Bloom County Babylon:

Five Years of Basic Naughtiness

(Bloom County: Book 4)

by
Berke Breathed

Little, Brown and Company, September 1986,

224 pp.
ISBN: 0-316-10309-8

Genre: Comics
Subgenre: Comic Strip / Humor
Reviewed: 8/2/2004

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Comic Strip

Synopsis

Bloom County Babylon is the fourth collection of Bloom County comic strips. This collection of comic strips is not the entire five years of comics. This would appear to be a "Best of . . ." collection. Still, it is much larger than the normal Bloom County book. The Sunday comic strips appear in color and may not necessarily follow the dailies in their designated spots, which can be a little confusing if the Sunday was in reference to the previous week’s happenings. All of the dailies appear in black and white. At the front of the book is the 8-page story about "The Great LaRouche Toad-Frog Massacree" by Michael J. Binkley.

Bloom County became very popular in the early 1980's. The characters that Berke Breathed created are a lot of fun to read about. They are: Steve Dallas - a machismo man who doesn't know how to take "No" for an answer, Bobbi - Milo and Binkley's school teacher who tells Steve "No," Milo Bloom - a young boy who writes for the Bloom Beacon and is politically conscious, Binkley - Milo's neurotic friend who is something of a girl, Cutter John - Bobbi's wheelchair-bound friend who is a Star Trek fan and a Viet Nam war veteran, Opus - Binkley overanxious penguin who sort of pretends he is human, and Bill the Cat - a scraggly, rock 'n' roll loving mess of a cat. All of these characters, and a few more minor players, make up Bloom County..

Review

Bloom County Babylon is a really big book of comics. It literally took me months to read. But I enjoyed every minute of it. Since this book covers the first five years, you can really follow how the main characters changed and grew, both in what they looked like and their character development.

Berke Breathed does an amazing job, as usual, of making satirical comments about our society, but doing it in such a way that it is barely noticeable. Maybe that is why I love this comic strip so much. No. The reason I love this strip so much is the characters, like: Opus, Milo, Binkley, Oliver, Steve Dallas, and all the other minor players. To tell the truth, I never did like Bill the Cat much. But since he really isn't around that much, usually because he is dead or something, it is no big deal.

Either way, Bloom County Babylon should be on your "Must Read" list. Heck, I've read it 3 or 4 times, and I know I will probably read it again. That is what defines a good book. Repeatability!