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Berkeley Breathed Revives Bloom County Comic Strip After 25 Years
cold fjord writes: Just as it was needed then, it is needed now (more than ever). NPR reports, "Fans of the well-loved comic strip Bloom County are celebrating ... cartoonist Berkeley Breathed issued the first panels of his satirical strip in decades. Breathed won a Pulitzer Prize for his work on Bloom County back in 1987; two years later, he quit producing it. ... It's unclear whether Breathed will syndicate his new work in newspapers; he recently recalled how an editorial dispute with a publisher had a direct role in his decision to quit cartooning in 2008. His Facebook postings, Breathed said earlier this month, are "nicely out of reach of nervous newspaper editors, the PC humor police now rampant across the web ... and ISIS." When Bloom County went idle in 1989, it was one of several clever and inventive comic strips, such as Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side, that were beloved by fans and yet were also comparatively short-lived. Today, devoted fans are treating its return as a small miracle." — The Washington Post adds, ""Honestly, I was unprepared for it," Breathed tells me of the public outpouring. "It calls for a bit of introspection about how characters can work with readers and how they're now absent as a unifying element with a society. "There is no media that will allow a Charlie Brown or a Snoopy to become a universal and shared joy each morning at the same moment across the country," Breathed continues. 'Maybe the rather marked response to my character's return is a reflection of that loss. A last gasp of a passing era.'"
You're a horrible writer; please don't quit your day job...that is all.
Given that the last strip ended with Opus being put down at the animal "shelter" and Berkley making some very definite statements about this being the end of Opus and how we should all know that he wasn't coming back, it is interesting to see that Opus is back from the dead. Like a religion I guess we are expected to overlook the details.
Good to think that it might be coming back though.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
That is why it was destroyed. They control nearly every aspect of our lives. You can't fight them.
I thought Breathed tended to be both more good natured and fairly even handed in poking fun at people. Doonesbury, not quite so much in either respect.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
I think it would have been hard for him to resist the GOP clown car. Especially after Trump forced himself into the driver's seat.
In any event, I'm glad he's back.
Will
"If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not still a liberal by the time you're 35, you have no brain."
FTFY
The 2016 campaign season is going to be a doozy.
the only comedians not lining up for this party are those that have already did their time and gotten burnt out from the last several cycles.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
""If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain." There is no record of anyone hearing Churchill say this. Paul Addison of Edinburgh University makes this comment: "Surely Churchill can't have used the words attributed to him. He'd been a Conservative at 15 and a Liberal at 35! And would he have talked so disrespectfully of Clemmie, who is generally thought to have been a lifelong Liberal?""
From www.winstonchurchill.org
Meanwhile one of the leading Republican party Presidential contenders just insulted a guy who was tortured as a prisoner of war, and said Mexico was sending rapists into the United States. Another one is still trying to fight the gay marriage debate after it's become legal and the majority of Americans have accepted it. A fight that was lost a long, long time ago, and you'll only increasingly look out of touch if they continue on that path.
By contrast, the "fringe" Democratic candidate for president, Bernie Sanders wants to address the H1B visa situation. Oh, and his hair is a bit unkempt. Yeah, vote for the Republican party. Party of the crazy people who have candidates to far out of the mainstream it's a damn circus.
"If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not still a liberal by the time you're 35, you have no brain."
FTFY
Detroit.
Greece.
Don't think so http://herocomplex.latimes.com...
i wish i still had mod points, i would vote this the most important news of the decade.
amongst other items, i do admit..
also desperately need the words to "eighty three blues", as written/performed by milo, as my cover arrangement is proving quite popular.
please be well, bb, sir, and thank you very much indeed for doing what you do so well.
Houstonbofh did not attribute the quote at all.
Pear Pimples for Hairy Fishnuts!
That saying was made up at a time when the words liberal and conservative meant very different things from what they mean today. Sadly both have been twisted to be meaningless labels for a mindless electorate.
Neither Detroit or Greece had anything to do with being "Liberal" you idiot.
I *loved* Bloom County and read it from when I first discovered it in 1982 while I was in university. It was funny, relevant and smart.
