''Bloom County'' is an American
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 ...
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, where children often have adult personalities and vocabularies and where animals can talk.
On July 12, 2015, Breathed started drawing ''Bloom County'' again. The first revived strip was published via Facebook on July 13, 2015.
Publication history and production
''Bloom County'' originated from a comic strip known as ''
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 Breathed produced for ''
The Daily Texan
''The Daily Texan'' is the student newspaper of University of Texas at Austin, 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 spri ...
'', the student newspaper of 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 ...
. 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'', syndicated by
The Washington Post Writers Group
''The Washington Post'' Writers Group (WPWG), a division of The Washington Post News Service & Syndicate, is a press syndication service composed of opinion journalists, editorial cartoonists, comic strips and columnists. The service is operated ...
, made its debut and 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 ...
.
Breathed set ''Bloom County'' in a small town. Breathed said he made the choice because he had followed a girlfriend to
Iowa City
Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...
,
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
; Breathed commented, "You draw—literally—from your life if you’re going to write anything with some juice to it. I did just that."
[ICv2 Interview: Berkeley Breathed]
" ''ICv2
''ICv2'' is an online trade magazine that covers geek culture for retailers. ''ICv2s main areas of focus are comic books, anime, gaming, and show business products. The site offers news, reviews, analysis, and sales information for retailers an ...
''. September 17, 2009. Retrieved September 27, 2009.
Breathed's hand-printed signature on his strips was usually presented in mirror image, i.e. right to left.
Breathed was awarded 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 ...
in
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 ...
in 1987 for ''Bloom County''.
Because the cartoon appeared on the comics page, and not on the editorial page, the win was disapproved of by many members of
Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.
Breathed cited the controversy over the release of ''
Go Set a Watchman
''Go Set a Watchman'' is a novel written by Harper Lee before her Pulitzer Prize-winning ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' (1960), her only other published novel. Although ''Go Set a Watchman'' was initially promoted as a sequel by its publisher, it i ...
'' as the factor that led him to resume ''Bloom County''.
Characters
Core characters
At the very beginning of the strip (December 1980), the central setting was the Bloom boarding house run by the grandparents of Milo Bloom. As the strip continued, various boarders (and/or pets) moved into the boarding house. In the order the characters debuted:
*
Milo Bloom, introduced in December 1980, is a 10-year-old newspaper reporter and probably the most worldly-wise of the bunch. Milo was the original protagonist of ''Bloom County'', and much of the strip's action during its first year takes place at the
boarding house owned by his family. Initially presented as an innocent-yet-precocious ten-year-old grappling bizarrely with the hallmarks of his impending puberty (to the extent of developing an intense infatuation with
Betty Crocker
Betty Crocker is a brand and fictional character used in advertising campaigns for food and recipes. The character was originally created by the Washburn-Crosby Company in 1921 following a contest in the '' Saturday Evening Post''. In 1954, ...
), Milo's 'offscreen' appointment to a journalist position for the local Bloom Beacon newspaper in January 1982 gradually modified his role to that of a 'straight man', with a number of his more absurdist earlier traits re-allocated to then-ascendant protagonist Opus. In the very earliest strips, Milo's grandfather ("The Major") was a central character; after the first year, the Major's role diminished and he eventually ceased to appear as a regular at the end of 1982, vanishing altogether after his final appearance in a July 1983 Sunday strip.
*
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 ...
, introduced in May 1981, was (like Cutter John) originally a featured character in ''The Academia Waltz''. Steve is Bloom County's sole defense attorney. A machoistic and irresponsible chain smoker and former "
frat boy
Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America.
Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradua ...
", Dallas spends most of his free time either trying to seduce women or concocting get-rich-quick schemes, including forming and managing a
heavy metal band,
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 ...
(previously known as
Deathtöngue). While initially introduced as a foil to Bobbi Harlow, the latter's eventual hookup with Cutter John increasingly expanded the flexibility of Dallas's role, rendering him the strip's sole major adult human character by the mid-80s.
*
Michael Binkley
Michael Binkley is a fictional character in Berke Breathed's cartoon strip ''Bloom County''.
