Bill the Cat
Encyclopedia
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. Bill also appeared in some of Breathed's illustrated children's books, including A Wish for Wings That Work
, which was also made into an animated Christmas television special, and also on greeting card
s and other sundry merchandise
. The cat's most frequent spoken sentiments are "Ack!" and "Thbbft!", unlike most other animals (and children) in Breathed's work, who not only can speak English
, but have advanced vocabularies. The former is a result of his regularly choking on hairballs, the latter sound an approximation of the "raspberry
".
Bill the Cat is commonly seen as a parody
of Jim Davis
' Garfield
(Milo Bloom
appears to fear a visit from United Feature Syndicate's copyright
lawyer
s surrounding Bill's similarities to Garfield). Breathed has also described Bill as his attempt to create a character so repulsive that it would have absolutely no merchandising potential. But surprisingly, Bill the Cat trinkets and figurines have sold in great quantity, and often appear in the strips.
Bill the Cat was inspired by a colorful economist named Bill Moore. Moore was a graduate assistant at the University of Texas at Austin
during the 1970s, and one of Berke Breathed's teachers. Recognizably wild-eyed (and one legged), Moore also became one of Breathed's friends. His name was inspired by a local homeless man of Iowa City, Iowa, who was dubbed Bill "The Cat". Nothing is known of Bill's whereabouts from the early 2000s onward. It is assumed he either moved to a different town, or, more likely, is deceased.
, left for New York
to become a film star and left his girlfriend, Sally, behind. Some of Bill the Cat's film roles include the leads in Orangestoke: The Legend of Bill, Lord of the Monkeys and Terms of Bill's Endearment
. During this period, he drank heavily
, used illegal drugs
, and "free-based Tender Vittles
" until his friends helped him to recover. On September 30, 1983, Bill drove his Ferrari
into a cactus
at 140 miles per hour, dying instantly in the crash (the media, not wishing to divulge the true nature of Bill's death, claimed that he died of acne
). The only part of Bill that was salvaged from the wreckage was his tongue, which young genius Oliver Wendell Jones
used to clone Bill and bring him back to life. In the latter months of 1984, Bill's bid for the American presidency was effectively ruined by his decision to run off and join (and end up leading) the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh cult in Oregon
, only to be "rescued" and deprogrammed several weeks later by a humorous application of the Ludovico technique
(by forcing him to watch reruns of Leave It to Beaver
.) (All of this, by the way, a fictional account of his life, as mentioned by the other characters.)
Bill spent time as an unintelligible rock star who sang and played "electric tongue
" with his heavy metal
band Deathtöngue, later Billy and the Boingers
. Bill got rich when their song "U-Stink-But-I-♥-U" became a jingle
for Wheat Thins
, but he did not share the wealth with his bandmates. Although Bill was the front-person of Billy and the Boingers
, the band excluded him and disbanded when it became public that he spent his nights staying up late, reading the Bible
with a nun
. After this incident, Bill became the televangelist "Fundamentally Oral Bill", parodying (and, in the Bloom County universe, rivaling) real-life televangelists such as Jimmy Swaggart
, Jim Bakker
and Oral Roberts
.
Bill was accused of treason for sending secrets to the Soviet Union
with the unwitting assistance of his lover Jeane Kirkpatrick
. Secrets he sold included: Secret antiperspirant, the secret formula of Coke
, the secret of the Sierra Madre, and the secret of George Bush
's appeal (the secret being that he doesn't have any appeal). He was exchanged to the Soviets for accused spy Cutter John
. While in Russia, he was responsible for the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
, and was traded back soon afterwards. The reason he stated for returning to the US was, as he put it, "to make some dough
," although this reason was edited by Milo into the more PR-friendly "to once again walk the green grass of freedom."
Bill the Cat twice won the National Radical Meadow Party's nomination to run for President of the United States
, in 1984 and 1988, despite being dead in the first instance, and despite having a vocabulary that mainly consisted of "Aack!" He lost twice, once because of coughing up a furball on Connie Chung
. In spite of this political affiliation, he embarked on a torrid love affair with Jeane Kirkpatrick
, then was later used as the primary source for an illegal
cat-sweat-based baldness
cure. His brain
was replaced with Donald Trump's
(who had been hit with his yacht
's anchor
while sunbathing in New York Harbor
).
