'm willing to pay this small amount for a subscription because I'm not getting ripped off by some evil company."

Re:Great!

[joshsisk]

The reality is that if you offer a valued service at a price people are willing to pay, they will do so.

If you offer a service that seems to be too expensive to people, they won't pay for it. If there is an alternative, they will pursue that instead.

$10 a year in exchange for all those comics seems to be a good value for comics fans, so they pay the money. Simple as that.

Re:Great!

[phantast]

does this mean it is OK to steal "Family Circus"?

Re:Great!

[Excarnate]

...$18 a CD...

I may agree with your point, but if you use bogus data and/or lies to make your point, you weaken it considerably and I end up having contempt for you. Don't even try to argue that the typical CD is $18.

Now $50 (15 years at a week every 2 days is a 5 year subscription) for all of Bloom County and his college cartoon is not bad and I agree with you, a fair price. And you get other comics as well.

My only important question is: How much does Berke get from this? If he isn't rewarded then my interest level goes way way down.

Re:Great!

[sh00z]

Don't even try to argue that the typical CD is $18.

You haven't been in Best Buy in a while, have you? New stuff is $15, CD's >5 years old are typically $13, and everything else is $18. No argument needed, when proof is a short drive away.

Re:Great!

[Anonymous Coward]

Please consider that the amount of sheer labor, problem solving, and man-hours involved in creating a piece of functional INTERACTIVE software is many times the amount of labor, problem solving, and man-hours involved in creating a four panel comic strip or a recorded song.

That is why software is priced so "high". It really isn't, when you compare the amount of work put into it.

Re:Great!

[Excarnate]

Your logic fails to overwhelm me. Please note that I implied that the typical CD is not $18 but less.

This does not mean that I implied that you can't purchase CD's for $18 or more.

Of course, that implies that if you typically pay $18 or more for a typical CD you are probably...well, anything further would devolve into insult.

The typical price I see for what I'll call a standard CD (new or desirable old disc) is $13. Still too much but a full 5 to 7 dollars less than the typical BS I see on /.. Does that mean that there are not desirable CD's that cost more than $13? Of course not, but they aren't typical (compilations, special extras, etc).

Now what about $10 per year for Bloom County? That is still less than the cost of a CD and over the 5 years I figure it will take (assuming the subscription price doesn't rise in that time!) it is still less than the cost of the 15 year output of the typical rock band. And of course, you get all the other cartoons.

But I like the paper version. I'll see what the missus thinks.

how to save $10

[Mr2cents]

However, for $10, I'd call it a huge bargain. I'm signing up.
If you mention you posted the story on slashdot, you might get it for free.

Re:how to save $10

[Anonymous Coward]

and, if you read down the comments a while, you'll find out how everyone will get it for free!

Actual cost: $50

[DeadSea]

The subscription of $10 is for one year. They say there are 15 years of comics and they will be released at a rate of one week every 2 days. That means that it will take 4.3 years to get through all of them and by the end you will have paid $50.

Number of comics = (15 Years of comics) * (365 comics / year) = 5475 comics.

Release rate = (7 Comics / 2 Days) * (365 days / year) = 1277 comics/year.

Release time = (5475 comics) / (1277 comics/year) = 4.3 years

Cost = (4.3 years) * ($10 / year) = $50 (assuming you can't pay for part of a year)

Re:Actual cost: $50

[bapink01]

Your final answer is correct but your first number is wrong.
1995-1980+1=16years of comics
16*365=5824 comics
5824 comics * (2 days/ 7 comics) = 1664 days
That many days is closer to 4.5 years.

Re:Actual cost: $50

[DeadSea]

That all depends when it started in 1995 and when it ended in 1980, the page doesn't say.

If it started December 31, 1980 and ended January 1, 1995 that is closer to 14 years. In that case, All but a couple comics would fit in a four year subscription.

If it started early in 1980 and late in 1995, it would be closer to 16 years of comics.

Re:Actual cost: $50

[nadaou]

Or about a penny a comic.

$50 / 5475 = $0.0091

bloom county!

[mrtroy]

This is one of those old-time-memories that you forget about until something like this brings it back. I remember reading this comic every Saturday morning, often thinking "what the f^%#" is going on, but laughing a lot. I really love the cat, how wierd it looks, and the content of the strips was such that if you didn't laugh, there must be a physical reason as to why you cannot laugh...perhaps you are heavily medicated in a coma. Of all days, St. Paddy's day, I have another reason to turn green today.

On a side note, have an extra pint of green tonite to celebrate the second coming of bloom county

You're dead wrong.

[Slartibartfast]

One thing I didn't put in the article -- 'cause I didn't know until today -- was that they are posting _EVERYTHING_. In other words, today is the first time I've seen a new Bloom County strip in 14 years. Phrased yet another way, in case you never noticed, the anthologies were incomplete. This re-posting -is- complete. For example, in the first book, notice that there were no Sunday strips? I'm dying to see my first new Sunday strip tomorrow...

Re:You're dead wrong.

[NFNNMIDATA]

Minor correction, there were some sunday strips in "Loose Tails", but it looks like a bunch are probably missing as the book goes 10 weekdays then 1 sunday more often than not (but sometimes there are sundays like 4 days apart for some reason).

Re:You're dead wrong.

[Monkey Angst]

I remember Breathed saying in an interview that if you have all the books (including the large ones), then you have every Bloom county strip that ran in papers. This does seem dubious, though, given the dearth of Sunday strips in "Loose Tails"...

Re:You're dead wrong.

[geekoid]

in the begining, he was in some local papers, and didn't do Sunday strips.

Re:You're dead wrong.

[Monkey Angst]

Ah. So perhaps there ain't no Sundays to see. And someone asked if there are unique strips in "Classics of Western Literature" -- there are. And in "Bloom County Babylon." That's how they get ya.

You give him too much credit

[MondoMor]

Let's run some articles about compelling web content for sale. After people are used to buying the good stuff, maybe they'll subscribe to /."

CmdrTaco once said,
"Golly, it sure is a lot of effort picking out the stories to submit. Now that the subscribers pay me for the priveledge of spell-, dupe- and fact-checking the stories we "editors" put up, I'm free to engage in a surly wank-a-thon with michael and timothy!"

Michael replied, "but rob dear, will I still get to act like a complete ass and suggest conspiracy theories where none exist?"

