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Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness
An anthology of cartoons from the syndicated comic strip, "Bloom County" encompasses highlights from the five-year span of the strip
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
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1160 people want to read
About the author
Berkeley Breathed
90 books416 followersGuy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed is an American cartoonist, children's book author/illustrator, director, and screenwriter, best known for Bloom County, a 1980s cartoon-comic strip which dealt with socio-political issues as seen through the eyes of highly exaggerated characters (e.g. Bill the Cat and Opus the Penguin) and humorous analogies.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
August 8, 2011
As an '80s kid of little means, I would stare at the shelves of the most cutting-edge section of my local Waldenbooks- the comics section. I didn't have the nerve to pick up volumes of Maus, or do more than skim Matt Groening's pre-Simpsons Life is Hell, or vocally covet collections of newspaper comic strips such as THIS one. I kept my mouth shut. My mother bought me plenty of age-appropriate books but she could never have afforded the niche-market prices of graphic novels for grownups... and she didn't like Bloom County. lol.
The Sunday comics, garish with primary colors and unfolding to a size that at the time struck me as magically large, were one of those little pleasures that kept me going from week to week. Calvin and Hobbes, duh. Harmless family strips like Fox Trot and holdovers from the 1970s like Broom Hilda. Shoe made no sense. Mary Worth and other "realistic" strips were a waste of garish ink, I believed. Then there was Bloom County... for grownups, clearly, just like Mary Worth, made of punchlines that didn't always resonate with me. But it starred kids and a talking penguin and a spazzy cat that couldn't say anything but "ack". They talked about politics a lot. The strip bewildered me as much as it amused me. I saw something good in it, the way you're intrigued by a stranger waiting for the bus with you while wearing a unique hat. WTF is with that hat? You wanna know. I was 8 years old and wanted to know what the deal was with Bloom County.
Mom didn't like the strip. I claimed out loud that I didn't either. I lied. It was one of my early experiences with trying to mold myself to what I felt were outside pressures. It got to be a bad habit. One of my worst.
I guess that's why it has taken me so long to finally read Bloom County Babylon, a hefty paperback collection of Bloom County strips. The book was published in 1986. Old habits die hard and bad habits are capable of coming back from the dead. You have to kill 'em again. I tripped across the book in the library and suddenly the kid who had stared at it in Waldenbooks thought, "Hey. You can read this now."
What a time capsule. Ronald Reagan, a Vietnam veteran in a wheelchair, feminism's transition to a mainstream staple, desperate fantasies of ending South African apartheid, and whoever the heck Caspar Weinberger was. Also kids, a talking penguin, and a spazzy cat going "ack". Oh, is THAT what Bloom County was about! Turned out I'd half-understood it all along. I think I even recognized one or two individual strips.
Berke Breathed created a strip of artistic talent and great comedic timing. The politics date it horribly, unfortunately- not only are the things being parodied pretty darned old and gone by this point, but even the strip's liberal perspective can't keep up with progress (the gay jokes are cringeworthy). If not for that, Bloom County could easily outlive its time, alongside classics like The Far Side.
The drawings and heart of the strip HAVE outlived their time. I still love Bloom County. I'll say it out loud now.
The Sunday comics, garish with primary colors and unfolding to a size that at the time struck me as magically large, were one of those little pleasures that kept me going from week to week. Calvin and Hobbes, duh. Harmless family strips like Fox Trot and holdovers from the 1970s like Broom Hilda. Shoe made no sense. Mary Worth and other "realistic" strips were a waste of garish ink, I believed. Then there was Bloom County... for grownups, clearly, just like Mary Worth, made of punchlines that didn't always resonate with me. But it starred kids and a talking penguin and a spazzy cat that couldn't say anything but "ack". They talked about politics a lot. The strip bewildered me as much as it amused me. I saw something good in it, the way you're intrigued by a stranger waiting for the bus with you while wearing a unique hat. WTF is with that hat? You wanna know. I was 8 years old and wanted to know what the deal was with Bloom County.
