Opus the Penguin's final paradise

[Maple Leafs]

I'm a little embarassed to say I completely missed this two weeks ago when it was news, but Berkley Breathed has ended the Opus comic strip and offically said goodbye to the character he introduced 28 years ago.

In an interview, Breathed said he wanted to lay the character to rest, so to speak, because he felt the strip getting too angry and he didn't want it remember that way. The final story arc revolved around Opus being warned that the end was coming, and deciding to find his "final paradise". That ended up being here (http://www.humanesociety.org/opus).

Bloom County was one of my favorite things as a kid. I never really got into Outland, and Opus was hit or miss for me, but I'm still kind of sad to see it all end once and for all. Was anyone else a fan? Thoughts on the finale?

[Radii]

I was a fan of bloom county and opus when i was a kid,but I never read Outland or anything since. Breathed's site has a collection of some of his favorites, I am partial to:

http://www.berkeleybreathed.com/Images/outland_full.jpg

[Buccaneer]

I definitely missed Bloom County. Opus ran for about a month here at the beginning but then was dropped. I don't think anyone missed it, nor did anyone around here knew that it was still going on. Goodbye Opus.

[twothree]

I liked Bloom County. And, I read Outland when it first started, but it just never caught on with me and I stopped reading it sometime back in '93. I never read any of the Opus comic strips.

[QuikSand]

Bloom County was one of my favorite things as a kid. I never really got into Outland, and Opus was hit or miss for me, but I'm still kind of sad to see it all end once and for all.

Same here. I never understood the point of the progression, to be honest. *shurg*

Nice landing, though.

[Bonegavel]

Bloom County made me think BB was the most brilliant human being on earth for many years. I was only 10 when it first came out and therefore was unable to enjoy it fully until the early 90's when I snatched up all the compilation books.

The 80s were such a great time to be a newspaper comics reader: Bloom County and Calvin and Hobbes! sniffle sniffle

[Edward64]

Like the others, really enjoyed Bloom County but didn't pick it back up with the sequels. I could relate to it so much better than Doonesbury.

Funny this came up. I haven't watched ER in years but I was watching it last night because of the return of Dr. Green. I came to the realization that some TV shows really stay on longer than they should. To me ER was a great show early on, but the prolonged decline really has been sad.

[Butter]

Bloom County was the quintessential 80's comic strip. I remember buying the compilation book that had a little crappy vinyl record in it that was a recording of one of the "Billy and the Boingers" songs. Good times.

[Maple Leafs]

Bloom County made me think BB was the most brilliant human being on earth for many years.
Same here. When I was in my early teens and other kids were getting into rock music, my holy trinity was pretty much Letterman, Breathed and Carlin.

Kind of turning into a sad year. Guess I'm just old now.

[Kodos]

Bloom County is probably my third favorite strip of all time, right behind Calvin & Hobbes and The Far Side. It was sad that all of them burned out so quickly. Like others, I never followed Opus/Outland after Bloom County ended.

Pear pimples for hairy fishnuts!

[Qwikshot]

Same here. I never understood the point of the progression, to be honest. *shurg*

Nice landing, though.

I can see from an artist perspective how easy it is to burn out. I was glad when BB decided to try again with Outland and then Opus, but I too, was not sucked into it like the Bloom County years. I think a lot of it was half-hearted at best, the whole I'm going a different direction but I'll pull some characters out and keep some in, left it in disarray.

But I understand what Berke was trying to do, it's easy to get in a rut, every 4 years a few strips about the Meadow Party, every few weeks Banana Jr and Oliver hacking into something, every few weeks Miqletoast and Opus getting into it on who was the better species, or the myriad of Opus centric stories (Mom, working in the Newspaper Biz, getting harrassed by the television, etc).

I missed Milo and Binkley and Hodgepodge and Portnoy and the guy with the wheelchair whose name escaped me...I really missed Bloom.

I think its sad just the same, I wish BB the best, but when you create an iconic character, it's hard to break away from it. It's almost like you have to leave the genre entirely.

[Kodos]

Not to threadjack, but I know that Bill Watterson (C&H) quit in large part due to feeling artistically restrained by the newpaper comic strip formats. I never understood why he didn't go off by himself, create the new strips however he wanted them to be, and then go to the publisher and say "Here they are -- publish them exactly like this, or not at all."

[Tasan]

I'm a little embarassed to say I completely missed this two weeks ago when it was news, but Berkley Breathed has ended the Opus comic strip and offically said goodbye to the character he introduced 28 years ago.