"yes! and we must be able to inject every possible drop of our irrational biases into the submitted stories," interjected timothy.

Hemos, tied up and bleeding on the couch, grunted and suggested that nothing would change. In fact, Slashdot would become even MORE partial, biased and ignorant. Plus, a new "plum" was coming out so that the Slashbots could eat and regurgitate even MORE anti-MS FUD!

They all laughed an evil laugh and opened another bucket of KFC. Except michael, who for some reason just sulked.

Not sure how it aged

[ianscot]

Bloom County was lumped in with Calvin and Hobbes in my mind: the two early-to-mid-80s comics that got tired after a while and took "sabbaticals." (Calvin and Hobbes wasn't really just "time off," the author quit, but anyway, both of them got tired after maybe five years.)

I went to find collections for my kids this last year. Calvin and Hobbes is still as good, even better, than I remembered it. But Bloom County, sorry to say, is not just highly topical with 80s politics and all... it's just not quite as fantastically good. Sorry to say it, but there it is. Once you get past the initial "cute Opus" phase it just felt kind of seedy. The kids never got into the big book, either, though they're obsessed with Calvin and Hobbes now.

Re:Not sure how it aged

[the bluebrain]

Ahhh ... compared to Calvin & Hobbes, it's for a different age group, too. That is, it already was originally. C'mon - there are some gems in there that couldn't be re-created in another strip even if anyone wanted to. My all-time favourite is Opus running up to "Point Resolve" close to year's end with a big roll of paper, snapping it out over the cliff, looking at the reader and going "I had a bad year.". Or Opus playing assistant to Steve Dallas, trying to motivate him to get up. Goes something like "Hup! Hup! Off to fight the good fight, protect the innocent (yadda yadda)". In the end he scowls, and just goes "$$Dough." ... whereupon Steve is instantly alert. And so on. Just off the top of my head, you understand.

... OK, I'm a die-hard fan, I confess. I still have a "Don't blame me - I voted for Bill 'n Opus" tee-shirt somewhere, and all :)

Re:Not sure how it aged

[Squideye]

They were lumped together in my mind too, but in the "infinitely re-readable" sense. While Calvin and Hobbes has aged somewhat better, you don't have to appreciate *who Ed Meese was* in order to be entertained by Opus' discussion of him. Often the Meadow Critters' understanding of the '80s politics was fairly superficial, which was okay.

It's a good recapitulation of history, especially to read about Cold-War era fears; "The Iron Giant" didn't lose any points from me for being about the '50s, nor "Cradle Will Rock" about the '30s.

But when I read Bloom County or Outland today, I find it even more compelling as a discussion of a political era that could shed some light on today's. With similar attitudes in the Bush Administration II and today's media about what it is to be God-Fearing and Rifle-Toting as in the 1980s, Opus and Milo and Binkley and Oliver... and even Bill... give us Berkeley Breathed's perspective as he was living through it, and we can get a sense of just how similar distant times can be.

I'd say it aged well.

Re:Not sure how it aged

[jridley]

I have to agree. I liked Bloom County at the time, but though I have all the books, I never read them anymore. I do pick up and read old Calvin & Hobbes, Dilbert, Foxtrot, etc books, often cover to cover in a sitting, but every time I pick a Bloom County book off the shelf, I read 5 or 10 random pages and put it back. For some reason it doesn't do anything for me anymore.

Re:Not sure how it aged

[Art Tatum]

today's media about what it is to be God-Fearing and Rifle-Toting

Funny you should say that. Only this afternoon, I was trying to determine which country to move to since I'm about ready to abandon the U.S. to all the far-left Marxists that seem to be growing exponentially. I fear for my sanity at times. :-)

Re:Not sure how it aged

[burnunit0]

My own experience shows this is so. I was born in '72 which means I had no knowledge of the Vietnam era, the early 70's, etc. But when I was 11 I found a trove of Doonesbury anthologies. I learned a lot about the history of that period from them. Not understanding all the jokes made me read some of the historical records more closely and I think it gave me a better appreciation of what was going on.

Not only that, it was really funny and made other things (like in-jokes on tv or in movies) funnier because I "got" what they were poking fun at.

The same with that anthology of Bill Mauldin cartoons, "Up Front" or whatever. I gleaned a ton of information about the plight of the soldiers in WWII when I was only 10 or 12 years old because of the comics.

Re:Lost its Bloom

[RobotRunAmok]

Charles Schulz: drawing Peanuts to the end.

...long, long after he wrote any new jokes for the poor weathered keychain-adorning tykes.

Give Breathed and Larson credit for knowing when to hold, when to fold, and going out on top.

cool stuff

[larry bagina]

I did an interview with Berke a couple years ago (for the school's weekly newspaper that no one reads), and bloom county came up, natch.

I asked him how everyone would have ended up, and he said that Wendell (the nerdy computer geek that Urkel was based on) would have ended up as a Linux kernel developer.

Cool stuff.

Re:cool stuff

[LookSharp]

The moderators have been trolled;

I asked him how everyone would have ended up, and he said that Wendell (the nerdy computer geek that Urkel was based on) would have ended up as a Linux kernel developer.

This is not true. You can count on one hand how many interviews Berke has given in in the past 7 years. I'm a bit of a fanboy so I can vouch for that. The kid had nothing to do with Urkel, and the Linux remark only solidifies the troll.

Check out his .sig if you still need proof of trolling.

Is this "New Math"?

[Slartibartfast]

Where do they say 15 years of comics? After all, there were... lessee... two years of Academic Waltz, and... '83 - '89, so 6 years of Bloom County. That's eight in my book. Hell, let's say they also throw in Outland, that'd be at a rate of a week a day, since they were only Sundays... (And, lastly, you can apparently pay on a monthly basis.)

Re:Is this "New Math"?

[DeadSea]

From the my comics website:

Fans of Berkeley Breathed's BLOOM COUNTY and OUTLAND will be amazed and delighted to hear that uclick has undertaken a unique and historic re-launch of these classic comic strips, which originally ran from 1980-1995.

(emphasis added)

But you seem to be saying that the comics did not run continuously in this period. By your estimates of 8 years of comics, that would mean that would make the run 2.3 years for $30.

In any case, it will be a multiple year subscription and the site does not make the total cost apparent.

Re:Is this "New Math"?