Mom didn't like the strip. I claimed out loud that I didn't either. I lied. It was one of my early experiences with trying to mold myself to what I felt were outside pressures. It got to be a bad habit. One of my worst.
I guess that's why it has taken me so long to finally read Bloom County Babylon, a hefty paperback collection of Bloom County strips. The book was published in 1986. Old habits die hard and bad habits are capable of coming back from the dead. You have to kill 'em again. I tripped across the book in the library and suddenly the kid who had stared at it in Waldenbooks thought, "Hey. You can read this now."
What a time capsule. Ronald Reagan, a Vietnam veteran in a wheelchair, feminism's transition to a mainstream staple, desperate fantasies of ending South African apartheid, and whoever the heck Caspar Weinberger was. Also kids, a talking penguin, and a spazzy cat going "ack". Oh, is THAT what Bloom County was about! Turned out I'd half-understood it all along. I think I even recognized one or two individual strips.
Berke Breathed created a strip of artistic talent and great comedic timing. The politics date it horribly, unfortunately- not only are the things being parodied pretty darned old and gone by this point, but even the strip's liberal perspective can't keep up with progress (the gay jokes are cringeworthy). If not for that, Bloom County could easily outlive its time, alongside classics like The Far Side.
The drawings and heart of the strip HAVE outlived their time. I still love Bloom County. I'll say it out loud now.
February 5, 2017
I remember waiting impatiently for the funny pages on Sunday to catch up on Opus and the crazy Bloom County gang. Berkeley Breathed captured the political angst behind the Reagan era and lampooned it magnificently in this amazing series. With an endless array of incredible characters - I found it more accessible to my early teen brain than the more intellectual Doonesbury with which its political philosophy could be favourably compared. It is hilarious and insightful and a delightful read.
March 6, 2008
I remember reading each of these strips in the Boston Globe as a kid. They shaped my political awareness. I bought the books at about the age of 12 or so, and re-read them whenever the political climate of the U.S. starts to seem a little baffling...
January 23, 2016
Opus is the man, well a man in penguin form. Excellent comics to cheer you up on a down day. I read a few every morning to start my day off right. Very recommended
January 2, 2025
For the longest time, I've avoided this volume because I thought it was a treasury of the first three Bloom County collections. I was wrong. There are some reprinted strips from the first three books, but a majority of this collection makes up the fourth Bloom County collection.
September 23, 2022
Lots of amusing material and an incisive look at 1908s popular culture. Too much Bill the Cat for my taste.
February 26, 2021
Hysterically funny with all the best from Mr. Breathed. Read this many times years ago. Love all his books. Share he waled away. Miss him
November 17, 2015
Bloom County Babylon is a really big book of comics. It literally took me months to read. But I enjoyed every minute of it. Since this book covers the first five years, you can really follow how the main characters changed and grew, both in what they looked like and their character development.
Berke Breathed does an amazing job, as usual, of making satirical comments about our society, but doing it in such a way that it is barely noticeable. Maybe that is why I love this comic strip so much. No. The reason I love this strip so much is the characters, like: Opus, Milo, Binkley, Oliver, Steve Dallas, and all the other minor players. To tell the truth, I never did like Bill the Cat much. But since he really isn't around that much, usually because he is dead or something, it is no big deal.
Either way, Bloom County Babylon should be on your "Must Read" list. Heck, I've read it 3 or 4 times, and I know I will probably read it again. That is what defines a good book. Repeatability!
Berke Breathed does an amazing job, as usual, of making satirical comments about our society, but doing it in such a way that it is barely noticeable. Maybe that is why I love this comic strip so much. No. The reason I love this strip so much is the characters, like: Opus, Milo, Binkley, Oliver, Steve Dallas, and all the other minor players. To tell the truth, I never did like Bill the Cat much. But since he really isn't around that much, usually because he is dead or something, it is no big deal.
