Berkeley Breathed
Encyclopedia
Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed (ˈbrɛðɨd ; born June 21, 1957) is an American cartoonist
, children's book author
/illustrator
, director
and screenwriter
, best known for Bloom County
, a 1980s cartoon
-comic strip
that dealt with sociopolitical issues as understood by fanciful characters (e.g., Bill the Cat
and Opus the Penguin
) and through humorous analogies. Bloom County earned Breathed the Pulitzer Prize
for editorial cartooning in 1987.
, and raised in Houston, Texas
, Breathed attended Westchester High School
. He was a cheerleader his senior year and graduated in 1975. Breathed's first cartoon appeared on one side of the senior boys' T-shirts which were worn on Fridays during football season. He did not have a shirt as he wore cheerleader outfits head to toe. Mark Denison (now an architect) drew the other side of the T-shirt and his shirt is being saved for posterity.
to draw editorial cartoons for the newspaper. This job was short-lived; he was dismissed shortly after one of his cartoons caused outrage. His first comic strip published regularly was The Academia Waltz
, which appeared in the Daily Texan, in 1978 while he was a student at the University of Texas. While at the University of Texas, Breathed self-published two collections of The Academia Waltz, using the profits to pay his tuition. The comic strip attracted the notice of the editors of The Washington Post
, who recruited him to do a nationally syndicated strip. On December 8, 1980, Bloom County made its debut and featured some of the characters from Academia Waltz, including former frat-boy Steve Dallas
and the paraplegic Vietnam war
veteran Cutter John
. In the beginning, the strip's style was so similar to that of another popular strip, Doonesbury
, that Doonesbury's creator Garry Trudeau
wrote to Breathed several times to indicate their similarities. Breathed has acknowledged that he borrowed liberally from Doonesbury during his early career. In the Outland collection, One Last Little Peek, Breathed even put an early Bloom County side-by-side with the Doonesbury comic strip from which it obviously took its idea.
Bloom County earned Breathed the Pulitzer Prize
for editorial cartooning during 1987. The strip eventually appeared in over 1,200 newspapers around the world until Berkeley retired the daily strip in 1989, stating that he wanted to terminate the strip while it was still popular. At that time, he said, "A good comic strip is no more eternal than a ripe melon. The ugly truth is that in most cases, comics age less gracefully than their creators".
He replaced this strip with the surreal Sunday-only cartoon Outland in 1989, which reused some of the Bloom County characters, including Opus the Penguin
and Bill the Cat
. He ended Outland in 1995.
Eight years later, Breathed began the comic strip Opus
, a Sunday-only strip featuring Opus the Penguin, who was one of the main characters of Bloom County. He colored the cartoon himself with Adobe Photoshop
, claiming that the advances in technology since 1990 have created an opportunity to draw "something that 'looks' cool on a comic page".
In June 2007, Salon.com
announced it would carry new Opus cartoons by Berkeley as a weekly Sunday feature.
Several newspapers chose not to run the August 26, 2007, Opus cartoon because it might offend Muslims.
On October 6, 2008, Breathed announced plans to discontinue all work on comic strips with the final Opus strip to run on November 2, 2008. Breathed plans to focus on writing children's books
. Breathed explained that he felt that the United States was going to face "tough times", and that he wanted to end the saga of his most memorable character "on a lighter note".
The last Opus comic strip appeared on schedule, but in what may be a comic first the final panel required an online link. The final panel the strip showed Opus sleeping peacefully in the bed depicted in the classic children's book, Goodnight Moon
. This panel was available only online, and the Humane Society
page that displayed it no longer exists.
Breathed said that he had no regrets in leaving political cartooning, as he believes the atmosphere became too bitter for him to make quality cartoons.
and Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big
, were made into animated films. Since 1992, he has designed a greeting card and gift ensemble collection for American Greetings
, featuring the "Bloom County" characters Opus
, Bill the Cat
, and Milquetoast the Cockroach
. Breathed's writing has also been featured in numerous publications, including Life
, Boating
, and Travel and Leisure, and he produced the cartoon art of the film, Secondhand Lions
, which featured a strip called Walter and Jasmine. The panels he drew for Secondhand Lions appear in Opus: 25 Years of His Sunday Best, in which Breathed terms them "the comic strip that never was".
