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Berkeley Breathed Back in the Funnies
tetrad writes "Berkeley Breathed is creating a new Sunday comic strip, according to the Washington Post. The half-page comic strip will feature Opus the penguin from Breathed's Bloom County and Outland series, and will begin Nov. 23."
Pear pimples for hairy fishnuts
Opus flies again!
Insert witty sig here.
Ack! Thpppt!
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Why does the page repeatedly reload when viewed in Mozilla Firebird? Is it trying to slashdot itself?
This makes me very happy. Except what exactly does "'Opus' will run on Sundays only and will fill half a page in the comics section" mean?
A half a page? How likely will this be picked up by papers if it's half a freaking page? I'd love to see it, but that may be asking too much from papers.
The Blaster Master Fighting for Truth, Justice, and Evil Pie since 1979
Bill the Cat better be coming as well. "through the sewer slime and stinky, george bush is a twinkie" Originally written for the first George Bush, but should apply to this President as well. Horray!
no god is good
I hope bill the cat comes back too!
A nice start, but I want Calvin and Hobbes back. :-)
I remember the Breathed "retired" oh so many years ago, but I wonder if this comeback is like many 60's and 70's band "comeback tours"... that is to say he's found that he needs the money and there is still (somehow) enough interest out there to him to milk...?
Now the 10 dollar question: will it have just Opus, or will it have just about all the characters? As I recall, Outland started with just Opus and the other characters found their way in until it was basically a Sunday Bloom County with weirder backgrounds.
It's good to hear that a wry voice from the 80's will be back in the Sunday comics. Ever since Bill Watterson quit drawing/writing Calvin and Hobbes, and Bloom County disappeared, the comics haven't been the same IMO.
Now, if only Watterson would get inspired to further the adventures of Calvin, there would be some ubiquity in the "Intellectual Section" of the daily fishwrap!
We could really use some better comic strips (especially ones with penguins in them).
I really missed the days of the Far Side. Non-sequiter is pretty good. And I don't need to say anything about Dilbert. But the rest of the comics suck. Maybe I'm just getting old. But it seems like comics used to be much better. I hope this one helps with the comeback of good comics.
I've never seen this Opus before, but I think Tux could take him.
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
Outstanding news. I grew up with Bloom County, finding Doonesbury too off-topic for my young and yet geeky pursuits. BC had the same level of text, yet was a lot more accessible.
After all, what aspiring young hacker, typing BASIC programs into a TRS-80 at the local Radio Shack, wouldn't be inspired by Oliver Wendell Jones?
This is great news.
:)
I started collecting all of the Bloom County books just over 2 years ago. (Only 2 books left to go!)
It was amazing re-reading all of these again and how many topics written in the 80's are still topical today - especially the strips with political overtones.
And the timing couldn't be better - going into a presidential primary next year. Will Opus get sucked into running again?
Mr. Breathed's comment in the article about not having a public voice through the war - it will be great to have that voice back in the comics.
Of course, now they'll have to shrink the comic pages down another 30% to fit a new comic in.
I'm taking the rest of the day off to go romp through a dandelion patch!
you're all figments of my deranged imagination
Dear Mr. Berkely Breathed,
"Opus" the penguin is currently property of SCO Inc. Please, come sign our amnesty form and delete all images and shred all drawings of this character. Additionally, you will be neuralized to ensure that you never think of our beloved Opus again. Furthermore, if you somehow do manage do succomb to even the most minimal thought of Opus we will kidnap your first born and hold him/her hostage and force him/her to watch "Strangers With Candy" until he/she becomes insane and delusional or until your central neural unit dissolves all meaning of the word "Opus".
Thank you for your cooperation.
Outland started out as a good concept, and then morphed back into Bloom County over 6 months as Breathed realized he had nothin' for the new characters. How long until Steve Dallas, Bill the Cat, etc. return? And is "oop ack!" really still funny? I know it sounds curmudgeonly, but the only Berke Breathed I like is the one that drew the first 3 years of Bloom County. After that, it was really touch-and-go. 'Course, there's "Gene Simmons Never Had A Banana 2000", so I'm an utter hypocrite.
oh joy, oh rapture, oh frabish day caloo clay (or how ever that is spelled)
The Far Side!
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
Hopefully Oliver and his Banana 2000 will be back too.
I'm looking foreward to getting back in the know in regards to American politics. Everything I knew about 80's politics, I learned from Opus and Bill (hmm...a possible explanation for my leftist leanings). Can you blame me? I was 10 and it was more interesting than the news.
Besides his great sense of humor, Bloom County was also outstanding in that each an every strip was a masterpiece of art. I don't mean to knock Dilbert, but if you compare the quality of artwork, Dilbert could have been drawn by a 4-year-old kid (but I do love the humor of Scott Adams).
About the only other strip with comparable artwork is Doonesbury.