Michael, known to all simply as 'Binkley,' is a 10-year-old boy who lives at the Bloom County Boarding House with his father Tom (his mother, Margret, ...
was also introduced in May 1981. Binkley was a schoolmate of Milo's who lived with his father, Tom Binkley, rather than in the boarding house. Binkley is wishy-washy and overly reflective (in the mold of
Charlie Brown), when not contemplating the lives of famous figures in
pop culture
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* Pop (Gas al ...
, often at his father's bedside in the middle of the night. His "anxiety closet", first appearing in January 1983, has been a staple of many storylines.
*
Opus is a large-nosed penguin (occasionally mistaken for a
puffin
Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...
) with a
herring
Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae.
Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...
addiction who lost track of his mother during the
Falklands War
The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...
(they were later reunited in a closing storyline at the end of the strip's first incarnation). He was originally introduced as the more realistically designed pet penguin of Michael Binkley ("A boy and his penguin!" "A penguin and his boy!") in June 1981, although he was only seen in three strips that month. He was re-introduced as a full-time cast member in January 1982; by mid-1982, Opus had ceased to be Binkley's pet and he eventually became a boarder at the Bloom house, with his design likewise evolving into its more stylized trademark form (thus identifying him less strongly as a penguin) by the end of 1983. Opus' hopeless naïveté and optimism made him a fan favorite, and he quickly became the center of the strip, as well as the subject of two "sequel" strips (''
Outland'' and ''
Opus''), three children's books, and a television special entitled ''
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' ...
''.
*
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 ...
, introduced in November 1981, is a wheelchair-using
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
veteran
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military.
A military veteran that has ...
, noted for indulging in ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' fantasies with the meadow animals (Hodge-Podge, Portnoy and Opus), as well as
anti-war
An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to pa ...
protests. He is not a womanizer like Steve Dallas, but he is more popular with the ladies. His visage is nearly identical to that of Breathed himself. The character had previously appeared in Breathed's earlier comic strip, ''The Academia Waltz'', where he had been known as 'Saigon John'.
*
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 ...
is a filthy, scraggly, flea-bitten, orange tabby cat, introduced in June 1982 as a parody of the comic character
Garfield. The humor of the character was the antithesis of Garfield: whereas the famous fat-cat was a marketing bonanza, ''Bloom County'' humorously tried desperately to present Bill in the same manner, despite his disgusting and unappealing appearance. After serving over a year as a relatively minor character largely existing 'outside' of the strip's main continuity and cast of characters (beyond sporadic appearances and background references to his merchandise), Breathed temporarily retired the character via alluding to his 'offscreen' death in September 1983 (allegedly from
acne
Acne, also known as ''acne vulgaris'', is a long-term Cutaneous condition, skin condition that occurs when Keratinocyte, dead skin cells and Sebum, oil from the skin clog hair follicles. Typical features of the condition include comedo, black ...
); following his resurrection in July of the following year, Bill rapidly increased in prominence to the point of assuming an ironically central role in numerous major storylines, thus solidifying him as one of the strip's most widely-known figures (alongside Opus). Following his resurrection, Bill's low intelligence and inability to articulate himself beyond his trademark responses, "Ack" and "Pbthhh" led to him becoming something of a blank slate around which various increasingly-absurd plots revolved. He has been a
cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
member
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
("
Bhagwan
Bhagavan ( sa, भगवान्, Bhagavān; pi, Bhagavā, italics=yes), also spelt Bhagwan (sometimes translated in English as "Lord"), is an epithet within Indian religions used to denote figures of religious worship. In Hinduism it is us ...
Bill"),
televangelist
Televangelism (wikt:tele-, tele- "distance" and "evangelism," meaning "Christian ministry, ministry," sometimes called teleministry) is the use of media, specifically radio and television, to communicate Christianity. Televangelists are minister ...
("Fundamentally Oral Bill"), perennial
Presidential
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...
candidate (for the National Radical Meadow Party), heavy metal rock star ("Wild Bill Catt"), nuclear power plant operator at
Chernobyl
Chernobyl ( , ; russian: Чернобыль, ) or Chornobyl ( uk, Чорнобиль, ) is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about no ...
, and, in the last months of the series, had his brain surgically replaced with
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
's, alongside allegedly conducting affairs with
Jeane Kirkpatrick,
Princess Diana
Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...
and
Socks the cat
Socks Clinton ( – February 20, 2009) was the pet cat of the Clinton family, the first family of the United States from 1993 to 2001. As an adopted stray cat, he was the only pet of the Clintons during the early years of the administration, an ...
