Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness [Paperback]

Berkeley Breathed (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 1986

An anthology of cartoons from the syndicated comic strip, "Bloom County" encompasses highlights from the five-year span of the strip.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This first big "bible" of Bloom County includes the wonderful Opus "hairy fishnuts/Hare Krishnas" strip, the first Bill-the-Cat appearance, and more comics from the earlier collections: Loose Tails, 'Toons for Our Times and Penguin Dreams and Stranger Things. If you hurt yourself laughing (like when you read about Bill freebasing Friskies), don't blame me; I warned you.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (September 30, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316103098
• ISBN-13: 978-0316103091
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.8 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #458,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Berkeley Breathed lives and works in Santa Barbara, California and is the proud owner of a gentle pit bull named Ridley, a deaf dachshund named Milly, and a refugee mutt from the Puerto Rican streets named Pilar--splendidly flawed dogs, every one.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Full color? I must be colorblind., October 15, 2003

By 

Ryan Grove (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness (Paperback)

Buyer beware: the editorial review states that this book contains eighty full-color pages, but it doesn't. It contains eighty pages that obviously were at one time or another in color, but which are now a messy conglomeration of grays and whites, much like something you'd expect to see coming out of a low-grade fax machine.

Many years ago, I read another copy of this book that did, in fact, contain eighty full-color pages, so I know the pages were in color at some point. However, the only colors on the book I received from Amazon.com are on the front and back covers.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first Bloom County "big book", August 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness (Paperback)

Unlike most "coffee-table" retrospective books, which consist mainly of collected strips already reprinted in other volumes, "Bloom County Babylon" is something more. While there are several strips here that appeared in earlier collections, over 50% of the book is material never published in book form before or since. The very earliest days of the strip (with "The Major," Milo's grandfather, as the main character) appear here, just to show you how far the strip had progressed. Also, the year 1985 is recounted, including the complete run of strips that trace Opus and Cutter John's ill-fated balloon ride to Washington, Opus's subsequent return with amnesia, and Bill the Cat being exposed as a Communist spy. The volume also includes "The Great LaRouche Toad-Frog Masacree," a great prose story ostensibly written by an adult Binkley in that "Lake Wobegon" style. All in all, this is a great book to add to your Bloom County collection, provided you can find it.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the best of the Bloom County collections., April 12, 2004

By 

James Yanni (Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness (Paperback)

This book is an overview of the first five years of the strip, ranging from the early strips in which the focus is mostly on Milo, through the introductions of Binkley, Bobbi, Cutter John, Opus, Oliver Wendell Jones, Steve Dallas, and finally, Bill The Cat. Personally, I've always had a preference for the early, pre-Bill The Cat strips; I could deal with the silliness inherent in Opus and Oliver's anthropomorphic computer, but Bill just seemed one step over the line. But I know that he's very popular, and he's here, too. There are a few strips here that were reprinted from the previous three collections, but most of this material is NOT reprints. Of course, much of the humor will be completely incomprehensible to anyone who wasn't politically aware during the '80s, but I suspect that even for such a (hopefully) young person, there's plenty here to enjoy.