Alex Dueben: Berkeley Breathed

I was a huge fan of Bloom County in the 80's. I could't wait for the sunday paper and would scramble to get to the funnies and would have to restrain myself and read the rest of the toons so I could savor Bloom County last. Thanks for this from all us old Boingers.

Bloom County was a giant part of my childhood.

I still have my Banana junior 6000!

he's 33% of the reason i became an artist/illustrator today.

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the other 66.9% was from smoking banana peels with Bill in the 80's.

Bloom County and Outland will forever have warm, whimsically-furnished places in my heart. Milo's Meadow is one of my favourite places to hang out.

What a great interview of a fantastic mind.

Now I have to read my copy of "Billy and the Boingers Bootleg"

I Have Every Bloom County & Outland book & I treasure them more than any other book I own.
Bill Watterson & Gary Larson are Awesome, but Berkeley Breathed will always be the best!

To this day, I still refer people to that book & Comic-book storyline. It's the Best!

Great interview from someone we haven't heard from nearly enough over the last decade.

I love Bloom County so much, but read it through parental copies of the collections. I will most certainly be buying this new edition. I didn't really get a chance to follow more than bits and pieces of Outland and Opus, so they didn't have quite the same impact.

I am a massive fan of Berkeley and Bloom County. As a kid, I got my first BC book when it came out in the early 80's and have bought them all since! Best of all, I was lucky enough to have worked on the set of "Mars Needs Moms" earlier this year and I have to say that Seth and Dan were ridiculously awesome and hilarious every day. And, not only that but Berkeley himself (along with wonderful wife) visited the set and parted with us his tale of how his own son Milo played his part in the inspiration for the Mars Needs Moms book. They were all very wonderful as was the whole experience. Berkeley is obviously more than a "cartoonist". He has always had something to say and has always said it in the coolest way possible. I can only hope that he keeps right on doing so.

I was introduced to Doonesbury - the old stuff - at about 13, and when Bloom County came out - I was really ready for it and couldn't wait to read it. I just got Penguin Dreams out the other day in fact - what a smart, perceptive cartoon artist.

I cried reading this interview. Thank you, Mr. Breathed. Thank you.

Breathed fucking rules.

The new edition is fantastic and, for better or for worse, really took me back to my teenage years of the Reagan era. I was surprised at how much common parlance for me originated with my readings of Bloom County all those years ago. Pickled. Tanked. Blotto. Yes.

-TTm

Oh man. Love this guy.

Read the comic in the paper when it first came out (yep...I'm a old!!), have every book, just bought the first of the "rereleased" series and I have band Death Tongue tattooed on my inner right arm...God bless BB.

I was too young to remember Bloom County in the papers but I stumbled on a few of the books at the library and it makes me wish I had been born earlier. Great stuff.

Classics of Western Literature is still the most thumbed through book in my entire collection. I expect this is probably a surprise to no one.

That was the first one I found. I loved it. I still have not picked up my own copy but I have checked it out from the library several times.

BB and Bill the Cat are Colorado icons.