. He has been known to speak on occasion, most notably during the
Communist witch-hunt trials of which he has been a subject, when he remarked, "Say, you don't suppose the 'Jury Box' is anything like a litter box, do you?". Numerous strips indicated that his persistent near-
catatonic
Catatonia is a complex neuropsychiatric behavioral syndrome that is characterized by abnormal movements, immobility, abnormal behaviors, and withdrawal. The onset of catatonia can be acute or subtle and symptoms can wax, wane, or change during ...
state was the result of drug use or brain damage resulting from once being legally dead and then revived after too long a period. In the Christmas special ''A Wish for Wings That Work'', implicitly set in a differing continuity from the strip, Opus alternately recounts having rescued Bill from a university science lab where they had replaced his brains with
Tater Tots.
* is a rabbit (name unknown until April 1984) who is best friends with Portnoy and Cutter John. He is politically conservative and
fanatical about various issues, despite the fact that he is extremely ignorant about those same issues. Both Hodge-Podge and Portnoy (below) started off in April 1982 as unnamed minor characters, and their roles gradually increased as the strip continued, coalescing into their final forms around 1984.
*
Portnoy
Portnoy (formerly known as The Portnoy Brothers) are a British-Israeli folk rock duo formed in 2014 by Manchester-born brothers Sruli (born 1990; vocals, guitar) and Mendy Portnoy (born 1992; keyboards). Their debut album, as The Portnoy Brothe ...
is a groundhog, although his
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
was a mystery until October 1983. Before the revelation that he was a groundhog, he was portrayed as a squirrel, gopher, porcupine and possum, with his finalized groundhog design first emerging in March 1983. Portnoy was the grouchiest and most bigoted character by far and (in a few strips) was a bully to Opus.
*
Oliver Wendell Jones
Oliver Wendell Jones is a fictional character in ''Bloom County'', '' Outland'' and ''Opus'', three comic strips by American cartoonist Berkeley Breathed. The character was named for
United States Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, ...
is a schoolmate of Milo and Binkley, introduced in September 1983. He is a young
computer hacker and gifted scientist. He once tried to bring an end to the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
by introducing onto the front page of ''
Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the co ...
'' the headline, "
Gorbachev Urges Disarmament: Total! Unilateral!", but faulty translation caused the headline to read, "Gorbachev Sings Tractors: Turnip! Buttocks!" He has a fairly extensive criminal record as a result of his numerous computer pranks. Oliver is African-American.
His mother
''His Mother'' is a 1912 American silent film produced by Kalem Company. It was directed by Sidney Olcott with Gene Gauntier and Jack J. Clark in the leading roles. It was one of more than a dozen films produced by the Kalem Company filmed in Ire ...
has dressed her son to resemble Michael Jackson, much to Oliver's chagrin.
Other characters
*
Bobbi Harlow
Bobbi Harlow is a fictional character in Berke Breathed's comic strip ''Bloom County''.
A schoolteacher, Bobbi is popular among her students, particularly Milo Bloom and Michael Binkley, who both harbored crushes on her. However, the Conservatis ...
is the feminist schoolteacher of Milo and Binkley and the love interest of both Steve and Cutter. She was a major character from her introduction in April 1981 until mid-1982, in which her role largely dissipates into that of Cutter John's sporadically appearing girlfriend, thus catalyzing her eventual disappearance by July 1983. She appears only once in the strip's later years, when Opus learns she has joined the crew of ''
The Phil Donahue Show''. In August 1981, her parents visited, and met Steve, whom they disliked.
*Quiche Lorraine, cousin of Bobbi Harlow and one-time girlfriend of Steve Dallas circa 1982. She was only dating Steve because of his body and dumped him after an accident left him in a full-body cast.
*Cozy Fillerup, single mother and love interest to Cutter John. She was introduced in the 2015 revival of the strip when Cutter John and crew ran over her with his wheelchair, the "''Aluminium Falcon''".
*Abby Fillerup, Cozy's sole daughter. She was introduced in the 2015 revival of the strip. She practices yoga, acupuncture, and other
New Age
New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...
beliefs. As her introduction is quite recent, her importance and involvement with the future of the strip is unknown. She has been seen to participate in the gang's pop culture fantasies, and is often seen engaging in antics with the main cast.
