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
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