Breathed has been a supporter of the animal rights
group PETA
and illustrated the cover of their Compassionate Cookbook, T-shirts, and other merchandise.
Breathed cameos as himself in the short film Tim Warner: A Life in the Clouds, a fictional tale about an unhappy cartoonist and his unfunny strip, The Silver Lining.
Breathed adapted his children's book Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big
into a short film produced by Disney. Intended originally to be released as a bonus with a theatrically released Disney animated film, the movie as of April 2007 was not exhibited commercially in any format. According to Breathed in an online interview, he states that the film is "an unmitigated technical disaster" and that it was "unfinished and unshowable."
His book, Red Ranger Came Calling was adapted into a musical and produced as a Christmas show by Seattle's Book-It Theatre in 2004-2005.
The 2011 motion-capture Disney film Mars Needs Moms was based on Breathed's picture book of the same name.
ing and motorcycling
. During 1986, he broke his back in an ultralight-plane crash, later incorporated into a "Bloom County" storyline in which Steve Dallas breaks his back after being attacked by an angry Sean Penn
. Breathed also nearly lost his right arm to a boating accident.
Breathed, his wife and two children live in Santa Barbara
, in southern California
. He is reportedly a very private person, and although he has given interviews to online magazines such as The Onion
and Salon, he rarely gives face-to-face or telephone interviews and resists talking about himself. He and his wife support animal rights
, and his book, Flawed Dogs: The Year-End Leftovers at the Piddleton 'Last Chance' Dog Pound, promotes animal adoption. Breathed befriended humorous fantasy author Douglas Adams
when Adams moved to Santa Barbara during 1999. Adams was also very keen on wildlife preservation.
During the middle of September 1990, while visiting a factory in England, Mr. Breathed noticed he received odd, humorous looks from the workers upon hearing his name. After inquiring about the reason for their strange looks, he learned that his nickname, "Berke," is a homophone with "Berk", a vulgar term for a vagina in Cockney rhyming slang
("Berkeley Hunt
").
Breathed once stated he is an atheist as well as a vegetarian.
On May 18, 2008, in his comic strip Opus, he announced he was suffering from a condition known as spasmodic torticollis
.
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
, children's book author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
/illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
, director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, best known for Bloom County
Bloom County
Bloom County is an American comic strip by Berkeley Breathed which ran from December 8, 1980, until August 6, 1989. It examined events in politics and culture through the viewpoint of a fanciful small town in Middle America, where children often have adult personalities and vocabularies and where...
, a 1980s cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
-comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
that dealt with sociopolitical issues as understood by fanciful characters (e.g., Bill the Cat
Bill the Cat
Bill the Cat, or Bill D. Cat, according to the final Outland strip, is a fictional cat appearing in the works of cartoonist Berkeley Breathed, beginning with the comic strip Bloom County in the 1980s and continuing in Outland and Opus in the following decades...
and Opus the Penguin
Opus the Penguin
Opus the Penguin is a character in the comic strips and children's books of Berkeley Breathed, most notably the popular 1980s strip Bloom County. Breathed has described him as an "existentialist penguin" and the favorite of his many characters...
) and through humorous analogies. Bloom County earned Breathed the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for editorial cartooning in 1987.
Early life
Born in Encino, CaliforniaEncino, Los Angeles, California
Encino is a hilly district of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. Specifically, it is located in the central portion of the southern San Fernando Valley and on the north slope of the Santa Monica Mountains...
, and raised in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, Breathed attended Westchester High School
Westchester Academy for International Studies
The Westchester Academy for International Studies is a public charter school in the Spring Branch Independent School District in Houston, Texas. It serves grades 6-12 and is a part of the International Baccalaureate program. The principal of WAIS is Dr...