"-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
Obviously the moderators are not fans of Berkeley Breathed or his strips at all, or they MAY have realized that this is not "Offtopic" at all.
the blood has stopped pumping, and he's left to decay
the me that you know is now made up of wires
Did Oliver Wendell Jones go the route of BananOSX or Bananux?
Harry Knowles, editor in chief of the Web's Ain't It Cool News and an avid fan of newspaper comics. "I think there's been three great strips that have gone away over the last five, 10 years that I really miss: 'Bloom County,' 'Calvin and Hobbes' and 'The Far Side.' Those are the three strips that never should have ceased."
These strips ended when they should have... ie... when their authors no longer felt inspired to write them and were growing bored with their work.
Was Calvin and Hobbes one of the best comics ever? Yes. Was is miserably repetitive near the end and growing more and more unfunny? Sadly, yes. If it had continued on, it would have been nothing but a constant rehash of the same jokes and concepts with no new content... like Peanuts and Garfield both became.
Outland was pretty miserable compared to Bloom County. I have high hopes for 'Opus', but I'm also a realist. It may be just as poor as Outland was, IMHO.
Oh, Mr. Breathed. Two words, 'Web Comic'.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
Calvin returned in a film just a couple of years ago...
There have usually been a handful of decent comics, with a load of "dogs" as filler. Consider:
Beetle Bailey...
Marmaduke...
Hi & Lois...
Mary Worth...
etc.
These sucked when I was 5 years old, they suck now, and they will still be sucking when I turn 80.
Curb CO2 emissions: Kill yourself today!
"I think there's been three great strips that have gone away over the last five, 10 years that I really miss: 'Bloom County,' 'Calvin and Hobbes' and 'The Far Side.' Those are the three strips that never should have ceased."
If it wasn't for Dilbert, I'd just discard the comics with the 'magazine' and 'style' sections.
Comics have gone the way of pop-music - only the acts who are blase' and 'easy to understand' are getting published.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
imagine a cluster of those! banana cluster..oh, never mind.
Why, oh why, is Harry Knowles commenting on this? Are they just getting anybody who has a semi-popular POS website to comment in in the Washington Post now? Can I get in on the action too? I can create a fake news site, drum up some quotes and get quoted in the Post - woohoo.
And even if my local rag doesn't pick it up, I will be happy as long as they continue to run Get Fuzzy, which features a combative cat and a dumb-as-a-rock pooch.
*ducks*
"You know why you do not see me styling wit my homies? Because I have no homies!!" -Mojo Jojo
To Clarify...
My absolute favorite Bloom County strips were when the meadow party ran for president. The Bill/Opus ticket. The last one I remember was in 88 - God I miss the meadow party
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
Well, space can easily be made by dumping the steaming turd that The Family Circus is. Geesh, shouldn't those kids have grown up by now, got addicted, rehabed, and on with their lives????
May I recommend Frazz to all Calvin & Hobbes fans? In my opinion, it has similar humor, wisdom and cuteness. It's my current favorite.
From where I stand -- they just haven't held up. There are taped-up Far Side cartoons that I've passed in the hallway every day for years that I still laugh at. Far Side collections, Calvin & Hobbes, old Dilberts all still make me laugh. Bloom County turned out to be just a bunch of tossed-out references to '80's pop culture. 20 years later, it's as dated and forced as, say, brand new Doonesbury strips.
We'll see, but I bet the best of today's strips (Zits, Foxtrot, Monty, Drabble) are going to look quite good by comparison.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
If Breathed or anyone involved is reading this, *please* let this see online distribution! We'll *pay!*
$20/year - equivalent to the sale of a print collection to each reader. $20/6 months - two print sales, without the overhead. $10/month - *I'd still cough up.*
As depressing as losing Bloom County was, Outland never came close to replacing it for me. It had lots of eye candy, but just wasn't that great a strip, IMO. OTOH, the books have been *awesome*. I reread the "kids' books" almost as often as I reread the books of all the Bloom County strips.
I hope the time away from the comics has helped him get back to the place htat he should be, and the new strip will be as good as Bloom County.
Now, where can I get a life sized Opus?
Where can I rip off his entire back catalogue for free?
Yeah, I know, I know, but it's OK, really. Big newspapers are big business, and we're among friends here. It's not as though it's stealing, right?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
You po' Merkins miss out on the great Steve Bell, still going strong in the Guardian (though unfortunately not on their website). Look out for his "If..." and older "Maggie's Farm" strips. It's a shame you've also missed out on his recent interpretations of Bush Jnr. - truly savage :-)
need a free COBOL editor for Windows?
Oh, wait. Wrong Berkeley.
At any rate, I, for one, welcome our new penguin overlord.
philcrissman.com.
Check out The Boondocks if your paper has it, or find it online.
