Growing up the weekend newspaper held the most glorious of all gifts for me and that was the weekend comics. As I grew up I remember the fondness for Snoopy and his Red Baron slowly morphing into an enjoyment for the more grown-up comic that were a part of that tradition. Whether it was Bloom County, Farside or Calvin & Hobbes I always looked forward to each panel as it appeared in newsprint.
Then in 1998 Bloom County ended and as shattering as that might have been Berkeley Breathed did allow us to carry on with just Opus the penguin in Outland. Now comes the news though that even Opus has retired to bed forever with a good book. In an interview at Salon.com Berkeley explains the reason for Opus going away for good
Breathed says it’s the anger that led him to close the book on “Opus,” that the increasingly nasty political climate has made it too difficult to keep his strip from drifting into darkness.
Yes folks that time has come for us to say good bye to Opus *sigh* and we only have partisan politics to blame for it.
[graphic courtesy of Salon/Berkeley Breathed – hat tip to Mathew Ingram]