Bill the Cat returned to comics in Berke Breathed's now canceled strip, Opus
, which ran from November 23, 2003 through November 2, 2008. Given Bill's ostensible death and revival by tongue cloning
(à la Sleeper), his carcass was suggested as the source of the recent BSE
(aka "Mad Cow Disease") epidemic. Later, he was chosen as the new mayor
of Bloom County. He got the message when he was playing Garfield
at a mall promotion (the child in his lap asked her father if Garfield had died). Mayoral efforts for Bill and Opus involved forcing low-jeans teenagers to wear suspenders. Bill, however, lost an election a few months later because of an affair with Paris Hilton
.
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
appearing in the works of cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
Berkeley Breathed
Berkeley Breathed
Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed 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 and through humorous analogies...
, beginning with the 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....
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...
in the 1980s and continuing in Outland and 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....
in the following decades. Bill also appeared in some of Breathed's illustrated children's books, including A Wish for Wings That Work
A 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...
, which was also made into an animated Christmas television special, and also on greeting card
Greeting card
A greeting card is an illustrated, folded card featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthdays, Christmas or other holidays, they are also sent to convey thanks or express other feeling. Greeting cards,...
s and other sundry merchandise
Merchandising
Merchandising is the methods, practices, and operations used to promote and sustain certain categories of commercial activity. In the broadest sense, merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer...
. The cat's most frequent spoken sentiments are "Ack!" and "Thbbft!", unlike most other animals (and children) in Breathed's work, who not only can speak English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, but have advanced vocabularies. The former is a result of his regularly choking on hairballs, the latter sound an approximation of the "raspberry
Blowing a raspberry
Blowing a raspberry or strawberry or making a Bronx cheer is to make a noise signifying derision, real or feigned. It is made by placing the tongue between the lips and blowing, making a sound redolent of flatulence. In the terminology of phonetics, this sound can be described as an unvoiced...
".
Bill the Cat is commonly seen as a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of Jim Davis
Jim Davis (cartoonist)
James Robert Davis is an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the comic strip Garfield, which he signs as Jim Davis. He has also worked on other strips: Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat, U.S. Acres and a strip about Mr...
' Garfield
Garfield (character)
Garfield is a fictional character and the title protagonist from the comic strip Garfield created by Jim Davis.-Personality:Garfield is an anthropomorphic ginger cat. He loves eating , and sleeping. He is teased about being overweight. He is also selfish...
(Milo Bloom
Milo Bloom
Milo Bloom is a fictional character in the American comic strip Bloom County. He was originally the main character, but was soon overshadowed by his best friend Michael Binkley and later on by Opus the penguin.-In Bloom County:...
appears to fear a visit from United Feature Syndicate's copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
s surrounding Bill's similarities to Garfield). Breathed has also described Bill as his attempt to create a character so repulsive that it would have absolutely no merchandising potential. But surprisingly, Bill the Cat trinkets and figurines have sold in great quantity, and often appear in the strips.
Bill the Cat was inspired by a colorful economist named Bill Moore. Moore was a graduate assistant at the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
during the 1970s, and one of Berke Breathed's teachers. Recognizably wild-eyed (and one legged), Moore also became one of Breathed's friends. His name was inspired by a local homeless man of Iowa City, Iowa, who was dubbed Bill "The Cat". Nothing is known of Bill's whereabouts from the early 2000s onward. It is assumed he either moved to a different town, or, more likely, is deceased.
Character biography
Bill the Cat's character was raised in Dubuque, IowaDubuque, Iowa
Dubuque is a city in and the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. In 2010 its population was 57,637, making it the ninth-largest city in the state and the county's population was 93,653....
, left for New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to become a film star and left his girlfriend, Sally, behind. Some of Bill the Cat's film roles include the leads in Orangestoke: The Legend of Bill, Lord of the Monkeys and Terms of Bill's Endearment
Terms of Endearment
Terms of Endearment is a 1983 romantic comedy-drama film adapted by James L. Brooks from the novel by Larry McMurtry and starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, and Jack Nicholson...
. During this period, he drank heavily
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
, used illegal drugs
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
, and "free-based Tender Vittles
Tender Vittles
Tender Vittles is a brand of cat food manufactured by Nestlé under the Purina name. The cat food was previously made by Ralston Purina Company, which was purchased by Nestlé....