*Tom Binkley, Binkley's father, usually distraught over his son's behavior, his own divorce or mid-life crisis.
*Frank Jones, Oliver's father, who funds his son's scientific endeavors, particularly his cure for
baldness
Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarrin ...
made from cat-sweat nicknamed "Scalp Tonic".
*Eleanor Jones, Oliver's mother, distrustful of technology and science, usually with good reason.
*
Lola Granola, a free-spirited and gentle
hippie
A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
who experiments with
green politics
Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. Wall 2010. p. 12-13. It b ...
and
vegetarianism
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter.
Vegetarianism may ...
. She and Opus had a long engagement, but were married only seconds before Opus was knocked unconscious while clumsily trying to kiss her and had a nightmare of his future which caused him to annul the marriage the instant he woke up.
*Milquetoast the Cockroach: an eloquent yet disgusting cockroach living in the boarding house, he secretly uses
subliminal messaging
Subliminal stimuli (; the prefix ' literally means "below" or "less than") are any sensory stimuli below an individual's threshold for conscious perception, in contrast to stimuli (above threshold). A 2012 review of functional magnetic resonance ...
(usually in the form of whispering in the tenants' ears as they sleep) to convince them to spare his life and bring him food.
*Rosebud the Basselope, a
basset hound with antlers (in a play on
jackalope
The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns. The word ''jackalope'' is a portmanteau of ''jackrabbit'' and ''antelope''. Many jackalope taxidermy mounts, including the original, ...
). As the last basselope on Earth (the second-to-last having been hunted and killed for sport by
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
), Rosebud is somewhat gullible, naive, and easily shocked. Long after her introduction, it was determined that Rosebud was actually female, in a parody of the use of female dogs to portray the ostensibly male canine beer mascot
Spuds McKenzie. The rebooted ''Bloom County'' gave her the ability to fly when her antlers were inflated with "dandelion gas".
*
Ronald-Ann Smith is a young, innocent African-American girl from "the wrong side of the tracks" who lives in poverty. Her frequent efforts to make the best of the little she has often make the rest of the cast feel selfish and uncomfortable. Her best friend is Reynalda, a headless doll. At the end of the first series of ''Bloom County,'' she shows Opus the way to Outland, presented as a magical imaginary world she created to escape her harsh reality.
* The Banana Jr. 6000 Computer (a blatant parody of the Apple Macintosh) is presented as an almost robot-like companion of Oliver, though he is quick to dispose of it if a newer model has even the slightest superficial upgrade.
Notable storylines
''For detailed summaries of all storylines, see the entries for the individual books.''
* Opus was originally intended to have a run of just two weeks, but his status was cemented with a memorable Sunday strip involving a
Hare Krishna asking for money. Opus continued to misunderstand the Krishna's request for money before finally misinterpreting "Prayer temples for Hare Krishnas" as "Pear pimples for hairy fishnuts!" Breathed wrote in one of the ''Bloom County'' books that the reaction was so overwhelmingly strong he made Opus a permanent member of the cast.
*In 1984 the American Meadow Party ran Bill the Cat as its presidential candidate opposing Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale, with Opus as the vice presidential candidate. Their campaign slogan was, "This Time, Why Not The Worst?" The sequence parodied the entire campaign season and the lengths some parties would go to, with Opus becoming near suicidal when told he is running behind pickled prunes in popularity polls. It did lead to the slogan of disaffected voters everywhere, "Don't blame me. I voted for Bill and Opus."
* Steve forms a
heavy metal band with Opus, Hodge Podge, and Bill, initially called "Deathtöngue". Steve is forced to rename the band "Billy and the Boingers" after he is brought before a
congressional
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
hearing investigating the effect of heavy metal music on youth, similar to the
Parents Music Resource Center.
* Opus decides to reunite with his long-lost mother for Christmas in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
, only to discover that his mother supposedly died saving soldiers in the
Falklands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...
war. Her gravestone reads, 'The Falklands Martyr: She Loved her Boy'. She is later revealed to be alive.
