“Jeff” writing as “Gummo12” wrote to inform me that Berke Breathed’s “Opus” will be returning to comics pages in November. More can be found at his website at http://www.berkebreathed.com.
I can’t say I’m surprised. This is a tough time for a cartoonist with political interests to remain silent.
PAD
• 
Finally!!! The king has returned to the building!
I’ve been waiting for a great script to return. It was either this or Calvin and Hobbes.
Thpfft!
Travis
I loved Bloom County when I was in high school and I even have a stuffed Opus. I can’t wait to see what new and exciting satire this artist has in store.
Regards:
WSJ3
I agree. It must have been really tough for him to remain silent after Clinton was used a cigar on Monica in the Oval Office.
I really hope this is true. I consider Bloom County, The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes to be the best comic strips that have run in my lifetime (I’m 27). I can’t think of anything today, except Non-Sequiter, that compares to any of these, and the only comic strips from before my time that I consider to be as good or better is Walt Kelly’s Pogo, and Peanuts (which was before my time but continued until Schultz died a couple of years ago.
I really loved Bloom Conuty – i especially loved how he took shots at all sides of the political isle. Doonesbury is so far left and anti-bush that it isn;t funny anymore, while Mallard Fillmore can’t see any wrong on the political right and many jokes maked no sense if you can’t think like he does.
Bloom County strode the middle brillantly.
Outland, however, was very uneven. I hope the new Opus strip is not like Outland,
I didn’t like “Outland” very much — it seemed confused as to what its voice should be. If Opus is going to be a Sunday-only strip, it may suffer from the same problems I had with “Outland.”
Complete agreement; in the late 1990s, I looked back at Bloom County strips and felt they were incredibly dated, a product of their times that were still brilliant but only truly hit home if you experienced the Reagan era firsthand. (One of the reasons “Outland” was so even; the escapades of Bush and early Clinton just couldn’t hold up to Reaganite wackiness.)
Now, of course, they feel like they’re being written for today. With a return of 1980s borrow-and-spend irresponsibility and the desire of the administration to turn the clock back to 1928, Breathed’s political stuff will be more relevant than ever.
… and so you don’t drive yourself crazy when you go to see 2nd hand lines (I recommend for both the story and Robert Duval’s performance), Berke Breathed is the cartoonist who is ghosting for the adult version of the story’s hero. His credit isn’t until almost the end of the film credits.
I think most Opusites agree that Outland was a dud, and therefore I think a lot of us are not getting our hopes up too high.
But back then, Breathed was fresh off of Bloom County. I hope that after a decade leaving Opus to his own devices, Breathed is ready to use his famous skills and maybe even his famous characters to make us laugh and cringe all at once.
And in case anyone doubted Berke’s views on certain quasi-elected officials…
https://www.berkeleybreathed.com/store/item-detail.cfm?ID=T3&storeid=1
Simon
Try this. It is good.
http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/Default.aspx
Doonesbury has a long history of skewering anybody who presents a large enough target. A quick perusal of the strips that ran during the Clinton years will attest to this. While it is true that the Garry Trudeau of 25 years ago was a raging liberal, he’s made an almost 180-degree turn in his political views, and is quite conservative these days. I would agree with you that Trudeau is particularly tough on Bush, but there’s two reasons why that is: First, Bush himself is so forceful, certain and unflinching in his own views that he makes himself a perfect target for the sort of political satire that is Trudeau’s stock in trade; and secondly, the entire Bush family has built up a sort of running feud with Trudeau since at least the early 1980s when G. H. W. Bush was Vice-President. Some of the quotes that Bush Sr. said specifically in reaction to Doonesbury make it plain that he took the barbs far more personally than he probably should have, which really brings us back to the first point, where the Bushes have become an almost irresistable target for Trudeau.
None of that helps any, though, if you don’t find Doonesbury funny. I like it, though, because he’s always willing to poke a hole into anybody who starts to get even the slightest bit overinflated.
My wife’s comment upon hearing the news: “He must be needing cash for a down payment on a bigger racing boat.”
JSM
**My wife’s comment upon hearing the news: “He must be needing cash for a down payment on a bigger racing boat.”
JSM **
More likely its to promote the animated movie being written and directed by Breathed (According to AICN, anyway).
I loved Bloom County AND Outland and cant wait for the new strip to debut.
Heh. PAD, one of the funniest moments in comic book history was when you were writing Star Trek for DC and put the heads of Opus, Portnoy and Hodgepodge on the heads of Spock, Scotty and Sulu to account for Kirks hallucinating.
“Mr. Spock, are you a penguin?”
“Not that I’m aware of, sir.”
Classic. I LOL just thinking about it.
PAD wrote:
I can’t say I’m surprised. This is a tough time for a cartoonist with political interests to remain silent.
Well, maybe more like he wants to try to cash in on his once popular property again (and there’s nothing wrong with that mind you).
Is it too late to get Bill The Cat on the California recall ballot?
*ACK!*
And in case anyone doubted Berke’s views on certain quasi-elected officials…
Talk about stealing your vote, Democrats won’t even let you get to the polls in California. The voting machines were good enough 8 months ago.
Simon Wrote: But back then, Breathed was fresh off of Bloom County. I hope that after a decade leaving Opus to his own devices, Breathed is ready to use his famous skills and maybe even his famous characters to make us laugh and cringe all at once.
Breathed has done stuff with Opus since Outland, including a couple of children’s books and at least one animated special, A Wish for Wings That Work.
I’m looking forward to the strip, just to see what he has to say, but I’m not expecting much in the first month or two. I think that it will take a couple of months to find his voice and to re-capture his edge.
Don’t really have much to say other than a lot of “dittos.”