[Monkey Angst]

1995 is when Outland, Breathed's followup to Bloom County, ended. I'm not much interested in this strip, so who wants to do the math with just 1980-1989? :)

Re:Is this "New Math"?

[pla]

1995 is when Outland, Breathed's followup to Bloom County, ended. I'm not much interested in this strip, so who wants to do the math with just 1980-1989? :)

Er... I'll agree Outland started pretty slow, but within 6 months, it had become exactly the same as Bloom County with a few new characters. So out of curiousity, why do you like one but not the other?

Historical strips!

[Slartibartfast]

I'd pay -- through the nose -- to see original strips like Blondie (back when it was a social mores shattering strip), Krazy Kat, etc. Comics back in the 30's, during the heyday, etc. These things can be found, piecemeal, in various anthologies. To have 'em all in one place for reference, well... not only would it be a terrific glimpse into Americana, it would be great fun to read, too!

Re:Historical strips!

[Anonymous Coward]

Kitchen Sink used to publish some nice collections of classic strips, but they're gone now. Denis Kitchen has started a new, smaller press that promises to publish the occasional book... we'll see.

Fantagraphics is still around, and publishes some collections, as well. There's a lot more that's not in print, unfortunately, but you might get lucky in used book stores...

Re:Historical strips!

[dotPliska]

The main reason we can't find the originals anymore is because the newspapers have been discarded. The libraries screwed up and threw out the papers after microfilming everything, in the name of preserving "intellectual content" and "saving shelf space".

Note that microfilm is black & white only and often of poor quality.

You can read more about it in Nicholson Baker's controversial "Double Fold", excerpts at nytimes.com or bookreporter.com.

Can I browse it...

[John Harrison]

...on my Banana 2000?

Re:Can I browse it...

[st0rmshad0w]

You'll have to upgrade to the new model, now with Tint Control!

Re:Can I browse it...

[dave at hostwerks]

The Open Firmware web site is hosted on bananajr6000.apple.com. Which obviously harkens back to a time when Apple had a sense of humor.

_Academia_ Waltz

[Allen Varney]

In addition -- an extra-special bonus for us Berke Breathed fans -- his college predecessor, Academic Waltz, will also be run.

Pedantic correction: Breathed's original strip was called "Academia Waltz," not "Academic." It was a modest little Doonesbury ripoff that ran in THE DAILY TEXAN, the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. A few of the characters later seen in "Bloom County" debuted there, but the strip is said to be of interest for Breathed completists only.

Then again, don't trust me. I never saw much of interest in "Bloom County" itself. When it won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, that seemed to me a sad moment in the history of the Pulitzer. THE COMICS JOURNAL writer R. Fiore once commented that saying "Bloom County" was funny was like complimenting a shoplifter on her taste in clothes.

Re:_Academia_ Waltz

[Squideye]

Between Academia Waltz and Bloom County, Breathed probably has more detractors than fans.

Sort of like Frank Zappa pounding out "Louie Louie" on the grand organ at Albert Hall. A lot of people just recoil from it, and a *lot* of people shoot milk out of their nose.

Not even to think about something is damning. But to be saddened by its victories, to go out of one's way to remember an obscure metaphor for its humourlessness, is encouraging. The phrase "I get it, but I don't think it's funny" tends to be a comment on the reader; at that point, the cartoonists have already won. I'm kidding, I just wanted to make fun of that expression.

Re:_Academia_ Waltz

[wings]

Academia Waltz was also published in some other student newspapers at the time too. We got it in the SMU Daily Campus.

Then again, don't trust me. I never saw much of interest in "Bloom County" itself.

I do agree with you about Bloom County. I never liked it as much as Academia Waltz.

Re:_Academia_ Waltz

[Rigor Morty]

Besides, there are better college-based strips available, some of them in their entirety.

http://www.spacemoose.com is my personal favorite, although I suspect Dupie might be more along the mainstream.

It looks as though Dupie is only available in paperback.

Re:Actual cost: $10

[Jens_UK]

Or wait and subscribe in 2008 and get them all for $10.

Re:Lost its Bloom

[Anonymous Coward]

peanuts always seemed boring to me. No jokes, unless you like laughing at a pathetic boy, or a funny looking beagle dressed as a lawyer, or soldier...

But reading the classic peanuts, they are actually quite fresh and humorous. Hank Ketchum (Dennis the Menace) hired people to write the jokes, then had other people draw his strips. Mr Schultz could have gone out on the top. Did he keep the party going long after the beer and popcorn dried up?

Sorry...

[Slartibartfast]

As the postee, I apologize for getting Academia Waltz wrong. Not my fault, however: that was taken verbatim from their site; I'd actually double-checked, since I'd thought it -was- "Academia". C'est la vie. As for Berke's humor, I guess it's one of those "you like him, or you hate him" deals. I like him. I don't like Larson. Go figger.

For $10 bucks...

[bahamat]

Let me know when/where you mirror it. I'd like a copy too.

Steve Dallas

[GT_Alias]

Now there's an inspiring character. I remember reading those books as a pre-teen (usually in the "library") thinking, MAN, that guy hooks up with some HOT chicks! (or maybe they were rad back then, can't quite remember)

Seriously, that guy epitomized cool to me, I wanted to grow up and wear Ray-Bans everywhere and always be hooking up w/ big-breasted women. Fortunately, the 1st part isn't true. Regrettably, the 2nd hasn't happened.

Image quality kind of sucks

[cjpez]

I may go for their "not completely satisfied in seven days?" bit. The image quality is pretty awful . . .

Re:Image quality kind of sucks

[pbraun]

I was really hoping that when you clicked on the "Print" link, it would open up a higher-res printable gif, but it just removes other clutter from the page and presents the same screen-res gif. Maybe if enough people complain, it might change. I still wish Breathed would release a complete, no-holds-barred, all-encompassing printed compendium. Charge $150 or whatever. I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

Are archives accessible?

[TomatoMan]

I'd love to get the complete run of C&H, as there are MANY great strips that never made the collections.

What I'm wondering is: is there a way to browse the archives somehow once you're a subscriber? Let's say I started in six months rather than today - woudl I be able to access the prior six months of Bloom County? Can you get all the way back to the beginning of Calvin & Hobbes? Or do you just get what they oink out on any given day, starting whenever you subscribe?

Re:Are archives accessible?

