# Berke Breathed Appreciation Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 15, 2001, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125 "2001-03-15T19:02:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2001, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/21 "2001-03-15T23:56:17Z")
Sheesh Show Biz. What cocroach whizzed on your stale Dolly Madison cupcake? 😃 I started out not liking the strip, accusing it of being a clone of Doonesbury. I obviously hadn’t read the strip that much to make a comment like that. There are some 'toonists still out that copy his drawing style if not content, Michael Fry comes to mind. Did anyone see the animated Opus Christmas special besides me? ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/22 "2001-03-16T01:13:08Z")
I went to college in Iowa City, Berke’s early hometown…needless to say Iowa Citians are required by penal code to think he is cool…many of the references in his early cartoons are from Iowa City stores or landmarks. In the Iowa City library is a signed color print of Opus reflecting on how much he will miss Iowa City (done when Berke moved west)…he names all the things he loves…But then says “except for the water…it tastes like Spic n Span” …which is spot on \ I have a regular Opus doll and a reindeer Opus…and there is a “Thpppt” cartoon of Opus in my web site. ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Rubin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billy_rubin/32/3622_2.png) [@Billy\_Rubin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Rubin)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/23 "2001-03-16T02:22:50Z")
“…So he folded up his tongue and he moved to malibu” “… A Klingon has beamed aboard our ship! An UGLY klingon” “…Let’s beam Mr Spock into a wall” “Do I kiss like a gagging goldfish?” “I strongly suspect you’re percolating my hormones” If you could take a Polaroid of my Innner Child, it would probably look like Bill the Cat. At least, that’s what it feels like. Billy. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/24 "2001-03-16T02:44:38Z")
Geez, really Show\_Biz, thank you _so_ much for sharing… Berke Breathed attended the University of Texas over the same course of time that I did and his _The Academia Waltz_ strip was my companion in the _Daily Texan_. I loved it from the start, and it was a direct progenitor of _Bloom County_; Steve and Opus and all. He went national about the right time to catch the wave that was released when Trudeau’s _Doonesbury_ yielded humor to jaundice. I’ll admit _Outland_ didn’t really work for me. Anybody else remember the baby alligator(s) incident? ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/25 "2001-03-16T05:57:21Z")
And let’s not forget the Banana conputer. To this day I threaten non-complying appliance to turn them into toasters. Except for the toaster, which I threaten to turn into a popcorn machine 😃 ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/26 "2001-03-16T06:00:49Z")
Detop said : And let’s not forget the Banana conputer. Of course you should read computer above :o Note to myself Always check spelling before posting. Whack ! Thank you, Master.Always check spelling before posting. Whack !.. ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/27 "2001-03-16T06:01:54Z")
Lest we forget the dangers of eating dandilions… ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/28 "2001-03-16T06:11:50Z")
And who could forget the UFOs and aliens? “We have Elvis. Alert Ted Koppel”. Or the Meadow Party, which fielded candidates in '84 and '88? Or when Steve was abducted and turned into a progressive liberal? _sigh_ ::goes off and lies in the dandelion patch:: Robin ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/29 "2001-03-16T06:18:21Z")
_Steve:_ Somebody tell me what could be worse than being dumped by a dame for another schlep? _Opus:_ Being eaten by a walrus. _Milo:_ Jazz with vegetables. Hold the meat. “The Earth isn’t round either. Yep! It’s shaped like a burrito!” “Death to the great hated satanistic homeowner tyrant!!” “Long live the glorious cockroach rebellion against the great suburban bourgeois oppressor swine-pig!!” Oh, yeah. Bloom County. Genius. Named one of my dogs after Milo Bloom (my favorite character). ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/30 "2001-03-16T07:42:16Z")
“Off with his head.” “We can’t **do** that, Tippy!” “Snugglebunnies! Snugglebunnies! Snu–” “Opus, she’s an alien transvestite robot.” “I, for one, fully support penguin lust!” “That’s great, but today’s topic is ‘nun-beating’.” “Good Lord, man, I can’t support that.” “Devil bunnies! I snort the nose, Lucifer! Banana! Banana!” > [@](#): > > I know that he got a boost from “replacing” the far surperior Calvin & Hobbes strip, but after that I cannot fathom his continued popularity. Actually, Bloom County was around for years before Watterson started doing Calvin and Hobbes, and I think even Outland was done by the time Watterson packed it in. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/31 "2001-03-16T14:13:40Z")
I realize that a comic strip isn’t the best place to look for continuity, but I did have a problem with one huge plot hole involving the airborn wheelchair. Why blame Opus for not bringing a can opener? He was there by accident! ---
**Author:** ![andyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@andyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andyman)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/32 "2001-03-16T15:20:43Z")
::Opus steps out of the shower after a rousing rendition of “Pappa Don’t Preach”, towels off his hair leaving a spikey mess, sees Milo and exclaims “HI!”:: Milo to Opus: A come hither beauty, you ain’t. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/33 "2001-03-16T15:23:37Z")
