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The Opus Interview
Brad1138 writes "MSNBC has an interview with Opus re: his return to Sunday comics. Some interesting/funny bits of info. It was also nice to see how many people loved Bloom County/Opus, they are running a poll and currently 94% 'loved Bloom County & will read "OPUS"'." Here's another article talking about Opus's Return to the Sunday Funnies.
But come on? Pole?
-Peter
Anyone seen the strip online?
Or was that "Opus" almost nothing like the one we know? And if the author can't write the character correctly, and put in things about Burke writing dialogue, why do the mock interview at all?
Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
Some of the old cast for sure, but I hear the negotiations with Bill are not going well. He got a raw deal the first time around: he was paid per word, and all he usually said was "Ack!" and "Thppt!" And Berke's trying to bring in some of the mutts from his new book, "Flawed Dogs", but apparently they're in a different union than the meadow animals. I just don't get all of this legal mumbo-gumbo-rambo.
Oh, man! Bill the cat has got to make a return. Aaaaack Thppppt!
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A Calvin & Hobbes announcement similar to this would have made me much more happier.
Binkly pointed out that Opus looked more like a puffin, but Opus in turn pointed out that Binkly looked more like a carrot...
"Opus: Who says there's money in comics?"
Answer: Scott Adams does, because you get to do nothing but slack off and make fun of people all day, but you are paid for it. As opposed to most people who slack off and make fun of people all day, but are paid for some other duty, like manager or peon or programmer.
I miss Bill the Cat, who was my fav toon when I was a kid.
Pthbbbt.
I regularly report MSN spam to the Hotmail admins.
Breathed was also interviewed in Salon last week, and in The Onion's A.V. Club in 2001. He gets to swear in these interviews, too.
Perhaps Outland didn't last in your local paper, but the strip itself was in business from the end of Bloom County (1989? Maybe 1991...) until 1995. There were three Outland collections, although the third book did not have enough cartoons for a full book and included some of Burke's "outtakes" from the strip.
figure about 100 strips per book, (and 50 for the last one) and only 52 strips per year, you get about 5 years worth of strips.
Opus will probably last as long as Burke wants it to... given the current state of politics that needs mocking, I think Opus will be around for awhile.
It's only alluded to in these articles, but Berkeley Breathed demanded that all the newspapers who carry the new strip give him a half-page slot. So we should be expecting great things, right?
I liked both of his other Bloom County series, but today's strip unfortunately underwhelms me completely.
Get off my launchpad!
The Austin American-Statesman also has a story about the return, recounting the incident with the Daily Texan which helped lead to the start of Bloom County.
...and this one is with the man himself... ;-)
Who are you? The new #2 Who is #1? You are #617565. I am not a number, I am a free man! Muhahaha.
Interesting that Breathed said he'd taken Bloom County about as far as it would go. I suppose if one looks at the comic as a linear narrative, that could be true--but it was also a running commentary on the politics of the time. Politics are always changing, new names and faces, new events, new history to be ridiculed. I see it as a tad unfortunate that he didn't consider keeping up a continuous semi-political cartoon; that part of Bloom County, having direct relevance to my world, was always my favorite. Perhaps he didn't want himself or the comic to be typecast.
;)
Still, a pity. I can only imagine what he could do with our current administration.
The coolest voice ever.
Al Qaeda has ninjas!
I for one would like to offer a 34 armpit fart salute. Man the dandelions!
I regularly report MSN spam to the Hotmail admins.
I was like "those bastards, they finally cancelled it!" Then I found it on another page, read Opus and was slightly confused and amused.
This message is encrypted with Quad ROT-13 to protect the author's copyright under the DMCA.
The Opus and Bill (by Delrina at the time) screensaver brough me hours of joy while they shot the little Toasters flying by with a shotgun.... The toasters had wings until Berkley complained/sued, and the toaster wings were changed in to helicopter toasters. :)
Berkeley Systems v. Delrina Corp., U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (1993). Represented Delrina in copyright and trademark infringement action arising from its "Opus 'n Bill" computer screensaver and parody of Berkeley's "flying toasters."
Several months back I spoke with a friend, Suzie, that works in the comics section at the Washington Post. She ran into Breathed at a conference. Since they were both new parents, they talked about their kids. Suzie suggested that a new strip might be a great way to express his views about this new phase in his life. He agreed. Thus Opus
... was the best character, and the hacking storylines the only ones I still find funny.
Banana Junior 6000 4ever!!!
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The latest Slashdot meme.
Shouldn't that be "America's Second-favorite Penguin?"
Opus is a leading character from a 1980s comic-strip called "Bloom County". The author of Bloom County is Berkeley Breathed. Opus is a penguin, a naive innocent in a crazy world. Arguably he has himself to blame for this, having been a tuba player in a heavy metal band called Deathtongue (later renamed to Billy and the Boingers) and twice run as a candidate for Vice President of the United States. On both occasions, his co-runner was a dead cat called Bill (he of the Boingers, and indeed the tongue).
Hope that's cleared it up for you!
Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
It's in my newspaper yesterday, I liked it. If you're really depserate you could buy a subscription to an out-of-town newspaper.
Or, you could maybe, you know, right a letter (yes on a dead tree) to your paper and politely suggest they carry it.
If you're feeling adventurous hand-deliver yor letter and tell them you'll never buy their lousy tabloid again if they don't include "Opus". Proceed to break down into tears right in front of them. You never know.
P.S. I'm not just being exceptionally cruel, I don't own a scanner.
For those of your that don't have time to read the article, it's an essay on why it won't be funny.
I liked Bloom County the first few years, it go really bad and then to make it official they called it Outland, and every silly over the top idea was cast as precious, every joke an inside joke.
I think Breathed is a great talent, but maybe too full of himself? Or maybe I just don't get him.
On the bright side, newspaper comics are in such a sorry state he can't possibly hurt.
-pyrrho
...his co-runner was a dead cat called Bill...
Bill wasn't dead! (just brain dead)
Personally, I think that Opus is coming back to remind us of penguins before Tux. Opus thought that he was the "be all" and "End all" of penguin mascots. That all changed right after Opus Retired.
At that point in time, hardly anyone knew who Tux was, let alone that he was a Penguin. Fast forward 7 years or so, and all of a sudden (HA) Tux is the penguin mascot of the day.
Opus realizing that Tux has overtaken him has "America's favorite penguin", and now seeks to be reinstated.
Which leads us to the grudge match of the century. Geeks everywhere are going to have to pick their favorite penguin in the next Slashpoll.
Opus vs Tux in "Mascot wars"
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.