# Is Berke Breathed signalling the end of Opus? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 3, 2008, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690 "2008-08-03T08:06:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/21 "2008-10-07T17:00:01Z")
> [@bup](#): > > A column I wrote about **Opus** five years ago: [http://comixtalk.com/the\_blue\_view\_by\_boxjam\_1](http://comixtalk.com/the_blue_view_by_boxjam_1) > > It’s past time for it to go away. **BUP**! I didn’t know you were a member here! I’ve been a fan of yours for a WHILE. I even sent you an email not too long ago, just to say you’ve been missed. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/22 "2008-10-07T17:05:36Z")
Oh, and I agree with everyone who thinks it’s past time for Opus to fade away and leave us with pleasant memories of Bloom County. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/23 "2008-10-07T18:35:40Z")
I thought the strip had ended years ago!:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/24 "2008-11-02T14:35:39Z")
Rather than start a new thread, thought I’d just bring this one up. The final panel of _Opus_ wasn’t in the paper; you had to go online: [Goodnight Opus](http://www.hsus.org/forms/the_opus_contest.html). ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/25 "2008-11-02T15:20:47Z")
That made me sad. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/26 "2008-11-02T18:44:18Z")
When you view the final panel on the website it says you can get a final message from Berke at his website. I guess he forgot to up the capacity since his website has been crashed all day. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/27 "2008-11-02T19:00:14Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > In the past month or so, it had gotten fairly good again, sadly. I agree. Even when not real good ,I love the artwork. I identify with the characters. Don’t kill off the penguin. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2008, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/28 "2008-11-02T19:04:33Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > When you view the final panel on the website it says you can get a final message from Berke at his website. I guess he forgot to up the capacity since his website has been crashed all day. Here’s a text version (the misspelling of “Massachusetts” is Breathed’s): > [@Berke Breathed](#): > > **THE EXTRAORDINARILY SHREWD WINNERS OF THE $10,000 OPUS PARADISE CONTEST** > > We receieved about 6000 entries from around the world. They were, to say the least, diverse in their investigative imagination. I’m happy to confirm that Opus will not replace the sequined eagle on the jumpsuit worn by Elvis Presley as he sits on the potty for eternity. A good but utterly depressing guess by Etta Martin of Massachusettes. > My other favorite guesses involved Opus ending up with Scout and Boo, forever living out the adventures of “To Kill A Mockingbird.” A reasonable paradise except for the inescapable fact that I simply could not inflict the humidity of a 1935 non air-conditioned Alabama summer upon a penguin. Nor would I inflict a penguin upon Harper Lee, a gracious friend fo this comic strip for 15 years. > Fifty-five of you got it right. We put those names in a Carmen Miranda fruit hat and drew ten runners-up and one winner of a $10,000 grant to their favorite animal shelter. > … > Opus is napping. He sleeps in peace, dreaming of a world just ahead brimming with kindness and grace and ubiquitous bow ties. > Please don’t mourn him. He lives in all my childrens’ stories, if you look. I hope to meet you again there. > Thank you, truly, for coming along with us on Opus’ twenty eight year journey. > > –Berkeley Breathed Note that Breathed wrote “-30-” next to his signature on the final panel- in newspaper talk, that means “The End.” ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/29 "2008-11-03T05:42:22Z")
I notice that the cartoon linked in my OP has a small picture of the setting for the final panel. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/30 "2008-11-03T06:24:56Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > hear, hear! I was no fan of Bloom County (Doonesbury is infinitely better social/political commentary), and the world will be better off without the tedium that is _Opus_. Funny thing, actually. I’m a gigantic fan of _Doonesbury_ (my political disagreements with Trudeau notwithstanding), and I like _Bloom County_, but I seem to recall from [doonesbury.com](http://doonesbury.com)’s questions page that Trudeau absolutely detests Breathed and thinks he’s an arrogant jerk. Apparently, among other things, there was a to-do with plagiarizing _Peanuts_. I’ll see if I can find a link. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/31 "2008-11-03T06:34:41Z")
And here it is: [QUOTE=[http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/faqs/faq\_ot.html](http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/faqs/faq_ot.html)] [Q] I know Bloom County bugged you and I cannot figure out why. I mean, why didn’t the old saw of "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery mean anything to you? –Peter Zale, University Heights, Ohio [A] A critic for the Comics Journal once wrote that to call Bloom County funny is like complimenting a shoplifter on being a snappy dresser. Breathed borrowed from a variety of his colleagues – even as he scorned their work. He once wrote a series of strips about two characters looking at clouds that was so clearly lifted from a legendary Peanuts strip that the Washington Post called him on it. His reply: It was an “homage” – never mind that the Peanuts strip had appeared 20 years earlier and was not referenced. The line between emulation and theft is a fairly subjective one, but Breathed developed a poor reputation among his peers because of the specificity of his lifts – and his arrogance when confronted with them. [/QUOTE] ETA, along the same lines and from the same place: > [@](#): > > [Q] Any reactions to the spate of “Mallard Fillmore” strips bashing "Doonesbury’? > –Eric P. Bloomington, IN > [A] Satirizing colleagues enjoys a long tradition in the comics industry. Many other strips – from “Shoe” to “Bloom County” – have commented on “Doonesbury” through the years, but GBT has chosen to view all such mentions as the glowing, respectful tributes they so obviously aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/32 "2008-11-03T16:07:25Z")
I thought it was a great ending. Made me cry like a baby, which amused my husband to no end. :rolleyes: 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/33 "2008-11-03T16:15:43Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > I notice that the cartoon linked in my OP has a small picture of the setting for the final panel. It appears in all of the final strips, as a bit of foreshadowing, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/34 "2008-11-03T16:19:17Z")
> [@TroubleAgain](#): > > I thought it was a great ending. Made me cry like a baby, which amused my husband to no end. :rolleyes: 🙂 I was just about to ask if I was the only one who got choked up when I saw the final panel. I think wife found my reaction just plain weird, rather than amusing! ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/35 "2008-11-03T22:46:50Z")
I wasn’t really choked up by it, possibly because I have no experience with **Goodnight Moon** beyond Christopher Walken reading it to a group of terrified kids on The Simpsons. I was touched though and pleased. My guess had been that he would spend eternity in his dandelion patch. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/36 "2008-11-03T23:25:48Z")
I am sad to see Opus go and I hope Breathed starts up another strip, he is still only 51. I would love to see a Bloom County TV show or movie but I think the odds of that are very slim. I had never heard of Goodnight Moon. Maybe I read it as a kid and don’t remember it. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/37 "2008-11-05T16:30:26Z")
I was annoyed by the Humane Society link. I’m sure they do good work, but I hate Mutts for littering my comics page with unfunny issue-advocacy, and now Breathed linked seeing the end of his cartoon to getting preached to as well. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/38 "2008-11-05T16:33:23Z")
> [@photopat](#): > > **Goodnight Moon** beyond Christopher Walken reading it to a group of terrified kids on The Simpsons. That sounds utterly hilarious. Gotsta find a clip. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690/39 "2008-11-05T16:36:31Z")
> [@straight\_man](#): > > And here it is: > > ETA, along the same lines and from the same place: Really kind of funny, then, that Breathe’d signoff strip for Opus was, arguably, yet another “homage”/“appropriation”/“cribbing” from someone elses work! -FrL- [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-berke-breathed-signalling-the-end-of-opus/458690.md?page=1)