Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed (; born June 21, 1957) is an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

, children's book author,

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

, and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, known for his

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s ''

Bloom County ''Bloom County'' is an American comic strip by Berkeley Breathed which originally ran from December 8, 1980, until August 6, 1989. It examined events in politics and culture through the viewpoint of a fanciful small town in Middle America, wh ...

'', '' Outland'', and ''

Opus ''Opus'' (pl. ''opera'') is a Latin word meaning "work". Italian equivalents are ''opera'' (singular) and ''opere'' (pl.). Opus or OPUS may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Opus number, (abbr. Op.) specifying order of (usually) publicatio ...

''. ''Bloom County'' earned Breathed the

Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning The Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary is one of the fourteen Pulitzer Prizes that is annually awarded for journalism in the United States. It is the successor to the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning awarded from 1922 t ...

in 1987.

Early life

Born in

Encino, California Encino (Spanish language, Spanish for "oak") is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. History In 1769, the Spanish Portolá expedition, first Europeans to see inland areas of California, traveled north t ...

, but raised in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, Breathed attended Westchester High School in Houston.Berkowitz, Lana, "His latest opus: ''Bloom County'' creator finds a more constructive path writing children's books
", ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

'', April 4, 2007

Cartooning career

Breathed was first published when he was hired part-time by the ''

Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is owned by Gannett. The paper prints Associated Press, ''New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''Los Angeles Times'' internation ...

'' to draw editorial cartoons for the newspaper. This job was short-lived; he was dismissed shortly after one of his cartoons caused outrage. His first comic strip published regularly was ''

The Academia Waltz ''The Academia Waltz'' was Berkeley Breathed's first comic strip, published daily from 1978 to 1979 in ''The Daily Texan'' at The University of Texas at Austin, where he was a student. The strip focused primarily on college life, although it som ...

,'' which appeared in the ''

Daily Texan ''The Daily Texan'' is the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. It is one of the largest college newspapers in the United States, with a daily circulation of roughly 12,000 during the fall and spring semesters, and it is among t ...

'', in 1978 while he was a student at

the University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. During his time at the University of Texas, Breathed self-published two collections of ''The Academia Waltz'', using the profits to pay his tuition. The comic strip attracted the notice of the editors of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', who recruited him to do a nationally syndicated strip. On December 8, 1980, ''Bloom County'' made its debut. It featured some of the characters from ''Academia Waltz,'' including former frat-boy

Steve Dallas Steve Dallas is a fictional character in the American comic strips of Berke Breathed, most famously ''Bloom County'' in the 1980s. He was first introduced as an obnoxious frat boy in the college strip ''The Academia Waltz'', which ran in the Uni ...

and the

paraplegic Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek () "half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neural ...

Vietnam war The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

veteran

Cutter John Cutter John is a fictional character in the 1980s comic strip ''Bloom County'' by Berke Breathed. Cutter, a Vietnam War veteran using a wheelchair due to paraplegia from a war injury, was one of the county's most well-liked citizens. Despite be ...

. At its start, the strip's style was so similar to that of another popular strip, ''

Doonesbury ''Doonesbury'' is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States The president ...

'', that Doonesbury's creator

Garry Trudeau Garretson Beekman Trudeau (born July 21, 1948) is an American cartoonist, best known for creating the ''Doonesbury'' comic strip. Trudeau is also the creator and executive producer of the Amazon Studios political comedy series ''Alpha House''. ...

wrote to Breathed several times to indicate their similarities.Ellen, Mary, "Berkeley Breathed, drawn back to 'Bloom County' but looking forward"
, ''Los Angeles Times "Hero Complex" blog''. Retrieved 2010-06-27. Breathed has acknowledged that he borrowed liberally from ''Doonesbury'' during his early career. In the ''Outland'' collection ''One Last Little Peek'', Breathed even put an early ''Bloom County'' side by side with the ''Doonesbury'' comic strip from which it obviously took its idea. ''Bloom County'' earned Breathed the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

for

editorial cartooning An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or curren ...

during 1987. The strip eventually appeared in over 1,200 newspapers around the world until Breathed retired the daily strip in 1989, stating that he wanted to terminate the strip while it was still popular. At that time, he said, "A good comic strip is no more eternal than a ripe melon. The ugly truth is that in most cases, comics age less gracefully than their creators". Breathed replaced the strip with the surreal Sunday-only cartoon '' Outland'' in 1989, which reused some of the ''Bloom County'' characters, including

Opus the Penguin Opus the Penguin (Opus T. Penguin) is a fictional character created by artist Berkeley Breathed. Breathed has described him as an "existentialist penguin" and the favorite of his many characters. Opus has appeared in several of Breathed's creati ...

and

Bill the Cat Bill the Cat, or Bill D. Cat, is a fictional cat appearing in the works of cartoonist Berkeley Breathed, beginning with the comic strip ''Bloom County'' in the 1980s and continuing in '' Outland'' and ''Opus'' in the following decades. Bill also ...

