# Opus is back!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 9, 2003, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483 "2003-09-09T09:50:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/21 "2003-09-09T18:45:05Z")
Ack… Ack… 🙂 guess who my fave was? ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/22 "2003-09-09T19:04:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Algernon \* > \*\*I notice in the link that it’s a strip from 11-21. Do they update this daily like they do Calvin and Hobbes? That way I can get my daily fix without paying for the archives. (I have all of Bloom County in book form anyway). \*\* I don’t know. When they started running it again, you could **only** get it on My Comics, and I wasn’t subscribed so I never looked. ---
**Author:** ![verbenabeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@verbenabeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/verbenabeast)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/23 "2003-09-09T19:21:45Z")
I don’t care if it _DOES_ suck! It’s Opus fer cryin’ out loud! Bloom County was the greatest strip ever _and Berke Breathed is the greatest stripper… sorry_ so, Outland wasn’t as good… it was still head an shoulders better than anything in the paper today… Long Live OPUS! ---
**Author:** ![Peg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Peg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peg)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/24 "2003-09-09T20:43:16Z")
Oop ack! ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/25 "2003-09-09T21:43:31Z")
I just want them to bring back Mike “Mad Dog” Binkley, his anxiety closet, and Milo Bloom himself. Come to think of it, I also hope they can get Oliver Wendell Jones back. Last I heard there were still busing him into “The Family Circus.” ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/26 "2003-09-10T16:49:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Algernon \* > Well **Rufus** aka **RTFirefly** , you make a hellofa argument. > > Let’s hope that Breathed has had a breath of fresh air and regained his fastball. Thanks, **Algernon**. I hope so too, since he’s coming back whether I like it or not. I’m just not optimistic. > [@](#): > > I think **RickJay** has a good point too about Opus being best as part of the ensemble cast of _Bloom County_. I’d have to disagree there. The two best cast members were Milo and the Major, especially when they were playing off of each other. Remember the Major and the cockroaches? Remember Milo and the Major at the White House dinner? Remember them hunting for liberals? (“Welfare! Solar power! No nukes!”) We didn’t see much of the Major, if anything, after about late 1982. Without the Major, the strip lost something important, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/27 "2003-09-10T17:21:30Z")
Yay! Oliver Wendell Holmes was my favourite. Or maybe Steve Dallas. Depended on whether I was feeling morally ambiguous or just plain evil. I look forward to seeing _anything_ that Mr. Breathed offers. _Bloom County_ managed the trick of being both relevant and universal. Oh, and pants-wettingly funny, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/28 "2003-09-10T17:25:55Z")
**RTFirefly** , you misunderstood my sentence, but only because I wrote it so poorly. What I meant was Opus was best as part of an ensemble cast, rather than being the primary character in Outland. Opus was not my favorite character in Bloom County (sorry **Opus1** ). I actually have a hard time picking a favorite because again, it was the interactions between the characters that was brilliant. My personal favorite is the snake incident. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/29 "2003-09-10T17:43:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > **Oliver Wendell Holmes** _Jones_. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/30 "2003-09-10T17:44:54Z")
[…Oop…Ack…](http://www.berkebreathed.com/) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/31 "2003-09-10T19:36:28Z")
**Algernon** - I did indeed. My apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Tygr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@Tygr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tygr)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/32 "2003-09-10T21:10:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Peg \* > \*\*Oop ack! \*\* _Thpbppttt!_ ---
**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:** [September 10, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/33 "2003-09-10T21:53:01Z")
From the Opus page at the link **NCB** so kindly provided: > [@](#): > > We can’t, at this time, go into detail as to what he’s been doing during his mysterious missing decade, as Opus is deeply embarrassed about most all of the rumors, especially the one involving his biting off Michael Jackson’s nose during a pajama party at Jackson’s estate in 1999. It will all become clear soon. I do believe Berke is **back**! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/34 "2003-09-11T03:10:38Z")
I never thought of _Bloom County_ as an ensemble–I always saw Opus and the young boys as the stars, and everyone else as supporting or background characters. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/35 "2003-09-11T05:50:59Z")
Best single Bloom County line _ever_: **"A carton of Camels by noon or permanent penguin pâté!!"** (Steve Dallas, going cold turkey [or should that be cold penguin?]) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/36 "2003-09-11T06:04:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dr. Rieux \* > \*\*I never thought of _Bloom County_ as an ensemble–I always saw Opus and the young boys as the stars, and everyone else as supporting or background characters. \*\* I believe that would still make it a ensemble. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/37 "2003-09-11T09:50:58Z")
Only if you think of an ensemble as something in which every player works in concert with every other player. The difference between a star vehicle and an ensemble is that one has stars and the other does not; therefore if Opus and the boys are the stars, with the rest being supporting characters, then it’s not a true ensemble. ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/38 "2003-09-11T10:48:34Z")
Let’s guillotine Grampa, Guilliotine Grampa, Guilliotine Grampa, And put Grandma in the soup. ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/39 "2003-09-11T10:49:37Z")
Oh, and “Clearasil messiah from the shelf” doesn’t really rhyme with “zapping zits from here to hell.” A word to the wise. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483/40 "2003-09-11T12:35:18Z")
At least in the earlier days, the various characters all got “air time” and their own sub-plots. Only later on did Opus sort of steal the show (to the detriment of the strip in my opinion). That is why I characterize Bloom County as an ensemble endeavor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opus-is-back/200483.md?page=3)