I loved Bloom County in High School. That satire was just brilliant and Breathed was always better at skewering Donald Trump than Trudeau even was.
Outland, yeah, that just didn’t hold up. I don’t think his heart was in it. Now that he’s had time off, maybe he can attack the political world refreshed.
About Doonesbury being anti-Bush: Yeah, Trudeau does have and personal axe to grind with the Bush family and Bush I did hate his guts, which has really brought his humor down.
Mallard Filmore: He can be funny, but he is so overtly political in his message that sometimes, I think he should just hand in a graphic of the words “liberals suck” every day as a time saver.
Bloom County was brilliant because he always made sure that their was a real joke behind the satire, something both of the above jokers have forgotten.
Bill the Car for Governor of Cali? Ack! He’s too good for them!
Well, mostly. Some of the later Bloom County strips laid the message on rather thick. (Particularly the “Mary Kay Commandos” storyline.)
I’m somewhat sorry to hear that it’s going to be Sunday-only, because some of the things I liked best in Bloom County aren’t really possible in the Sunday-only format. (Primarily the wild plotting, where stories could go on in the background for months with bizarre plot twist on top of bizarre plot twist. Also, some of the best jokes were throw-aways–the “Foreshadowing: Your Guide To Quality Literature” strips for example; in a daily strip you can toss away two strips for that joke, but not in a weekly.)
Still, I suppose any new material is good news. Now if we could start getting new collections that actually reprint all the strips…
I liked Bloom County, but Doonesbury is always the champion to me. I think Trudeau has laser sight accuracy when it comes to hitting his targets, and there have been very few strips in 30 years (I have the CD-Rom…I managed to read all the strips in a 8 month period) that I didn’t find funny or at least amusing.
Heh. PAD, one of the funniest moments in comic book history was when you were writing Star Trek for DC and put the heads of Opus, Portnoy and Hodgepodge on the heads of Spock, Scotty and Sulu to account for Kirks hallucinating.
I’d forgotten about that. I can’t believe that got past Paramount.
PAD
Talk about stealing your vote, Democrats won’t even let you get to the polls in California. The voting machines were good enough 8 months ago.
Noooo no no no. No, you don’t. You don’t get to take an utter fiasco that was perpetrated by the GOP specifically to steal a position that had already been voted to a Democrat and try to blame it *on* the Democrats…especially when they’re simply using criteria laid out by the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore.
If this is how the GOP is going to play, it’s about dámņëd time the Dems shoved it right back in their face.
The California election is a travesty. That it will take a majority of the voters to undo a decision already made by a majority of voters, and then replace the governor with a candidate who will represent *less* than a majority of the voters…
So, no. This one doesn’t get hung on the Dems. This is GOP all the way.
PAD
So it was just GOP loyalists who signed the petition??
Sorry Peter I don’t buy that,, yes it was a GOP party member that backed the drive, but i doubt that the GOP held AK-47’s to the heads of the signers.
Yeees yes yes yes, I do. California constitution allows a recall for any reason not just “High Crimes”. The signers saw that Davis’s actions were enough to have the recall go forward for the people to vote on. The election was to be held within 80 days. The 9th Circuit (which is has been overturned more frequently and by a larger margin than any court of appeals in the country)— and the three judge panel, all Democrats — took the step of delaying a vote mandated by the California constitution. This overturned the decision of District Judge Stephen Wilson who declined to delay the recall vote because it would violate the will of the voters. Nothing like facts getting in the way of a good argument though.
The punch card machines had already been decertified in California as the result of a lawsuit that predated the recall.
So the legal situation in California is rife with conflict, as significant portions of the state simply do not have a certified system in place. It was in the works to have them in place by the next scheduled election… then this unscheduled one popped up.
Hello! I started all this by telling Mr. David about Opus. Extra points to anyone who can guess where I got the name Gummo from. I agree that Outland was not nearly as good and I think Berekley always did better with the dailies, but I am still looking forward to see what he comes out with. And I will be seeing him when he comes to the Bay Area in October. As for the recall, as California citizen I find it disgusting and obviously orchestrated from the White House. From the people who brought you the coups that selected our last president. No one here likes Davis, but this whole thing is just beyond ludicrous and leaves the Republicans looking rediculous as always. And here we go spending money we can ill afford.
\\And in case anyone doubted Berke’s views on certain quasi-elected officials…
Talk about stealing your vote, Democrats won’t even let you get to the polls in California. The voting machines were good enough 8 months ago. \\
No they weren’t. The ACLU sued over punch card ballots, and the lawsuit was settled by agreeing to replace the puch card ballots by the next statewide election, which was supposed to be March 2004 — no one expected another statewide election to pop up before then.
The question is: is the next statewide election allowed to have puch-card ballots, or can we wait until March 2004 to retire them, and have a recall election with punch cards before then?
Is it more important to resolve the recall election promptly or to add to the turmoil and delay it, while making sure the voting machines are up to date and won’t cheat people out of their votes?
I don’t know myself. I’d like the election to be in October and to have no punch cards, but no one has explained to me why that’s impossible.
>>So it was just GOP loyalists who signed the petition??
Sorry Peter I don’t buy that,, yes it was a GOP party member that backed the drive, but i doubt that the GOP held AK-47’s to the heads of the signers.<<
Does anyone know how many people signed the petition and how many people voted to re-elect Grey Davis.
Does anyone know how many people signed the petition and how many people voted to re-elect Grey Davis.
Reports were 1.6 Million signed the petition
this is grand stuff, having been addicted to the great comic strips for years, this site is.wonderful Let us all hope Opus’ return is filled with that previous magic he gave us. Unlike ‘Doonsbury’, this strip was funny without being mean and his slaps at the high and mighty were always done with class and high humor…..good luck