It even had DMCA bashing in it at one point!
And it cunningly anticipated Berke Breathed's return.
Pogo back. But considering the present condition of Walt Kelly, I'm presuming that's asking for a bit too much.
Is it fascism yet?
The dandelion break has ended!!!
Quoth he
"It's all academic anyway..."
Will his "banana" PC run MacOSX???
- these are not the droids you are looking for -
Am I the only one who feels there's a little Bloom County inside of the Boondocks ? I think they both have the same political outlook, only instead of a penguin, the Boondocks has a militant black teenager.
C - A language that combines the speed of assembly with the ease of use of assembly.
Painful? They already had Doonesbury which covered the anti-war and Bush-bashing department quite adequately. Breathed's comics would also have an anti-war, anti-Bush slant but would have made it thought-provoking and actually funny.
I tried every decent and legal way I could think of to resolve the issue w/the business before I rented the chicken suit
http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/03 /r_style_weingarten090903.htm
there's been no comic worth reading. Zippy the Pinhead used to be funny... 15 years ago. I must be getting old.
-- No sig for you!
(Fuck you, RIAA, I own it).
Actually I'm fairly sure those songs are not amoung those in the RIAA catalog.
To strive, to seek, but not to yield
It is about an inner city black family that moves to the suburbs. It is beautifully drawn and has a sharp, left leaning wit
Free cell phone tracking
Hopefully Opus will occasionally be visited by my kindasorta namesake. Ack!
Breathed retired because he ran out of things to say and rather than let the strip turn into Garfield or the Peanuts, he did the right thing. Recently he said in a interview that he didn't think that the strips had lasting value because many of the things that they poked fun at are no longer relavant to todays readers. For the same reason I think the time is right for him to return, considering how much of has changed, I'm sure that he will have a lot of fun to poke at things like reality television and George the moron Bush.
The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
It was topical humor. Right now there's no comic strip artist of Breathed's stature doing for the 00s what he did for the 80s.
Satire is a sign of a healthy democracy. We need it right now more than ever.
As for longevity, my Bloom County collection does a better job of reminding me what the 80s were all about than any other media relics from that era.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
The Banana Jr. ran SCO code.
Amazing, my impression was that Opus was a throw-away character but came into his own when the he was accosted somehow the term in the subject line came out of "Prayer Temples for Hare Krishnas".
In any case, I'm halfway between wetting my pants with joy and cursing that somebody I thought went out with dignity has sold out. The cynical side of me wonders how much of the new strip was required for the Opus movie.
Personally, I enjoyed "Outland" and thought it was a reasonable successor to "Bloom County" which had a stale feeling to it in its last year. So, maybe "Opus" is a logical evolution to the strip.
In any case, I'll buy whatever local paper its in (even if its the "National Post").
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
I have always wondered whether the name "Opus" could have been have been derived from the strange and wonderful enormous outdoor sculpture called Opus 40. It was sculpted/built by one Harvey Fite, and captured my imagination when I visited it some years ago on a trip to Woodstock, NY.
You see, I've always thought the "Opus" character bore a certain family resemblance to Charles M. Schulz's (please mod me up for spelling his name correctly) "Woodstock."
I can't help thinking that Breathed said to himself, "I guess this character is a little close to Woodstock..."
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
My Bloom County baseball jersey doesn't fit. It couldn't be the 135lbs I've gained since high school, could it?
I drank what? -- Socrates
Time to celebrate! Break out the hairy fish nuts!
I loved Bloom County, but I'm worried that Berke Breathed is a harbinger for what the Chinese call "Interesting Times." Sky High Defense spending, Moron in the White House, tax cuts for the rich, deficits a go-go. Yep time to trot out Berke! Take cover!
This is the best Democracy money can buy?!?!?
He can save himself a lot of work by taking his old strips and replacing "Reagan" with "George Dubya".
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Watterson said he quit because he had become bored with the medium and wanted to try something on a larger scale. So where is it?!?
Watterson also complained about the ridiculous flexibility he had to provide to the syndicators. I.e. The title panel of the Sunday comic couldn't contain anything important because the newspapers had the option to remove it. Ditto for the first 2 frames, which usually contain a pithy joke.
Of course even that wasn't really an issue in the end because his syndicator eventually gave in and allowed him to force newspapers to print the full version. I think that was the catharsis; once he knew he could push the syndicator around, railing against the establishment wasn't fun any more.
-a
Though now I look forward to more, MWA-HA-HA-HA!!
"Pear pimples for hairy fishnuts!" -Opus, (Talking to a Hari Krishna)
Kick in the Head
You actually like "Zits"? That comic is as funny as that god awful "Rose Is Rose"
Milo: What big game are we stalking today, Major?
Major: Liberals. Check and see what the wildlife guide says about 'em.
