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This is the very first collection of
Bloom County comic strips. Steve Dallas, the sleazy character in Bloom
County, writes the Introduction. The Sunday comic strips are in black
and white, just like the dailies. Since this is the first book, the
drawings a few of the characters at the beginning don't quite look
like what they evolved into; like Binkley, Opus and Bill the Cat. A lot
of the stories carry on from day to day, like a regular book.
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.
I read Bloom County faithfully through
the Eighties. I love all of the characters because they mesh together so
well. In my mind, there were only three great comic strips of the
Eighties: Calvin and Hobbes, the Far Side, and Bloom County. All three
of these really made me laugh. I really loved opening the newspaper
every day and reading these three. Bloom County was always the more
political of the three, but not political enough to drive me away from
the comic. In fact, it takes politics and makes fun of the government
and support of the environment. Some of the characters that appear in
this book disappear from the strip later, like Bobbi and Cutter John,
but they helped pioneer the humor that made this comic strip a classic.
So, if you want to step back in time a little, and be entertained, pick
of Loose Tails, the first Bloom County book. |