[Randar the Lava Liza]

Yes! The way it works, at least with Calvin & Hobbes, is that they picked some arbitrary date to start running it, and you can go back into the past as far as you'd like. There's a little archive icon under each comic, click on that and you'll get a little calendar, so you can browse back to view other comics. You can't go into the "future" (which is the past in this case, natch) but you can view comics that have already run.

Kind of like being forced not to skip ahead on those old Far Side off the wall calendars.

Re:Are archives accessible?

[Mournblade]

Just a quick FYI. You do not need to be a subscriber to get the C&H strips. They've been running for a copule of years now.

I agree...

[Slartibartfast]

It might have to do with the fact that these were strips that have never been reproduced for mass consumption before. I'm guessing -- guessing -- that once we get to the "previously released in anthologies" stuff, we'll see better quality.

Another good comic!

[potaz]

And slightly more up-to-date, AS WELL AS FREE, are the dinosaur comics I write. They are topical and philosophical, like you!

New comics every day! It is perhaps the best use of the internet... ever?

Reminds me of my college days...

[wazzzup]

...when all of the drives and network shares for the Macs in the public computer labs were Bloom County characters. Remembering clicking on Portnoy or Opus to run Gopher brings a tear to my eye.

I remember getting my first Mac my senior year and instantly replacing the default hard drive icon with Bill the Cat's image and renaming it Ack!

Anybody know where to get Bloom County icons for OS X?

Re:Reminds me of my college days...

[zjbs14]

I had Opus for my HD icon (named P. Opus), and the X-17 Stealth Basselope as the wallpaper. Good times.

Anyone remember the little feet you could get for the original Mac to make it look like the the Banana Jr. 9000?

Deep, man, deep

[somethingwicked]

Those who "steal" music clearly believe that $18 a CD, which contains songs the listener is not interested in, is too high a price to pay.

Make all the arguments you want about obscure/old unattainable bootlegs/etc that you want, HOWEVER : I love file sharing, but there is no doubt in my mind that when I download a music file that I could easily walk into any music shop and pick up right off the shelf of the "Top 20" rack, I am circumventing paying for that song. If you want to sample it, turn on the radio.

Think the whole album might suck except for the one song? Don't buy it and wait for my one kick ass song to come on the radio.

In the absence of any alternatives, theft is the only other option.

...Yeah, I wont even waste anyone's time with this one. Just highlighting you said it is enuf

Put true competition (of choice, price and flexibility) into the market and then those on Kazaa et al; can be called thieves.

There is choice. Buy the package, OR there is likely a mid priced single.

If I am selling my car, does that give you any right to say- "Hey, I wasn't interested in the entire car, I only wanted the leather seats out of it for my tricked out Ford Escort. Since you were unwilling to sell it them separately, I took the liberty of just taking them. If I like them enough, I might just buy the whole car"

Yes, I am oversimplifying thing by looking at only the current music...Are you saying you never download a current song?

Re:Deep, man, deep

[yerricde]

If you want to sample it, turn on the radio.

In general, less than 25 percent of a typical album makes it to the radio, even less than that to oldies radio, and many albums don't make it to the radio at all.

Since you were unwilling to sell it them separately, I took the liberty of just taking them.

The difference between theft of physical property and piracy of a copyrighted work is that piracy does not deprive the author or publisher of the goods itself but only of a (slim) potential sale.

Are you saying you never download a current song?

The vast majority of my music downloads are at least 14 years old. And when I get three tracks from one album, I make a point to pick up a genuine copy. For fans of singles, "greatest hits" collections are your friend.

Re:Deep, man, deep

[joshsisk]

OR there is likely a mid priced single.

Actually the industry has mostly phased out the single. This dates back to when Ice Ice Baby became a hit song and the record company actually _pulled_ the single from the shelves, because they knew that was the only song anyone wanted, and they would make more if people who wanted it were forced to buy the whole Vanilla Ice album, not just the single.

If I am selling my car, does that give you any right to say- "Hey, I wasn't interested in the entire car, I only wanted the leather seats out of it for my tricked out Ford Escort. Since you were unwilling to sell it them separately, I took the liberty of just taking them. If I like them enough, I might just buy the whole car"

I agreed with a lot of your points, but this is just a bad analogy.

If someone downloads a song, the person they are downloading it from, and the artist, still have it. However, if you steal a car (or parts of it), the person you take it from no longer has it. MP3 pirating is more like pirating cable... Even that is not a perfect fit. But it's a much better fit then your car theft analogy.

Actually, the best comparison I can think of is probably to pirating DirectTV. (Which is still illegal, I'll add, before you label me some sort of anarchist.)

Re:Deep, man, deep

[eht]

But you don't have a monopoly on leather seats, they can be had many other places, so if that's all he wants, thats all he gets, find me a place willing to sell me say just the hit song or two off Chistina Spears new album. Even singles aren't what I'm looking for at all, they rarely have a single song usually 2-4, and are still priced more disproportionately than leather seats to a car.

Re:Deep, man, deep

[slaker]

What do you do when your music doesn't get played on the radio?

For that matter, what do you do when your music doesn't get shared P2P? As far as I know, I'm the only major source on fasttrack for the music that I like, and well, I already have everything I'm sharing. :)

*I* never download a "current" song, nor anything that will likely see play on the local classical station, and I can tell you: there is no choice for those who are in that category. For me, sharing those files is a public service, a favor to the small crowd of people in the world who like the same music as me.

I'd even go so far as to say the ethical implications of sharing classical music are different from popular, but that's a different discussion altogether.

didn't think I'd get to say this again...

[GLowder]

Bill the Cat Lives! (again)

woot!

[miffo.swe]

I love that comic!
Why in gods name did they cancel it?

Re:woot!

[jridley]

They didn't cancel it. Breathed stopped. I respect people who can stop when they feel their creation has run out of steam. Too many comic strips and other stuff (xanth books, for example) just keep coming as long as the money is flowing, and they turn into sad, embarassing crap.

Re:woot!

[Mr. Bad Example]

I respect people who can stop when they feel their creation has run out of steam.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

There's something deeply, fundamentally wrong with a universe in which Bloom County, The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes are gone, while Beetle Bailey, B.C., and Blondie linger on and on and on.

Re:woot!

[residieu]

What about Outland?
I don't remember its fate. I vaguely remember
seeing it in the comics, and had one of the books
which was great. But did that get canceled, or
did he just stop writing that too?

