2009 Reading #72: Bloom County Babylon

[snurri]

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
71. The Elephant's Secret Sense by Caitlin O'Connell.

72. Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness by Berke Breathed (Re-read). I was in the mood for some Bloom County, and my copy of Loose Tails was lost to water damage, so I started here. Ah, memories. I really enjoy watching the evolution of comic strips over time, as cartoonists bring in new characters and lose interest in old ones--this volume has loads of those soon-abandoned folks, like the strip's namesakes, Major and Bess Bloom. This strip, and particularly the collections, was formative stuff for me, and it's nice to revisit the courtship of Bobby Harlow and Cutter John, the evolution of Opus, the domestic dramas of Oliver and the Banana Jr. 6000, the espionage trial of Bill the Cat, and of course the epic "deaths" of Opus and Cutter John. Now if I could just figure out what happened to that plush Opus I used to have . . .

Comments

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

I brought my main plush Opus to all the Buffista F2Fs that I went to. I just had to make sure he stayed away from Clovis. Yahoo runs the old strips here.

[christophereast.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, Bloom County...maybe the one comic I read back in the day. Great stuff! I used to live a few blocks from the house Breathed used as a model for the boarding house, in Iowa City...I remember walking past it before I knew about it and thinking, "Hey...wtf?"

[stephanieburgis.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. Lots of nostalgia. From the time I was 10 until I was 19, I slept cuddled up every night with a big plush Opus...