So says Berkeley Breathed, creator of Bloom County, in this marvelous profile of him in New York Magazine. Highly recommended reading.
Bloom County Complete Library Volume 1
I didn’t know much about Breathed, although I was a huge Bloom County fan. Great profile.
Deathtöngue!
(it looks like you didn’t close a tag somewhere. Your blog is all itallics after “Bloom County Complete Library Volume 1”)
Thanks – fixed!
I consider Gary Larson, Berkeley Breathed and Bill Watterson the greatest comic strip authors of the 20th century… (and yes, I consider them better than Charles Schultz and Walt Kelly)
…oh and SCREW Trudeau, that self-righteous *%($#, who instead of congratulating Breathed in his success, instead, accused him of “stealing” from him. This just “happen” to occur about a year before Trudeau put Doonesbury on hiatus (which is also around the 9-11 year point in their careers where Breathed and Watterson, retired/burned out). So instead of letting another cartoonist be THE funny, intellectual artist on the comics page, his ego made him bad mouth Breathed.
(Dang, I sound like a rabid fan of a pro fan, who’s hero has just been ‘dised by a fellow player)
That is a great find. Takes me back to high school–my cartooning friend and I loved all things Bloom County. But I’m confused, because I started 9th grade in ’89 and the article said Breathed “walked away” from Bloom County that same year. What were we reading, then? Maybe the collections in book form?
I still think one of the funniest lines ever from a comic strip was when the men’s group was griping about women and one of the characters randomly yelled out, “Yeah, just what exactly is ‘feminine protection,’ anyway? A chartreuse flamethrower?” Yup, I’d be one of the “disturbed minds” referenced in the profile.
That forthcoming YA novel looks like something I’ll have to check out for my school’s library.
Kate – “a chartreuse flamethrower” DYING!!!!!!!!
Completely off topic – heard your cousin on the local sports radio this morning, berating the idiot hosts. I had no idea he was that funny.
Dan – hahahahaha Totally – when he gets going, people literally must lie down with laughter – as happened recently. His wife and I were reduced, through hilarity, to LYING DOWN on the benches in their kitchen. We could no longer sit up straight. And of course, that just made Mike go even FURTHER. He’s a riot, especially when he’s pissed off. Love him.
Yeah, he was on these guys for their obnoxious ‘hate Hollywood’ bit re: Polanski. Too funny. You might say he got all ‘Don’t even try CHIPS’!
Don’t even try CHIPS
hahahahahahaha
Oh man I need to repost that. That was a long time ago – maybe some new readers will get something out of it.
“Don’t even TRY CHips!!!!”
Mike’s the greatest.
It’s definitely a Sheila classic. Why not re-post it?
The fact that my ridiculous moment from college would be used as a reference point (“It was like a Don’t even TRY CHiPs moment”) is so hysterical to me. My absurdity lives on!!
Dan – done!! Don’t even TRY!