. He was a cheerleader his senior year and graduated in 1975. Breathed's first cartoon appeared on one side of the senior boys' T-shirts which were worn on Fridays during football season. He did not have a shirt as he wore cheerleader outfits head to toe. Mark Denison (now an architect) drew the other side of the T-shirt and his shirt is being saved for posterity.
Cartooning career
Breathed became published first when he was hired part-time by the Austin American-StatesmanAustin American-Statesman
The Austin American-Statesman is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is an award-winning publication owned by Cox Enterprises. The Newspaper places focus on issues affecting Austin and the Central Texas region....
to draw editorial cartoons for the newspaper. This job was short-lived; he was dismissed shortly after one of his cartoons caused outrage. His first comic strip published regularly was The Academia Waltz
The Academia Waltz
The Academia Waltz was Berkeley Breathed's first cartoon, published daily from 1978 to 1979 in The Daily Texan at The University of Texas at Austin, where he was a student...
, which appeared in the Daily Texan, in 1978 while he was a student at the University of Texas. While at the University of Texas, Breathed self-published two collections of The Academia Waltz, using the profits to pay his tuition. The comic strip attracted the notice of the editors of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, who recruited him to do a nationally syndicated strip. On December 8, 1980, Bloom County made its debut and featured some of the characters from Academia Waltz, including former frat-boy Steve Dallas
Steve Dallas
Steve Dallas is a fictional character in the American comic strips of Berke Breathed, most famously Bloom County in the 1980s.He was first introduced as an obnoxious frat boy in the college strip The Academia Waltz, which ran in the University of Texas's Daily Texan during 1978 and 1979...
and the paraplegic Vietnam war
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
veteran Cutter John
Cutter John
Cutter John is a fictional character in the 1980s comic strip Bloom County by Berke Breathed.Cutter, a wheelchair-user and Vietnam War veteran was one of the county's most well-liked citizens. Despite being somewhat childish and awkward at times, he was very popular with the ladies, particularly...
. In the beginning, the strip's style was so similar to that of another popular strip, Doonesbury
Doonesbury
Doonesbury is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau, that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, Michael Doonesbury, who has progressed from a college...
, that Doonesbury's creator Garry Trudeau
Garry Trudeau
Garretson Beekman "Garry" Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best known for the Doonesbury comic strip.-Background and education:...
wrote to Breathed several times to indicate their similarities. Breathed has acknowledged that he borrowed liberally from Doonesbury during his early career. In the Outland collection, One Last Little Peek, Breathed even put an early Bloom County side-by-side with the Doonesbury comic strip from which it obviously took its idea.
Bloom County earned Breathed the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for editorial cartooning during 1987. The strip eventually appeared in over 1,200 newspapers around the world until Berkeley retired the daily strip in 1989, stating that he wanted to terminate the strip while it was still popular. At that time, he said, "A good comic strip is no more eternal than a ripe melon. The ugly truth is that in most cases, comics age less gracefully than their creators".
He replaced this strip with the surreal Sunday-only cartoon Outland in 1989, which reused some of the Bloom County characters, including Opus the Penguin
Opus the Penguin
Opus the Penguin is a character in the comic strips and children's books of Berkeley Breathed, most notably the popular 1980s strip Bloom County. Breathed has described him as an "existentialist penguin" and the favorite of his many characters...
and Bill the Cat
Bill the Cat
Bill the Cat, or Bill D. Cat, according to the final Outland strip, is a fictional cat appearing in the works of cartoonist Berkeley Breathed, beginning with the comic strip Bloom County in the 1980s and continuing in Outland and Opus in the following decades...
. He ended Outland in 1995.
Eight years later, Breathed began the comic strip Opus
Opus (comic strip)
Opus was a Sunday strip drawn by Berkeley Breathed for a period of five years, 2003 to 2008. It was Breathed's fourth comic strip, following The Academia Waltz, Bloom County and Outland....