Either way, Bloom County Babylon should be on your "Must Read" list. Heck, I've read it 3 or 4 times, and I know I will probably read it again. That is what defines a good book. Repeatability!
October 15, 2012
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 darn good!"
Recommended for anyone with a sense of humor.
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 darn good!"
Recommended for anyone with a sense of humor.
August 8, 2015
A set of characters residing in a boarding house in Bloom County discuss politics, life, and love. Characters include Steve Dallas, lawyer - hopeless w/ women who lives in the boarding house; Milo Bloom, precocious boy who works for the local paper; Cutter John, vet; Opus, talking penguin who is often the butt of jokes and generally hopeless w/ women; Binkley, boy w/ monster issues; talking computers and cockroaches; and Bill the Cat, general reprobate and party animal (pardon the pun).
This beloved comic is a bit dated; I didn't get all the references (those I did get made me feel a bit old - do the truly young remember Brooke Shields?). Very clever four panel comics w/ some full page series included as well.
This beloved comic is a bit dated; I didn't get all the references (those I did get made me feel a bit old - do the truly young remember Brooke Shields?). Very clever four panel comics w/ some full page series included as well.
November 8, 2012
I still quote this strip--perhaps too often, but in a charmingly dorky way, I like to think: (Is this list spoilers? Not out of context, I think, but just in case, spoiler alert)
So he folded up his tongue, and he moved to Malibu
I suspect you're carbonating my hormones
Pear pimples for hairy fishnuts
Man, those Samoans are a surly bunch
What does it mean, to 'wind a watch'?
I'm sorry, sir, but today's topic is Nun Beating
Devil bunnies! I snort the nose, Lucifer! Banana! Banana!
As God is my witness, I haven't the faintest idea what I should do
'Taint corn, it's dope. Take a bushel home to the wife.
So he folded up his tongue, and he moved to Malibu
I suspect you're carbonating my hormones
Pear pimples for hairy fishnuts
Man, those Samoans are a surly bunch
What does it mean, to 'wind a watch'?
I'm sorry, sir, but today's topic is Nun Beating
Devil bunnies! I snort the nose, Lucifer! Banana! Banana!
As God is my witness, I haven't the faintest idea what I should do
'Taint corn, it's dope. Take a bushel home to the wife.
June 26, 2015
The mid-80s genius continues. This is a collection of some sorts, repeating some of the previous three volumes and filling in some gaps that weren't issued in those. There are numerous storylines bridging this period and the Billy and the Boingers zaniness: Oliver's pigmentation device which will turn the South African UN delegate black (this was during the apartheid era, remember) resulting in Opus and Cutter John getting lost at sea in their suborbital wheelchair and captured by the Soviets; Opus dies; Opus returns with amnesia; Bill the Cat has an affair with Jeane Kirkpatrick--christ, it just never ends. Foursquare devastation of the Reagan era right here, folks.
February 22, 2016
Found in a Goodwill along with a treasure trove of other Bloom County collections, this was the best of them all. I re-met characters I had forgotten existed, and lived through plots that I had not experience at the time they were written.
Berkeley Breathed is a remarkable artist who brings characters to life so well that I feel like I am a part of the Bloom County community.
He also had/has an knack for holding up a mirror to our political system. Reading this book now drives home the realization that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Bravo Mr. Breathed. Thank you for your wit, wisdom, and ability to make me laugh.
Berkeley Breathed is a remarkable artist who brings characters to life so well that I feel like I am a part of the Bloom County community.
He also had/has an knack for holding up a mirror to our political system. Reading this book now drives home the realization that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Bravo Mr. Breathed. Thank you for your wit, wisdom, and ability to make me laugh.
March 18, 2008
Besides being disturbed by the few Outland comics in our local newspaper as a youngster(before they were pulled I think), this was my introduction into one of the greater American comic artists of our era. It's very interesting to watch the evolution of Opus, from pre-opus to the Woody Allen of penguins we know today. These comics are just so absurdly funny, intimate, and probably quite racy for the time. When things are down, I can crack this open and imagine myself at the boarding house(or daisy patch) with these guys.
