Berkeley Breathed has announced that Opus will come to an end on November 2nd, the Sunday before the presidential election. Opus, a follow-up to Breathed's wildly successful Bloom County and Outland strips, launched in 2003 after the cartoonist had taken nearly 8 years off from comics.
"With the crisis in Wall Street and Washington, I’m suspending my comic strip to assist the nation. The best way I can help is to leave politics permanently and write funny stories for America’s kids. I call on John McCain to join me."
"The Opus Paradise Contest," in which readers can guess the ultimate fate of Opus the Penguin, begins October 12th on Breathed's website.
Read the official press release from Washington Post Writers Group here.
Alan Gardner also has a great quote from Breathed, transcribed from this NPR interview, in which Breathed describes the experience of drawing Opus for the final time.
This is, what is it, the ninth or tenth Opus / Berke Breathed retirement? How permanent will this one be? Much like Bill Clinton or Brett Favre, how can we miss him if he won't go away?
Posted by: Robert Nowall | October 15, 2008 at 06:02 AM
The same , how can we miss him if he won't go away?
Posted by: heney | November 19, 2008 at 07:38 AM