* The cast of Bloom County goes on
strike. W. A. Thornhump refuses to concede to any of their demands and attempts to have his office staff fill in. Things get ugly when Steve Dallas crosses the picket line and Thornhump hires
strike-breakers
A strikebreaker (sometimes called a scab, blackleg, or knobstick) is a person who works despite a strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who were not employed by the company before the trade union dispute but hired after or during the str ...
to play Opus, Bill, and Oliver. In the end, the strikers are defeated, although Opus still throws eggs at Steve, saying "Here comes breakfast from Aunt Opus!!"
*Oliver invents Dr. Oliver's Scalp Tonic using Bill the Cat's perspiration motivated from the thought of
Dan Quayle becoming US president. The tonic miraculously will restore hair on anyone, but has the side effect of users producing "ack" noises. The US government bans it, but the gang decide to continue producing it illegally after discovering that desperate customers are willing to buy it at exorbitant prices. In a parody of the
war on drugs
The war on drugs is a Globalization, global campaign, led by the United States federal government, of prohibition of drugs, drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the Unite ...
, the gang is extremely successful while thwarting the ineffectual government attempts to stop the illegal trade. As violent crime arises from the trade, the tonic operation is fatally undermined when the government legalizes it. The effects are later to be shown as temporary, leaving Oliver's father totally bald.
*Oliver learns of the
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
system in South Africa. He invents a "pigmentizer", which will temporarily turn a white person black. Cutter John and Opus are dispatched to Washington to zap the
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
n ambassador, but their balloon-powered wheelchair crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and they disappear. Though officially listed as "Eaten By Squid", Opus reappears some time later, suffering from such strong amnesia that he initially has no idea he is even a penguin. Eventually the fake news of a secret wedding between
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...
and
Diane Sawyer, Opus' longtime crush, shocks him into recalling what happened. After drifting for a while between lost islands, using the wheelchair as a raft, Cutter John and Opus were rescued by a Soviet submarine and arrested as spies. In order to rescue him, Steve Dallas meets with Russian envoys to trade Cutter John in for the one thing they want from Bloom County: Bill the Cat.
*
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
is accidentally and fatally injured by the anchor of his own yacht. Incredibly, surgeons turn to Bill the Cat as a donor body in which to insert Trump's still-living brain. Trapped in Bill's body, Trump finds himself disinherited from his financial empire and estranged from his wife
Ivana. With nowhere else to turn, he takes Bill's place in the Bloom County boarding house, making unsuccessful attempts to start from scratch and occasionally being given equally unsuccessful lessons on the value of life by Opus. This eventually culminates in Trump regaining power and using it to buy out Bloom County, firing the entire staff of characters in the process.
End and spinoff strips
Breathed decided to end the strip in 1989. In keeping with the continuity of the Bill the Cat/Donald Trump storyline, Trump "buys out" the comic strip and fires all of the cast. In the strip's final weeks the cast found new "jobs" with other comic strips. A "goodbye party" was held over the course of the week where characters talked about joining new strips. Portnoy and Hodge Podge get jobs as janitors behind the scenes at ''
Marmaduke''; Steve Dallas joins the cast of ''
Cathy'' and attempts to pitch himself as a new superhero, but is quickly fired from both jobs; Michael Binkley becomes a wild boar skinner for ''
Prince Valiant
''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretc ...
''.
Lola Granola says that she has been invited to pose for ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
K ...
'', which Opus dislikes. Milo Bloom is seen with a snake swallowing him head first and informing Opus he would be appearing Tuesdays in ''
The Far Side
''The Far Side'' is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Chronicle Features and then Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from December 31, 1979, to January 1, 1995 (when Larson retired as a cartoonist). Its surrealist ...
''. Oliver Wendell Jones is seen with the distinct features of ''
Family Circus'' characters. He informs Opus he is being "
bussed in" to the strip as part of a court order. Once ''Bloom County'' characters are scattered, only Opus is left as part of a plot to transition to Breathed's next strip in ''Bloom Countys final week.
Shortly after ''Bloom County'' ended, Breathed started a
Sunday-only strip called ''
Outland'' with original characters and situations introduced in ''Bloom Countys final days. However, Opus, Bill and other characters eventually reappeared and slowly took over the strip. ''Outland'' ran from September 3, 1989, to March 26, 1995. Another Sunday-only spinoff strip called ''
Opus'' ran from November 23, 2003, to November 2, 2008.
