I have found a good successor to Bloom County....

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

and its Liberty Meadows!

Now I am not saying it is exactly gonna replace ol beloved Bill, Binkley, Opus, and Steve Dallas, but I swear to god it comes close.

Drawn and written by the unbelivably talented Frank Cho (Aka Monkeyboy - because he is represented as a small loud chimp in his comic) the story centers around a Animal Sanctuary/Hospital called Liberty Meadows run by two caregivers, the slightly neurotic Frank, a animal doctor and the beautiful Brandy, local hottie and Animal Psychiatrist (and Franks secret love). Among their patients include:
Dean, ex college mascot pig in for several addictions (Booze, smokes, trying to constantly score with women)

Ralph former circus bear with a wicked sense of humor who is pals with -

Leslie, slightly skewed bullfrog like thing who is a serious Hypochondriac (among my personal faves of various sicknesses for him: Rigor Mortis, Yeast infection, The Plague, and the same disease Gene Simmons has -apparently forgetting he is a bullfrog and has a long tounge)

Truman, a duckling who Brandy lavishes attention on and calls everyone sir or maam

etc.etc.

What stand this apart from any other comic is Cho sometimes addresses his audience directly on hilarious topics such as why Wiener Dogs are truly the strangest things on earth and other topics. He also takes time to do unreal one panel shots of art just for a change of pace.

Also he pokes funs at comics themselves, Like Prince Valiant (who he has get into a fight with Hagar the Horrible and names “Miss Congenality 1932”) Cathy (Frank gets set up with her as a blind date and tries to take his own life as she starts to talk about her thighs), and Mark Trail (Named Mark Derail - he shows up and gets kidnapped by a deranged cow Liberty meadows is treating for “mad cow disease” ala Misery)

Personally I can only get them in comic book form right now but I urge fans of Berke Breathed to find a comic of Liberty Meadows and read on. I also urge those same fans that like him as much as I do to write your own newspaper and get him in your local paper. Truly, I think it is one of the most funniest comics on earth.

2

I agree that is the closest to Bloom County I’ve seen. Here’s where they live online: http://www.unitedmedia.com/creators/liberty/index.html

3

Actually, I kinda think he’s a mite overrated. Sure, he can draw well (it’s strange for a visual medium like the comics to have so many bad artists), but his humor seems to be superficial. It’s just a typical sight-gag, punchline driven comic.

There’s nothing ever underlying the punch-line or sight-gag which at times seem to make them more repetitive than various other strips on which I know runs on a joke cycle. (Hmmn. “The Born Loser” is overdue for a joke involving a pun at school.) And I tend to find the one shots where he’s “Testing his Pens” to be a bit pretentious.

Except for Brandy, and Frank, there aren’t really any interesting characters, just caricature to hang each joke on. The closest any of the animals is Truman the duck, because I can identify with his lack of cynicism. That’s probably because I’m so damn cynical. The only times I ever see Dean the pig, is if his being prone to vice or women are the subject. Ralph is always the one with the sarcastic remark, or idiotic plan.

I miss the situations each found themselves in in “Bloom County”. Opus being out run by his town after falling for a televangelist (“Oral” Bill the Cat), or Opus’ long search for his mom leading him to Mary Kay’s animal test lab. Or the gang’s being in a rock band, dealing with aliens, or running for president.

Of course Frank is young yet, his strip may get better with age.

Bien Lao

4

I really wish that I liked Liberty Meadows. I apparently live on the spot where the strip is supposedly set, since both N.A.S.A. Greenbelt (three miles east of me) and Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (three miles west of me) are frequently mentioned. Unfortunately, I just don’t care for it. Cho has already run out of ideas.

The endless mooning of Frank for Brandy has begun to get tiresome, and that’s the best part of the strip. I never understood what was so funny about animals acting like drunken frat boys. I suspect that if Frank Cho continues the strip for fifty years (I hope he has better sense) it would be clear that all the characters are stuck in endlessly repeating mid-'90’s situations, just like Peanuts was stuck in the early '50’s, Cathy in the mid-'80’s, and Blondie in the late '20’s.

5

You’re kidding, Heath Doolin. Please tell me you’re kidding.

Please tell me you’re kidding. Or that you’re only twelve years old or something.

Cho’s art is pretty, I’ll give him that, but Liberty Meadows is the most poorly-written, unfunny strip I have seen in many, many years. It has never so much as made me crack a smile.

Frank’s infatuation with Brandy is meant to be seen as sweet. Instead it comes off as creepy.

The gags in the daily strips are telegraphed so ham-handedly in the setup panels, they remind me of the experiment scientists did last year where they were able to move part of a light wave so fast that it exited the test device before another part of the wave had even entered it.

The frequent Sunday gag where Cho depicts himself as a chimp, is just stupid. Memo to Frank Cho: breaking the fourth wall is only funny after you’ve proved you can be funny with more conventional techniques. Otherwise it’s just annoying.

Liberty Meadows isn’t fit to kiss Bloom County’s ass. The very idea that someone could see the former as a “successor” to the latter makes me want to cough blood.