Re:woot!

[Anonymous Coward]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Aye Caramba!

I would rather that the Simpsons continue, although the show has gone decidedly downhill. It would be nice to refresh the writer pool again and get back to funny episodes.

But keep trying anyway, guys.

Re:woot!

[bidger]

> ... while Beetle Bailey, B.C., and Blondie linger on and on and on.

At least those strips are mostly just inoffensive. It's strips like Hi&Lois and Family Circus that I simultaneously abhor and yet must read. Heck, Chip might be getting a tongue piercing any day now.

To quote/paraphrase from a character ranting about FC in the movie Go: ".. and there it is in the bottom right corner of the funnies page, just waiting to suck."

Re:woot!

[Galvatron]

I can't speak for the others, but my grandmother's favorite strip is the Family Circus. The SF Chronicle runs a poll every so often on which strip should be cut to make room for a new one, and Family Circus never ends up near the bottom. I think the fact is, we simply are not its target demographic, any more than senior citizens are the target demographic of, say Dilbert.

Re:woot!

[Kelmenson]

There's something deeply, fundamentally wrong with a universe in which Bloom County, The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes are gone, while Beetle Bailey, B.C., and Blondie linger on and on and on.

Eh, not really. It actually makes more sense for the quality cartoonists to want to quit while there strips are still quality. If you were a crap cartoonist who was spewing out unfunny crap that was still being bought by 100s or 1000s of newspapers, why would you stop? At worst, you might actually get better and then you can start a new strip. But if you are a respected cartoonist (as Breathed, Larson, and Watterson were) then you don't want to ruin your reputation, or dillute your properties, by running them into the ground.

Re:woot!

[unitron]

Perhaps you are unaware (as I was for many years) that Beetle Bailey is Chip's uncle, which is why you never see either one's eyes.

Re:woot!

[jridley]

I'd rather have Futurama continue than the Simpsons, if I had to choose one, but I'm not "the market" I guess.

A cool Penguin

[helfon1]

I think the /. crowd is just mad because opus is cooler than the linux penguin.

I think 10 dollars is a good price for a year subscription. I am tired of people overcharging for web content. I would like to see buisness models that rely on volume rather than high prices per customer.

Hmmm, don't think so....

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's see here, all re-runs, and the book collections have been out for how long? And this is any different from the books, how? Can I take the web pages with me while I eat pancakes, and casually leaf through them at my own rate?
Thank you, no. This seriously is just another money grab. If he wants my buckages, Berkly will have to start drawing new Bloom Country strips with all the old characters. We all know Tux is influanced by Opus.
Long live Penguin Lust!

Re:Hmmm, don't think so....

[admiralh]

Except remember that the books are edited, to eliminate some of the "less funny" strips. You don't get that chronological feel when you read the books. Another thing the books don't give you is the date published. Many times I'd like to know, especially when I'm trying to explain the jokes to my kids.

("Well you see, the air traffic controllers union was called PATCO, and Reagan fired them when they went on strike, so that's why Breathed gave the elves union the name PETCO...")

Just try to explain the 80's to an 11-year old.

Re:Hmmm, don't think so....

[exhilaration]

Can I take the web pages with me while I eat pancakes

Obviously you're not a Real Geek (tm) - the only place we eat is in front of the computer.

Low cost, low quality

[leipold]

Sadly, the image quality for the first week's strips is pretty bad, and the images are small. You'd think premium content would be of higher quality...

I hope it encourages more like it

[fermion]

I hope that the services introduces Bloom County to a new generation of readers. The strip had a depth seldom seen on the daily comic page. Well developed deep characters, relatively long story arcs, appropriate political satire, and very good drawings, particularly in the later strips and Outland.

Some of the specifics may be lost on those who did not live through it, but generalities are always funny. For instance when Rosebud was outed as female, Cutter John and the crew of the Enterpoop, Bill the Cat for president or as a fundamentalist preacher. On more serious sides we have the eternal physiological truths of searching for one's mother or trying to get acceptance from ones father(the later is a theme of King of the Hill).

I really hope this encourages the development of new strips that are self aware and humble. I think a comic should be more than just a contrived excuse for a punchline.

Any Votes on the Aftermarket

[rodney dill]

...Any votes on who will be getting their Bloom County comics on the BearShare or Kazaa aftermarket?...

Bill the Cat says..

[hplasm]

Ack! Thrrpp!

Re:Bill the Cat says..

[i.r.id10t]

And I think userfriendly.org had Bill the Cat on as a guest, since he is/was the only one able to properly pronounce "HTTP".

Re:Bill the Cat says..

[schon]

I think userfriendly.org had Bill the Cat on as a guest

That would be this one.

Why great comics blink out or fade to crap...

[Mossfoot]

Sometimes what I hate is the pressure on cartoonists to publish something every damn day. No wonder a comic I find funny this year has changed to something very weak the next. Either the author opts for middle of the road cute crap with no edge meant to put a smile on your face (at best), or they keep the edge going as long as they can until they realize there just isn't enough left for them to keep their pace.

Problem is, these authors, rather than being allowed to publish on a semi-regular basis (ie whenever they want) they have to retire, some say they're taking a break, but they never come back... inertia takes over at that point.

I wonder if there would still be a Bloom County or Outland if Breathed was allowed to publish once every two weeks or once a month or so during the drier spells... I can only imagine what he would have done now with George W and Gulf War II... lots of material there ;)

Re:Why great comics blink out or fade to crap...

[Black Jack Hyde]

I wonder if there would still be a Bloom County or Outland if Breathed was allowed to publish once every two weeks or once a month...

So why can't he do that now? Couldn't BB get a deal with a monthly (Playboy, Popular Science, Ladies' Home Journal, whatever) and do four strips an issue?

It's too much to hope for Bloom County to return and snuff Cathy out of the dailies, yes?

Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbes, and The Far Side made the comics page a great place to visit every day. Nothing's come close to replacing them (sorry Zits and Bizarro).

Jack

Some favorite BB strips of mine

[frozenray]

One can be found on his official website.

And here's the other one (younger slashdot readers may not know about Reagan's infamous microphone test which probably inspired this strip).

Re:Lost its Bloom

[Anonymous Coward]

Sad thing is, even after Schultz died they papers
are still reprinting those same tired strips.

I was hoping his retirement would open the
comics page up for some fresh blood. No such
luck.