It continued to be right up until Mr. Breathed ended the strip. But it ended, I've (and I think most people have) moved on and, now that it's 25 years later, Mr. Breathed should be looking at new avenues for his considerable talents.
Now, having said that, the example panel is pretty vintage but I still think it's time for Mr. Breathed (and us) to move on.
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Did you know Kennedy's been shot?
I think it would have been hard for him to resist the GOP clown car. Especially after Trump forced himself into the driver's seat.
In any event, I'm glad he's back.
And painted great big "T"s on the doors.
I read Bloom County throughout the eighties. It was a brilliantly funny comic, nothing like Doonesbury which was highly political. Yes, Breathed obliquely dealt with political issues ("caucus raucous!") but in an evenhanded fashion, which was unusual for back then. I'm amazed Breathed is bringing this back. I'm really looking forward to it and hope he has a long and humorous run.
I don't know why, but the second thing I think of when I hear Bloom County is Donald Trump (and visa versa (I as a huge fan). He and Ivanka were made fun of quite often in Bloom County. The first is, of course, Opus.
That's an amazing example of deliberate blindness. The current Greek tragedy is an exemplar of the problems of (modern) liberalism, and believing otherwise is as nutty on the left as denying evolution is on the right.
Maybe this time Bill the Cat will win the Presidency. It would be an improvement compared to all the current candidates.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
Oh, and his hair is a bit unkempt.
At least it appears to be firmly attached to his head.
Neither Detroit or Greece had anything to do with being "Liberal" you idiot.
You keep telling yourself that, numnut.
How about this:
Moody’s Downgrades Chicago Credit Rating To ‘Junk’ Bond Status
Citing the city’s underfunded pension crisis, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Chicago’s debt to junk bond status on Tuesday.
The Ba1 rating means that Chicago’s $8.1 billion in debt carries a substantial credit risk. That credit rating is also just a few levels above bonds that are in default.
“The Ba1 rating on Chicago’s debt incorporates expected growth in the city’s highly elevated unfunded pension liabilities,” Moody’s said.
The service cited the state Supreme Court’s recent decision to toss out the state’s pension reform bill as unconstitutional, along with concerns that the city will be able to meet its pension obligations in the future.
I guess going broke because of liberal policies like massive pensions for government union workers has nothing to do with liberal policies.
I can't wait to see what happens to California when their pension obligations come due - that will be an epic train wreck.
What took him so long?
This happened, what - a week or two ago? It's been so long since I saw the story and first new strip I'd forgotten it was even a thing.
I'm glad they're back, but this whole "Slashdot is even faster than the Pony Express bringing California Headlines to New York" isn't going to win them any contests.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
They still have meaning, just not in the context of mindless reality TV programming disguised as actual politics.
I like how he thinks his Facebook posts are safe from the PC humor police. You are in for a rude awakening if you ever test that theory, Mr. Breathed. The humor police at the newspaper syndicates might prevent your strip from being run, but they won't dox you and try to ruin your life because they're too stupid to realize they don't have a right to not be offended.
This is one of the few strip I would pay to access. While I wouldn't be paying to access the strip itself, I would be paying to support Breathed and to encourage him to continue the strip. I can't really think of many other comic strips, modern or otherwise that I would do this for.
Acck was the first thing I thought of, followed by Bill the Cat, then Bill the Cat for President. Which is probably why he's coming back, to lampoon 16 GOP candidates. The only question is whos the candidate and who's the running mate between Bill and Opus.
He can have a lot of fun with Hillary, too.
The possibilities are immense. The 'first female candidate' who then chooses to use her first name as her primary identifier. Who is also a very well known female-cuckold. So many contradictions.
Bill for President, indeed. I suspect he'd run as a Democrat in the primaries.
Opus Lives.
And dancing over the graves of George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and "The Donald" Donald Rumsfeld and many more.
3 3 3
Ha ha.
...Bill Watterson says, "Self...I still have my integrity."
I was wondering why he went there...
My only point was that his politics may have changed in the last 25 years...