Return
On July 12, 2015, Breathed posted to his Facebook page a photo with the caption "A return after 25 years. Feels like going home." The photo showed him drawing a comic strip with the title ''Bloom County 2015'' with Opus pictured in the first frame. A fan asked in the comments on the picture if this was in response to
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
's presidential campaign, and Mr. Breathed responded to the comment that "This creator can't precisely deny that the chap you mention had nothing to do with it." The next day, July 13, 2015, the first comic of the revived strip was officially posted online, also to Breathed's Facebook page. The strip was relaunched under the ''Bloom County 2015'' title, only to be renamed simply as ''Bloom County'' at the start of 2016.
On the return of the strips Breathed stated:
Breathed originally had no plans of publishing the new strips outside of his Facebook page, commenting that “Newspapers need deadlines, alas. Like my departed friend
Douglas Adams used to say, the only part of deadlines I enjoyed was the whooshing sound as they sped by.” An archive of the new strips has started at
GoComics
GoComics is a website launched in 2005 by the digital entertainment provider Uclick. It was originally created as a distribution portal for comic strips on mobile phones, but in 2006, the site was redesigned and expanded to include online strips ...
since then. A new book was announced in June 2016; ''Bloom County Episode XI: A New Hope'' was a compilation of strips from 2015 and 2016. Two more books followed in 2017 and 2018, respectively. No more books have been published since.
On April 11, 2022, Breathed posted a new strip on Facebook labeled "Season 33, Episode 3" in the title panel. It featured Steve Dallas and Opus in a
satire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...
of the
MeToo
#MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in ...
Movement.
Incorporating Calvin and Hobbes
Starting from 2016, Breathed took on, with permission, the characters from
Calvin and Hobbes in an occasional series of strips.
Influence
''Bloom County'' has had an influence on other cartoonists, particularly cartoonists who have an irreverent bent or tackle political topics in their work.
For example, Scott Kurtz, creator of the
webcomic
Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books.
Webcomics can be co ...
''
PvP'', acknowledged Breathed's contributions at one point with a strip expressing the opinion that "so many webcomics. ..are nothing but ''Bloom County'' ripoffs", then lampooning itself by
mimic
MIMIC, known in capitalized form only, is a former simulation computer language developed 1964 by H. E. Petersen, F. J. Sansom and L. M. Warshawsky of Systems Engineering Group within the Air Force Materiel Command at the Wright-Patterson AFB in ...
king Breathed's art and dialogue style in the final panel.
Aaron McGruder
Aaron Vincent McGruder (born May 29, 1974) is an American writer, cartoonist, and producer best known for creating ''The Boondocks'', a Universal Press Syndicate comic strip and its animated TV series adaptation.
Early life and education
Aaron ...
, creator of the comic and later animated series ''
The Boondocks
Boondocks are remote, usually brushy areas.
Boondocks may also refer to:
* The Boondocks (band), an Estonian rock band
* ''The Boondocks'' (comic strip), a comic strip by Aaron McGruder
** ''The Boondocks'' (2005 TV series), the television ser ...
'', has paid tribute to Breathed's work as well, with a few aspects of the strip bearing more than a passing resemblance to important ''Bloom County'' features (including at least a couple of artistic similarities), and an episode of the animated series wherein the character Uncle Ruckus calls Breathed "Master Penguin Draw'er".
The series was adapted into the 1991 animated Christmas special entitled ''
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' ...
'', which is now available on DVD.
Bloom County location
The fictional setting of ''Bloom County'' served as a recurring backdrop for the comic and its sequels, although the nature of the setting was frequently altered.
In the comics, the county is presented as a stereotypical
American midwestern small town. The small town setting was frequently contrasted with the increasing
globalization
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
taking place in the rest of the world; though Bloom County contained the likes of farmers and wilderness creatures by default, it was frequented by
Hare Krishnas
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktive ...
, feminists, and
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
stars.
