Talk:Bloom County

Detailed synopses of storylines
I've started going through Bloom County books, summarizing each storyline of three or more strips, and building an index. I think this could be very helpful for people looking for some particular storyline. I've done so far:


 * Loose Tails
 * Toons For Our Times
 * Penguin Dreams and Stranger Things
 * Bloom County Babylon
 * Billy and the Boingers Bootleg
 * Tales Too Ticklish to Tell
 * The Night of the Mary Kay Commandos

Any comments or assistance are welcome. -- Worrydream 01:16, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

In particular, if you would like to edit the articles to explain which real-life people and events were being parodied in each storyline, please do! -- Worrydream 19:24, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Anxiety Closet
How can you leave out the anxiety closet? --Uncle Ed

Minor characters
In addition to the rewrites I'm planning for Lola Granola and Rosebud the Basselope, I am currently composing an article to be entitled something to the effect of Minor characters in Bloom County. It will have information about unimportant and unessential characters such as Alphonso Ali, Blondie, and Quiche Lorraine, who all disappeared from the strip long before Berke began Outland. Yaz Pistachio will eventually have to be merged with it, of course, but one thing at a time, please. --DXI 09:13, 12 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Follow up: I have finished the page, and I have merged Yaz Pistachio with it. It looks nice and shiny, and I'm proud of it. --DXI 18:03, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Re: "say what" about my anti-furry edit
Prior to my edits (sorry, i wasn't logged in) some pro-furry had placed some sneaky stuff into the "topical issues" covered in bloom county section.

The creepy furry bit was where Opus' and Lola Granola's "inter-species relationship" was one of these "topical issues." Let me be very clear: there is nothing topical about having sex with animals. Except, of course, if you're a furry. Anyway, their relationship was more likely a metaphor for inter-racial relationships, or if it wasn't a metaphor, then it certainly wasn't topical.

I then snipped the bit about kids role-playing because the link was to RPGs with structure and the like, not the "playing pretend" that occured in the strip. Not once did a 20-sided die appear in any strip I ever read.


 * I don't know about the "role-playing" link, but I distinctly remember a strip in which Opus, as personals editor of the newspaper, took down an ad from a woman seeking a relationship with a "small, flightless waterfoul", or something to that effect. It's in "Bloom County Babylon", IIRC. I have no idea if this was Lola Granola, nor was it "discussed at length." Can someone confirm who or what Lola Granola was? Are there even different races of penguins? jdb &#x274b; (talk) 01:31, 15 July 2005 (UTC)

penguins and race
Are there different races of penguins? Oddly enough, this comes up in bloom county when one day someone (I think it was milo) tells opus he looks more like a puffin.

My major point of contention, however, was to keep furries from sneaking the implication that fucking animals is somehow a topical matter. I'm far less atached to the term I replaced it with, "inter-racial." I welcome everyone who has a different non-furry interpretation of the lola granola matter to change it as they see fit.


 * First of all, penguins and puffins are not even very closely related, as birds go. That's irrelevant, of course.


 * Secondly, I don't think there's a furry conspiracy going on here. That phrasing had been in the article since its original version, and I've always taken it as a joke, and kind of a clever one.  Since it's been called out now, and this is Wikipedia, it has to go.  The solution, however, is not to claim that the months long, much built-up engagement between Opus and Lola Granola at the height of the strip's popularity, was somehow about inter-racial relationships.  It was funny, because he's a penguin, but he walks around and talks like a person, and everyone accepts it, so when he wants to get married, why shouldn't he marry a person?  We're playing with narrative conventions in comic strips here, not talking about race relations.


 * There are moments in Bloom County where species is used as a metaphor for race, for example when Hodge-Podge is upset to learn that Portnoy is a Groundhog. More often, species is distinguished from race, as when Opus sings "Penguin State of Mind".  Interracial dating comes up when Binkley is in love with Blondie, but it's not "discussed at length".


