The Comics Curmudgeon

50 responses to “You can’t go home again”

1. Dave Lartigue
   February 1st, 2005 at 10:14 pm [Reply]

   Bloom County in its prime was a thing of beauty. But its prime was shorter than its run. You know that ex-girlfriend with the great smile and fantastic…er…well, you know. You think about her years later and that’s what you remember and you sigh and wonder what could have been. What you don’t remember is her awful breath, her slovenly ways, and other things that make it a damn good reason she’s an Ex.

   Opus, from what I’ve seen, isn’t funny. Outland wasn’t funny. The death throes of Bloom County, when Breathed believed that if Opus did anything, it was hilarious, and if he was wearing jockey shorts when he did it, it was pure comedy gold weren’t funny.

   Bloom County in its heyday was great, and there’s a lot of rightly-placed goodwill for it. Unfortunately, Breathed seems to solely be coasting on that.

2. me_oh_my
   February 1st, 2005 at 10:37 pm [Reply]

   I still love it. Remember Steve’s advice at Opus’ bachelor’s party? “Give her hickeys and she’ll go bananas.”

   Remember Opus’ VP run, with a dead cat (IIRC)?

   Remember when Surgeon General Koop was crushed by Tofu?

3. Mark H.
   February 1st, 2005 at 11:07 pm [Reply]

   Wait… this is a comic strip from THIS YEAR?

4. x.
   February 2nd, 2005 at 1:27 am [Reply]

   Wait, Steve Dallas has a kid?

   I’m at least happy to see Breathed went along with Steve losing his hair.

5. Isaac B2
   February 2nd, 2005 at 2:07 am [Reply]

   Bloom was great, and Outland sucked hard. Opus… well, he keeps bringin back all of the Bloom County characters… and he really isn’t using the space well, as you note. We need Bill Watterson back!

6. seccombe
   February 2nd, 2005 at 2:29 am [Reply]

   Bloom County blew from the start. I don’t mean it was worse than other things on the comics page back then; it wasn’t. It was better than most of the other strips. But it’s funny how a joke or comment would appear in Doonesbury, and several months later the same joke or comment would appear in Bloom County, only shrill. It was funny how that happened.

7. seccombe
   February 2nd, 2005 at 2:36 am [Reply]

   I don’t get the strip, so this is the first place I’ve seen it. The res isn’t great, and in the penultimate panel, I wondered why in God’s name Steve was being attacked by a bunch of disembodied uteruses until I read your comments. Chickens! They’re chickens!

8. Jake
   February 2nd, 2005 at 3:28 am [Reply]

   Berke Breathed’s descent from brilliance to coasting has been pretty hard to watch — it’s been so amazingly slow and painful. I recall Outland started out with entirely new characters but gradually being invaded by Bloom County alumni until the entire new concept for the strip was pretty much moot. Now Opus seems to be conjuring some of the aesthetic of “Bloom County” minus the wit. I really don’t have any problem with writing about the same characters for 30 years (Schulz did it for 50, after all), but it’s unsettling how even Breathed’s references are weirdly outdated (”Field of Dreams”?). What’s next, Opus listening to Cyndi Lauper while making a joke about Reagan and Alf?

9. MikeG
   February 2nd, 2005 at 3:28 am [Reply]

   The thing that most annoys me is that when Opus was first announced, Breathed spoke of his lofty aspirations for the strip with such bravado that he had convinced me that Opus would change the face of comics as humankind understood them to be.

   It’s been, well, less than that.

   Breathed has talked about how much he disliked the grind of doing a daily strip, and felt liberated by the once-a-week-on-Sunday format. I’m not sure that the daily grind didn’t add something, though.

10. Brian DC
    February 2nd, 2005 at 8:51 am [Reply]

    I’d hate to live in a world where seeing a man get hit in the groin with a ball isn’t funny.

11. Matt McIrvin
    February 2nd, 2005 at 8:58 am [Reply]

    Watterson knew what he was doing when he quit at that moment. If he had stuck with it for another decade, we’d be talking about the disappointment of the strip’s declining years in which it became a series of sour political rants delivered by Calvin as he watched the TV.

    Either that, or Hobbes would start wandering far from Calvin and visiting his cousins, the imaginary desert tigers.

12. Honey
    February 2nd, 2005 at 9:47 am [Reply]

    You’re right, it kinda sucks. The chickens rule, though.

13. Anonymous
    February 2nd, 2005 at 9:55 am [Reply]

    So sad that some people don’t know when it is over. You want to leave with people wanting more. When you start coasting or running the same idea over and over again, you turn into Peanuts. Or worse yet, Garfield.