While the location of Bloom County is never explicitly mentioned, there have been some clues in the strip. When Oliver Jones identified Bloom County as the place where
Halley's Comet would crash into Earth, a sign was seen saying that it was at 35.05 N 146.55 E. This would place it in the Pacific Ocean, about 300 miles off the coast of Japan. Oliver's previous calculation was 39.43 N 105.01 W, which would place it just south of
Denver, Colorado
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
. In an early strip, Milo gives his address as "Box 163, Bloom County, N.I., 12460", the zip code for which would place it about 30 miles southwest of
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
. Another strip has Opus trying to make airline reservations to
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...
. He balks at the outrageously high quoted price for a ticket stating that "Des Moines is just 94 miles from Bloom County". Geographically, this would place Bloom County in either
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
or the far north-central tier of counties of
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
, but likely referring to the distance from
Iowa City
Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...
, where the strip was produced, to Des Moines. (See Real World References below). Also, in a Sunday strip with L.H. Puttgrass, he is holding a
King Soopers bag, which would place the comic in Colorado. On January 29, 2016, Berkeley Breathed posted on Facebook that "The Bloom County boarding house still sits in beautiful hayseedless Iowa City, home for this cartoonist for four years."
The county was home to the Bloom Boarding House, Steve Dallas' law offices, the ''Bloom Beacon'' and ''Bloom Picayune'' newspapers, at least one pond, and Milo's Meadow. In the comic's later years, the county contained what appeared to be a big-city
ghetto
A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...
("the wrong side of the tracks", as it was known).
The geographical profile of the county was fluid as the artistic style of the strip evolved. During most of ''Bloom Countys run, the rural meadow setting was presented realistically, while in its later years it became increasingly more abstract.
The ''Outland'' setting of the strip was originally set apart from the county by way of a magical doorway. By ''Outland''
's end, the Outland appeared to be a part of Bloom County itself.
The final ''Outland'' strip listed the characters as living at "555 Hairybutt St., Bloom County, Outland".
''Opus'' also takes place in Bloom County.
Real-world references
![Iowa city linsay house](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Iowa_city_linsay_house.jpg)
Breathed lived in
Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...
during the early years of the strip, and the setting of ''Bloom County'' resembles Iowa City in several ways. The Bloom Boarding House, which appeared as a high contrast photo within the strip, is modeled after the
Linsay House
The Lindsay House is a historic building located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It was listed, misspelled as the Linsay House, on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. The house was built in 1893 by John Jayne, an Iowa City bri ...
located at 935 East College Street. Another Iowa City landmark, The
Prairie Lights Bookstore, was referred to in the strip as the "Prairie Lights Newsstand"; original ''Bloom County'' artwork from Breathed now hangs in the bookstore. Another original ''Bloom County'' strip hangs in the
Iowa City Public Library
The Iowa City Public Library (ICPL) was established in 1896 to serve the people of Iowa City, Iowa, USA. Currently located in a new facility at the intersection of College and Linn Streets on the downtown pedestrian mall, ICPL serves a population ...
. Breathed used the
call letters KRNA
KRNA (94.1 MHz) is a classic rock-formatted radio station licensed to Iowa City, Iowa. The station is currently owned by Townsquare Media. KRNA's studios located in the Alliant Energy Building in Downtown Cedar Rapids, and their transmitter ...
to refer to ''Bloom Countys rock radio station featuring
"Rockin' Charmin' Harmin". The call letters belong to an actual Iowa City rock station which featured a disc jockey named "Charmin'" Jeff Harmon in the 1980s. Several Iowa City local news items also directly inspired ''Bloom County'' storylines. For example, a fictional Ronald Reagan sexist gaffe, referring to women as "little dumplin's", was lifted from
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
football coach
Hayden Fry's comment, infuriating feminists at the university.
Animated series
In February 2022 it was announced that Bill the Cat, Opus, and the rest of Berkeley Breathed's "Bloom County" universe are set to make their debut on
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
. “Bloom County” will be co-written and executive produced by Breathed. Bento Box will serve as the animation studio on the project. Fox's animation company,
Bento Box Entertainment,
Miramax
Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California.
It was initially a leadi ...
,
Spyglass Media Group and Project X Entertainment are all working on it as an animated series. In September 2022, it was announced ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' writer
Tim Long
Tim Long (born June 14, 1969) is a comedy writer born in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. Long calls Exeter, Ontario, his home town and has written for ''The Simpsons'', ''Politically Incorrect'', ''Spy (magazine), Spy'' magazine and the ''Late Show wit ...
joined the series as showrunner.