" until his friends helped him to recover. On September 30, 1983, Bill drove his Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
into a cactus
Cactus
A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Their distinctive appearance is a result of adaptations to conserve water in dry and/or hot environments. In most species, the stem has evolved to become photosynthetic and succulent, while the leaves have evolved into spines...
at 140 miles per hour, dying instantly in the crash (the media, not wishing to divulge the true nature of Bill's death, claimed that he died of acne
Acne
Acne is a general term used for acneiform eruptions. It is usually used as a synonym for acne vulgaris, but may also refer to:*Acne aestivalis*Acne conglobata*Acne cosmetica*Acne fulminans*Acne keloidalis nuchae*Acne mechanica...
). The only part of Bill that was salvaged from the wreckage was his tongue, which young genius Oliver Wendell Jones
Oliver Wendell Jones
Oliver Wendell Jones is a fictional character in Bloom County, Outland and Opus, three comic strips by American cartoonist Berkeley Breathed.-Fictional character biography:...
used to clone Bill and bring him back to life. In the latter months of 1984, Bill's bid for the American presidency was effectively ruined by his decision to run off and join (and end up leading) the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh cult in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, only to be "rescued" and deprogrammed several weeks later by a humorous application of the Ludovico technique
Ludovico technique
The Ludovico technique is a fictional aversion therapy from the novel A Clockwork Orange administered by Dr. Brodsky with the approval of the UK Minister of the Interior. It involved forcing a patient to watch, through the use of specula to hold the eyes open, violent images for long periods of...
(by forcing him to watch reruns of Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
.) (All of this, by the way, a fictional account of his life, as mentioned by the other characters.)
Bill spent time as an unintelligible rock star who sang and played "electric tongue
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
" with his heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Deathtöngue, later Billy and the Boingers
Billy and the Boingers
Billy and the Boingers is a fictional heavy metal rock band from the comic strip Bloom County, originally known as Deathtöngue.Most of the Deathtöngue saga is contained in the Bloom County collection Billy and the Boingers Bootleg, which included a flexi-disc containing what were apparently two...
. Bill got rich when their song "U-Stink-But-I-♥-U" became a jingle
Jingle
A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...
for Wheat Thins
Wheat Thins
Wheat Thins are a popular baked snack cracker found in North America, distributed by Nabisco, a subsidiary of Kraft Foods Global Inc. in the US, Kraft Foods in Canada and in Australia through wholesaler USA Foods. Also Vegetable Thins, Pita Thins, and Rice Thins, which both are spun off from Wheat...
, but he did not share the wealth with his bandmates. Although Bill was the front-person of Billy and the Boingers
Billy and the Boingers
Billy and the Boingers is a fictional heavy metal rock band from the comic strip Bloom County, originally known as Deathtöngue.Most of the Deathtöngue saga is contained in the Bloom County collection Billy and the Boingers Bootleg, which included a flexi-disc containing what were apparently two...
, the band excluded him and disbanded when it became public that he spent his nights staying up late, reading the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
with a nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
. After this incident, Bill became the televangelist "Fundamentally Oral Bill", parodying (and, in the Bloom County universe, rivaling) real-life televangelists such as Jimmy Swaggart
Jimmy Swaggart
Jimmy Lee Swaggart is a Pentecostal American pastor, teacher, musician, television host, and televangelist. He has preached to crowds around the world through his weekly telecast...
, Jim Bakker
Jim Bakker
James Orsen "Jim" Bakker is an American televangelist, a former Assemblies of God minister, and a former host of The PTL Club, a popular evangelical Christian television program.A sex scandal led to his resignation from the ministry...
and Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts
Granville "Oral" Roberts was an American Pentecostal televangelist and a Christian charismatic. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University....
.
Bill was accused of treason for sending secrets to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
with the unwitting assistance of his lover Jeane Kirkpatrick
Jeane Kirkpatrick
Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick was an American ambassador and an ardent anticommunist. After serving as Ronald Reagan's foreign policy adviser in his 1980 campaign and later in his Cabinet, the longtime Democrat-turned-Republican was nominated as the U.S...
. Secrets he sold included: Secret antiperspirant, the secret formula of Coke
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
, the secret of the Sierra Madre, and the secret of George Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
's appeal (the secret being that he doesn't have any appeal). He was exchanged to the Soviets for accused spy 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...
. While in Russia, he was responsible for the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
, and was traded back soon afterwards. The reason he stated for returning to the US was, as he put it, "to make some dough
Money
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...