I loved Bloom County in the 80s. I was sad to see the strip stop. However I moved on and now there are a ton of quality comics to take its place. Do you want sharp, pointed humor? Try Non-Sequiter (ex http://www.gocomics.com/nonseq...). There is xkcd.com, userfriendly.org (yeah, I know the comic is semi-mostly-retired), and PhD (Piled Higher and Deeper) http://phdcomics.com/comics.ph....
I'm sorry Bloom County, you were great in the 80s but now it is the 2010s. It might be interesting to read the new strips for the nostalgia factor but that would be about it. After a certain period of time you realize it is time to move on. (Big pointed hint to George R R Martin and his over-delayed next book in the Game of Thrones series)
Hey Berkeley. Remember hearing about that thing called ARPANET?
Have gnu, will travel.
Can't believe I'm replying to a downrated AC, but here we go. Chicago politics have nothing to do with 'liberalism'. Chicago politics are all about cronyism, and Chicago politicians just belong to the Democrat party because they need a national party to belong to. The Greek political mess is due to massive entitlement, which believe it or not has nothing to do with liberal politics. For better examples of liberalism at work, on the international stage look at the nordic countries, and how they somehow manage to stay at the top of the world quality-of-life indexes, and domestically, look at the policies of Minnesota, and specifically how Minnesota has fared economically since Dayton became governor, compared to how Wisconsin has done since Walker came. Wisconsin's economic numbers have improved since the recession, but a rising tide lifts all ships, and Minnesota's numbers and rankings on various economic lists are consistently significantly better than Wisconsin's, despite (or I would argue because of) Dayton's liberal policies vs. Walker's tea party approach.
I'd rather the Far Side came back.
"Sarcasm" is synonymous with Preachy and condescending.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Did you actually listen to and understand what Trump said? That being a prisoner does not make you a hero?
McCain obviously thinks he can shamelessly denigrate anybody without consequences, and his alleged supporters will howl when criticism is set back to him.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
Unfortunately.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
I find replacing what you (and most other entitled conservatives) wrote with "fuck you, got mine" seems to work with surprising accuracy.. kinda sad.
"If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain."
If you join any gang instead of thinking independently and making your own choices, you have no brain. That covers an entire lifetime too.
Bloom County was about as tendentious in their criticism as Doonesbury.
That comparison is really unfair to Bloom County, because:
a) Bloom County was actually funny, not just smug and pretentious.
b) Berkley Breathed, unlike Gary Trudeau, didn't spend all day just smelling the fragrant scents of his own liberal farts.
c) Berkley Breathed could draw well and write well.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
So no true Scotsman, then. Got it.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
No, no you didn't.
Not paying your taxes is a decidedly Libertarian thing to do.
And proclaimed, "I'm the biggest and best clown in this party!"
"If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain."
Perhaps we should see who he lampoons first...
This saying has always felt like a selfish, vapid outlook on life. Should we push for progress and get what we want when young, then when we have what we want,, resist the progressiveness of the next generation? "I got what I want so shove off" ?
I was ~10 in the mid-80s, remember reading Bloom County every Sunday in the Boston Globe. I didn't get half of what it was about at the time, like why arming a bassalope with a warhead was funny, why Ed Meese didn't want them to say "snugglebunnies!", why Steve sued the camera company when Sean Penn broke his back, or why the gang wanted to visit a "wild, spunky, chunky planet of Mary Lou Retton clones". But things gradually made sense, from reading top looking up things to listening to one of the Big 3 news anchors talk about current events.
Things really started to click when the PMRC hearings staerted up, as I was just beginning to take an interest in music at the time, and the whole Deathtongue --> Billy and the Boingers thing was amazing.
I've always felt that Breathed would come back (and he has come back at times, with "Outland" and "Opus") when he has something fresh to say. Maybe in a world of constant news and constant parody of the news...and a blurry line in between...a 2015 Bloom County won't be quite as subversive or unique as it once was, but I trust that the author wouldn't come back unless he had good material to come back with.
In the immortal words of Mikhail Gorbachev and Pravda:
"SLASHDOT SINGS TRACTORS! TURNIPS! BUTTOCKS!"
----
"I used to listen to Null Device before they sold out."