 * I've removed the reference and replaced it with something more clear-cut.GTBacchus 07:23, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

One characteristic of zealots is that they typically lack a sense of humor or any understanding of the nature of satire: They take everything literally. You have nearly gotten to the nub of the issue: Opus is not a penguin, any more than Dogbert is a dog or Bugs Bunny is a bunny. Opus is a human that's drawn like a penguin (sort of). Using animal caricatures and giving them human characteristics is an old literary style. I gather that these "furries" are somehow trying to push the idea that the strip is literally sanctioning bestiality. Well, to cross-quote Scott Adams and P.T. Barnum, "There's an idiot born every minute". Wahkeenah 13:01, 20 July 2005 (UTC)


 * I'm sorry, but I don't see any evidence than any "furry" has ever had anything to do with this entry, or has advanced any argument about Bloom County having anything to do with furry culture. I'm sorry, no.  Someone misread a joke as a "furry pushing the idea that BC was promoting bestiality".  In fact, there is no such furry.  The idea that inter-species relationships was a topical issue dealt with in Bloom County was merely silly.  A one-off joke.  Regarding idiots and minutes, on the other hand, you have my agreement.  GTBacchus 18:35, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

Aha. I think I get it now. Maybe I'm the idiot... Don't answer that. >:) So the reference was basically a joke, and someone else misinterpreted it, and on it went, and it's probably just as well to take it out. I can dig it. Anyway, being a naive sort, I'm assuming, but don't know for sure, that the term "furry" refers to someone who believes in bestiality. Well, at least there's the hope that they won't reproduce, eh? >:) Wahkeenah 22:51, 20 July 2005 (UTC)


 * What the word "furry" refers to is stranger than anything in Bloom County or on this talk page. It's not bestiality so much as... something very odd.  Spend enough time in the wrong places online, and you begin running into furries, otherkin and all sorts of... well, all sorts. GTBacchus 01:44, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

Good discussion, wikipedians. Thanks for humoring my humorless and vicious hatred of furries. Call it a gut (over)reaction to the horrors they commit against cartoon art- MayorOfFrance

Bloom County being in the news again reminded me of this old bit of paranoia. I find it almost comforting that this lunacy is still here, because it supports my theory that anyone who hates furries doesn't actually know anything about them, even on a site whose very existence repels ignorance.--Teiladnam (talk) 23:33, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

Endtime plot info
I disagree with the decision to restore the original endtime plot info. There isn't enough background information contained in this page for the paragraph to exist and make sense to an outsider (imagine how "Donald Trump in the body of Bill the Cat" sounds to an outsider and you'll see my point). Plus, it just didn't seem to fit after the mention of both spinoff strips, and it didn't flow well with the wording style of the rest of the section. --Dynamite Eleven 23:50, 2 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Well, it could perhaps be integrated better, but I like the idea of an ending summary that doesn't really give away anything and followed by a more detailed rendition. To be honest, I'm an outsider because I don't know much about Bloom County beyond reading some of the strips, but the detailed ending interested me, and captured some of the unusual action in the strip. --TransUtopian 06:53, 3 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Actually, what I would like to see done with this page is have it turned into a well-detailed and well put together page something like the Calvin and Hobbes page. Such a page would not only be more than able to accomodate detailed Bloom County endtime material like the original, but would also look pretty darn cool. But as the page is at present, the original info just didn't seem to fit with the information already given in the rest of the article above it. --Dynamite Eleven 19:30, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

More context is needed
Hi:

The strip was very topical and newcomers to the strip (I am NOT getting older!) probably wouldn't get a lot of the humour without footnotes. Given the length that the strip ran, from 1980 to 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, I can't imagine a huge encyclopaedia of additional material needs to be added, just examples of how the strip handled some material, say Michael Jackson's nose or the rise of home computing.

Oh yeah, one more thing. As far as I know, he was the first in the US strips to regularly include 'photocopied' material, say when Michael Jackson appeared.

Re: rm poorly placed img
I gave you the scan of an entire Steve/Bobbi/Opus strip, but I really beg to differ as to the last image of Steve Dallas toward the end of the article being unnecessary. Look at Wikipedia articles for strips such as Calvin and Hobbes or a TV show like Seinfeld - lots of pictures are included, and most major characters are represented by an image. Steve Dallas was a major figure in this strip from beginning to end, and I think a picture of him deserves inclusion in this article. I'm restoring it. --relaxathon 04:35, 11 April 2006 (UTC)


 * As long as we're talking images, here, I believe that this article needs more actual strips. At present, we have 2 book covers, a small strip excerpt, and (just recently) a picture of Steve Dallas.  While it's nice to show the various characters, it's also important to show an actual strip.