, a Sunday-only strip featuring Opus the Penguin, who was one of the main characters of Bloom County. He colored the cartoon himself with Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...
, claiming that the advances in technology since 1990 have created an opportunity to draw "something that 'looks' cool on a comic page".
In June 2007, Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
announced it would carry new Opus cartoons by Berkeley as a weekly Sunday feature.
Several newspapers chose not to run the August 26, 2007, Opus cartoon because it might offend Muslims.
On October 6, 2008, Breathed announced plans to discontinue all work on comic strips with the final Opus strip to run on November 2, 2008. Breathed plans to focus on writing children's books
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
. Breathed explained that he felt that the United States was going to face "tough times", and that he wanted to end the saga of his most memorable character "on a lighter note".
The last Opus comic strip appeared on schedule, but in what may be a comic first the final panel required an online link. The final panel the strip showed Opus sleeping peacefully in the bed depicted in the classic children's book, Goodnight Moon
Goodnight Moon
Goodnight Moon is an American children's book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. It was first published in 1947, and is a highly acclaimed example of a bedtime story. It is about a child saying goodnight to everything around: "Goodnight room. Goodnight moon. Goodnight...
. This panel was available only online, and the Humane Society
Humane Society of the United States
The Humane Society of the United States , based in Washington, D.C., is the largest animal advocacy organization in the world. In 2009, HSUS reported assets of over US$160 million....
page that displayed it no longer exists.
Breathed said that he had no regrets in leaving political cartooning, as he believes the atmosphere became too bitter for him to make quality cartoons.
Other works
In addition to his syndicated cartoon work, which has produced eleven best-selling cartoon collections, he has also produced five children's books, two of which, A Wish for Wings That WorkA Wish for Wings That Work
On December 13, 1991, an animated special was released. It was directed by Skip Jones and was produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio for Universal Cartoon Studios...
and Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big
Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big
Edward Fudwupper Fibbed Big is a 2000 film starring Emily Osment. The film also stars Justin Brinsfield, John Cleese, Catherine O'Hara, and Haley Joel Osment. It is based on the book by Berkeley Breathed....
, were made into animated films. Since 1992, he has designed a greeting card and gift ensemble collection for American Greetings
American Greetings
American Greetings Corporation, Inc. is the world's largest publicly-traded greeting card company. It is based in Brooklyn, Ohio and sells paper greeting cards, electronic greeting cards, party products , and electronic expressive content...
, featuring the "Bloom County" characters Opus
Opus the Penguin
Opus the Penguin is a character in the comic strips and children's books of Berkeley Breathed, most notably the popular 1980s strip Bloom County. Breathed has described him as an "existentialist penguin" and the favorite of his many characters...
, Bill the Cat
Bill the Cat
Bill the Cat, or Bill D. Cat, according to the final Outland strip, is a fictional cat appearing in the works of cartoonist Berkeley Breathed, beginning with the comic strip Bloom County in the 1980s and continuing in Outland and Opus in the following decades...
, and Milquetoast the Cockroach
Milquetoast the Cockroach
Milquetoast the Cockroach is a fictional character in Berkeley Breathed's comic strips Bloom County and Outland. The character has also appeared in other works by Breathed....
. Breathed's writing has also been featured in numerous publications, including Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
, Boating
Boating (magazine)
Boating is an American enthusiast magazine, published by the Bonnier Corporation.- Publishers :...
, and Travel and Leisure, and he produced the cartoon art of the film, Secondhand Lions
Secondhand Lions
Secondhand Lions is a 2003 American dramedy film written and directed by Tim McCanlies. It tells the story of an introverted young boy who is sent to live with his eccentric uncles on a farm in the U.S...
, which featured a strip called Walter and Jasmine. The panels he drew for Secondhand Lions appear in Opus: 25 Years of His Sunday Best, in which Breathed terms them "the comic strip that never was".
