Customer Reviews

One Last Little Peek, 1980-1995: The Final Strips, the Special Hits, the Inside Tips

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I was very upset when Breathed stopped drawing comic strips. I didn't really discover Bloom County until just before it was canceled and Outland took its place. It's a shame that all of the good cartoonists stop writing while the rest keep running the same gags forever (don't believe me? see how many different jokes you can find in Dennis the Menace.) Alas. This is the final collection of Breathed's strips, with some older ones and the stories about them. Most of the time that sort of thing tends to be pretty boring but in this case they are actually the highlight of the book (be sure not to miss the one about the time President Reagan called while he (Breathed) was in the shower.) The Outland strips themselves are not, in my opinion, as funny as Bloom County was, but that isn't a very harsh criticism.

It was a sad day when Bloom County and then Outland ended. These are perhaps the best view of the Eighties and early Ninties that can be done with humor. I really enjoyed the last part of the book in which Breathed tells a short story about cartoons that recived special responces from diferant public figures (i.e. President Reagan, Casper Weinburger, Gregory Peck and Spock, yes, as in Mr. Spock!!). I will miss Bill and Opus.

At the time of this writing Berke Breathed's Opus 'toons hadn't made it to my local paper, so this collection represents "the end" of sorts for a strip that burned as brightly as a supernova from 1980 to 1995.

The first part of this collection contains the final - more or less - Outland strips. These strips were written back when fat and cholesterol were the bad foods instead of carbs. Various plotlines include jabs at Hollywood with a sequel to the classic "To Kill a Mockingbird": "Kill Mo' Mockingbird". Steve Dallas defends Bill the Cat of his murderous fake chainsaw rampage a'la the OJ trial, then Steve hi-jacks Oliver Wendell Jones' time machine to go chase ambulances through history, running into Calamity Janes, Lady Godiva, Adolf Hitler and a caveman, circa 10,000 B.C.

Opus winds his way through the final Outland strips much as he did at the end of Bloom County, ending with a poignant reunion with a loved family member thought long gone.

In the final part of the book Mr. Breathed lets us in on some of his favorite strips and private thoughts in a way I haven't seen in other places. He tells us the anecdotes of communications he has received from Leonard Nimoy, Caspar Weinburger, President Reagan, "Mockingbird" Author Harper Lee, and he describes the evolution of characters originally intended to appear for only a moment who then became cornerstones of the Breathed 'toon empire: Opus and Bill the Cat. Good stuff for the Breathed collector.

Reading past Bloom County and Outland strips is like taking a stroll through the political and pop culture landscape of the eighties and early nineties with non-stop laughs and fond memories of the times and of the what is quite possibly the funniest comic strip series ever.

Berkeley Breathed has always been one of my favorites and his final work is extraordinary. i order this as a replacement for my first copy and i am so happy with the condition it arrived to me in. couldn't ask for better. Fast delivery too.

I love the characters of Berkely Breathed! There is so much subtle hummor that sometimes I do miss it at first. Most of the comics are from the Outland strips which I never saw in any of the newspapers in my area. My favorite character is Opus followed by Bill the Cat. I won't spoil it for anyone that's considering buying this book by telling about any of the strips in detail but I think that if you are a Bloom County fan or an Opus fan(a Sunday strip that I had in one of the papers in my area) then I think that you'll love this book of comics. "Try it, you'll like it!"

Why do all the great ones do it? Berke Breathed, Bill watterson, Gary Larson. Al the great cartoonists quit when there's lots of stuff left to cover! All the boring strips (Dennis the Menace, Garfield, Family Circus) must remain. Dilbert is Pretty good, but Scott Adams can never live up to the artistic and comedic talent of Berke Breathed. I wish Mr. Breathed would AT LEAST do another collection full of fresh stuff...