Too bad...

[72beetle]

...Breathed won't start doing strips again. Can you IMAGINE the midnight revelations Binkley would be having about Michael Jackson these days?

-72

Oh, we can decide what to pay now?

[khrustee]

Great. So when I steal the Dodge Viper and leave $20 under the door of the Dodge dealership, I can use your argument? I don't think that $15 dollar cds are a great value, but then I don't think that you can 'justify' stealing tracks because it doesn't fit -YOUR- price scheme. If everyone held this view regarding all products/services...

Re:Oh, we can decide what to pay now?

[Joe U]

As soon as a Dodge Viper becomes a shared resource that can be copied while leaving the original intact.

So, when you duplicate that Viper and leave $20 under the door, then you can use the argument.

Re:Oh, we can decide what to pay now?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's more like making a copy of the blueprints, giving Dodge $20 for them and building a Viper with your own resources.

Re:Oh, we can decide what to pay now?

[JudgeFurious]

Well, the way I see this it's not about MY price scheme at all. It's about the "value" of a song undergoing change.

This is really an interesting thing to watch happen because for the first time in my life I'm watching an industry fighting to keep their product from losing it's value while at the same time a huge number of people are using file sharing to redefine what that product is worth.

This is so much different than someone stealing cars and paying what they can afford for them. First of all a Dodge Viper (your example) is clearly worth vastly more $20. That's completely lopsided. At this point lets take a $15 CD (again your example) and then lets say it has 10 tracks to keep my math challenged brain from thinking too much so we're talking about a buck and a half a track. Good track, bad track, it all breaks down the same way.

Go back to your Dodge Viper and say for instance it's a $60,000 car. I admit to not having a clue what they get for a Dodge Viper so let's use that number for conversations sake. Now if the Dodge Neon also was priced at $60,000, and so was every other model of truck Dodge made then do you think many people would buy the Neon? Do you think many people would even buy Dodge products at all? Surely not enough of them to allow Dodge to keep charging such a ridiculous price for a Neon.

The thing is a lot of people will buy a Neon at a reasonable price. A lot of people will buy music at a reasonable price too. I'd be happy to pay the $1.50/track price I mentioned if I could buy three of the songs I like and pass on the crap. That's what it's going to be. If they don't like it their entire industry will slip out from under them.

Software is a completely different matter. OSS is going to do (and is doing) to retail software what file sharing is doing to record labels. It's going to take the field and level it, albeit without having to resort to obviously illegal means in order to do so.

In either case it's going to change. You can change with it or get run over by it but it's going to change.

Princess Diana

[gr8_phk]

I was suprised they didn't resurect the Charles and Diana run when she died. I had cut those out and saved them in high school, but later tossed them. I remember the prince (baby) calling mom a "Sausy Wench".

But I already have copies of every Bloom County

[noewun]

in these, whadayacallem, books. . .

For those born after me, these are an ancient storage media which consist of pieces of paper, on which images have been permeneantly inscribed, bound together in bundles. They are unique in that they require no electricity, no networking, do not crash, may comfortably be rested on one's lap when one is in the bathroom thinking, and contain absolutely no DRM

I know, I know - what's the fun in that. You can't even make 'em run Linux.

Re:But I already have copies of every Bloom County

[smoondog]

in these, whadayacallem, books. . .

For those born after me, these are an ancient storage media which consist of pieces of paper, on which images have been permeneantly inscribed, bound together in bundles. They are unique in that they require no electricity, no networking, do not crash, may comfortably be rested on one's lap when one is in the bathroom thinking, and contain absolutely no DRM

Wow, can you imagine a beowulf cluster of those?

-Sean (Sorry.....)

Re:But I already have copies of every Bloom County

[joew]

Wow, can you imagine a beowulf cluster of those?

Yes its called a Library.. and most of the time you can get free access to the information.

Re:But I already have copies of every Bloom County

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL!

Fishing for MyComicsPage opinions...

[Thedalek]

Just how tedious is it to archive (locally) huge quantities of strips like this? I mean, using MyComicsPage, let's say I sign up for a year and wish to archive Calvin & Hobbes on my computer (so's I can view 'em offline). Is this so impractical as to be impossible?

Also, which comics do they have full archives of? Is it all of them, or just a select few?

wrong icon

[Iowaguy]

Shouldn't the logo for this section be a penguin instead of a foot? -Iowa

The Academia Waltz

[limekiller4]

Berke did a toon while in college -- this is where Steve Dallas, among others, first appeared -- called The Academia Waltz . He considers it to be a bit of a misadventure, a sort of "growing pains" thing, I think (though I cannot speak for the man) but DAMN it would be nice to see all of those released.

THIS IS A HINT, BERKE.

And while I hesitate to say this, lest the final remnants of the good ones get scooped up, I should mention that Berke gave 2 years worth of original toons to his mom to put up for sale.

We really need him to start drawing again. Our current presendent could supply him with material for years. Especially at the hands of Ronald-Ann [*cough] and Milo.

Re:The Academia Waltz

[xenoweeno]

From the page:

We are pleased to announce that we also intend to re-publish the full run of Breathed's 1978-1979 college strip ACADEMIC WALTZ, which has long been unavailable. Details to come!

Re:The Academia Waltz

[limekiller4]

Damn. How did I miss that?? THANKS!

The right price at the right time

[Anonymous Coward]

$10 for everything is a great price.

Warner brothers and others would learn a lot by pricing old TV shows, musical catalogs etc. at resonable prices.

For instance, say you are a fan of 1970s show Z which ran for 122 30 minute episodes. Current pricing for a box set of all episodes would be $2 or more per episode.

The price of the box set should drop each year until it reaches the $25 range for the entire set.

Re:The right price at the right time

[Paradise Pete]

$10 for everything is a great price. Warner brothers and others would learn a lot by pricing old TV shows, musical catalogs etc. at resonable prices.

What they would learn, apparently, is that no matter what the price and how good the content, people will still try to get them for free.

Peanuts

[John Bayko]

Peanuts was less about humour than about situation. How funny can the "football gag" be the tenth time around? What I enjoyed about it was more about what it meant that Charlie Brown would know full well what was going to happen, but still manage to convince himself that someday it might be different, and if he didn't give it a chance today, it might never happen.

