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Opus the Penguin Retired
garylian writes "Berkeley Breathed has announced that he has drawn the final comic containing the greatest penguin ever, Opus. The author is now going to write children's books. For those of you in your mid-30s and older, you remember Bloom County as a staple of the comic pages in a similar time frame as Calvin & Hobbes, and that time was probably the greatest the daily/Sunday comics have ever known. From running for the vice presidency to impersonating Michael Jackson, from gracing a ton of t-shirts to being one of the weirdest stuffed animals ever, from rocking in a heavy metal band 'Billy and the Boingers' to cleaning up Bill's hair balls, Opus was perfect for that time. And Bloom County would have been perfect during the Bush 2 years. Now, I'm going to pull out all my old Bloom County books and read them. After I dig through some boxes and find my old Opus dolls. I wonder what my kids are going to think of them."
Argh - I just threw away all my Bloom County books last month when I moved! The comic was great - I'm 30 so I missed some of the political references when I was younger but I read all the books later and loved those comics. I didn't pick up Opus again even after he was back the last couple of years because it didn't feel the same. I'll be sure to buy the compilation of all the latest ones and enjoy them. Opus certainly had a great run and it's probably time to put him away before he gets too old.
Breathed has pulled this before. Maybe he's just burned out, who knows. But when his other ventures prove to be far less lucrative, and he gets sick of answering all of the repetitive questions about the whereabouts of Opus, the promise of easy money will bring him out of "retirement". Maybe it will last longer than Jet Li's retirement. But Opus will be back.
1. A 2010 starchild moment.
2. A Matrix ending, where Opus gets to spend all his time in his own matrix illusion with the dandelions.
3. A Soprano momemt, where all the old characters meet in a restaurant, Bill the Cat can't park the car, and the last frame goes black?
4. Seinfeld, where they all end up in prison.
Use your head, can't you, use your head,
You're on earth, there's no cure for that - S. Beckett
I think that was the problem with his Opus strip. A previous comment mentioned how much more he liked the old Bloom County strips. The difference was that Berkley stripped out most of the other characters except for Steve and Bill the Cat (who doesn't talk). That left Opus alone in most of the situations with no other supporting characters. In the Bloom Country strips there was a series of regular characters who all had the focus on them at some point. That created a much more complex cartoon "universe" whereas Opus alone had no one to play off of and sounded like a single note enventually. I don't know why Berkley dropped most of the other characters, there really was no good reason for it.
The same thing happened to the cast of Seinfeld, they were much better playing off each other. Once the show ended and they tried to make shows with themselves as the focus they seemed like they were adrift and bland.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
That reminds me this wonderful little map of Sheffield, Britain, with "allowed to roam" overlays: http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/06_02/playgraphicDM1406_736x800.jpg
Each overlay shows where the eight year old child was allowed to cover unsupervised. Sad how much more constricted and hemmed in each generation of that family has become over the last century.
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"The wind doth taste so bittersweet,
Like jasper wine and sugar,
It must have blown through someone's feet,
Like those of Caspar Weinberger."
Be who you are...and be it in style!
I think I agree with his thinking. I think his next project should be something involving Cutter John. There was a character who was always in support so we never, ever, got a look at what his story was. And it had to be fascinating. Cutter is the warrior we need for the dark time Breathed seems to see us approaching. I think he'd make a deeply wise, but powerful foil for what he does as an artist. Opus does belong to a more simpler, sweeter time.
What would Richard Feynman do, if he were here right now? He'd do some math and he'd follow through!