. He ended ''Outland'' in 1995. In 2003, Breathed began the comic strip ''

'', a Sunday-only strip featuring Opus the Penguin, who was one of the main characters of ''Bloom County''. Several newspapers chose not to run the August 26, 2007, ''Opus'' cartoon because it might offend Muslims.Donaldson-Evans, Catherine, "Washington Post, Other Newspapers Won't Run 'Opus' Cartoon Mocking Radical Islam"
,

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

, August 28, 2007 On October 6, 2008, Breathed announced plans to discontinue all work on comic strips with the final ''Opus'' strip to run on November 2, 2008.Stern, Sherry, "Berkeley Breathed says goodbye to Opus: 'I'm destroying the village to save it'"
, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', October 6, 2008 Breathed planned to focus on writing

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

. Breathed explained that he felt that the United States was going to face "tough times", and that he wanted to end the saga of his most memorable character "on a lighter note". The last ''Opus'' comic strip appeared on schedule, but in what may be a comic first, the final panel required an online link. The final panel of the strip showed Opus sleeping peacefully in the bed depicted in the classic children's book, ''

Goodnight Moon ''Goodnight Moon'' is an American children's book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. It was published on September 3, 1947, and is a highly acclaimed bedtime story. This book is the second in Brown and Hurd's "cla ...

''. This panel was available only online, and the

Humane Society of the United States The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is an American nonprofit organization that focuses on animal welfare and opposes animal-related cruelties of national scope. It uses strategies that are beyond the abilities of local organizations. ...

page that displayed it was later removed. Breathed said that he had no regrets in leaving political cartooning, as he believed the atmosphere became too bitter for him to make quality cartoons.Vick dog inspired 'Bloom County,' 'Opus' creator
." ''

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

''. October 13, 2009. Retrieved on October 13, 2009. In July 2015 Breathed hinted at a return to the strip when he posted a photo to Facebook of him at his computer, starting a cartoon entitled "Bloom County 2015". He added: "A return after 25 years. Feels like going home." The strip was later posted to Facebook. He has subsequently been posting new ''Bloom County'' strips via Facebook on an almost-daily basis, as of January 2018. (In 2016, "''2015''" was dropped from the new strip's name.) In 2021, Breathed penned a series of strips featuring characters from Bill Watterson's ''

Calvin and Hobbes ''Calvin and Hobbes'' is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly cited as "the last great newspaper comic", ''Calvin and Hobbes'' has enjoyed ...

''. Panels featured Watterson's Calvin as Spaceman Spiff and Hobbes the Tiger.

Other works

Breathed's syndicated and Facebook cartoon work has produced at least thirteen cartoon anthology books, as of January 2018. Starting in 1992, he designed a greeting card and gift ensemble collection for

American Greetings American Greetings Corporation is a privately owned American company and is the world's second largest greeting card producer behind Hallmark Cards. Based in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland, the company sells paper greeting ...

, featuring the "Bloom County" characters

, and

Milquetoast the Cockroach The following are minor characters from Berkeley Breathed's comic strip ''Bloom County''. Though significant enough to have appeared multiple times in the strip, they were not crucial to the strip's overall development, and disappeared without much ...

. As of January 2018, Breathed has produced ten children's picture books. Two were made into the animated films: ''

A Wish for Wings That Work ''A Wish for Wings That Work: An Opus Christmas Story'' is a children's book by Berkeley Breathed that was published in 1991. It was made into an animated television special that same year. The book and special feature characters from Breathed' ...

'' (

Amblin Television Amblin Television is the television production division of Amblin Partners. It was established in 1984 by Amblin Entertainment as a small-screen production arm for Steven Spielberg's ''Amazing Stories'' anthology series for NBC. The company ha ...

