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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.'"
That can't be true or you would be medicated and receiving the help you need.
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'll be sure to pass your comments to NPR and the Washington Post where the excerpts came from.
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
Pear Pimples for Hairy Fishnuts!
He just awoke from a 25 year nap - everything since the last Bloom County strip could have been just a bad dream...
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
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.
It's traditional to include some sort of reason for your opinions so people can debate and discuss them. You've said what you think, but not why you think it, or even why you think you think it.
"Oh no... he found the
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.
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.
Me too.
Damn. I think he's still got it. Haven't laughed that loud at a comic strip in a long time.
"suds" "nuns" .... priceless.
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.
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.
...Bill Watterson says, "Self...I still have my integrity."
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.
The far side was hilarious and works wherever the English language is spoken, Bloom county has never made me chuckle, I find the points it makes obvious rather than clever. Perhaps it is cultural, after all Bloom County is squarely aimed at an American audience.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
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
That's not garbage, that's a hot load of steaming feces. It's unreadable.
How the fuck can something be needed now "just as it was" then, but also "more than ever"?
If it's needed "just as it was" then it's needed to the same degree.
If you live in the shit, it is sometimes hard to see it.
Play Command HQ online
Because things can't seep into your sub conscious? Wow it's a freakin' comic strip....
"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 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.
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."
That's not garbage, that's a hot load of steaming feces. It's unreadable.
Really now? Lets examine that proposition.
How the fuck can something be needed now "just as it was" then, but also "more than ever"?
Based on this sentence it appears that it actually wasn't garbage, feces (steaming or not), or unreadable. You actually did manage to read it. The problem you have is comprehension, so lets tackle that. The main problem you seem to have is one dimensional thinking. Saying that something is needed then and now establishes the need in terms of time - it is needed in both times, the first dimension. That says nothing about the urgency of the need, the degree of need, or the second dimension. That is where the qualifier "now more than ever" comes it. It is a statement that the present need is greater than the past need. That is a simple but crucial concept you can see illustrated on the following graph where the vertical axis (P) represents the Priority of resource (X), and the horizontal axis (T) represents Time. As you can see there are two points on the T(time) axis, and two points on the P(priority) axis, at points X1 and X2. Point X2 is later in time and higher priority than point X1. Resource X is needed at both points X1 and X2 on axis T, but on axis P we find that point X2 is higher representing it is needed more which can be expresses as "now more than ever" as long as the highest point on axis P is also the furthest to the right on axis T.
^ . . . . . . . X2
|
| X1
P/T --->
If it's needed "just as it was" then it's needed to the same degree.
Only in the absence of any other qualifier, which I in fact supplied, to indicate that the need was present in both times, but there was a disparity in the degree of need. The present need is greater.
If you keep these hints in mind you may be less prone to confusion in future forum activity.
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