For better examples of liberalism at work, on the international stage look at the nordic countries, and how they somehow manage to stay at the top of the world quality-of-life indexes, and domestically
The Nordic countries have significant advantages over most of the world: great access to natural resources, a relatively small, homogeneous, well educated population; limited border access (and much of that is trackless wilderness); little need to spend much on research or defense (they can just mooch off the USA and others), and so on. They can afford to experiment with liberal policies that might destroy other country's economies.
The Greek political mess is due to massive entitlement, which believe it or not has nothing to do with liberal politics.
I don't believe it. The vast majority of entitlements in the USA result from liberal policies. Why would Greece be any different? Conservatives believe in balanced budgets and not going into debt except under very special circumstances: in their worldview, running a government should be no different than running a home. or a farm, or a ranch, or a business, at least from a financial perspective. This viewpoint is why so many people that actually have to manage budgets, support conservative politics. Those who routinely over-spend their means support liberal politics.
look at the policies of Minnesota, and specifically how Minnesota has fared economically since Dayton became governor, compared to how Wisconsin has done since Walker came
As Paul Tosto notes in his article at NPR news, "Essentially, Minnesota has an advantage over Wisconsin in key growth sectors — education, health services and professional and business services. (Those sectors have also driven U.S. job growth, as the Wall Street Journal reported recently.) Wisconsin has a bigger stake in manufacturing, which has been in steady decline for years as a jobs creator. The Great Recession accelerated those changes and Minnesota benefited.".
Hence, liberalism has nothing to do with Minnesota's economic success.
Nope.
Wisconsin's economic numbers have improved since the recession, but a rising tide lifts all ships, and Minnesota's numbers and rankings on various economic lists are consistently significantly better than Wisconsin's, despite (or I would argue because of) Dayton's liberal policies vs. Walker's tea party approach.
Key sectors in Wisconsin's economy depend heavily on industry, while Minnesota is more focused on service, health, and education.
There used to be lots of good job opportunities in industry in the USA. Liberal policies such as minimum wage destroyed many of those, causing them to move overseas (to places that don't have minimum wage and similar policies) or be replaced by robotics (which often weren't cost effective until the cost of labor went up). But of course the liberals never seem to understand the long term harm their policies do.
Minimum wage also destroyed huge numbers of farming jobs, causing them to be replaced by machines (or illegal labor). This has all kinds of long term consequences as well, such as the dominance of corporate farming over smaller family run businesses, which in turn has all kinds of negative consequences for society and the environment. Much of the corporate farming really comes down to farming the government: the farms are used by big oil and pharm corporations to generate tax write-offs. Lots of food gets wasted, also, since the picking machines aren't as efficient as humans.
There were, and are, better alternatives, but the liberals have always favored quick, superficially-appealing solutions that don't require much understanding of the real world, and in the process generally do more harm than good. Very sad.
I'll be waiting by the phone. Just ring me when it happens.
I thought Breathed tended to be both more good natured and fairly even handed in poking fun at people. Doonesbury, not quite so much in either respect.
Well you have to remember that back then, there were such creatures as conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans, which are almost extinct today. War hawks, religious fundamentalism, friendly to big business, anti-nuclear power/weapons, and so on and so on were all issues that spanned the aisle.
> Modern liberalism is very much taking from earners and giving to scum
Wow. I had no idea that retirees, veterans and active soldiers were "scum." They're the ones getting most of your tax dollar.
This saying has always felt like a selfish, vapid outlook on life. Should we push for progress and get what we want when young, then when we have what we want,, resist the progressiveness of the next generation? "I got what I want so shove off" ?
The opposite (and just as valid, heh) way of looking at it is to say "when you have nothing, you don't care about taking from others, but when you actually have something worth protecting is when you start getting protectionist about money, property, etc."
He had to replace the squashed styrofoam cow in the Christmas play manger scene:
http://www.gocomics.com/bloomcounty/1982/12/22
It seems to me that the timing of Bloom County's return could be very interesting if attracts some sustained attention. With the departure of Jon Stewart, I would imagine that this strip could succeed on the level of simple humour, but also occupy some of that 'leftist' media space which will be largely vacant otherwise, even if Stewart's successor does well. Regardless of a person's political leanings, satire is one of the great methods for getting the proletariat to consider things that they might otherwise miss. I, for one, welcome our new honk-nosed overlord!