A friend: “Whatcha got there, Spoons?” Me: “Latest Bloom County collection. Just picked it up.” Friend: “Bloom County? Why don’t you read Doonesbury? That’s a thinking man’s comic.” Me: “Bloom County is a thinking man’s Doonesbury.” Seriously, I miss Bloom County. Some of my favourite lines (paraphrased, I don’t have my books handy): Opus: “And ten thousand penguins would gently roll backwards on their butts… If ten thousand people do a stupid thing, it is still a stupid thing.” Opus, relaxing in bed on a Sunday morning: “I guess the world can get along without me until, say, noon…” Milo, beside Opus’ bed, with assorted others holding trash can lids, pots, pans, etc: “Ready…?” And lets not forget Opus ordering the products he’s seen on TV: “It mooshes! It squooshes! And don’t forget the turnip twaddler…” Oliver hacks into Pravda and rearranges the next day’s headline: “Gorbachov sings tractors! Turnips! Buttocks!” I could go on, but I’ll leave with this one, for a rainy day: “I’d never cry if I did find A cracker in my soup. Nor would I mind a porcupine Inside a chicken coop Yes, life is fine when things combine Like ham in beef chow mein But oh, this time I think I mind, They’ve put acid in my rain.” (Sorry if the quotes are not exact; I’m working totally from memory here and it’s been a while.) ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/34 "2001-03-16T19:00:00Z")
I’ve raised this issue before to bewildered silence but I think I’ve finally found the right crowd to pose this question to. Is it just me, or does anyone else see a suspicious, perhaps even infringing resemblance between W.A. Thornhump, the sniveling **pointy-haired** corporate-toady CEO of Bloom County Inc., and the Pointy-Haired Boss in _Dilbert_? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/35 "2001-03-16T20:41:53Z")
Perversely, two of my favorite strips are about Steve, whose real-life counterparts I loathe. He’s just finishing a date with Quiche “So, how about it?” _whap_ “I’m not that kind of girl!” “You most certainly are!”. Steve, after the aliens changed him into a kinder, gentler Steve. “Eat the peas.” They’re covered in butter” “Eat Lead”. Last weekend I used the phrase caterwauling cockroaches while on a date. Dateboy didn’t get it. Damn. He was kinda cute. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/36 "2001-03-16T20:48:28Z")
I have the Dilbert 20th Anniversary book at home. Scott Adams put plenty of stuff in there, I wouldn’t be surprised if he mentioned a resemblance. I’ll have to check. ---
**Author:** ![Skott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Skott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skott)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/37 "2001-03-16T21:47:06Z")
I do think that the longer Opus’ nose got, the worse the strip got ☹ Some more of my favorites: Early 80s strips where Opus goes campaigning at college campuses, and instead of finding rampant liberalism, finds conservatives running in with signs like “I love dough” and “Nukes? Sure!” Late 80 strip where Opus is out again on the campaign trail, speaking to the Association of Blind, Left-Handed Dentists With Kidney Stones (or whatever): “In short, gentlemen, I need your votes. Both of them.” “The beer was cheap and a baby piddled on my tie!” “Two dopes, a bird, a cripple, and a black… what’d I say?” “Next time we won’t hold back… yes, leaflets!” “No, not the rough stuff!!” Steve and Bill being held hostage in a cab: “Death to everything American! I demand a new constatution.” “Are you kidding, we’ll be here forever!” “S’okay, I got Big Macs, Coke…” “Vous lobes de soreilles sont comme tete de possion” (You’re earlobes resemble fish heads - I forget the exact French) “It’s a faster-than-light warp drive!” “Sears had a sale.” ---
**Author:** ![Bean\_Counter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/db5fbb/32.png) [@Bean\_Counter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bean_Counter)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/38 "2001-03-16T22:06:59Z")
When I got you in my back seat I tried to make my move But I had to roll down the windows to keep my face from turning blue! Way-O way-o! YOU STINK! but I love you… ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2001, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/39 "2001-03-16T22:10:00Z")
LUX alluded to my favorite, but didn’t set it out so . . . [TOTALLY PARAPHRASED] Milo Bloom is sitting on his desk at the _Bloom Beacon_ when the phone rings. “Bloom Beacon!” “Yes, this is Mrs. Billsby.” “Oh, hello, Mrs. Billsby, how are you?” “I’m fine, dear, just a little touch of arthritis. But you folks have printed that I died.” “Well, let’s check the obituaries . . . I don’t see anything. Why don’t you read it out to me?” “BILLSBY SLASHES FOUR, DIES IN COCAINE BRAWL” “Oh, that’s on the FRONT page.” And I liked the strip where Steve takes the school kids to the bar for a field trip: “Gnomes!” “AAAGH!” ---
**Author:** ![aviddiva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aviddiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aviddiva)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2001, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125/40 "2001-03-17T02:30:22Z")
Granted, Outland was a little too over the top after the winningly… well, domestic flavour of Bloom County (they were all a big family, after all), but I did get a kick out of the one outlining the differences between sophisticated art types and the rest of us slobs: Art type: nostril ring; liquid breakfast. Opus: nostrils ringed with breakfast liquid. Favorite Breathed moments: Truffles: “…I yearn to shout and and dance about…and stick pickles in my honker.” Ronald Ann: “–Wait a minute.” Milo: “Mama, keep dem atoms whole.” Any evening scene involving Binkley and his anxiety closet or Binkley and his father, especially the one that ends “Right. Power, Brother!”. Milo and his grandfather using “liberal calls” when hunting that dying breed, the Liberal (“No Nukes! No Nukes!” “Socialized Medicine”) (Skott: “Vos lobes d’oreilles sont comme tetes de poissons.”–pas _vos_ lobes d’oreilles… Les lobes d’oreilles de Madame Bloom.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/berke-breathed-appreciation-thread/58125.md?page=3)