," although this reason was edited by Milo into the more PR-friendly "to once again walk the green grass of freedom."
Bill the Cat twice won the National Radical Meadow Party's nomination to run for President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, in 1984 and 1988, despite being dead in the first instance, and despite having a vocabulary that mainly consisted of "Aack!" He lost twice, once because of coughing up a furball on Connie Chung
Connie Chung
Connie Chung, full name: Constance Yu-Hwa Chung Povich is an American journalist who has been an anchor and reporter for the U.S. television news networks NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC. Some of her more famous interview subjects include Claus von Bülow and U.S...
. In spite of this political affiliation, he embarked on a torrid love affair with Jeane Kirkpatrick
Jeane Kirkpatrick
Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick was an American ambassador and an ardent anticommunist. After serving as Ronald Reagan's foreign policy adviser in his 1980 campaign and later in his Cabinet, the longtime Democrat-turned-Republican was nominated as the U.S...
, then was later used as the primary source for an illegal
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
cat-sweat-based baldness
Baldness
Baldness implies partial or complete lack of hair and can be understood as part of the wider topic of "hair thinning". The degree and pattern of baldness can vary greatly, but its most common cause is male and female pattern baldness, also known as androgenic alopecia, alopecia androgenetica or...
cure. His brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
was replaced with Donald Trump's
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
(who had been hit with his yacht
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
's anchor
Anchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα .Anchors can either be temporary or permanent...
while sunbathing in New York Harbor
New York Harbor
New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...
).
Bill the Cat returned to comics in Berke Breathed's now canceled 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....
, which ran from November 23, 2003 through November 2, 2008. Given Bill's ostensible death and revival by tongue cloning
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
(à la Sleeper), his carcass was suggested as the source of the recent BSE
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy , commonly known as mad-cow disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord. BSE has a long incubation period, about 30 months to 8 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of...
(aka "Mad Cow Disease") epidemic. Later, he was chosen as the new mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Bloom County. He got the message when he was playing Garfield
Garfield (character)
Garfield is a fictional character and the title protagonist from the comic strip Garfield created by Jim Davis.-Personality:Garfield is an anthropomorphic ginger cat. He loves eating , and sleeping. He is teased about being overweight. He is also selfish...
at a mall promotion (the child in his lap asked her father if Garfield had died). Mayoral efforts for Bill and Opus involved forcing low-jeans teenagers to wear suspenders. Bill, however, lost an election a few months later because of an affair with Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton is an American businesswoman, heiress, and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton . Hilton is known for her controversial participation in a sex tape in 2003, and appearance on the television series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood...
.
Cultural references
- A Bill the Cat doll can be seen in EminemEminemMarshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
's "The Real Slim ShadyThe Real Slim Shady"The Real Slim Shady" is a hip hop song written by Eminem for his third studio album The Marshall Mathers LP . It was released as the lead single a week before the album's release...
" video. - Bill the Cat has appeared in three of the comic strips by Breathed now: Bloom CountyBloom CountyBloom 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...
, OutlandOutlandOutland may refer to:* Outland , a 1981 film directed by Peter Hyams and starring Sean Connery* Outland , a 1987 album by Spear of Destiny* Outland , a 1991 album by Gary Numan...
, and OpusOpus (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....
. OpusOpus the PenguinOpus 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...
has also appeared in all three of those strips; only the character of Steve DallasSteve DallasSteve 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...
has appeared in more of Breathed's strips. Dallas appears in all four, including The Academia WaltzThe Academia WaltzThe 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...
. Cutter John has recently made a one-panel cameo in OpusOpus (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....
, making him the second character to appear in all 4 comics. - Bill is the unofficial mascot of the web server thttpdThttpdthttpd is an open source software web server from ACME Laboratories, designed for simplicity, a small execution footprint and speed. thttpd is single-threaded and portable: it compiles cleanly on most Unix-like operating systems, including FreeBSD, SunOS 4, Solaris 2, BSD/OS, Linux, and OSF/1...
(referencing the content of his occasional verbal outbursts) after appearing in an episode of the webcomic User FriendlyUser FriendlyUser Friendly is a discontinued daily webcomic about the staff of a small, fictional Internet service provider, Columbia Internet. The strip's humor tends to be centered around technology jokes and geek humour....
.