Panel 2:
Milo: (reading form the guide) "The Vanishing Liberal: A beast which once thundered across the American Scene in mighty herds. Recently hunted to near extinction."
Major: Gotta be one left around here somewheres... Try the Liberal Call, boy.
Panel 3:
Milo: (shouting) Welfare, Solar Power, No Nukes! ( a nearby bush rustles)
Panel 4: A liberal with bushy hair and mustache, looking much like Reiner on "All in the Family", stands up from behind the bush.
Liberal: No Nukes! No Nukes!
Panel 5: The Major fires his gun at the liberal.
Major: Gotcha!
Liberal: Gun Control! Gun Control!
Panel 6: Liberal can't be seen in tall grass.
Milo: (to the reader) It's a shame.They're more fun than buffalo.
Major: I think I wounded him!
Liberal: Ow! Socialized Medicine! Socialized Medicine!
Berkeley Breathed Comics! Opus!
Imagine a beowulf cluster of these in soviet russia, you insensitive clod!
do() || do_not();
By the way, because a penguin is the symbol of Linux, this means that Darl is going require a $699 license for every Sunday's strip.
What is "ubiquity" supposed to mean in this +5 interesting comment?
I miss the "Dysfunctional Family Circus" website. It allowed people to brutally abuse FC comics that were missing the dialog. Something I must admit my brother and I liked to do.
It was closed down when Bill Keane complained.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Ahhh.. Another post by a teenager whose opinion really doesn't matter.
I imagine you really liked the last two Star Wars movies and think the original Star Wars movies are crap.
Now, if you would, go back to class please.
And my .sig is from Bloom County. I hope this will be good.
-- "You can lead a yak to water, but you can't teach an old dog to make a silk purse out of a pig in a poke" - Opus
It should be called "Get Garfield". That strip truly SUCKS. It is about as funny as watching Charlie Chaplin fall on his ass for the millionth time (or Moe pull Larry's hair).
Soon he'll have the cat, Bucky, addicted to Lasangna and making fun of his owner's love life.
I think I speak for all of Berkeley's loyal fans when I say:
Ack! Thpppt!
I don't really know what that means, but I think people who think he's a prick would agree.
Irene KHAAAAAAN!
My local paper here probably wouldn't touch this in a million years. It would take up too much of their ad space. Half of the comics on Sunday are filled with grocery coupons or other bullshit...
Not to mention that the REST of the comics are still filled with such dreck as "Garfield", "Hagar the Horrible", "Beetle Bailey", "Wizard of Id" and any number of other pieces of shit that have not had an original idea in about 20 years.
No... I'm not bitter
He's totally creeping out the Great One, eh...
As I recall, Bloom County started off with a rich cast of characters all centered around the seemingly normal world of a Boarding House. With the cynical young reporter Milo in charge, along with his war-mongering grandfather, the intelligent and supportive Cutter John, Steve Dalls, each was caracature of someone you might know in real life... Just as Bloom County itself was a small town representation of America itself. Back when Opus was merely the pet of wimpy Binkley, who in wanting to impress his father, bought it thinking he was a German Shepherd. Back when Opus was silent, and even resembled a penguine at one point, only uttering the occasional phrase usually having to do with herrings or walruses. As the strip progressed and characters and situations became more and more wild, the original premise was still there. It was still about characters from a small town dealing with current events, politics, science, religion, and pop culture in America. But by the time Bloom County morphed into Outland, at least in my opinion, the environment became too abstract, and the realism of having characters from a small town being thrust into strange and humorous adventures was not there anymore. Outland was based in a universe I couldn't relate to, resembling the 3D land Homer Simpson found himself in while hiding from Patty and Selma one Halloween. I am hoping another rehash of Outland will not be the basis of the new strip. Breathed's comic timing borders on genius, and the new strip needs a deceptively normal setting which made Bloom County and American culture seem all the more strange and twisted and fun.
It was the non-Sunday strips that made Bloom County--all the character interaction in those few panels a day. Breathed could set-up one situation and keep it going for days or weeks. That's much of what made Outland so stale. It tried to pack everything into a self-contained Sunday strip, and it didn't work. It wasn't cohesive, surviving solely on nostalgic Bloom County fans.
Speaking of Frazz, he's always looked to me how I'd envision Calvin to look at that age. The drawing is very similar.
Co-incidence?
First they burn books, then they burn people.
My absolute favorite Bloom County strips were when...
...was when the girl (I forget her name) asked Opus, Bill and Milquetoast to take a long hard look at the one thing that gives their miserable male lives some meaning, and each one then pulls open the waistband of his underwear and stares at his own package.
...to heck with Breathed. "Outland" was good, but frankly not that good. I wanna know what Bill Watterson ("Calvin & Hobbes") is up to. I'm sure it's not comic strips again, but I haven't heard anything much out of him since the strip ended. Surely he's out drawing something, somewhere?