    That is why Rex Morgan, Mary Worth, etc still maintain their humor. When a story arc takes years to complete, you don’t run the risk of repeating the same lame jokes over and over again.

    ‘nuf said.

    Except that, wouldn’t it be cool if Steve Dallas were to contract lung cancer and we watched his demise over years of Opus strips.

14. Dan
    February 2nd, 2005 at 10:10 am [Reply]

    I don’t dislike Opus (the strip), but neither does it wow me. It’s just a decent strip. If we don’t compare it with BC, it doesn’t look too shabby. BC set a standard that’s really impossible for Breathed’s other strips to live up to.

15. Mark Kawakami
    February 2nd, 2005 at 10:38 am [Reply]

    I think the problem here is that it’s hard to be a good cartoonist unless you do it every day.

16. don hosek
    February 2nd, 2005 at 10:55 am [Reply]

    Opus is awful. I’ve been quite happy to not read it each week. No Sunday-only strip has ever been successful for me. It’s that Mon-Sat drive that makes a strip worth reading. Sunday only, that’s like only eating desserts and never any entrees.

17. TJ
    February 2nd, 2005 at 11:12 am [Reply]

    I gave Opus the benefit of the doubt for about two months, but it just hasn’t come through. It’s just not funny! BTW, the Houston Chronicle originally gave it the half-page space that Breathed forced upon them, but has since reduced it. Really sux too, because in order to put this piece-o-crap in the funny pages on Sunday, they took away Monty – one of the few funny ones left.

18. WoodrowFan
    February 2nd, 2005 at 11:21 am [Reply]

    The next to last panel is funny but as a whole “Opus” is a very big disappointment.

19. Craig
    February 2nd, 2005 at 11:44 am [Reply]

    I agree, Opus has ceased bringing a lot of LOL moments, mostly chuckle or ‘hmmm’ moments. (and I stopped reading Monty when Robotman left) But on a philosophical note, if a comic brings constant LOL moments and then degrades to only chuckle moments or amused grin moments, does that mean it’s medioce, finished, washed up? It makes me think that people like Watterson and Larson quit because they had written constant LOL moments and were afraid they might only have chuckle or amused grin moments in the future and so they wanted to go out while they were ‘on top’. Perhaps Breathed has decided to continue regardless of how many LOL moments he has left. (or perhaps he just wants the money and/or fame, but then that’s a rather cynical thought)

    As a side note, those retirements earned a lot of ridicule from the likes of Mort Walker (Beetle Baily) and Charles Schulz. Not agreeing, just mentioning.

20. Toni
    February 2nd, 2005 at 12:09 pm [Reply]

    Bloom County was/is one of my all time favorites (were the 1980’s the heydey for great comics? Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbes . . .). I still read my Bloom County collection and laugh. I’ve not read Opus because I don’t want Bloom County Lite, I want Bloom County, and would rather just read the classics. That said, I didn’t realize those were chickens either until I noticed the chickens in the last panel, then I wondered what Steve Dallas was doing on a farm? It doesn’t fit him.

    Also, I agree with a previous poster that it’s the Mon-Sat strips that make a comic. The Sunday strips are just dessert. And sometimes, they aren’t even that. I like the running story lines in the dailies, the Sundays are usually just a one note joke.

21. Anonymous
    February 2nd, 2005 at 12:11 pm [Reply]

    Perhaps it’s time for a Deathtongue/Billy & The Boingers reunion…or has that been done already?

22. M. Bloom
    February 2nd, 2005 at 12:48 pm [Reply]

    It is time for Berke to move on to some other form of entertainment. Perhaps he should make a feature film starring Opus. Then he could use the strip to create at least a little stir and some long forgotten name recognition.

    ’sigh

23. deskmutton
    February 2nd, 2005 at 12:56 pm [Reply]

    You’re not getting too mature. Opus sucks.

24. Anne Nonymous
    February 2nd, 2005 at 1:02 pm [Reply]

    Berke clearly should have stayed retired. I can’t believe he needs money that badly, or maybe it’s an ego thing.

25. cartoonist
    February 2nd, 2005 at 1:06 pm [Reply]

    So Steve Dallas is aging and we can see his hairpiece.

    But look closely at the second panel in the middle row. It’s Donnesbury’s Duke with a hairpiece — right down to the squint line under the eyes.

    Duke is playing Steve Dallas. I defy anyone to claim otherwise.

26. Stacella
    February 2nd, 2005 at 3:42 pm [Reply]

    What pisses me off is that the Washington Post gives this crap nearly half a page on Sundays. The front comics page, nonetheless.