 * So, I've taken the liberty of re-introducing the Opus' Last Birthday in Bloom County image into the article. I moved the book cover to the list of compilations.  Thanks for listening, BayBoy 02:29, 12 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I would again argue that the cover of the 'Loose Tails' collection makes a far more appropriate header image. It's fully legible at a reduced size and features most of the main characters; not to mention that this is the norm for famous comic strips' articles on Wikipedia: either a good representative cover from one of the strip's treasuries, or some other clear image of it's principle character(s).  See The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, Boondocks, Dilbert, Doonesbury, and many others.


 * You may also notice how rare it is for an entire strip to be featured on Wikipedia, partly because it walks a much finer line between the educational purposes of this site and full-on copyright violation. Not to mention how hard it is for Wiki contributors to agree on a single puchline worthy of inclusion... --72.224.153.104 17:26, 12 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I removed it because it didn't go well in the section that it was placed into. Where the image is right now (Notable storylines), a more suitable image should be placed (something having to do with, well, one of the storylines...maybe a panel from a strip or something). I'd rather have that picture of Steve in the characters section, but Milo's already taking up a lot of space there. --Dynamite Eleven 16:22, 12 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, I guess that I was considering it in the more abstract notion that Steve figures into so many of the storylines described in the section, but I see your point. Maybe this article could have meatier character descriptions, allowing for a few more thumbnails to fit up there?  Individual pages are all good, but theres also something to be said for a comprehensive article that doesn't require a casual reader to click into so many sub-pages.


 * But anyway, you were right, I replaced the Steve image with something more appropriate. --72.224.153.104 17:32, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Loosetails cover.jpg
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BetacommandBot 02:30, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
 * added a FUR addressing WP:NFCC. M URGH   disc.  02:39, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Steve Dallas.jpg
Image:Steve Dallas.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 06:36, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Feud with G.B. Trudeau
I think that the article might benefit from a reference to the highly publicized back and forth between Breathed and Trudeau.

Or would that be muckraking?

Any opinions?

Rampant unicorn (talk) 18:59, 10 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I know nothing of this other than a rumor. Is there any reliable reference to back up the story? ---  RepublicanJacobite  The'FortyFive'  03:39, 11 November 2009 (UTC)
 * The IDW books explained it. Breathed admits having been hugely influenced by Doonesbury on the first months of Bloom County, to say the least (he even uses ther term "thivery"). Encolpe (talk) 03:05, 27 October 2015 (UTC)

Other notes
The "other notes" section is a catch-all for unreferenced, sometimes trivial, information that, if sourced, could and should be placed elsewhere. One prominent example is Breathed's receipt of the Pulitzer Prize, which should be in the lede. Anyone have any thoughts on this? ---  RepublicanJacobite  The'FortyFive' 15:27, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

What about the "death" of Bill the Cat?
Under the "Notable storylines" section, I think it would be nice to include the one about the "death" of Bill the Cat. It began in a Sunday strip where Milo Bloom announced that Bill the Cat had died. Characters shared their memories of him, and at the end of the strip Milo said, "Folks, he died of acne." Sometime later it was revealed that the "death by acne" story was only a cover-up; Bill was actually in a terrible car accident and his body was never found. Rumors circulated that he had a drug problem and overdosed (I recall one strip where Opus told a reporter about Bill's secret addiction to "Tender Vittles"). If my memory is correct it was finally revealed that Bill was in rehab at the Betty Ford Clinic.

I would add a section about that storyline myself, but my memories of it aren't entirely clear. If someone could research it, though, I think it would be a great addition to the article.67.45.109.148 (talk) 16:13, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

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locale
Another bit of evidence that Bloom County is in Iowa. In Outland, 1993 December 12, Steve starts to write a novel, The Bridges of Bloom County, which begins: "Francesco, his arm hair wafting in the Iowa wind, ..." —Tamfang (talk) 08:21, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

Sources about the resurrection of Bloom County
WhisperToMe (talk) 03:13, 22 July 2019 (UTC)
 * https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/berkeley-breathed-publishes-first-new-bloom-county-strip-since-1989/
 * http://www.npr.org/2015/10/12/447117474/bloom-county-and-opus-the-penguin-return-after-a-25-year-hiatus
 * https://www.cnet.com/news/bloom-county-comic-strip-returns-just-in-time/
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20150715182350/https://news.yahoo.com/bloom-county-blooms-least-once-25-absence-134539837.html

"Deathtoengue" listed at Redirects for discussion
A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Deathtoengue. The discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 October 15 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Regards, SONIC  678  04:04, 15 October 2021 (UTC)