How can you leave out "Rose Is Rose"?
It has these great endlessly recurring themes:
1. Angels turn into horrible killing machines (and ignore adults)
2. The mother, Rose, fantasizes about being a biker slut.
3. The husband supposedly prefers his wife to be fat but she remains thin, just like in real life!
4. The strip is the comics equivalent of unicorn figurines, so sickeningly sweet you have to brush your teeth after reading it. It makes The Family Circus look like Scarface.
5. When the son hits puberty he joins a street gang.
I read through all my old Bloom County and Outland books recently and I think they've held up amazingly well, especially with all the topical references. Outland, didn't do as well, tho. I think Berke was burned out at that point, and he needed to just give it a rest. I'm glad he's back and ready to rock.
Ya know, this might be the only good thing to result from the Bush administration; it's gotten Berke so pissed off that he's got the fire in his belly again.
I'm gonna have to pinch myself. It hasn't really sunk in yet? Is this just a dream? Old school Bloom County is pound-for-pound, the best comic in the world. I love C&H and Far Side, too, but Opus and the boys have always had a special draw for me.
Ya know, the comics page isn't actually that depressing any more. I've really been enjoying Zits, the Boondocks, Pickles, and Get Fuzzy. It's good to see that daily comics are not a lost art. It's just a bit dazed and confused.
Glad to have you back, Berke! I can't wait to see Opus back in print! God, I hope the Star Trib carries it!
Electric Monkey Pants
Berke Breathed is at best a competent artist, though I'll give him points for having his own style.
As for Doonesbury, Trudeau hasn't drawn the strip in years (probably more than a decade). He hires assistants to draw in his style, which is why the strip is so bland.
Artistically, neither of them are any great shakes. They get the job done, that's about it.
Now Bill Watterston, OTOH, can freaking DRAW. When he would cut loose and do a full-page Sunday spread, it was amazing. Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows) is another amazing artist who's still working, though his writing is kind of ordinary. To say nothing of the long-time greats, like Hal Foster (Prince Valiant) or Alex Toth (Flash Gordon).
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
You won't appreciate "Rose is Rose" until you get married and have children. Then you'll start to like it.
Bill Griffith (Zippy) gave me a new appreciation for old Nancy strips, not the dialog but the minimalist drawing style. Look at some of the old strips, see the zen energy of the mysterious "3 rocks" and enter "Bushmiller country".
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Occasionally...
Fragile Gravity
Right now it's one of the three or so comics I actually bother to read in the paper.
(Get Fuzzy, Piranha Club, and sometimes Dilbert).
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Watterson said he quit because he had become bored with the medium and wanted to try something on a larger scale. So where is it?!?
Beautifully illustrated and well written children's books. Parents read his stories to their children. How much larger than influencing growing minds can you get?
Funny, I learned everything I know about classical music from Bugs Bunny cartoons.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
I agree. Just glad p2p software was available to assist me in continuing my ability to enjoy more Bloom County that I already owned.
Jerry Seinfeld had the same self-awareness when he killed off "Seinfeld". He saw it running out of good ideas and gave it a graceful exit before they resorted to one of the characters bringing in a kid (aka Jumping the Shark).
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Finally there will be some humor from the other side, instead of that moronic Mallard the Duck.
While a little political humor is good now and then, Mallard can be down right unfunny at times.
Welcome back, penguin!
Hecubas
"The wind doth taste of bitter sweet
Like jasper wine and sugar
I bet it's blown through others' feet
Like those of...Casper Weinberger."
What rhymes with Rumsfield?
Carthago delenda est!
The Washington Post has really gone to the dogs. They actually used The Onion as a source for this article:
Breathed has lamented the state of modern newspaper cartooning, which has had to deal with papers fitting more and more comics into a smaller and smaller space.
"Pity the poor modern comic page," Breathed said in a 2001 interview with the humor newspaper the Onion. "Frames the size of thumbnails. . . . It's just a page of inky blur that only a 10-year-old's eyes could focus upon."
Oh well, at least they did not source the article from slashdot. :P
Mine is where Opus goes to the fancy restaurant and with a superior air about him requests to sit in the No Smoking section. (Remember this is the 80's.) They then run down a whole laundry list of other restrictions ending up with "Big Noses", to which he finally has to reply yes. He ends up sitting next to a barfly telling him to put his nose out.
And in other comics (since we're listing them), yeah everyone would love to have Calvin and Hobbs back. Watterson never sold out comercially even though he was offered a LOT of money by people like Disney at the time.
These days, Rhymes with Orange is often good.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
You know you want it!
There is nothing inherently safe about liberty. That's why so many people died protecting it.
I heard Breathed speak at FSU, not long after Bloom County was retired, as I recall, and he told a funny story that I think will be appreciated here.
