Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 1986)
hursday night, 11:15, and Berke Breathed has one cartoon left to go. Over the past 29 hours, without stopping to sleep, he’s drawn 13 days’ worth ot daily “Bloom County’’ strips. But, wanting to ship the panels at 12:43 on a flight from Denver’s Stapleton Airport, 44 miles away, he has no time to waste. Working up to the last minute because he likes the energy this gives the strip, Breathed deftly inks the figure of Opus the penguin into the first panel. Then he glues photo copies of the first Opus onto subsequent panels and adds background details and dialogue. "This is going down to the wire,"he mutters to his wife, who prepares to pack the cart (Kins into a box Finished at 11:37, Breathed grabs the sealed box of strips and sprints out to his turbocharged Mazda RX-7. After skidding down the mountain on dirt roads, he bar rels along 1-70 at 80 to 100 mph—closely monitor ing his radar detector At 12:21, Breathed trots up to the Eastern Airlines counter and checks in his package with 13 minutes to spare. Still, there’s a note ofdisappointment when hesays.almostapolo getically,"! didn’t make very good time." Is this any way to run a comic strip’’ Well, con sider the results. Six years after Breathed first started it, "Bloom County” is one of the most popular comic strips in the country, running in newspapers-—430 daily, 319 Sunday and 250 college. Three earlier books that have collect ed "Bloom County”—"Loose Tails," "Toons for Our Times” and fenguin ureams ana uiner arranger Things”—haveeachsold more than 600,000copies, and a new, comprehensive sampling. "Bloom Coun ty Babylon,” rocketed onto the best-seller lists as soon as it was published a month ago. Stuffed animal versions of the strip’s major character, Opus, constitute some of the hottest-selling items for Dakin, a leading manufacturer of plush toys. And more than 1.2 million T shirts adorned with "Bloom County” characters have found their way onto the backs of loyal fans. Not bad for someone who freely admits, "I’m not an artist Believe me, you don't ha veto be one to do a comic strip.” Well, maybe yes and maybe no. It takes nosmall amount of talent to make believable and even SHt.LCTtm AN tP€A KK A 1**1 COMIC STRIP OfFAJU IT HA5 TWO YOU*? »OYb... A OOY IN A mUCHMK... A NO MOUTHeP LAWYtR WITH NMNAMte A UTTU HACKER A FUOtfTUtt Antarctic watertowl ANP A LONO TONCWCP, OCCASIONALLY CRAP COmj ■ ..MKFS A LOT HUPi WORK I