For better examples of liberalism at work, on the international stage look at the nordic countries, and how they somehow manage to stay at the top of the world quality-of-life indexes, and domestically
The Nordic countries have significant advantages over most of the world: great access to natural resources, a relatively small, homogeneous, well educated population; limited border access (and much of that is trackless wilderness); little need to spend much on research or defense (they can just mooch off the USA and others), and so on. They can afford to experiment with liberal policies that might destroy other country's economies.
The nordic countries have had liberal politics for decades. That's not experimentation. That's established policy. Norway has great natural resource wealth with their oil reserves, but Sweden has a much more manufacturing & trade oriented economy, with several major private companies that play on the world stage such as Ericsson, SAAB, and IKEA. And somehow these corporations are wildly successful in a country known for high taxes.
Also, investment in education is a liberal policy known to benefit society immensely.
The Greek political mess is due to massive entitlement, which believe it or not has nothing to do with liberal politics.
I don't believe it. The vast majority of entitlements in the USA result from liberal policies. Why would Greece be any different? Conservatives believe in balanced budgets and not going into debt except under very special circumstances: in their worldview, running a government should be no different than running a home. or a farm, or a ranch, or a business, at least from a financial perspective. This viewpoint is why so many people that actually have to manage budgets, support conservative politics. Those who routinely over-spend their means support liberal politics.
Conservatives believe in destroying revenue sources, and then spending all the money they don't have on the military. Over the last few decades, the highest deficits have been with Republican presidents, and the last time we had a budget surplus was during Clinton's presidency. Conservatives might run the government like they do businesses, so it should come as no surprise that Donald Trump's corporations have filed for bankruptcy four times.
look at the policies of Minnesota, and specifically how Minnesota has fared economically since Dayton became governor, compared to how Wisconsin has done since Walker came
As Paul Tosto notes in his article at NPR news, "Essentially, Minnesota has an advantage over Wisconsin in key growth sectors — education, health services and professional and business services. (Those sectors have also driven U.S. job growth, as the Wall Street Journal reported recently.) Wisconsin has a bigger stake in manufacturing, which has been in steady decline for years as a jobs creator. The Great Recession accelerated those changes and Minnesota benefited.".
Hence, liberalism has nothing to do with Minnesota's economic success.
Investing in education and health services is a liberal policy. Also, Scott Walker's "open for business" tea party policies were supposed to attract large corporations and therefore result in job growth. This hasn't happened. Meanwhile, a focus on investing in education in Minnesota (not a major source of jobs itself - you can only have so many professors) has resulted in a well-educated workforce that big companies see as more valuable than rock-bottom tax rates. So yes, liberalism has had a positive effect on Minnesota's economy while conservatism has only hindered Wisconsin's.
Extending ridiculous social programs and benefits to everyone with a pulse, regardless of your country's actual wealth, income, or budget is a decidedly Liberal thing to do. Your point?
-Styopa
If you think Chicago pols are just 'coincidentally' Democrats, please, give us an example of an equally fucked-up city plagues by crony politics inhabited forever by Republicans. I'm sure there must be one, right? ...66 years ...107 years ...63 years ...108 years.
Let's just grab the 10 poorest cities in the US:
Detroit, MI (1st on the poverty rate list) no Republican mayor for 54 years.
Buffalo, NY (2nd) no Republican mayor for 65 years.
Cincinnati, OH (3rd)...31 years
Cleveland, OH (4th)...26 years;
Miami, FL (5th) Never had a Republican mayor
St. Louis, MO (6th)
El Paso, TX (7th) Never had a Republican mayor
Milwaukee, WI (8th)
Philadelphia, PA (9th)
Newark, NJ (10th)
All just coincidence, I'm sure.
Re MN: Median household income in MN is nearly 20% higher than WI.
So one COULD interpret that difference as "in MN the rich get richer". Is that what we want?
-Styopa