''Outland'' is a comic strip written and illustrated by

Berkeley Breathed Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed (; born June 21, 1957) is an American cartoonist, children's book author, director, and screenwriter, known for his comic strips ''Bloom County'', '' Outland'', and '' Opus''. ''Bloom County'' earned Breathed the Pu ...

from

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

until

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

. It was a Sunday-only spin-off of Breathed's strip ''

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, whe ...

'', featuring many of the same characters.

Overview

On September 3, 1989, a month after retiring ''Bloom County'', Breathed began his second syndicated strip with a minor character from the previous strip. Ronald-Ann Smith, a little girl from the "wrong side of the tracks" in Bloom County, entering a magic doorway in a grimy alley that looked down into a cheery world of "cotton-candy trees" known as the Outland (the ground of her world did not align with that of Outland, so the door originally appears to be hovering in the sky above it). In its earliest form, ''Outland'' had been intended to be an experimental strip for Breathed, featuring a channel for creativity in the forms of new characters (such as Mortimer Mouse, based on the rejected name for

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 ...

's Mickey Mouse) and bizarre backgrounds (many of which initially resembled those seen in '' Krazy Kat''). However,

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 crea ...

returned in the strip's third installment, and Bill the Cat appeared months after that. Before long, the premise of another world beyond a magic door had been lost completely. Breathed wrote that the strip became "''Bloom County'' without the continuing narrative that a daily appearance allows" in the first ''Outland'' book collection. Other characters from ''Bloom County'', such as Milquetoast the Cockroach, Steve Dallas,

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, ...

, and

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, ...

, became major players in the strip. Some characters, such as

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 ...

, made an occasional guest appearance. A few prominent members of ''Bloom County'', such as

Milo Bloom Milo Bloom is a fictional character in the American comic strip ''Bloom County''. He was originally the main character, but was soon overshadowed by his best friend Michael Binkley and later on by Opus the penguin. In ''Bloom County'' Milo i ...

, did not make an active appearance at all (though Milo did appear in the second-to-last installment of ''Outland'', as a background extra on a bus). In 1991, Breathed wrote a children's

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

book entitled '' A Wish for Wings That Work''. The story revolved around Opus and included several ''Outland'' characters (although the Outland itself was not explicitly referenced in the story). It was made into an animated television movie that same year. Finally, on March 26, 1995, Breathed decided to end the strip and retire from cartooning. At the strip's end, Steve Dallas came out as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, and eloped to California with

Mark Slackmeyer Mark Sheldon Slackmeyer is a character in the comic strip ''Doonesbury''. Character biography Mark starts out as a Radicalization, radical at Walden College, and leads several peace rallies (in his first appearance, he referred to himself as "'M ...

from the comic 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 to the title character, ...

''. Opus returned to

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 cont ...

to live with his mother, whom he had finally located (some story arcs of the original comic ''Bloom County'' focused on his quest to find her). Eight years later, Breathed abandoned retirement and picked up where ''Outland'' had left off. The result was the Sunday-only reunion strip, ''

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 ...

''.

Recurring characters

* Ronald-Ann Smith * Mortimer Mouse * Tim W. Forty *

* Bill the Cat * Milquetoast the Cockroach * Truffles the Pig *

* Steve Dallas * The Kiwi * The Ducks * The Chicken

Reprints

* ''Politically, Fashionably, and Aerodynamically Incorrect'' (1992) * ''His Kisses are Dreamy...but Those Hairballs Down my Cleavage...!'' (1994) * ''One Last Little Peek, 1980-1995: The Final Strips, the Special Hits, the Inside Tips'' (1995) * ''Outland: The Complete Library – Sunday Comics: 1989-1995'' (2012) Many ''Outland'' strips have never been reprinted in color, though all appeared in black & white in ''

Comics Revue ''Comics Revue'' is a bi-monthly small press comic book published by Manuscript Press and edited by Rick Norwood. Don Markstein edited the publication from 1984 to 1987 and 1992 to 1996. As of 2020, it has published more than 350 issues, making ...

'' magazine. ''Outland'' strips also appeared in the 2004 book ''Opus: 25 Years of His Sunday Best'', which reprinted strips from ''Bloom County'' and the new ''Opus'' strip as well. The whole output of ''Outland'' was collected by

The Library of American Comics Library of American Comics (abbreviated as LoAC) is an American publisher of classic American comic strips collections and comic history books, founded by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell in 2007. History Background Dean Mullaney, the founder ...

in their series, '' Bloom County: The Complete Library'' in 2012.

References

External links

Berkeley Breathed's website
{{Bloomcounty Bloom County 1989 comics debuts 1995 comics endings American comic strips Satirical comics Gag-a-day comics Comics spin-offs Comics about cats Comics about mice and rats Comics about penguins Comics about animals Fictional mice and rats Fictional penguins Works by Berkeley Breathed