27. Brian
    February 2nd, 2005 at 4:56 pm [Reply]

    I think you are all being too harsh, the whole strip is an obvious set up to the “well, ya go to life with the dad you have” line in the last panel, a biting commentary that draws a parallel between the US policy in Iraq and the sensation of catching one in the sweet breads. Then again, maybe he has lost some of his edge.

28. Bill Peschel
    February 2nd, 2005 at 11:29 pm [Reply]

    I think Breathed had been disconnected from the popular culture for too long, so all his references are stale. I can read “Bloom County” and still laugh, but “Opus” is painful to watch.

    The Harrisburg Patriot-News carried it for a couple months before taking it off life support.

29. Jim Treacher
    February 3rd, 2005 at 5:04 am [Reply]

    Way ahead of ya. Any remaining goodwill I might have had toward Breathed evaporated when I read his various arrogant interviews when the strip launched. “Come on, Treach, the strip will get better. He’s just warming up!” No. He’s just reaching room temp.

30. Jon
    February 3rd, 2005 at 2:56 pm [Reply]

    Opus has indeed been pretty disappointing from the get-go. While packing boxes last weekend, I came across some old BC collections. All of the funny came from the non-Opus characters – Portnoy, Hodge Podge, Milo, Oliver, Binkley, the dads, Steve Dallas (original version), and of course, Bill the Cat. Opus is so maudlin, he flounders without all of the mean-spirited and/or weirdo foils.

31. RichC
    February 3rd, 2005 at 3:12 pm [Reply]

    Re: 30

    Exactly! Bloom County was best when you had the ensemble cast. But Berke fell into the usual comic strip death trap where the supporting cast disappears and the strip gets taken over by one or two (in Breathed’s case, Opus and Bill). Bloom County was lousy long before it finally ended, sadly, and Outland was even worse.

    A strip that’s all-Opus would be like a TV show that’s all-Kramer.

32. sninky-chan
    February 21st, 2005 at 4:47 am [Reply]

    So nobody here seems set to explain to me why/how/nngh Steve Dallas has a kid. Nor am I getting any help on the meaning of “Ya go to life with the dad you have”. Not your job, I know, I’m just broadcasting my general despair and, um, what RichC said.

33. myrna
    February 21st, 2005 at 3:26 pm [Reply]

    The comment about “the dad you have” is a reference to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s recent response to a U.S. soldier who asked him why the trucks the soldiers are driving around Iraq are not armored. Rumsfeld said armor would be nice, but “you go to war with the army you have, not the army you want.” His remark was widely slammed as insensitive, especially given that the war was one of choice, meaning that the army could have waited to procure the proper equipment before invading.

    I thought that particular strip was hilarious.

34. Brian J.
    February 27th, 2005 at 3:02 pm [Reply]

    Hey, here’s a question that grows out of snicky-chan’s. Namely, wasn’t Steve Dallas gay when we faded on Outland? He came out of the closet, then in the next-to-last strip was seen on a bus married to Mark from Doonsbury.

    I still like the strip, though I guess if you compare it to Bloom County’s prime it’s going to fade. I also wonder what would happen if Bill Watterson decided to pick up Calvin and Hobbes again, whether he’d fail to meet expectations.

35. ranwulf
    March 7th, 2005 at 3:18 pm [Reply]

    I miss the original Bloom County as well, and was really hoping for something more than what Breathed is dishing out in Opus. I guess comic strips are like movies – the sequals usually suck.

36. CowTao
    April 28th, 2005 at 4:43 pm [Reply]

    I know this has nothing to do with this comic…but did anyone notice that the april 24th strip was a rip-off of calvin and hobbes?? The philosophozing while jumping off a cliff has been done, hasn’t it?

37. Sherwood
    June 1st, 2005 at 3:21 pm [Reply]

    I do NOT get the point of the tighty-whities on Opus and Bill in most of these strips. Does Breathed think men’s underpants are intrinsically hilarious or something? What does that say about him?

38. jack
    June 6th, 2005 at 5:37 pm [Reply]

    you suck why cant you just leave a good thing alone. all you people are alike lucas,speilberg, and now you you create a legend then ya got ta fudge it up. may you be forever plagued with your dumb-ass desion sincerly, bloom county lover P.S outland sucked too

39. Buxtehude
    June 29th, 2005 at 9:33 pm [Reply]

    I didn’t enjoy Breathed’s earlier work and don’t like it now. It’s like everyone being stoned and laughing at the joke that you don’t get because you’re the only straight one. Thanks for the info about why the Philadelphia Inquirer takes up three quarters of a page with this drivel. And to do it, they shrink Prince Valiant!

