Bloom County Babylon

I'm just a huge fan of Bloom County. The incisive political commentary, the sharply realized characters, the carefully hidden pleas to take a step back and appreciate how beautiful this world can be (usually delivered by Opus). This collection has the best strips of the first 5 years and I return to it again and again.

Berkeley Breathed is pure evil genius. Thanks to him, my sister and I spent our childhoods shouting "Banana! Banana!" and "Devil I snort thee!" Oh, and of course, "Ack!" Don't ask. These cartoons are heavily rooted in the Reagan years, so be willing to be transported back in time quite a ways, but it's like if Doonesbury were populated by drooling alley cats and neurotic penguins, 6-year-old computer hacker geniuses, and drunk men in their underpants. And it's way funnier than Doonesbury ever was.

How to describe Bloom County? Imagine if Doonesbury were written by the people who created Family Guy and you're getting close... it's frequently irreverent, sometimes silly, often political and occasionally downright profound!

This collection includes many of the earliest Bloom County comic strips as well as a generous selection from the first 5-years (unfortunately it's not a complete collection).

It has the very first appearance of future Bloom County star Opus the Penguin "A penguin and his boy." Also Bill the Cat "Pffft! Ackkk!" the anti-Garfield, introduced as being created purely for merchandising purposes.

Some of the jokes are dated, some of the humor a bit of an acquired taste but as Opus might say, "You know, it's still pretty show more darn good!"

Recommended for anyone with a sense of humor. show less

Babble on and on and on: Bloom County is on my short list of all-time favorite comics. The original form, before short-lived "Outland" or the current "Opus", is long gone, though. Picking up this book was a wonderful piece of nostlagia.

The series peaked some time in the early 80s, and "Babylon" offers a sample of that time. I had forgotten how topical it was, full of references to then-current supermodels, presidents, movies, and sitcoms. Despite that, much of the humor has aged well. Milo's anxiety closet, for example, never needs to end. Various bogey-men (and -women) will reside there for their times, and move on. The anxiety will always be there, however, no matter how silly it looks to everyone else.

Even a book this size can't show more capture every strip in the five years (82-6) that it covers. That means that some of my favorite characters, like winsome Pistachio, barely even had cameo appearances. I'll take what I can get, though, and this is a pleasant sample.

If you ever liked any strip comic, you liked Bloom County or will like it. Maybe the 80s were before your time, but the characters will still look right up to date. Enjoy!

//wiredweird show less

A treasury of sorts, with a full complement of new material, the strip has become a bit more political, more ambitious, a little less charming, but still the best strip being put out at the time. Well, top five anyway.

Had to get some lighter reading ... and I'm still giggling. I'd forgotten how political some of his stuff was, but it holds up really well. In fact, it's almost like a mirror. What can I say?

I keep re-reading this every 5 years or so, and each time it's aged both well and badly in different ways. This edition, sadly, doesn't include the Donald Trump's Brain arc, which I kind of want to re-read next.