It never did, and Lucy always put his optimism in perspective with some quip. It might have been funny, but if you chose to think about it further, it made you reflect a bit on your own situation. You go to work/school/look for work every day, even if it doesn't seem like it'll make a difference, because of that same sort of optimism, right?

Not everyone gets the same thing out of Peanuts, or if they do, it's not always consciously. Sometimes it's kind of like those "Chicken Soup for the Simple Minded Optimist" books - kind of gives you a good feeling even if it doesn't really do much good.

Of course, you can always spend more effort and get as self-reflective about the Peanuts characters as you want. You can see the same things in Calvin and Hobbes and occasionally in a different way in Bloom County (but not Far Side - that was just plain wacky fun). But it wasn't fundamentally about being funny, so that's the wrong way to judge it.

MOD PARENT UP FUNNY

[Anonymous Coward]

please - just because someone takes a superficial funny dig at Tux doesn't mean Opus still isn't better ;)

Re:MOD PARENT UP FUNNY

[Anonymous Coward]

Tux and Opus are irrelevant. Want a funny penguin?

Check out PINGU!

So...

[Skjellifetti]

Are they going to call the re-release "Berke Breathed Again"?

Wispy Nastolgia aside

[geekoid]

I, like many of BB fans that I know, Have his works in paper format, so I see no reason to spend 10 bucks.

An interesting experiment would be to but them all on kazaa and see if they still get people to pay the 10 bucks.

If that last statement bothered you, and you download .mp3s, you are a hyprocrite.

and no, I won't actually do that.

I would pay the 10 bucks if it included a week of new strips, including sunday.

several of artisit who retireed around the same time said they found newspapers too limiting. I had hoped they would move there work onto the web. basically giving the an 'unlimited' canvas.
I would pay a subscription to either bloom county or calvin and hobbes website if they had new strips.

How 'bout 20 Q from BB?

[mrkurt]

Talk about ironic, the banner ad on my page as I type this offers a link to "Research Ronald Reagan at the world's largest online library". Fitting with the story...

Anyhoo, I think it would be cool to have a 20 Questions with Berke sometime soon, to catch up on what he's doing, and press him as to WHY, OH WHY AREN'T YOU STILL A (COMIC) STRIPPER? Even if it isn't a reprise of Bloom County, I would love to see some new work aside from children's books. I think he's one of the most talented cartoonists to ever put pen to paper. It was a big part of the lives of many of us making our way into the world in the '80s.

As for the offer of mycomicspage, I'll pass-- I have Classics of Western Literature and Bloom County Babylon, which I think have the best of his work.

Re:How 'bout 20 Q from BB?

[jwjcmw]

The Onion AV Club did a good interview with him a couple of years back.

I've just been re-reading the print versions of his stuff that I have. I find them to be amazingly relevant in today's world.

Re:How 'bout 20 Q from BB?

[mrkurt]

Thanks for the link... I'll check it out.

Price is not the issue.

[RatBastard]

Price isn't the issue. If soimething costs too much you don't buy it. But that doesn't give you the right to steal it (and yes, aquiring copyright material without the copyright holder's consent is theft).

I'm amazed and disgusted that morality is based on price.

Good points, but I still don't agree

[khrustee]

My point about the lopsided $20 Viper was that let's say perhaps (perhaps?) I'm just really not mentally sound, and to me, $20 is fair for a Viper. My saying it's worth only $20 doesn't make it so; just as someone saying "I'm only going to pay $4.50 for those 3 songs" isn't right. That may be fair to most people, but if the cd costs $15, it still costs $15. Stealing tracks is still stealing, however you justify it or whatever end you hope to see come about.

As far as leaving the original intact being justification, I'm not sure I agree. What would happen if this argument were used in other areas?

- Movies: (or even new albums). We've heard of people sneaking out digital copies of flicks/songs, and making them available on the net. In a perfect world of no-limit bandwidth, those songs could theoretically be available worldwide instantaneously. How long do you suppose people will keep putting out movies/songs if everyone had access to them before they even hit shelves/stores? If everyone thought $10 was too much for a movie, and felt they were 'harming nobody' by just downloading it...

- Drugs: Pfizer spends 10 years and $400 million finding the cure to AIDS. Your buddy works in the lab, takes home a copy of the magic formula, and soon everybody has it. Great, AIDS has been eradicated, but Pfizer soon goes out of business, and no further research is done, anywhere, because all companies have an 'information wants to be free!' guru.

- Software: Is $50 ridiculous for a game or program that took years and $millions to develop? See above movies argument. If lifting a program is made very easy and very quick; how much real advance will we see in the future? Not everyone can program fulltime just for fun and the knowledge that they are betting society from their efforts.

- How many other jobs/products/services could be lost under this justification? How many people would be out of work if everything were fair game?

I'm sure some will say that's the natural evolution of things, but I really don't think so. Someone has to spend their full time jobs creating, editing, performing, designing, programming, etc. When you, or anyone, lifts something by saying 'it's too expensive, PLUS it really isn't harming anything', I think the damage done is beyond estimation. How many people will just throw their hands in the air and say 'screw it' when they realize that they won't get paid for their work.

Would you work for free? At the end of the week, if your employer said, "well, chuck, you worked 40 hours, but I really only liked about 5 of them. Here's your check for five hours." Would you still work there? What if all companies did that? Their argument would still hold. "Hey, you're still intact! And you went bathroom SEVERAL times during the week, which we we're reimbursed for. So quit yer whining."

Mmmmm sacrilicious.

Re:Good points, but I still don't agree

[JudgeFurious]

Well you make some good points. At this time I think that what you are seeing is a situation where people are indeed saying that the CD isn't worth the $15 and that if the labels won't sell me the 3 tracks I want for the $4.50 I'm willing to pay then I'll download them and to hell with the labels. It is stealing, I'm not about to argue that it isn't. That would be futile. People running around saying that what they are doing isn't really harming anything are lying to themselves to feel better about it. I can only speak for myself when I say that I have no trouble sleeping at night. I know exactly what I'm doing and have no qualms about it.

What I am going to say though is that this is so widespread and so damaging to the labels current business model that it's going to force them to change the way they sell music. There will be jobs lost and there will be people who no longer make the kind of money they were able to. This happens in every industry that undergoes traumatic change. It's probably going to be a little uglier and a little more painful in the music industry because it's been held in a sort of artificial bubble for so long. It's a system that's become an institution and those always break the hardest.