Universal Cartoon Studios Universal Animation Studios (formerly known as Universal Cartoon Studios) is an American animation studio and a division of Universal Pictures, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast. It has produced direct-to-video sequels to ...

, 1991) and '' Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big'' (

Nickelodeon Movies Nickelodeon Movies is the film production arm of American children's network Nickelodeon and the family film distribution label of Paramount Pictures launched on February 25, 1995 and based in Los Angeles, California. The division has earned n ...

, 2000); one was made into the motion-capture film ''

Mars Needs Moms ''Mars Needs Moms'' is a 2011 American 3D computer-animated science fiction film co-written and directed by Simon Wells, produced by ImageMovers Digital and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Based on the Berkeley Breathed book of the same tit ...

'' (

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

, 2011). Another animated film; ''Hitpig'', which Breathed himself loosely adapted from his book ''Pete and Pickles'' is currently in production at

Aniventure __NOTOC__ Aniventure is a British content creation and intellectual property company based in London and set up in 2013 to produce family-oriented feature animation. Aniventure works with production partners to take feature film concepts fro ...

for a 2022 release. Breathed's writing has also been featured in numerous publications, including ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'', ''

Boating Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether Motorboat, powerboats, Sailing, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sp ...

'', and ''

Travel and Leisure ''Travel + Leisure'' is a travel magazine based in New York City, New York. Published 12 times a year, it has 4.8 million readers, according to its corporate media kit. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC, with trademark ri ...

''. He produced the cartoon art for the closing credits of the Texas-based 2003 film ''

Secondhand Lions ''Secondhand Lions'' is a 2003 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Tim McCanlies. It tells the story of an introverted young boy (Haley Joel Osment) who is sent to live with his eccentric great uncles (Robert Duvall and Michael Cai ...

'', which featured a strip called ''Walter and Jasmine''. The panels that Breathed drew for ''Secondhand Lions'' appear in his cartoon anthology book ''Opus: 25 Years of His Sunday Best'', in which Breathed terms them "the comic strip that never was". Breathed has been a supporter of the

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

group

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...

and illustrated the cover of earlier printings of PETA's cookbook '' The Compassionate Cook, or, "Please Don't Eat the Animals!"'', T-shirts, and other merchandise. Breathed cameos as himself in the 2004 short film '' Tim Warner: A Life in the Clouds'', a fictional tale about an unhappy cartoonist and his unfunny strip, ''The Silver Lining''.

Personal life

Breathed is a fan of outdoor activities such as

powerboat A motorboat, speedboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gea ...

ing and

motorcycling Motorcycling is the act of riding a motorcycle. For some people, motorcycling may be the only affordable form of individual motorized transportation, and small-displacement motorcycles are the most common motor vehicle in the most populous co ...

. In 1986, he broke his back in an ultralight-plane crash, later incorporated into a ''Bloom County'' storyline in which Steve Dallas breaks his back after being attacked by an angry

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televisi ...

. Breathed also nearly lost his right arm to a boating accident. Breathed has said that he is an atheist, yet he doesn't fear death more than "sharing a room in a detox center with a sobbing

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...

". On May 18, 2008, in his comic strip ''Opus'', Breathed announced he was suffering from a condition known as

spasmodic torticollis Spasmodic torticollis is an extremely painful chronic neurological movement disorder causing the neck to involuntarily turn to the left, right, upwards, and/or downwards. The condition is also referred to as "cervical dystonia". Both agonist and ...

Bibliography

;Cartoon compilations *''The Academia Waltz'', Sterling Swift, 1979, *''The Academia Waltz: Bowing Out'', Bantan Hall, 1980 *'' Loose Tails'', Little, Brown & Co., 1983, *''

Toons for Our Times ''Toons for Our Times'' is the second collection of the comic strip series Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed. It was published in 1984. It is preceded by ''Loose Tails'' and followed by ''Penguin Dreams and Stranger Things''. Synopses of major ...

'', Little, Brown & Co., 1984 *''

Penguin Dreams and Stranger Things ''Penguin Dreams and Stranger Things'' is the third collection of the comic strip series Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed. It was published in 1985. It is preceded by '' Toons For Our Times'' and followed by '' Bloom County Babylon''. The book' ...

'', Little, Brown & Co., 1985, *'' Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness'', Little, Brown & Co., 1986, *''

Billy and the Boingers Bootleg ''Billy and the Boingers Bootleg'' is the fifth collection of the comic strip series Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed. It was published in 1987. It is preceded by ''Bloom County Babylon'' and followed by ''Tales Too Ticklish to Tell''. Prior ...

