jayshay's review
2.0
I really liked Breathed's Bloom County books when I was in my early teens, especially the manic energy that suffused the books (it sounds like that is how he produced them too). But after surviving the 80s and reading the great Doonesbury, I find that there's not much to ground these strips for me and as a result the humour has sort of evaporated. Who knows, maybe in another twenty years something will regrow for me, like George Herriman's desert dream-scape for Krazy Kat.
manwithanagenda's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The first and, arguably, best collection of Bloom County. My dad got all excited at finding this in a thrift store years ago and I immediately fell in love with it too.
I've since found most of the subsequent collections of this strip but also Outland and Opus, and while he maintained his charm and wit, it kind of lost direction and became more about stupid shit Opus was doing at the moment to the detriment of the rest of the characters. I'm sorry, but Opus is simply not a Hobbes who can carry a strip near-single-handed.
Please, check out this silly little book, it has some pretty good political humor but that was never really what the strip was about, funny doesn't need any elevation thank-you-very-much.
I've since found most of the subsequent collections of this strip but also Outland and Opus, and while he maintained his charm and wit, it kind of lost direction and became more about stupid shit Opus was doing at the moment to the detriment of the rest of the characters. I'm sorry, but Opus is simply not a Hobbes who can carry a strip near-single-handed.
Please, check out this silly little book, it has some pretty good political humor but that was never really what the strip was about, funny doesn't need any elevation thank-you-very-much.
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