''Bloom County'' books
Like many other popular comic strips, ''Bloom County'' has been republished in various
collections
Collection or Collections may refer to:
* Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department
* Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service
* Collection agency, agency to collect cash
* Collection ...
. By 2004, the comic strip was reprinted in 11 books, the first having been published in 1983 and the last in that year. None of the reprints contained complete runs of the strip, although ''Bloom County Babylon'' contained many of the strips that preceded ''
Loose Tails''. All of the daily strips have been reprinted in ''
Comics Revue
''Comics Revue'' is a bi-monthly small press comic book published by Manuscript Press and edited by Rick Norwood. Don Markstein's Toonopedia, Don Markstein edited the publication from 1984 to 1987 and 1992 to 1996.
As of 2020, it has published ...
'' magazine.
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 ...
published ''The Bloom County Library'', a five volume hardback
collection
Collection or Collections may refer to:
* Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department
* Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service
* Collection agency, agency to collect cash
* Collectio ...
of all ''Bloom County'' strips, beginning in October 2009. This series is part of their ''Library of American Comics'' series. It is a complete reprint of the strip, including side notes about cultural and political references made in the strip, "Headlines" breaks to identify the top stories of the day, and commentary from Breathed. Each volume has three separate releases: a standard edition, a signed edition, and a signed, remarked edition. Breathed said that the reason why the strips printed in ''The Bloom County Library'' were not published in previous collections was that the publisher would not let Breathed publish 400 pages each year, so Breathed had to reduce the content in each book. Breathed also said that he believes that, "I just closed my eyes and dropped a dart on the ones to be included." He felt relieved the publishers did not "have to ask ... to do this again."
On October 25, 2017, IDW published ''Bloom County: Real, Classy, & Compleat: 1980-1989'', collecting the complete run of ''Bloom County'' in two volumes. An "Ultimate Collectors Set" was also released, including the original art from a daily strip featuring Opus, a page from Breathed's sketchbooks, and a personalized sketch of Opus on the slipcover.
Collections
* ''
Loose Tails'' (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 ...
'' (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' ...
'' (1985)
* ''
Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness'' (1986)—An omnibus featuring strips from the previous three collections
* ''
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 ...
'' (1987)
* ''
Tales Too Ticklish to Tell
''Tales Too Ticklish to Tell'' is the sixth collection of the comic strip series Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed. It was published in 1988. The cover image, of Opus sitting on the lap of George H. W. Bush, is a parody of the infamous photo o ...
'' (1988)
* ''
The Night of the Mary Kay Commandos'' (1989)
* ''Happy Trails!'' (1990)
* ''Classics of Western Literature'' (1990)—An omnibus featuring strips from the previous four collections
* ''One Last Little Peek, 1980–1995: The Final Strips, the Special Hits, the Inside Tips'' (1995) - A collection of strips from both ''Bloom County'' and ''Outland''
* ''Opus: 25 Years of His Sunday Best'' (2004)—An omnibus featuring strips from ''Bloom County'','' Outland'', and ''Opus''
* ''Bloom County Episode XI: A New Hope'' (2016)
* ''Bloom County: The Real, Classy, & Compleat 1980–1989'' (2017)
* ''Bloom County Brand Spanking New Day'' (2017)
* ''Bloom County Best Read on the Throne'' (2018)
The Complete Bloom County Library
''
Bloom County: The Complete Library'', published by
The Library of American Comics
Library of American Comics (abbreviated as LoAC) is an American publisher of classic United States, American comic strips collections and comic history books, founded by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell in 2007.
History Background
Dean Mullaney ...
, an imprint of
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 ...
, between 2009 and 2012. Collects the complete ''Bloom County'' as well as ''Outland'' and ''Opus''.
References
External links
Berkeley Breathed's websiteat
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 ...
Archivedfrom the original on February 22, 2018.
Breathed interview in The A.V. Club, August 15, 2001
{{Portal bar, Comics
American comic strips
1980 comics debuts
1989 comics endings
Comics about politics
Fictional counties
Comic strips set in the United States
Fictional locations in comics
Comics about penguins
Comics about cats
Comics about pigs
Comics about animals
Comics about rabbits and hares
Works by Berkeley Breathed