'', Little, Brown & Co., 1987, . Contained a flexi-disc featuring two songs by

Billy and the Boingers ''Bloom County'' is an American comic strip by Berkeley Breathed which originally ran from December 8, 1980, until August 6, 1989. It examined events in politics and culture through the viewpoint of a fanciful small town in Middle America, whe ...

*'' Tales Too Ticklish to Tell'', Little, Brown & Co., 1988, *'' The Night of the Mary Kay Commandos'', Little, Brown & Co., 1989, *''Classics of Western Literature: Bloom County 1986–1989'', Little, Brown & Co., 1990, *''Happy Trails'', Little, Brown & Co., 1990, *''Politically, Fashionably, and Aerodynamically Incorrect'', Little, Brown & Co., 1992, *''His Kisses Are Dreamy but Those Hairballs Down My Cleavage!'', Little, Brown & Co., 1994, *''One Last Little Peek'', Little, Brown & Co., 1995, *''Opus, 25 Years'', Little, Brown & Co., 2004, *''Bloom County: The Complete Library: Volume One: 1980–1982'',

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly recog ...

, 2009, *''Bloom County: The Complete Library: Volume Two: 1982–1984'', IDW Publishing, 2010, *''Bloom County: The Complete Library: Volume Three: 1984–1986'', IDW Publishing, 2010, *''Bloom County: The Complete Library: Volume Four: 1986–1987'', IDW Publishing, 2011, *''Bloom County: The Complete Library: Volume Five: 1987–1989'', IDW Publishing, 2011, *''Outland: The Complete Library: Sunday Comics: 1989–1995'', IDW Publishing, 2012, *''Opus: The Complete Library: Sunday Comics: 2003–2008'', IDW Publishing, 2012, *''Berkeleyworks: The Art Of Berkeley Breathed: From Bloom County And Beyond'', IDW Publishing, 2013, *''Berkeley Breathed's Academia Waltz And Other Profound Transgressions'', IDW Publishing, 2015, *''Bloom County Episode XI: A New Hope'', IDW Publishing, 2016, *''Bloom County: Brand Spanking New Day'', IDW Publishing, 2017, *''Bloom County: Best Read on the Throne'', IDW Publishing, 2018, ;Children's books *''

: An Opus Christmas Story'', Little, Brown and Co., 1991, *'' The Last Basselope: One Ferocious Story'', Little, Brown and Co., 1992, *'' Goodnight Opus'', Little, Brown and Co., 1993, *''Red Ranger Came Calling'', Little, Brown and Co., 1994, *'' Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big'', Little, Brown and Co., 2000, *''Flawed Dogs: The Year End Leftovers at the Piddleton "Last Chance" Dog Pound'', Little, Brown and Co., 2003, **Breathed said that ''Flawed Dogs'''s intended audience is different from the intended audiences of his other picture books. He said that ''Flawed Dogs'' would be "perfect" for 8–12 year olds, but that he would not read the book to his (in 2009) 5-year-old son. *''Mars Needs Moms!'',

Philomel Books Philomel Books is a children's literature imprint of Penguin Books USA. The imprint was founded by Ann Beneduce, who was succeeded as publisher by Patricia Lee Gauch. Philomel publishes the series of children's books '' The Ranger's Apprentice' ...

, 2007, (adapted into the film '' Mars Needs Moms!'' released in 2011) *''Pete & Pickles'', Philomel Books, 2008, *''Flawed Dogs: The Shocking Raid on Westminster'', Philomel Books, 2009, *''The Bill the Cat Story: A Bloom County Epic'', Philomel Books, 2016,

Awards

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual c ...

, 2010 *

, 1987 * Golden Duck Award for Excellence in Children's Science Fiction for ''Mars Needs Moms!'' 2008 Picture Book

References

External links

Berkeley Breathed Interview
by Tasha Robinson for ''

The Onion ''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on August 2 ...

'' "A.V. Club" August 15, 2001
"The penguin is mightier than the sword"
interview at Salon.com, November 20, 2003

*

at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

.
Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Art Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breathed, Berkeley 1957 births Living people Artists from Los Angeles American atheists American comic strip cartoonists American editorial cartoonists Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning winners Moody College of Communication alumni Austin American-Statesman people People from Encino, Los Angeles Inkpot Award winners