Unlimited bandwidth not being presently available I still see your point. It makes me think of the recent case of Eminem's latest album (it might have actually been the one before it, I am not a fan and don't keep up much with him) but I recall reading in a couple of different places that the album I'm referring to was called "the most downloaded album of all time". It was also the best selling album that year.

The next step, where the labels finally break down and meet the listeners halfway is going to be the real dealbreaker in my mind. If the plan is sound and the labels are willing to sell people music, the way the people want to buy music, and for a price that people are willing to pay and people continue to steal the music instead at the rate they do today then that's dead wrong. Again I can only speak for myself but all I'm waiting for is an online service that lets me do this legally but is reasonable. We will see how many people who spout that same line are serious when it appears.

On drugs and software I only want to point out that if the product costs "x" and the market will accept that then the product will sell. If the product exceeds what the market is willing to pay for it then it's not going to sell as well. If it exceeds that amount by too much it won't sell at all. That's true where software is concerned 100% and alternatives will always be turned to when something gets just a little too insane in the price tag. I don't think it's a great idea to go out and simply download everything and never pay for anything as that would have the kind of effect you are talking about. I do think that prices of software are high enough that I want to be far more selective in what I pay that $50 for. I want to take it for a spin and if the download is going to take all night but my buddy has a copy I feel no guilt over ripping his.

Drug companies are a whole different nut to crack. They make a product that costs an arm and a leg to develop but people don't just "want" the product. Sometimes they need it desperately. They walk a fine line between charging what they have to in order to make it worth developing and trying to not appear too greedy and pricing themselves into PR hell. That's a whole other thread by itself.

Breathed's complaint about shrinking comics.

[Hobart]

If I recall correctly (and it's mentioned in his recent Onion-AV-club interview), one of the major factors that made Berke Breathed retire was that comic strips were being shrunk to unreadable sizes. (This is currently really annoying me with Boondocks, even ONLINE fer Goodness sake!).

I always wondered, though, what if Berke had followed the path blazed by Dr. Fun , who from day 1 was publishing a 640x480 color image for each panel? Keep each daily strip 480 pixels high, and stipulate that it not be shrunk ... end of problem!

Re:Breathed's complaint about shrinking comics.

[Art Tatum]

Bill Waterson was having similar arguments with his distributers, as I recall. He had very high standards for his art and layout--all of which was ignored by the newspapers who ran his stuff.

Bait-und-switch?

[ischorr]

Has anyone else noticed that the front page of mycomicspage.com promises to send me a "FREE" Calvin and Hobbes book with membership, then when you click on the book image link, it takes you to a page that requests 5 extra dollars for the Calvin and Hobbes book? Am I missing something?

UComics Business Model

[RoloDMonkey]

I am a big fan of online comics, but I have trouble with UComics' site layout. Sites like comics.com have a link above each comic that says "NEXT." So if I want to I can browse through all the comics.
Ucomics, on the other hand only lists their comics in an index. If you want to read several comics, you have to constantly use the back button, or sign up for their My Comics page, and therefore give information to marketers.
This annoyed me so much, in fact, that I made my own comics page on my website, just so I didn't have to put up with this.
However, I probably will sign up with UComics. There is no way I will miss one of my favorite comics of all time.

Yeah Pingu

[Anonymous Coward]

Mwwaaaww mwwaaaww!

When I was in Japan, I picked up a bunch of Pingu tapes on VHS. Yay Japan!

Opus sings The Police

[Brad1138]

I am so happy to hear this. I still to this day can't hear "Every breath you take" without thinking of Opus singing "Every leaf you rake, Every dog you wake, Every Herring you bake. God I loved and missed Bloom County.

Been a subscriber for about a month now

[MBraynard]

Since the sacbee.com had removed it's comics, I decided to subscribe and found they had all of my favorite strips - except Dilbert. Dilbert is free, however, and has a free email service for daily strips.
Anyway, it's a good deal. And yes, they have Calvin and Hobbes.

Not sure what you mean...

[Slartibartfast]

"Have his works in paper format..." Well, no, you don't: you have *some* of his works in paper format. I, for example, can quote virtually all the anthologies: I'm that much of a fan. The six strips I saw today were _NEW_ to me, and, I promise, were never in Loose Tails.

As for "I would pay the 10 bucks if it included a week of new strips, including Sunday", what do you mean? Every two days, it publishes "a week of new strips, including Sunday." Specifically, on a given day, it publishes the dailies (Mon - Sat), and on the next day, it does the Sunday.

Granted, if you Just Don't Care, that's one thing, but this is stuff that, unless you read from Day One in the Washington Post, you've likely never seen... 'cause it ain't been anywhere else. Granted, the stuff we've seen in the books will also be putting in an appearance, and I'll enjoy them, too, but DAMN, I'd been hoping for this for years.

Why would I pay for this?

[El Camino SS]

I've got a shelf full of Bloom County books.

And yes, they're still endearing, and ultimately hilarious. I would still to this very day buy fresh replacements of the missing ones.

The scalp tonic syndicate (Opus as a drug runner, Miami Vice style), Bill and Opus's Politics run, The Banana Jr. computer, The stealth Basselope, and Bill the Cat's picture with an AK-47 and Jeanne Kirkpatrick for the sandanistas (my "Mujarhadeen Mama") are still some of the funniest, most inspired things ever in comics.

However, I never laughed at Doonesbury. I wonder why.

quality could be better

[Sabalon]

The scans aren't the greatest. Would be nice if it was like userfriendly - click on the comic and see a bigger better scan.

Oh well...still means I'll finally get a complete collection of Bloom county...books skipped a lot :(

Really?

[Slartibartfast]

I'd thought I had every Bloom County book out there -- and I _KNOW_ I've never seen the strips that ran today. Do you recall where you saw the interview? I'd be -very- interested in reading it...

Why released every other day

[Anonymous Coward]

It's obvious why it is published every "odd" day.

Last Post!

[alpg]

I had a feeling once about mathematics -- that I saw it all. Depth beyond
depth was revealed to me -- the Byss and the Abyss. I saw -- as one might
see the transit of Venus or even the Lord Mayor's Show -- a quantity passing
through infinity and changing its sign from plus to minus. I saw exactly
why it happened and why tergiversation was inevitable -- but it was after
dinner and I let it go.
-- Winston Churchill

- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...