August 23, 2012
Bloom County has always been a weird comic for me. In my youth, I thought it was mostly incomprehensible, but the artwork, silly gross-out humor, and occasional violent brutality made me smile. Now, going back, I can actually make out some of the dated political references he's making, and while it does get a bit overbearing at times, the comic still just WORKS. Take Doonesbury and sweeten it up with just enough childlike whimsy from Calvin & Hobbes to mellow out that furious liberal edge and this is what you end up with.
August 22, 2009
I really enjoyed Bloom County the first several years it was being published, but then it started to get repetitive and seemed to be trying to hard. The early years had wonderful cynicism and irony and were just plan funny. If you have seen the comic Outland, you will recognize Opus the Penguin, but please don't take that strip as an indication of what Bloom County was like in its heyday. Outland is just not funny.
Conclusion: Early Bloom County rocks.
September 4, 2008
Bloom County is still hilarious. Most of the political references are obsolete, but with another George Bush in the whitehouse, it's hardly noticeable. It seems odd to read about the Russians being the bad guys in the world, since the Cold War has been over for a long time. Breathed remains a giant among cartoonists.
October 20, 2014
Astonishing to think back at how great this was. A daily comic strip that was sort of the Jon Stewart show of its day, in an allegorical format. My friends and I really loved it in high school and college in the mid-80s. "Bloom County" was an easy signifier of like-mindedness for those of us who weren't entirely sold on Reagan's America.
August 27, 2015
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.
April 4, 2008
god i love bloom county. it was so great in the beginning. i really think it's one of the few comic strips where i actually love the earlier strips far more than the later ones. this is just a great collection of those strips. milo was always my fav.
May 29, 2008
I'm pretty sure this is a best-of collection, and basically skims over 5 years of the strip. Definitely worth the read if you haven't read the strip before, or don't remember how awesome it was or don't remember what happened in the 80s. Totally transcends the genre.
October 23, 2008
These strips from the funnypage actually taught me a lot about eighties politics and culture when I started reading them as a child. As political as they often are, even preachy, it is amazing how many belly laughs the material delivers.
January 20, 2009
An awesome collection of Bloom County strips! I had great fun reading it - I hadn't seem some of these strips since the first time I read them, lo these many years ago.
It was especially comforting to read it, because my boyfriend brought it over for me to read while I was sick :)
April 1, 2009
After Andrew Vachss' gloomy Another Life, I'm in need of something light.
A cartoon character for adults, Opus is sure to lift you out of the pits. I was really sorry to see him disappear from the Sunday comic strip.
A cartoon character for adults, Opus is sure to lift you out of the pits. I was really sorry to see him disappear from the Sunday comic strip.
March 24, 2010
(Next to) last line: "All in all, statistically speaking, I'd say there was about a one in 33 zillion chance that you'd be unbelievably lucky enough to just be alive and standing here with pistachio nut ice cream on your feet!!"
June 29, 2013
Political and cultural satire of the 80's by a true master who was at one time a newspaper artist until he was fired for a rather famous satirical depiction of the local PTA! I love his humour and his jabs at all things Ronald Reagen.
August 12, 2016
Classic Bloom County. I remember going to study hall in the library in high school and getting the Des Moines Register each day so that I could read Bloom County. Even all these years later, the comics still hold up.
September 16, 2015
I LOVE BERKE BREATHED!!! My dad introduced me to these comics that he read when he was a kid. They are Hilarious! Definitely my favorite comic. followed closely by Calvin and Hobbs. If you see these books, pick them up. They went out of production a while ago.
January 16, 2014
Damn I love this comic. Many of the daily strips are still very relevant (while others were extremely topical for the time, but have not aged as gracefully).
February 7, 2014
My favorite comic strip.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews