XII. The Home of Lost Opuses.

Not too long ago I was at Goodwill in Shakopee and was aghast at what I saw: A lone stuffed Opus in a pile of teddy bears, clowns and the like.

How could anyone let go of a stuffed Opus? Don't they know the worth of a stuffed Opus is? Well, at Goodwill it was .50¢. But that is not the point! A stuffed Opus is like a happy Buddha, good luck! Rub his nose in the morning and all will be good - maybe.

I got my first Opus around 1985 and still have him with his tag. The tag is a bit worn, but he still has it. This poor lost Opus didn't have that, and his poor foot was tore a bit. So what did I do? I did what any true and good 'Bloom County' fan would have done - I rescued him!

So home he came and his poor foot was sewed, almost like new. Now he sits with my first Opus and a mini Opus I got at a convention that is dressed like Tom Baker's 4th Doctor.

But look at that mug. How could ANYONE who had an Opus let the poor thing go? He is an icon of the 80's and even into the 90's. The sign of innocence that can only be found in a flightless swimming bird that eat herring and hates walruses.

So of that date my home has become the 'Home of Lost Opuses' all. Any poor Opus that has been so cruelly and thoughtlessly discarded will be rescued by me and have a haven to live their lives out without fear of a walrus attack or British invasion of an island that was invaded by Argentina that the British colonized all those years ago.

Then again, maybe I have too much time on my hands.


Eirik Farwanderer
5 December, 2009 Anno Domini.

VII. Penguin Lust and Other Things.

Berkeley Breathed was WRONG! DEAD WRONG! That is something I am happy about. He just didn't think that people like me were out there. People who wanted EVERY strip of 'Bloom County' available to us. They did it with 'The Far Side' and 'Calvin and Hobbs', how could they not do it for poor old Opus, Milo, Binkley, Steve Dallas and Bill?

I was a raved fan of 'Bloom County' and still am. Sadly I did not get into the two follow up strips 'Outland' and 'Opus'. I was a 'Bloom County' man all the way. It was the last strip I would read in the funny pages. Save the best for last and all that.

But alas, poor old Berkeley Breathed didn't think that 'Bloom County' was that well remembered to have every strip published. He was proven wrong by the throngs of fans out there like me. Now my number one item on my Christmas list is the first of five volumes of the 'Bloom County Library' so that I may see strips I have never seen, or only once when first printed. It was THE political satire strip out there with the best stuff every four years when Bill and Opus would run for the highest office in the land. It did not matter that Opus was born outside the US in South America and that Bill was dead (sounds like Obama and Biden), they always ran the good race for that office...

...and lost.

But now those that love good humor at everyone expense have won. 'Bloom County' may never come back as a daily, or even weekly strip. But at least we had the funny pages of long ago and the books to prove it.


Eirik Farwanderer
25 November, 2009 Anno Domini