In an interview, Breathed said he wanted to lay the character to rest, so to speak, because he felt the strip getting too angry and he didn't want it remember that way. The final story arc revolved around Opus being warned that the end was coming, and deciding to find his "final paradise". That ended up being here (http://www.humanesociety.org/opus).

Bloom County was one of my favorite things as a kid. I never really got into Outland, and Opus was hit or miss for me, but I'm still kind of sad to see it all end once and for all. Was anyone else a fan? Thoughts on the finale?

I loved Bloom County, but then again I was an odd teenager. I never got into Outland, but when my paper picked up Opus, I eagerly got back into it. Even though it leaned liberal, it did so in a funny way and was usually grounded. I loved the ending for Opus, the poor little guy never got a night's sleep because of his closet.

[chesapeake]

Bloom County is probably my third favorite strip of all time, right behind Calvin & Hobbes and The Far Side. It was sad that all of them burned out so quickly. Like others, I never followed Opus/Outland after Bloom County ended.

+1, in the same order. But Breathed's burnout was epic and permanent, unfortunately. I didn't follow Opus and Outland because I didn't find them to be funny very often.

[Maple Leafs]

Not to threadjack, but I know that Bill Watterson (C&H) quit in large part due to feeling artistically restrained by the newpaper comic strip formats. I never understood why he didn't go off by himself, create the new strips however he wanted them to be, and then go to the publisher and say "Here they are -- publish them exactly like this, or not at all."
He did. I think Watterson was the first comic strip artist to be given control of the format of his comics (editors couldn't re-arrange them, they had to publish them "as is"). Breathed later got the same deal with Opus.

[Kodos]

I meant after he quit. Why not just create a book in the format he wanted, and then say "Here, publish this as is".

[flere-imsaho]

I meant after he quit. Why not just create a book in the format he wanted, and then say "Here, publish this as is".

IIRC, by the time he had gotten to that point, he felt he had said all he had to say and it was time to end.

[Wolfpack]

Here's an interesting question/thought: would BB or Watterson have skipped the print media altogether had they had their rise to popularity in the web-driven age we live in? The web would have allowed them to create and publish at their pace and interest and preserve the artistic integrity they craved. On the other hand, it might've been harder to get noticed now as opposed to then since, much like TV, there were only a few outlets available to get information from.

[Fidatelo]

Here's an interesting question/thought: would BB or Watterson have skipped the print media altogether had they had their rise to popularity in the web-driven age we live in? The web would have allowed them to create and publish at their pace and interest and preserve the artistic integrity they craved. On the other hand, it might've been harder to get noticed now as opposed to then since, much like TV, there were only a few outlets available to get information from.

I don't know much about Breathed, but as much as Watterson has always railed about the constraints applied by publishers, I honestly just think he got tired of putting out jokes. I think if he really craved putting out a comic strip but simply in a different format than newspapers allowed, he would have jumped all over the internet by now. My guess is he loves just painting or doing whatever all the time, and isn't really that interested in making us laugh anymore. Lots of people lose interest in their profession over time.

[ColtCrazy]

Just repeating the feelings of the OP, but I grew up on Bloom County. I've got to believe it's one of the many things that influenced my sarcastic sense of humor today. I still have one of the books around here, need to get the others. Those strips were fantastic, along with others that people mentioned like Calvin & Hobbes. I also like Garfield, not sure why, maybe it's a Hoosier pride thing.

[MJ4H]

Bloom County was the best thing ever. I love Opus's final resting place. The other comic strips were nothing compared to Bloom County.

[Maple Leafs]

So does anyone get the impression that Breathed actually killed Opus off? Several people seem to see it that way.

Does it actually matter?

[Butter]

No, I didn't get that impression. It would matter to a lot of people if he had actually killed him off. But I don't know how you could infer that from what he drew.

[Maple Leafs]

No, I didn't get that impression. It would matter to a lot of people if he had actually killed him off. But I don't know how you could infer that from what he drew.
If you read through the final few strips (http://dir.salon.com/topics/opus_by_berkeley_breathed/) it's hinted at. At least that's how a lot of people seem to be reading it.

For one, the storyline seems to imply that Opus gives up his "paradise" so that the dog with no memories can have it, then takes the dog's spot at the animal shelter (and we know what happens there). The prominent placement "To Kill a Mockingbird" seems like a clue, both in terms of the literal title as well as the book's theme of pretending that dead things are only sleeping. And the fact the Opus can be seen in Steve's sunglassed, and seems to be looking down on him, seems like a pretty obvious hint.

Still seems a little heavy on the analysis for my tastes, though.

[Butter]

I read the last several, and I agree. I don't think he was killed.

[path12]

I teared up when I saw that final panel. Seriously.