40. ToastReader
    December 16th, 2005 at 1:09 pm [Reply]

    Always liked his stuff – from the very first time that I first stole one of his books from a friend’s house in the 7th grade. Bill the Cat will go down in history as the funniest satire of Garfield – running in parellel of course – to ever come to life. So, while I don’t live to see the next Sunday installment of Opus, my long-time respect and admiration for Breathed as an artist allows me to give him this ego-indulgement.

41. The Mighty wartoad
    January 22nd, 2006 at 12:26 am [Reply]

    I agree with what has been said. The early Bloom County was the funniest stuff I ever read. During the 80’s BC was like a breath of fresh air to the crapola going on around me.

    I agree that it ran out of gas toward the end and Outland sucked. I thought that Breathed’s prespective would be great at these present times.

    Unfortunately, I have been disapointed as well. Maybe my expectations were too high.

    I always was thought that Spanky the Pengiun in this Tom Tomorrow’s This Modern World was Opus’s cranky cousin.

    A good question would be once an artist has lost his edge can they get it back?

42. The Mighty Wartoad
    January 22nd, 2006 at 12:29 am [Reply]

    Whoops! That is suposed to be Sparky the Pengiun not spanky. My bad. Editing its’ a good thing!

43. The Mighty Wartoad
    January 22nd, 2006 at 12:31 am [Reply]

    Okay, I mispelled “supposed” too. It is late! I and I must be tired if I am givng this much attention to this. If I continue to attempt to use the English language I could easily be arrested for assault.

44. John
    May 10th, 2006 at 4:27 pm [Reply]

    This is a funny gag for those of us who remember Steve Dallas in his prime. Getting socked in the nads is comic, if not poetic, justice for the guy who likely doesn’t want to be saddled with his own kid in the first place. And yes, there’s the Rumsfeld reference to keep it topical.

45. bob
    October 10th, 2006 at 2:00 pm [Reply]

    geek

46. J Wilder
    November 16th, 2006 at 10:24 am [Reply]

    Brilliance has gone, but still better than the drab dribble that permiates the rest of the un-funny pages. I think he needs to bring back today’s version of Quiche Lorraine and Milo and Binkley. Those were the hardest characters to lose…they had the wit and humor. Opus is just a sight gag and Steve is a bad running joke.

    Where’s Milo’s Meadow? Why haven’t we seen any dandilion stomping? Where are the sharp barbs at the crap happening around us today that ISN’T revolving around Capitol Hill and the boobs therein?

    Berke seems like what typically happens to creative genius after it’s been squashed by too many egotistic middle and high school teachers teaching their conformity.

47. Danielle
    March 5th, 2008 at 1:00 am [Reply]

    I don’t think it’s so much about the emphasis about the ball-to-groin connection. Opus’ reaction to the lousy father and son moment got me good, and Dallas’ son sheds just a bit of truth just before the laugh comes in. I think it’s perfect! =P

48. Glaivester
    June 18th, 2008 at 12:29 am [Reply]

    I think that Bloom County was consistently great, EXCEPT when it went “meta.” I hated the “Thornhump” stuff and the “hey, guys, “we know we’re in a comic strip” stuff.

49. Joe Blevins
    October 26th, 2008 at 2:42 am [Reply]

    I can’t… can’t let this thread end with a comment deriding the meta/Thornhump episodes of Bloom County, which were — in point of fact — awesome beyond belief. Glaivester is mistaken here, and as proof I will cite hilarious “strike” plotline and specifically the Sunday strip in which Thornhump blatantly slanders the competition, depicting Charles Schulz as a samurai and Cathy Guisewhite as a Arabic man.

50. Joey
    October 30th, 2008 at 9:05 am [Reply]

    As someone who was too young to remember Bloom County very well and someone who was in their “I don’t read the funnies because I’m too cool” teenager stage when Outland was running, I REALLY enjoy Opus. I read it first on Sunday before anything. I love the artistic style, the colors, and it just makes me laugh. But beyond all of that, Opus really made me start listening to my inner child again.

    At age 28, sometimes I feel like I lose touch with my childhood because of bills, marriage, job, etc. Opus seems so innocent, idealistic, flawed, and pure, that I couldn’t help but feel like a kid again when I watch him spend a lazy zummer day in the dandelion field.

    I have since gone back and read as much Bloom County as I can to see where it all started, and its a great strip. I can see how some would see Opus as being less of a strip; less characters, some recylcled jokes, etc. What I cannot see is a reason to treat Opus as if its some sort of income vehicle for Breathed, especially when it has touched people like myself in such a big way.

    I am glad for Opus, he has brightened my Sundays for years now. I will be sad to see him go.

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