God of Thunder and Rock'n'Roll (archmage) wrote,
God of Thunder and Rock'n'Roll
archmage

Satire

I don't know how many of you ever read Bloom County when it was still running. To this day, I think it is one of the best comic strips ever written, and it was my first experience with social satire (I was too young to understand Doonesbury at the time). The way Berke Breathed poked fun at the world around us just made sense, and he was seeing the funny and pathetic side of things I was just beginning to see, as well. It was a major thing for me, and I was saddened the day he ended it's run. I still have that final strip, somewhere.

Anyway, after some time passed, he started a new strip, Outland, which had 99% new characters and took on a different sort of feel. It just wasn't as good, and that sucked. I didn't mind seeing him stop doing it, as it never had the punch, the outlook, the sheer audacity that Bloom County had shown. It felt like he was trying to hard to make you see something, instead of allowing you to glimpse it and think for yourself. Maybe that's why it died.

Recently, he's come back with a new strip, Opus. Yes, everyone's favourite neurotic penguin is back, but still only a side player. Breathed has started to his oblique social satire back up again, and more than once he's gone after the present administration (as I suspect he'd do, no matter who was in the White House). I'm back to being a fan again, and that feels good. It's a Sunday-only strip, and today's is an excellent simplifying of the invasion of Iraq.

Come, be a fan.
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