The Four Color Media Monitor

If you were around in the 80s, you probably read the old Bloom County comic strip that ran between 1979-89. Its cartoonist, Berkeley Breathed, who later replaced it with the Sunday-only Outland (and later Opus), produced a special revival online:

Is Opus the Penguin back after a quarter-century?

In any case, the popular cartoon character from "Bloom County" has made an unexpected comeback in a comic strip posted Monday on Facebook by creator Berkeley Breathed. In the strip, Opus awakens after what he discovers was a 25-year nap.

Separately, a posted photo of Breathed shows him at his computer with the caption "A return after 25 years. Feels like going home."

Left unsaid: Whether the revival is a one-off, or, instead, "Bloom County" is back for an indefinite stay.

The whimsical strip, which viewed politics and culture through the lens of a small town in Middle America, began in 1980, appearing in newspapers daily. But in 1989, Breathed called a halt until now — at least, for one day.

Since we're on the subject, Breathed might be reviving it on a regular basis, and several days ago on Facebook, he brought up an interesting past incident where censorship limited the distribution of a cartoon he drew involving a "burqini":

[...] I can't wait to publish here... nicely out of reach of nervous newspaper editors, the PC humor police now rampant across the web... and ISIS. To wit...Check the following, below: I spent an hour a few years ago, discussing that sketch of a Burqini with the publisher of the Washington Post (while standing in the produce section of my Santa Barbara Trader Joes.) We--this is true-- negotiated the style of her hair. That strand sticking out. As it might offend muslims. Because the Muslim staffers in his office were offended. So we came to an agreement as to how much hair could be sticking out and how messy it looked.

I quit cartooning for good two months later. Yes, these two little events were organically connected. I'll never get that happy little hour of happy TJ's shopping back.

Fox News has more about that incident. I appreciate that he's taking advantage of the wider freedom the internet can afford him so he won't have to worry too much about today's PC brigade.

Labels: comic strips, islam and jihad, politics, technology