Breathed has been a supporter of the animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
group PETA
Peta
Peta can refer to:* peta-, an SI prefix denoting a factor of 1015* Peta, Greece, a town in Greece* Peta, the Pāli word for a Preta, or hungry ghost in Buddhism* Peta Wilson, an Australian actress and model* Peta Todd, English glamour model...
and illustrated the cover of their Compassionate Cookbook, T-shirts, and other merchandise.
Breathed cameos as himself in the short film Tim Warner: A Life in the Clouds, a fictional tale about an unhappy cartoonist and his unfunny strip, The Silver Lining.
Breathed adapted his children's book Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big
Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big
Edward Fudwupper Fibbed Big is a 2000 film starring Emily Osment. The film also stars Justin Brinsfield, John Cleese, Catherine O'Hara, and Haley Joel Osment. It is based on the book by Berkeley Breathed....
into a short film produced by Disney. Intended originally to be released as a bonus with a theatrically released Disney animated film, the movie as of April 2007 was not exhibited commercially in any format. According to Breathed in an online interview, he states that the film is "an unmitigated technical disaster" and that it was "unfinished and unshowable."
His book, Red Ranger Came Calling was adapted into a musical and produced as a Christmas show by Seattle's Book-It Theatre in 2004-2005.
The 2011 motion-capture Disney film Mars Needs Moms was based on Breathed's picture book of the same name.
Personal life
Breathed is a fan of outdoor activities such as powerboatPowerboat
A powerboat is another name for a motorboat. Powerboat may also refer to:* Powerboating* F1 Powerboat World Championship* Offshore powerboat racing...
ing and motorcycling
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
. During 1986, he broke his back in an ultralight-plane crash, later incorporated into a "Bloom County" storyline in which Steve Dallas breaks his back after being attacked by an angry Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
. Breathed also nearly lost his right arm to a boating accident.
Breathed, his wife and two children live in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, in southern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He is reportedly a very private person, and although he has given interviews to online magazines such as The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
and Salon, he rarely gives face-to-face or telephone interviews and resists talking about himself. He and his wife support animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
, and his book, Flawed Dogs: The Year-End Leftovers at the Piddleton 'Last Chance' Dog Pound, promotes animal adoption. Breathed befriended humorous fantasy author Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
when Adams moved to Santa Barbara during 1999. Adams was also very keen on wildlife preservation.
During the middle of September 1990, while visiting a factory in England, Mr. Breathed noticed he received odd, humorous looks from the workers upon hearing his name. After inquiring about the reason for their strange looks, he learned that his nickname, "Berke," is a homophone with "Berk", a vulgar term for a vagina in Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang
Rhyming slang is a form of phrase construction in the English language and is especially prevalent in dialectal British English from the East End of London; hence the alternative name, Cockney rhyming slang...
("Berkeley Hunt
Berkeley Hunt
The Berkeley Hunt is a fox hunt in the west of England. Its country lies in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire, between Gloucester and Bristol.-History:...
").
Breathed once stated he is an atheist as well as a vegetarian.
On May 18, 2008, in his comic strip Opus, he announced he was suffering from a condition known as spasmodic torticollis
Spasmodic torticollis
Spasmodic torticollis is a chronic neurological movement disorder causing the neck to involuntarily turn to the left, right, upwards, and/or downwards. The condition is also referred to as "cervical dystonia". Both agonist and antagonist muscle contract simultaneously during dystonic...
.
Awards
- Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for editorial cartoonEditorial cartoonAn editorial cartoon, also known as a political cartoon, is an illustration containing a commentary that usually relates to current events or personalities....
ing, 1987 - Golden Duck Award for Excellence in Children's Science Fiction for Mars Needs Moms 2008 Picture Book
External links
- Berkeley Breathed Interview by Tasha Robinson for The OnionThe OnionThe Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
"A.V. Club" August 15, 2001 - "The penguin is mightier than the sword", interview at Salon.com, November 20, 2003
- Comic Book Awards Almanac