I predict the removal of this thread to IMHO or The Pit within two hours.

6

Five, I resemble that remark. Really, I do. I agree with everything you said. The humor in Libery Meadows is spotty, when it exists at all. On the plus side, Brandy seems to be a beautiful large-breasted woman. If the strip were just about her, I’d probably read it. However, the funky animals are just a distraction.

7

Nothing… Nothing will ever compare to the intelligent, hilarious, best comic strip ever, Bloom County.
Nothing I tell you.

[sub]Nothing…[/sub]

8

Sorry I screwed up the bolding in my last post. I invite the mods to repair: I meant to close the bolding after Heath Doolin’s name.

Scarred, I’m pleased to see the consensus appears to be on my side.

Simetra, sit down, take a deep breath. It’s all right.

9

You guys should check out Get Fuzzy.

A good strip, usually pretty funny.

10

I’m actually also pretty fond of Penny Arcade.
Not that it has anything to do with awesomeness that is Bloom County, but still, I think it’s hilarious.

11

I agree with all the posts subsequent to the OP. (Except for the “Get Fuzzy” one. THAT one’s not funny, either, and the art, while interesting, is ugly in the extreme. The human protagonist’s naked legs are truly ghastly.)

I say Cho should dump all the god damn funny animals, not bother with punchlines, and just portray Brandy in a variety of different revealing outfits.

12

Get Fuzzy rules. You have to live with it for a while.

Cho’s art is a little scary. Looks like Rex Morgan. That could be a plus, though, if his writing gets better. The name of the strip sounds as if it were meant as an homage to Breathed. Cho just ain’t quite weird enough…yet(?)

By the way, Pogo was even better than Bloom County.

13

Pay no attention to Ukulele Ike on the Get Fuzzy matter. It’s a well known fact that he thinks the music is too loud, and I hear tell he skipped his metamucil for the last week and a half.

Get Fuzzy makes me giggle every day!

14

Get Fuzzy is my favorite comic strip now, if for no other reason than my cream-colored Shar Pei (Spanky) bearing a striking resemblance to Satchel, both physically and in demeanor. Its a great strip, though one or two more characters would help tremendously, IMHO.

I also like Boondocks - well-drawn, funny stuff.

Bloom County, however, will always be my all-time fave, with Calvin and Hobbes a close second.

15

I like Liberty Meadows OK, but I luv Get Fuzzy. That was my previous cat. Really. One thing though, she would never have tolerate a dog in the house.

16

Liberty Meadows??? You’re joking, right? About the only thing interesting about it is the bizarre contrast in drawing styles between the animals and the humans.

Next someone’ll be raving about how great Mutts and Nest Heads are.

Top strips are still Dilbert and Doonesbury. Good ones include Piranha Club (aka Frank and Ernest), Foxtrot, and Rose is Rose.

Of course, Bloom County wasn’t all that good. In the beginning – sure. A potential classic. But Brethed lost his edge very quickly.

17

I love Mutts, great comic strip, raving wonderful!!! :stuck_out_tongue:

actually, as for the OP, impossible. Top or replace Bloom County? You need to go back and re-read all the books son. There is no replacing Breathed.

Outland was a fairly bad attempt at reviving Bloom County in a way, but still, it couldn’t come close.

18

I agree wholeheartedly with alonicist about Pogo, without question the finest “funny animal” comic strip ever.

While I also liked Bloom County, anyone who would equate it with Pogo I proactively declare to be “whippersnappers.” And sit up straight.

And RealityChuck, I’d call you a whippersnapper if I didn’t know you’re much older than me. Not like Mutts?! That’s like saying you don’t like Krazy Kat!

A lot like saying you don’t like Krazy Kat.

But let’s return to the OP, shall we? Liberty Meadows is NOT a “worthy successor” to Bloom County. If Bloom County were old and infirm, Liberty Meadows wouldn’t be fit to hold its colostomy bag.

19

I too miss Bloom County. I also miss Calvin and Hobbs.

I love to read both Piranha Club (formerly titled Erine, not Frank and Ernest, RealityChuck)and Foxtrot.

Doonesbury, while always well done, is mostly politically motivated, and not as funny as it used to be. Sorry.

I am not familiar with Liberty Meadows, but so far the reviews don’t look good.

20

Pish Posh…

I did not say it was a replacement…only that it comes close.

I find his humor hilarious, the breaking the fourth wall a welcoming change in daily comics, his art great and so and so forth.

So far, someone has told me he does not do stories (Wrong…weinerdog race, Dean quits smoking, Liberty Meadows goes up in flames, Killer Pikachu (?))

and yes I agree he needs to resolve this crazy issue with Brandy (but if you look at his old college comic University2- you will find that he not only resolved a similar story, he twisted the ending)

I miss Bloom County as much as the rest of you and keep on the lookout for something to sustain me, thereby I say LM may have the props. I think Cho has a winnah and it will only get better.

So blow monkies! (readies poo in hand)

Oh yea 5…sum it up buttsteak. 3 posts to tell how its tearing out yer heart that it exists is a wee bit obsessive.

and I am 26