One Last Little Peek, 1980–1995: The Final Strips, the Special Hits, the Inside Tips

by Berkeley Breathed

The final collection of cartoons from the Outland series features previously uncollected color strips, a selection of the artist's favorites, and some selections from Bloom County.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Comic Strips, Cartoon, Fiction, Comedy, Graphic Novels Comics

108 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1995

About the author

Guy 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.

Reviews

[Jeremy Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third and final Outland collection. After reading the full run of Outland and found the strip more enjoyable than I remembered. Breathed says goodbye to Bill and Opus.

[Al McCarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

1995 Collection.
I'd always been disappointed that Breathed abandoned the initial conception of "Outland" so soon, bringing Bloom County characters back and doing what he'd been doing all along, skewering society and questioning the status quo. If he was just going to do what he'd been doing all along, why bother with the change? Binkley, Bill, Basselopes, Dallas, ...oh, here's something new, a spoof of Mickey Mouse! Sigh...
Anyway, Bloom County by another name is still good stripping...and the volume ends with special reminiscences from the early days, and that's nice. Goodbye, again, to Bloom County, for now...until later!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite comic strip!!

[The_J · Rating 4 out of 5]

The dregs

[Norrin2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a big fan of Bloom County back in the day but I never really got into its successor Outland. Too bad because it looks to me like the same strip. Most of these have held up pretty well and are still funny -- one of them was so funny and so true I cut it out of the book -- desecration, yes, I know -- and framed it.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Bloom County and Outland are the types of comics you grow to love as you watch the characters mature. This collection is for those who have a bit of history under their belt. It is a goodbye collection - the reader doesn't get alot of background or history.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bloom County was a favorite of mine, but I didn't like his other strips.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The end of "Bloom County" and the beginning of "Outland". Need I say more? Lets face it, since "Bloom County" ended, the comics have been in decline. The last great comic strip!

[Wes Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best newspaper comic strip ever. Not much more can be said about it except that it ended far too soon for my likes. Opus is adorable, Bill is a spaz but they are so funny!

[Curtiss · Rating 2 out of 5]

A last visit to Bloom County before Berke Breathed moved on to another comic series.

[Melissa Lee-Tammeus · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beginning of the end . . .

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not enjoy these as much as the bloom county series but still funny. Recommended

[MK · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final Outland strips. I liked Outland, though I know a lot of people didn't. Being a Sunday-only strip it freed BB from the grind of coming up with stories and allowed him to indulge in his fantasy side. I loved Steve Dallas travelling through time, for example.

The best thing about this book though is the final third where the artist republishes some of his favourite strips during his run of both Bloom County and Outland and talks about why they are special to him. This glimpse into his thought process increased my enjoyment of his work and, I like to think, opened him up in a way that made it possible for him to make his return to this world in 2015.