Seems Breathed had licensed the rights to the Bloom County characters for, among other products, a screen saver (mentioned here).
Now, if you remember, Breathed makes the average slashdotter seem like a Bill Gates fanboy. He did some pretty funny stuff about Bill. What did Bill think about his appearances in Bloom County? Was he even aware of them?
Breathed said that he believed that he knew the answer to that for, just weeks after the screensaver hit the shelves, it was mysteriously pulled from those shelves by every major retailer. Breathed could not find out why this had happened. His theory, however, was that someone had approached all the major vendors and politely asked them, "Which would you rather sell, the Bloom County screensaver? Or Windows 95? Take your pick."
If Breathed's theory is true, I think that would speak volumes about Bill's personality. It would indicate to me that he is, emotionally, a very, very small man, despite all his wealth and power.
In contrast, many of you will recall that Jane Goodall wrote a forward for one of Garry Larson's books. That was her gracious, well-tempered reaction to Larson's well-known 'that tramp Jane Goodall' cartoon. I know little about Goodall, but I mark her down as someone I admire, at least for that.
This message has been provided as a public service to remind you: take your work seriously, yourself, never.
Quite simply, nerds like comics. Especially chara Opus:)
Here's some links to help you catch up with the rest of us:
Dilbert
Calvin and Hobbes
the Far Side
the 5th Wave
Bob the Angry Flower
Foxtrot
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I still have the one he did after Bush half choked on a Pretzel. One of the best ever.
Mielipiteet omiani - Opinions personal, facts suspect.
Yes, Frazz is very good.
I also detect a strong Watterson influence in the style of Zits which could almost be Calvin as a teenager.
-- Alastair
Beautifully illustrated and well written children's books.
Under a different name? Or are they just hard to find?
Slashdot's token middle-aged housewife
was apparently stolen from presidential candidate Al Smith, and oddly enough, is very apropos to Slashdot:
"No matter how thin you slice it, it's still baloney."
Someone you trust is one of us.
Seriously, though, how can you compare the composer of "The wind doth taste of bitter sweet/ Of jasper wine and sugar/ I bet it's blown through others' feet/ Like those of...Casper Weinberger." with a bird whose best quote is "'''''''''''"''"?
Also, Woodstock could fly, where Opus only "Wish[ed] for Wings That Work".
Carthago delenda est!
Bloom County turned out to be just a bunch of tossed-out references to '80's pop culture. 20 years later, it's as dated and forced as, say, brand new Doonesbury strips.
The same thing could be said of the editorials from newspapers of the day. Do you now dismiss editorials as irrelevent and not worthy as a form of writing? What made Bloom County important was that it commented on the issues of the day. It made a statement. I hope that "Opus" is similarly brash and in-your-face.
Some comics just make people laugh. I think that we have room for comics that make people think as well.
Berkeley Breathed, shown in an undated file photo, is going back to the drawing board.
:)
Oh, I can date the photo. It's from the 80's, and they want their hair back.
You are checking your backups, aren't you?
He will start drawing again. Build up a lage fan base, again. Get bored and quit, again!
Just like the last 2 times.
Sad but true.
Bring back the Far Side & Calvin & Hobbes
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
I was watching Sunday morning TV and opened the paper only to see the "Sam Donaldson and George Will Obliteration Ray: A bipatisan solution". It made my day.
The first person to come up with a BILL/OPUS 2004 campaign gets my vote, regardless of their actual political stance, viewpoints and the fact I can't vote here.
UHH, Bill Waterson died a couple years ago. He had complete control over calvin + hobbes and specified in his will that they weren't to be revived. Note that reprints of old strips are allowed (like Peanuts classics).
Someone in here recommended Boondocks, so I thought I'd check it out....Funny. Flipping through old strips I found this. Apropos of my earlier post...
This is the best Democracy money can buy?!?!?
Years ago, I was disgusted by a nearby U's handicapped van which looked not so much as anything but a prison wagon, navy blue, mesh in the windows and all...
I had a brainstorm. Why not liven it up - light colors, some cool graphics - what better graphic than Cutter John loaded down with all the critters from the meadow, zooming off at warp factor 9...
I called an old friend with a vehicle graphics biz. Got the labor ponied up. Called a distant relative in the paint biz. Paint would be mine. Called the Washington Post Writers Group and told them what I had in mind. They told me to hold on for a minute, then lots of phone noises, then Berke came on the line and asked me what I wanted to do. IIRC...
-Will you make any money on this?
-No, it's just something to do gratis.
-Is it for a company?
-No it's for a college.
-OK, here's the deal: you have to use an existing drawing, you can't do your own version, or get something done new.
-OK
-You have to include the original signature,
-OK
-You have to add "copyright 19-- Washington Post Writers; Group, All Rights Reserved"
-OK (long silence) - and how much for the rights? _
-Nothing. You're not making anything on this?
-No
-No one else will profit, right?
-No.
-That's it.
-Thanks!
-Send us a picure.
-OK.
I contacted the handicapped student group on campus - they thought it would be much cooler - then I started talking to the powers that be at the university to get all the clearances, etc. Big mistake. More than a year later, we still hadn't gotten so much as any written response from anywone who had to OK it - sheesh. Maybe I gave up too easily, but it was enlightneing to see the attitude of an artist vs the attitude of a few campus honchi...
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
"bums held"?
I'll leave to the imagination of the reader to work that into a poem about him, though. *chuckle*
--Fesh
Kill -9 'em all, let root@localhost sort 'em out.
I found out about this a few weeks ago. I know someone at the Washington Post (Suzy)and apparently, she talked him into starting the strip again. She's a new parent, he's a new parent, so she said gee, wouldn't you like to have a strip again to get your views out.
So he did.
The only thing that would make this announcement any better is if Bill Watterson were to get the other half page.
I still have the book, with the original floppy record still attached. I have never listened to my copy, but many years ago, a buddy had a copy and we would listen all the time. I must say, that the real band who recorded "U Stink" was called "Mucky Pup". These guys were the precursor to the whole grunge movement, and were all very talented. Maybe this might bring some interest back into these guys.
The author is a real piece of work too. Check out his blog. He needs to set his chai drink down and get outside for a little perspective. Yikes.
Gotta agree that these were some of the best comic of the past 20 yrs. But my all time favorite is Pogo. The social and political satire/commentary was the best of it's time. If you can find any of the old anthologies, read them. I learned more about cold war politics from Walt Kelly than just about anyone (Khruschev as a pig and Castro as a goat trying to undermine the US economy with counterfeit green stamps).
Penguin shmenguin. I want more Calvin and Hobbes!
mt
Berke Breathed is at best a competent artist, though I'll give him points for having his own style.
I disagree, look at his childrens books. A wish for wings that work, the last bassalope, etc... They're beautifully done.
Mod my comments down. It'll be fun.
Outland was completely lame, so I don't expect good things from the new strip. Perhaps he should develop a complete new set of characters, and let the old ones rest in peace.
Say, Coward, how many Iraqi WMDs did you find today?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Hmm. I'm not exactly seeing much biting military satire in Beetle Bailey. In recent memory, there's a handful of Otto gags, Beetle's-always-sleeping gags, Sarge's-diet gags, Halftrack-answers-to-his-wife gags, Chip Gizmo in some worn-out tech gags, and some Lt. Fuzz brownnosing weenie gags. The strip's felt like the doldrums to me, lately. All the jokes are about the characters (as opposed to the situation), and yet nothing's actually happening to the characters. No storylines.
As for missing the Far Side, I'm finding Mother Goose and Grimm to be a nice substitute, from time to time. Every once in a while there's a one-shot goofy cartoon, like the cats signing the Declaration of Indifference. It'll never be what Far Side was, but I like it all the same.
For Better or For Worse is pretty cool, I agree. Especially when I finally learned out to tell April, Elizabeth, and their mom apart. I can't stand Non Sequitur when it's yet another rag on corporate greed, legal shenanigans, or media spin, but the Sunday storyline about Homer was kinda cool. Dilbert's hilarious, as usual.
Other strips I'm finding rather good: One Big Happy (the kids are spot on); Mark Trail (esp. the Sunday strips); Prince Valiant (love the art); Curtis (incredible detail, even in the weekday strips); Luann (soapy, but witty); Jump Start (I liked the chess bit).
And that's just the paper. Naturally, the online strips can be edgier, and hence really click with the right audience. Penny Arcade, PvP, and User Friendly are wonderful. There's probably a dozen more I'd like in the online world, but I'm just starting to explore it, and free time's at a premium lately.
Lately democracy seems to be based on the skybox, the Happy Meal box, the X-box, and the idiot box.
This is from memory, please forgive any inaccuracies.
[Scene: A debating forum setup in the meadow. Opus vs. Milo]
Milo: Do you support lowering the speed limit from 55 to 50, thus saving the lives of 5000 lives every year?
Opus: Why yes! I fully support measures that increase the safe-
Milo: Then, you'd also support lowering it to 45, saving another 10,000 lives?
Opus: Er... well, yes. I suppose if it prevents so many deaths-
Milo: So then, you'd support lowering it to 35, saving an additional 30,000 lives per year?
Opus: Um.. I ah.. 35 is getting kind of slow, isn't it?
Milo: My competitor here would send 30,000 innocent men, women and children to a burning, agonizing death just so he can zip along to his manicurist at 45 MPH.
Opus: Hey! I don't even HAVE a manicurist.
Milo: He probably doesn't. Most mass murderers don't have manicurists. Hitler didn't.
Opus: {Hiding under his podium}
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
Your post is so clueless, why did you even read this story, much less comment on it?
Reading the story and the article? I seem to have broken the Zen Slashdot rule of only reading the headline before posting. Yes, I read it.
If "Ack! Thpppt!" is the sound of a hairball, I think the poster meant something like: "This is going to be a regurgitation of Bloom County and Outland."
I don't doubt Berkeley Breathed's ability to come up with new ideas, that was not my point.
My point was: "Ack! Please, no more beat-me-silly-over-the-head-with-a-lead-pipe political points from the 'Opus' guy!"
"Prick" was a bad word to use. Other than that, I don't see any lost clues laying around. Could someone please provide it?
Irene KHAAAAAAN!
The Meadow party debates were hilarious, poor Opus always getting the worst on debates, wondering if Bill would wake up from his catatonia (and will he ever say anything other than acckkkk pthhhpt)
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
mmm, chai
apologized to Michael Moore yet..? Snopes has.
I was really digging how you were reminding me of some of the characters of one of my favorite strips from days past, and then you said this piece of stinky flamebait:
The diversity of characters in the strip was also unprecendented, from African-Americans (Oliver Wendell Holmes, Rosalinda) who, unlike black characters in other strips, namely Peanuts, were actually of their own ethnicity
What's more astonishing is that you started with this:
I found that the strength of Bloom County was its in the way each member of its cast provided their own unique intimacy to the strip
Damn, it's almost like you never even read Peanuts.
Although Franklin was not a major player in the later years, it is interesting to note that even though he was introduced in 1968 (a torrential year to be black in America, I would imagine) his appearance was not considered to be politically motivated.
Franklin was a solid individual in that strip, not succumbing to personal foibles like every other character around him. He was written to be as theologically smart as Linus, and (quirk of all quirks), he actually LIKED playing hockey. Franklin was a smart, strong black kid that had his s**t together.
Franklin DID bring his own unique intimacy to Peanuts by just being himself, and not making light of his ethnicity ad nauseum.
On that note, I think that the strips Boondocks and newcomer La Cucaracha are well-drawn and contain edgy humor, but their strips' commentaries as a whole underscores a larger point:
Strip writers Aaron MacGruder and Lalo Alcaraz are bitter leftists who think that blacks and hispanics have no chance at advancement in America, even though they themselves are probably earning more money than myself.
I would imagine that Franklin, on the other hand, would have done just fine just by being himself, regardless of his ethnicity.
Work is the crabgrass in the lawn of life.-Schulz
Chalupa
Maybe we'll get a cameo from "Billy and the Boingers" I still have the plastic 45 record that came with the like titled book. Maybe Opus will sing some more of "The Police".
Every move you make....
Every, uh, leaf you rake...
Every dog you wake...
Every herring you bake...
I'll be watching yooou...
God I missed Opus.
If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
What a great idea! I spent many a childhood year tooling around in the back of similar vans. A big Cutter John would have been great.
Keep bugging the admins. I work in a university and lemme tell you, if it isn't in the office jumping up and down on your desk, it won't get done. Picket if you have to. There's nothing academics fear more than scandal, especially the kind that makes them seem less socially conscious. A few dozen folks rolling around in front of the admin building carrying "We Need Better Transportation" and "Administration Ashamed of Handicapped Students" signs should do the trick.
That ticklish feeling in my tummy
I first felt snuggling with my mummy
I feel it again when I hear that dummy
A belly laugh for that numbskull Rummy
Always keep a sapphire in your mind
Maybe you should quit reading comics and instead go look up the meaning of ubiquity.
Amen! I miss Milo Bloom more than Bill or Opus.
Y'know, I think Berke Breathed was the last person to really have an ensemble strip. Usually the rule of thumb is to have no more than five regular characters, but he had Bill, Opus, Steve Dallas, Milo Bloom, Binkley, Oliver, Portnoy...
It's kind of sad he's not doing a daily, though I suppose it'd be a lot of pressure for a postage-stamp strip. I miss the biting satire and such...
Senate Committee Woman 1: Well, Mr Dallas... we've heard your smut masquerading as songs and
we've also heard how teen prostitution, pregnancy, drug use, cults, runaways,
suicide and poor hygiene are sweeping this nation. We though you might like to
share with the committee any particular CAUSES you might see for those latter
problems.
Steve Dallas: I dunno. Maybe the proliferation of narrow, suffocating zealotry
masquerading as PARENTING in this country.
Senate Committee Woman 1: Off with his head!
Senate Committee Woman 2: We can't DO that, Tippy...
*snrrfle* I hope he bitch-slaps the stupid and avaricious. His style of satire somehow seems clearer, more biting and funnier than Boondocks. Though Non Sequitur is the best thing left on the page, and it tends to do rather well.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca