Minor characters in Bloom County
Encyclopedia
The following are minor characters from Berkeley Breathed
's comic strip Bloom County
. Though significant enough to have appeared multiple times in the strip, they were not crucial to the strip's overall development, and disappeared without much (if any) explanation long before Breathed segued into his next comic, Outland.
Though the strip's various compilations do not do them justice, the original cast of characters in Bloom County were Milo, Bess, and Major Bloom, along with a basset hound
named "Rabies" whose thoughts could be read à la Snoopy
; the first year of strips are mysteriously omitted from all compilations save the Bloom Library, although a selection did find publication in a 1986 anthology collection Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness
. Most of the strip's most memorable characters debuted later on, with Milo being the only key character to appear for the duration of the strip's run.
character in Bloom County. An ardent admirer of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali
, Alphonso was first introduced as Binkley
's opponent in the boxing ring. Later, Alphonso would make appearances as a friend of Binkley and Milo
, as well as everyone else in the meadow. He disappeared in 1983, and was replaced by Oliver Wendell Jones
later that year.
personal computer
, first introduced to the strip in December 1984 as Oliver's Christmas
present. It was a parody of the Macintosh computer, which had been released earlier that year.
The computer inexplicably came with legs and could walk, talk and contemplate its own existence, but could not stray further than the length of its electrical cord. In later strips, the cord disappeared and the Banana Jr. roamed freely. It worship
ped the television, and would frequently present its "god" with offerings of household appliances. A Sunday strip featured a parody advertisement featuring Kiss
bassist
Gene Simmons
which warned that not having a personal computer could lead children to grow up, wear fishnet stockings, join a heavy metal band, and stick out their tongues down to their kneecaps - like Simmons.
The computer was Oliver's hacking
sidekick (only confiscated by the FBI
twice) until mid-1985, when Oliver declared it obsolete due mostly to the bankruptcy of the Banana Computer Company (which only sold two units, including Oliver's). It made its last appearance in one of Bill The Cat
's liquidation sales.
senator
for Bloom County's state
. He frequently came under scrutiny from his constituents in the meadow; it somehow got to the point that Hodge-Podge
would honk Bedfellow's nose every time that the man spoke (for talking "bull patties"). The local press also made a habit of going after the Senator (mostly in the form of aggressive innuendos by Milo Bloom
, much of which questioned his involvement in the controversial disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa
). Bedfellow was involved in a number of scandal
s (albeit mostly cooked up by the local press), the final being the illicit trade of illegal Bill the Cat
tote bags in 1983. He was convicted and sent to prison
, and was never referenced again in the strip. The last panel he appears in shows him behind bars, being approached by burly thugs angered over his support of capital punishment
.
Senator Bedfellow eventually reappeared 22 years later as a recurring character in Opus
, with no mention of his incarceration. The new Bedfellow, like the old, was often the target of newspaper articles, and is mentioned several times as having an ex-wife. He disappeared after the first few years.
and frequently suffered the misfortune of being awakened in the early morning hours to hear Binkley repeat dubious celebrity
rumor
s. Tom desperately wants Binkley to be tough and athletic. Tom gives Binkley the nickname "Mad Dog" and takes him on ill-fated hunting
trips. When working as a shopping mall
Santa Claus
, he told Binkley that he wouldn't get back together with Binkley's mother because she was now living in Oakland, California
with a Hells Angel. He is a solid Democrat
and refers to himself as "liberal and modern", though he had a crisis of faith and extreme guilt when he admitted that he didn't like Jesse Jackson
. Tom is also concerned with his approaching middle-age and can be seen fretting about his life and his son Binkley's often well-meaning attempts to help his father accept his aging but in fact making him feel even worse.
(for whom she was likely named), Blondie was Binkley's African American
would-be girlfriend
. Originally from Los Angeles
, Blondie immediately found herself to be Binkley's crush. She went on a date with Binkley to see Pink Floyd: The Wall
, much to Binkley's father's dismay.
She appeared twice more in the strip, but eventually faded away without further mention.
, right-wing grandfather as well as his custodial guardian. He was initially named "Major P. Flynn" in a very early strip, but was thereafter known as Major Bloom, or more commonly, Major.
The Major frequently had delusions about fighting Nazis and Communists (who usually turned out to be ducks), and tried to lead his grandson "the right way." In his spare time, he was head coach of Bloom County's pee-wee football
team (which he used to live out his lifelong fantasy of being a military commander, a la George S. Patton
), whose players included Milo and Michael Binkley
.
Like most of the strip's original cast of characters, The Major faded from sight around 1983, though he did appear in the short story "The Great LaRouche
Toad
-Frog
Massacre" in the 1986 book Bloom County Babylon
.
While he stopped appearing, he and his wife were presumably still present, as they were responsible for running the boarding house where most of the characters lived.
. She was most prominent in the earliest years of the strip. Less rigid than her husband, Bess was a faithful wife and was known for being affectionate for all living beings, including cockroach
es, which Major Bloom often waged war with.
, he later found her being used for cruel experiments by the Mary Kay Cosmetics company, physically resembling Opus, albeit with a pink petticoat
and umbrella. Unfortunately, the two were soon separated in a battle between Mary Kay and the ALF
. At the end of Bloom County, he declined Ronald-Ann's
offer to enter Outland, and the last strip of the latter showed him finding her in Antarctica and warmly cuddling with her.
However, as shown in Opus
, she did not turn out to be the mother figure he'd hoped for (for instance, she constantly doted on him and forced him marry a gluttonous
female
penguin named Eunice), and he returned to Bloom County (where he tried to find a more likable mother-figure) on a crashed Mars rover
. As with Breathed's artwork itself, Ms. Opus' appearance had changed: She physically resembled a real penguin compared to her son, she was much larger, uglier, and had a subtle potbelly, and her behavior was a cross of that of a real penguin and a stereotypical overbearing mother.
. She was horrified at his slovenly, womanizing ways, and always tried to convince him to get married and go to church. She appeared as a heavy-set, aproned, fifties-style housewife, except that she also wore Steve's signature black aviator sunglasses. Mrs. Dallas apparently thought Steve's father had died, and had accordingly felt free to remarry five times. Steve eventually revealed that his father had actually been sitting in the living room, reading the paper, the entire time. She did not care for Opus
, whom she originally thought to be a large rodent. Opus never realized she was referring to him.
She also has appeared several times as a manifestation out of his anxiety closet.
yacht
and baseball
millionaire Ashley Dashley III was the arrogant, opportunistic owner and station manager of Bloom County TV; a "visionary", he was prone to butting heads with the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) and self-imposed television censors such as Otis Oracle. After purchasing the station, he made Limekiller his right-hand man with mixed results. He was a recurring character throughout 1981, then disappeared. Ash was intended as a satire of Ted Turner
.
", at the risk of offending prudish subscribers.
, and was a recurring character during Lola's engagement to Opus
. She strongly disapproved of Opus, and repeatedly tried to convince her daughter to dump him. She even went so far as to offer him cash
not to marry Lola right as he walked down the aisle. She was not seen in the strip after the storyline of Opus and Lola's wedding.
's closet of anxieties. At night he would make Binkley's nightmares, including such diverse characters as Jesse Helms
and Milton Friedman
, come alive. Binkley's anxieties were once confused with Ronald Reagan
's, causing Yuri Andropov
and Fidel Castro
to show up in his closet, while the Giant Purple Snorklewacker ended up in the White House
.
. He admitted to voting for Alexander Haig
in the 1988 Republican primary
. He lost faith in life when his satellite dish stopped working, and Oliver was questioned by FBI agents after attempting to unscramble the signal.
He has fallen subject to Oliver's experiments several times: his son's "molecular transfer device" once put his Jaguar
XJ6 into orbit around Pluto
. Another time, he accidentally drank some dandelion hallucinogenics that Oliver had made and thought that Erik Estrada
was coming out of his stomach. (When he scolded Oliver for this, he commented that he wished he had a "ditzy-headed daughter who wouldn't know a test tube if it walked up and bit her". Evidently still feeling the affects of the hallucinogen, he then imagined Oliver having a giant, xeroxed head of Brooke Shields
.) He was referred to as "Howard" in a storyline in which he is erased from existence when Oliver deleted his record from the IRS
. Also, in a storyline where Tom Binkley tries to give up smoking, their first names are switched (i.e. "Frank Binkley" and "Tom Jones").
His wife (Oliver's mother) seems to harbor an obsession with Michael Jackson
, as she repeatedly tries to get Oliver to emulate him.
following an attack on Dallas by Sean Penn
. Immediately after the operation, he "debrief[ed] the patient" by whispering repeatedly to the still-drugged Dallas, "You will not sue
." In response to a query about what restrictions a person with a broken back was under, he told Steve that "Foolin' around is out." Berke Breathed has said that Dr. Legrunt was based on one of his own doctors named Dr. Legant.
that he had no choice but to let Limekiller stay (even though what he actually said was "Something like 'Your earlobes resemble fish
heads'"). Limekiller would later reappear as the Meadow Party's first presidential nominee in 1983. However, his nomination was short-lived; after taking an impolitic jab at his campaign committee, "a black, a woman, two dips and a cripple" (a commentary on then-Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt
), he was dropped from the Meadow ticket before the actual election year had even come. He disappeared shortly thereafter.
Originally, Limekiller was depicted as a somewhat nattily dressed bum, including a battered top hat
, and wore a pair of sun glasses. Breathed would later describe him as "a sloppy retread of Doonesbury
s Duke
. When he was reintroduced for the presidential race storyline, he was changed, presumably to better distinguish him from Steve Dallas. The sun glasses were abandoned, his clothes became the more standard attire of a homeless man, and he now had a jutting chin covered with stubble. It was at this time his Australian accent was introduced, whereas before he'd faked a learned manner of speech when he spoke.
She is a radical environmental activist and good friends with the cockroaches in her kitchen. It is possible she was intended as a reworking of Milo's grandmother, Bess. She only appeared during the latter half of a story arc where Opus, thinking he'd booked passage on a pleasure cruise to Antarctica, instead wound up aboard the Rainbow Warrior on an anti-whaling
mission.
. Unfortunately for Opus, Alf proved to be a virulent feminist
, misandrist
and lesbian (although Breathed did state in a footnote for one of his books that he tried to cast her in a positive light).
Alf and Opus had some disastrous dates before Opus and Cutter John
disappeared over the ocean (and were subsequently presumed dead) in a flying wheelchair accident. Alf was left with the book Learn How to be a Model...or Just Look Like One!, as spelled out in Opus' will.
Later it was revealed that Alf had been seen in Tehran
in 1985 lighting a pile of bras and veils, and was forcibly conscripted by the Iranians to be a "minesweeper" on the Iraqi
front by 1988.
. He was depicted as a short balding man with glasses who held a strong disdain for those who did not listen to him. Otis was also shown to be a right-wing extremist. He constantly decried the actions of the world as sinful, complained about the left-wing, and organized book-burning parties, with objections ranging from sensible, mainstream qualms over sex
and violence
to ridiculous objections, such as calling for the banning of The Roger Tory Peterson
Guide to Penguins due to its portrayal of penguins in cohabitation
. However, he proved to be at least a little hypocritical by touching ladies' knees, then blaming the ladies for tempting "the inner demons of sin in men." In addition, once after a New Year's party he woke up in the rafters, apparently drunk. When identified by Milo he quickly explained he had been assaulted, drugged and left for dead (albeit in the rafters, minus his clothes) but this was probably a cover story.
He frequently appeared in the early days of Bloom County, but faded away around 1982.
editor
of the Bloom Picayune, the newspaper that employed Milo. Overbeek constantly butted heads with the Federal Communications Commission
and other federal agencies, as well as self-imposed media censors such as Otis Oracle. All of his editorials were based on his mantra "it's Reagan's fault
." Editor Overbeek's most common response to one of Milo's requests to go to press with an outrageous story he had just written was "RUN THAT BABY!!"
When Yaz challenged Opus to think of a stupider name than Yaz Pistachio, he responded 'Berkeley Breathed.'
Although she had a few storylines of her own in the strip (many of which were left out of subsequent Bloom County collections), Yaz never really caught on as a popular character. After her last appearance in the strip in January 1984, she was promptly forgotten in the Bloom County universe.
Yaz was usually seen wearing a flat cap
.
for Bloom County's classic rock
radio station
, KRNA. Twice he embarrassed Binkley over the air by exposing Binkley's need for bedwetting
and nose-picking
self-help
literature. Though his voice was heard over the radio in the strip, he was never seen in person, and remained an unseen character
. The character's name came from "Charmin'" Jeff Harmon, a popular afternoon DJ at KRNA-FM. KRNA was an actual rock station located in Iowa City, Iowa
, where Berke Breathed lived while writing the strip. The station was later bought out by Cumulus Media and moved to Cedar Rapids
in 1999.
Rabies was also a character in Breathed's previous comic strip, The Academia Waltz
, where he was Steve Dallas's dog.
and an antelope
). The rest of the basselopes died of clogged arteries
, as they liked lots of butter
on their Pop-Tarts
. Rosebud tried out for Steve Dallas's
heavy metal
rock band
but was unsuccessful and ended up becoming an equipment carrier. After it was revealed that Rosebud was a female, it was discovered that Rosebud had had an affair with Hodge-Podge
the jackrabbit, and was pregnant. Rosebud gave birth to 64 jackabasselopes
who matured and left after a week. Rosebud made her first appearance while Milo and Opus were hunting for a beast that "easily devours fifty rhinos a day." Basselopes supposedly live extremely long lives due to "taking cold showers." Rosebud was part of three gag government weapon programs against the Soviet Union
. One involved Rosebud launching a six megaton atomic bomb from between her antlers with a large rubber band. The second depicted Rosebud as the control system for a space weapon, described as "powered by twinkies, cheaper than a computer, somewhat slow reflexes but can hold [her] breath for six months or more." The third had Rosebud disguised as an old Russian woman and distributing American commercials, Dove Bar
s, Mickey Mouse
clothing, and cheeseburgers.
Rosebud Enterprises is also the name of Breathed's personal business.
s for fun, and bench presses 290 lbs. He made Opus – who nicknamed him "The Human Chin" – feel inadequate.
. It would often get on its (until then, unseen) hind legs during infomercials and either browbeat or hypnotize
Opus into buying copious quantities of whatever product it was advertising (typically products sold by Ronco
, and which always seemed to involve "turnip
twaddling").
of money-grubbing corporate
America, as well as the unreasonable demands of the cartoon syndicate
bosses. Typical examples of this hypocrisy were his replacing characters with scab workers when they decided to go on strike and a Sunday strip that showed the results of drug tests of employees of the cartoons and even Berke Breathed himself, who Thornhump thinks should be executed because the drug test revealed that he ate "one marijuana brownie
six years ago." Thornhump's test, of course, reveals that he is a serious alcoholic
. This point is driven home when Opus appears with his six-martini lunch. Nevertheless, the final verdict of his test declares him to be "drug free."
Thornhump was always prepared to pander to whomever he felt the need to pander to. He also did whatever he could to make a quick buck or rating point, regardless of legal, moral, or ethical issues, even going so low as to schedule a field trip to the "Acme Stewardess Academy" during a "Nudeness Week" in the strip.
Thornhump was not present when Bloom County was "sold" to Donald Trump
in Bill the Cat
's body, although he was later parodied in an editorial cartoon
by Calvin and Hobbes
creator Bill Watterson
that attacked Breathed's penchant for allowing merchandising rights for his creations.
, (a satirical take on Steve Wozniak
's Us Festival
) with Opus playing air guitar
behind her. One of the comic strips from this time revealed her inner dialogue in which she characterized herself as a "shy, sensitive, withdrawn young woman who likes Smurf dolls, sad rainy days, and silly, romantic poetry", in contrast to her public image.
She appeared in an earlier strip, in which Steve Dallas
won a role in her MTV
music video after being unknowingly entered by Opus. Steve unsuccessfully sued her after all his chest hair was permanently burned off during the making of the video (referencing Michael Jackson
's similar incident the previous year
); during the trial, televised on The People's Court
, she called Steve a "total jerkface" who deserved everything that he got. Her songs include "Scuzzbucket From Nantucket".
Tess, along with her band "The Blackheads", was a parody of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
. He was the only boy who paid Yaz any attention, much to her horror and disgust. He was present at Yaz's prom, and later became her accidental target in a game of spin the bottle
. He only appeared in storylines pertaining to Yaz, meaning that he was not seen again after 1983.
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...
's comic strip 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...
. Though significant enough to have appeared multiple times in the strip, they were not crucial to the strip's overall development, and disappeared without much (if any) explanation long before Breathed segued into his next comic, Outland.
Though the strip's various compilations do not do them justice, the original cast of characters in Bloom County were Milo, Bess, and Major Bloom, along with a basset hound
Basset Hound
The Basset Hound is a short-legged breed of dog of the hound family. They are scent hounds, bred to hunt rabbits and hare by scent. Their sense of smell for tracking is second only to that of the Bloodhound....
named "Rabies" whose thoughts could be read à la Snoopy
Snoopy
Snoopy is an fictional character in the long-running comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. He is Charlie Brown's pet beagle. Snoopy began his life in the strip as a fairly conventional dog, but eventually evolved into perhaps the strip's most dynamic character—and among the most recognizable...
; the first year of strips are mysteriously omitted from all compilations save the Bloom Library, although a selection did find publication in a 1986 anthology collection Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness
Bloom County Babylon
Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness is the fourth collection of the comic strip series Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed...
. Most of the strip's most memorable characters debuted later on, with Milo being the only key character to appear for the duration of the strip's run.
Alphonso Ali
Alphonso Ali was the first significant African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
character in Bloom County. An ardent admirer of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
, Alphonso was first introduced as Binkley
Michael Binkley
Michael Binkley is a fictional character in Berke Breathed's cartoon strip Bloom County.Michael, known to all simply as 'Binkley,' is a 10-year-old boy who lives at the Bloom County Boarding House with his father Tom . Binkley is in the same class as Milo Bloom, his best friend...
's opponent in the boxing ring. Later, Alphonso would make appearances as a friend of Binkley and Milo
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:...
, as well as everyone else in the meadow. He disappeared in 1983, and was replaced by 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:...
later that year.
Banana Jr. 6000
The Banana Jr. 6000 was Oliver Wendell Jones' sentientSentience
Sentience is the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. Eighteenth century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think from the ability to feel . In modern western philosophy, sentience is the ability to have sensations or experiences...
personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
, first introduced to the strip in December 1984 as Oliver's Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
present. It was a parody of the Macintosh computer, which had been released earlier that year.
The computer inexplicably came with legs and could walk, talk and contemplate its own existence, but could not stray further than the length of its electrical cord. In later strips, the cord disappeared and the Banana Jr. roamed freely. It worship
Worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...
ped the television, and would frequently present its "god" with offerings of household appliances. A Sunday strip featured a parody advertisement featuring Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons is an Israeli-American entrepreneur, singer-songwriter, actor, and rock bassist. Known as "The Demon", he is the bassist/vocalist of Kiss, a hard rock band he co-founded in the early 1970s.-Early life:...
which warned that not having a personal computer could lead children to grow up, wear fishnet stockings, join a heavy metal band, and stick out their tongues down to their kneecaps - like Simmons.
The computer was Oliver's hacking
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
sidekick (only confiscated by the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
twice) until mid-1985, when Oliver declared it obsolete due mostly to the bankruptcy of the Banana Computer Company (which only sold two units, including Oliver's). It made its last appearance in one of 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...
's liquidation sales.
Senator Bedfellow
Senator Lucias Bedfellow was the greedy and arguably evilEvil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
for Bloom County's state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
. He frequently came under scrutiny from his constituents in the meadow; it somehow got to the point that Hodge-Podge
Hodge-Podge (character)
Hodge-Podge the rabbit is a fictitious character from Berke Breathed's comic strip Bloom County. His best friends are Portnoy and Cutter John. Hodge is extremely politically conservative and fanatical about most things, though often ignorant and naive about just what those things are...
would honk Bedfellow's nose every time that the man spoke (for talking "bull patties"). The local press also made a habit of going after the Senator (mostly in the form of aggressive innuendos by 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:...
, much of which questioned his involvement in the controversial disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa
Jimmy Hoffa
James Riddle "Jimmy" Hoffa was an American labor union leader....
). Bedfellow was involved in a number of scandal
Scandal
A scandal is a widely publicized allegation or set of allegations that damages the reputation of an institution, individual or creed...
s (albeit mostly cooked up by the local press), the final being the illicit trade of illegal 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...
tote bags in 1983. He was convicted and sent to prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
, and was never referenced again in the strip. The last panel he appears in shows him behind bars, being approached by burly thugs angered over his support of capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
.
Senator Bedfellow eventually reappeared 22 years later as a recurring character in 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....
, with no mention of his incarceration. The new Bedfellow, like the old, was often the target of newspaper articles, and is mentioned several times as having an ex-wife. He disappeared after the first few years.
Tom Binkley
Tom Binkley was Binkley's divorced father, who is seen in a mid-life crisisMid-life crisis
Midlife crisis is a term coined in 1965 by Elliott Jaques and used in Western societies to describe a period of dramatic self-doubt that is felt by some individuals in the "middle years" or middle age of life, as a result of sensing the passing of their own youth and the imminence of their old age...
and frequently suffered the misfortune of being awakened in the early morning hours to hear Binkley repeat dubious celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
rumor
Rumor
A rumor or rumour is often viewed as "an unverified account or explanation of events circulating from person to person and pertaining to an object, event, or issue in public concern" However, a review of the research on rumor conducted by Pendleton in 1998 found that research across sociology,...
s. Tom desperately wants Binkley to be tough and athletic. Tom gives Binkley the nickname "Mad Dog" and takes him on ill-fated hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
trips. When working as a shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
, he told Binkley that he wouldn't get back together with Binkley's mother because she was now living in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
with a Hells Angel. He is a solid Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
and refers to himself as "liberal and modern", though he had a crisis of faith and extreme guilt when he admitted that he didn't like Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
. Tom is also concerned with his approaching middle-age and can be seen fretting about his life and his son Binkley's often well-meaning attempts to help his father accept his aging but in fact making him feel even worse.
Blondie
Not to be confused with the title character of the comic strip BlondieBlondie (comic strip)
Blondie is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Chic Young. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, the strip has been published in newspapers since September 8, 1930...
(for whom she was likely named), Blondie was Binkley's African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
would-be girlfriend
Girlfriend
Girlfriend is a term that can refer to either a female partner in a non-marital romantic relationship or a female non-romantic friend that is closer than other friends....
. Originally from Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Blondie immediately found herself to be Binkley's crush. She went on a date with Binkley to see Pink Floyd: The Wall
Pink Floyd The Wall (film)
Pink Floyd—The Wall is a 1982 British live-action/animated musical film directed by Alan Parker based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall. The screenplay was written by Pink Floyd vocalist and bassist Roger Waters. The film is highly metaphorical and is rich in symbolic imagery and sound...
, much to Binkley's father's dismay.
She appeared twice more in the strip, but eventually faded away without further mention.
Major Bloom
A key character in the early years of the strip, Major Bloom was Milo's jingoisticJingoism
Jingoism is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as extreme patriotism in the form of aggressive foreign policy. In practice, it is a country's advocation of the use of threats or actual force against other countries in order to safeguard what it perceives as its national interests...
, right-wing grandfather as well as his custodial guardian. He was initially named "Major P. Flynn" in a very early strip, but was thereafter known as Major Bloom, or more commonly, Major.
The Major frequently had delusions about fighting Nazis and Communists (who usually turned out to be ducks), and tried to lead his grandson "the right way." In his spare time, he was head coach of Bloom County's pee-wee football
Pop Warner Little Scholars
Pop Warner Little Scholars is a non-profit organization that provides youth football, cheerleading, and dance programs for participants in 43 U.S. states and several countries around the world. It is headquartered in Langhorne, Pennsylvania...
team (which he used to live out his lifelong fantasy of being a military commander, a la George S. Patton
George S. Patton
George Smith Patton, Jr. was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from...
), whose players included Milo and Michael Binkley
Michael Binkley
Michael Binkley is a fictional character in Berke Breathed's cartoon strip Bloom County.Michael, known to all simply as 'Binkley,' is a 10-year-old boy who lives at the Bloom County Boarding House with his father Tom . Binkley is in the same class as Milo Bloom, his best friend...
.
Like most of the strip's original cast of characters, The Major faded from sight around 1983, though he did appear in the short story "The Great LaRouche
Lyndon LaRouche
Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche, Jr. is an American political activist and founder of a network of political committees, parties, and publications known collectively as the LaRouche movement...
Toad
Toad
A toad is any of a number of species of amphibians in the order Anura characterized by dry, leathery skin , short legs, and snoat-like parotoid glands...
-Frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
Massacre" in the 1986 book Bloom County Babylon
Bloom County Babylon
Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness is the fourth collection of the comic strip series Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed...
.
While he stopped appearing, he and his wife were presumably still present, as they were responsible for running the boarding house where most of the characters lived.
Bess Bloom
Bess Bloom was Major Bloom's wife, and grandmother of Milo BloomMilo 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:...
. She was most prominent in the earliest years of the strip. Less rigid than her husband, Bess was a faithful wife and was known for being affectionate for all living beings, including cockroach
Cockroach
Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations...
es, which Major Bloom often waged war with.
Ms. Opus
Ms. Opus was Opus' mother. Opus spent most of his time in Bloom County searching for her, a recurring staple of the strip. While initially discovering (after many unsuccessful attempts) that she had been killed saving soldiers in the Falklands WarFalklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
, he later found her being used for cruel experiments by the Mary Kay Cosmetics company, physically resembling Opus, albeit with a pink petticoat
Petticoat
A petticoat or underskirt is an article of clothing for women; specifically an undergarment to be worn under a skirt or a dress. The petticoat is a separate garment hanging from the waist ....
and umbrella. Unfortunately, the two were soon separated in a battle between Mary Kay and the ALF
Animal Liberation Front
The Animal Liberation Front is an international, underground leaderless resistance that engages in illegal direct action in pursuit of animal liberation...
. At the end of Bloom County, he declined Ronald-Ann's
Ronald-Ann Smith
Ronald-Ann Smith was a character in Berkeley Breathed's comic strips Bloom County and Outland.Named after Ronald Reagan, Ronald-Ann was a young African American girl "from the wrong side of the trax" in Bloom County. Appearing late in the strip's run, Ronald-Ann was presented as a polar opposite of...
offer to enter Outland, and the last strip of the latter showed him finding her in Antarctica and warmly cuddling with her.
However, as shown in 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....
, she did not turn out to be the mother figure he'd hoped for (for instance, she constantly doted on him and forced him marry a gluttonous
Gluttony
Gluttony, derived from the Latin gluttire meaning to gulp down or swallow, means over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, intoxicants or wealth items to the point of extravagance or waste...
female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...
penguin named Eunice), and he returned to Bloom County (where he tried to find a more likable mother-figure) on a crashed Mars rover
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
. As with Breathed's artwork itself, Ms. Opus' appearance had changed: She physically resembled a real penguin compared to her son, she was much larger, uglier, and had a subtle potbelly, and her behavior was a cross of that of a real penguin and a stereotypical overbearing mother.
Mrs. Dallas
Mrs. Dallas would occasionally show up for unexpected visits with her son SteveSteve 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...
. She was horrified at his slovenly, womanizing ways, and always tried to convince him to get married and go to church. She appeared as a heavy-set, aproned, fifties-style housewife, except that she also wore Steve's signature black aviator sunglasses. Mrs. Dallas apparently thought Steve's father had died, and had accordingly felt free to remarry five times. Steve eventually revealed that his father had actually been sitting in the living room, reading the paper, the entire time. She did not care for 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...
, whom she originally thought to be a large rodent. Opus never realized she was referring to him.
She also has appeared several times as a manifestation out of his anxiety closet.
Ash Dashley
SouthernerSouthern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
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...
and baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
millionaire Ashley Dashley III was the arrogant, opportunistic owner and station manager of Bloom County TV; a "visionary", he was prone to butting heads with the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) and self-imposed television censors such as Otis Oracle. After purchasing the station, he made Limekiller his right-hand man with mixed results. He was a recurring character throughout 1981, then disappeared. Ash was intended as a satire of Ted Turner
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
.
Armand Dipthong
Armand Diphthong was the highly-stressed Chief Editor of the Bloom Picayune. A common source of his anxiety was the pressure to sacrifice his journalistic integrity for sleazy tabloidesque stories. He also struggled to write a "truly frank article on the public-health threat of AIDSAIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
", at the risk of offending prudish subscribers.
Leona Granola
Leona Granola is the mother of Lola GranolaLola Granola
Lola Granola, also known as Fatima Struggle, is a fictional character in the comic strips Bloom County and Opus by Berkeley Breathed.Lola, a free spirited hippie and abstract artist, is the unlikely fiancée of Opus the Penguin...
, and was a recurring character during Lola's engagement to 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...
. She strongly disapproved of Opus, and repeatedly tried to convince her daughter to dump him. She even went so far as to offer him cash
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
not to marry Lola right as he walked down the aisle. She was not seen in the strip after the storyline of Opus and Lola's wedding.
The Giant Purple Snorklewacker
The Giant Purple Snorklewacker was an odd-looking monster and the leader of the monsters who lived in BinkleyMichael Binkley
Michael Binkley is a fictional character in Berke Breathed's cartoon strip Bloom County.Michael, known to all simply as 'Binkley,' is a 10-year-old boy who lives at the Bloom County Boarding House with his father Tom . Binkley is in the same class as Milo Bloom, his best friend...
's closet of anxieties. At night he would make Binkley's nightmares, including such diverse characters as Jesse Helms
Jesse Helms
Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001...
and Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...
, come alive. Binkley's anxieties were once confused with Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's, causing Yuri Andropov
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 12 November 1982 until his death fifteen months later.-Early life:...
and Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
to show up in his closet, while the Giant Purple Snorklewacker ended up in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
.
Frank Jones
Frank Jones is the father (and often unwitting test subject) of Oliver Wendell JonesOliver 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:...
. He admitted to voting for Alexander Haig
Alexander Haig
Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. was a United States Army general who served as the United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
in the 1988 Republican primary
United States presidential election, 1988
The United States presidential election of 1988 featured no incumbent president, as President Ronald Reagan was unable to seek re-election after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. Reagan's Vice President, George H. W. Bush, won the Republican nomination, while the...
. He lost faith in life when his satellite dish stopped working, and Oliver was questioned by FBI agents after attempting to unscramble the signal.
He has fallen subject to Oliver's experiments several times: his son's "molecular transfer device" once put his Jaguar
Jaguar (car)
Jaguar Cars Ltd, known simply as Jaguar , is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Whitley, Coventry, England. It is part of the Jaguar Land Rover business, a subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors....
XJ6 into orbit around Pluto
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
. Another time, he accidentally drank some dandelion hallucinogenics that Oliver had made and thought that Erik Estrada
Erik Estrada
Henry Enrique "Erik" Estrada is an American police officer and actor, known for his co-starring lead role in the 1977–1983 United States police television series CHiPs...
was coming out of his stomach. (When he scolded Oliver for this, he commented that he wished he had a "ditzy-headed daughter who wouldn't know a test tube if it walked up and bit her". Evidently still feeling the affects of the hallucinogen, he then imagined Oliver having a giant, xeroxed head of Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields
Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....
.) He was referred to as "Howard" in a storyline in which he is erased from existence when Oliver deleted his record from the IRS
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
. Also, in a storyline where Tom Binkley tries to give up smoking, their first names are switched (i.e. "Frank Binkley" and "Tom Jones").
His wife (Oliver's mother) seems to harbor an obsession with Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
, as she repeatedly tries to get Oliver to emulate him.
Dr. Legrunt
Dr. Legrunt was the surgeon who treated Steve DallasSteve 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...
following an attack on Dallas by Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
. Immediately after the operation, he "debrief[ed] the patient" by whispering repeatedly to the still-drugged Dallas, "You will not sue
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
." In response to a query about what restrictions a person with a broken back was under, he told Steve that "Foolin' around is out." Berke Breathed has said that Dr. Legrunt was based on one of his own doctors named Dr. Legant.
Charles Limekiller
Charles Limekiller was a bum of apparent Australian origin who sought room and board at the Bloom Boarding House. When he was first introduced, it was revealed that Limekiller had been estranged from his wife, Eleanor and their three children. Initially, Major Bloom disapproved of having him around, but Bess was so enchanted by Limekiller's usage of FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
that he had no choice but to let Limekiller stay (even though what he actually said was "Something like 'Your earlobes resemble fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
heads'"). Limekiller would later reappear as the Meadow Party's first presidential nominee in 1983. However, his nomination was short-lived; after taking an impolitic jab at his campaign committee, "a black, a woman, two dips and a cripple" (a commentary on then-Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt
James G. Watt
James Gaius Watt served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior for President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1983.-Early life and career:...
), he was dropped from the Meadow ticket before the actual election year had even come. He disappeared shortly thereafter.
Originally, Limekiller was depicted as a somewhat nattily dressed bum, including a battered top hat
Top hat
A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...
, and wore a pair of sun glasses. Breathed would later describe him as "a sloppy retread of 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...
s Duke
Uncle Duke
Uncle Duke is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau.He is nominally Zonker Harris's uncle, albeit an "uncle by courtesy" only. Duke was originally a straightforward caricature of the late gonzo journalist Hunter S...
. When he was reintroduced for the presidential race storyline, he was changed, presumably to better distinguish him from Steve Dallas. The sun glasses were abandoned, his clothes became the more standard attire of a homeless man, and he now had a jutting chin covered with stubble. It was at this time his Australian accent was introduced, whereas before he'd faked a learned manner of speech when he spoke.
Lola Limekiller
A very short time after Charles Limekiller's disappearance, a little old lady named Lola Limekiller appeared for a while in the strip. Her relation to the original Limekiller was never explained.She is a radical environmental activist and good friends with the cockroaches in her kitchen. It is possible she was intended as a reworking of Milo's grandmother, Bess. She only appeared during the latter half of a story arc where Opus, thinking he'd booked passage on a pleasure cruise to Antarctica, instead wound up aboard the Rainbow Warrior on an anti-whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
mission.
Alf Mushpie
Alf Mushpie first appeared as a blind date fluke with OpusOpus 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...
. Unfortunately for Opus, Alf proved to be a virulent feminist
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
, misandrist
Misandry
Misandry is the hatred or dislike of men or boys.Misandry comes from Greek misos and anēr, andros . Misandry is the antonym of philandry, the fondness towards men, love, or admiration of them...
and lesbian (although Breathed did state in a footnote for one of his books that he tried to cast her in a positive light).
Alf and Opus had some disastrous dates before Opus and 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...
disappeared over the ocean (and were subsequently presumed dead) in a flying wheelchair accident. Alf was left with the book Learn How to be a Model...or Just Look Like One!, as spelled out in Opus' will.
Later it was revealed that Alf had been seen in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
in 1985 lighting a pile of bras and veils, and was forcibly conscripted by the Iranians to be a "minesweeper" on the Iraqi
Iran-Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran, lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the longest conventional war of the twentieth century...
front by 1988.
Otis Oracle
Otis Oracle was the head of the Bloom County chapter of the Moral MajorityMoral Majority
The Moral Majority was a political organization of the United States which had an agenda of evangelical Christian-oriented political lobbying...
. He was depicted as a short balding man with glasses who held a strong disdain for those who did not listen to him. Otis was also shown to be a right-wing extremist. He constantly decried the actions of the world as sinful, complained about the left-wing, and organized book-burning parties, with objections ranging from sensible, mainstream qualms over sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
and violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
to ridiculous objections, such as calling for the banning of The Roger Tory Peterson
Roger Tory Peterson
Roger Tory Peterson , was an American naturalist, ornithologist, artist, and educator, and held to be one of the founding inspirations for the 20th century environmental movement.-Background:...
Guide to Penguins due to its portrayal of penguins in cohabitation
Cohabitation
Cohabitation usually refers to an arrangement whereby two people decide to live together on a long-term or permanent basis in an emotionally and/or sexually intimate relationship. The term is most frequently applied to couples who are not married...
. However, he proved to be at least a little hypocritical by touching ladies' knees, then blaming the ladies for tempting "the inner demons of sin in men." In addition, once after a New Year's party he woke up in the rafters, apparently drunk. When identified by Milo he quickly explained he had been assaulted, drugged and left for dead (albeit in the rafters, minus his clothes) but this was probably a cover story.
He frequently appeared in the early days of Bloom County, but faded away around 1982.
Editor Overbeek
Editor Van Overbeek was the alcoholicAlcoholism
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...
editor
Editor
The term editor may refer to:As a person who does editing:* Editor in chief, having final responsibility for a publication's operations and policies* Copy editing, making formatting changes and other improvements to text...
of the Bloom Picayune, the newspaper that employed Milo. Overbeek constantly butted heads with the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
and other federal agencies, as well as self-imposed media censors such as Otis Oracle. All of his editorials were based on his mantra "it's Reagan's fault
Media bias
Media bias refers to the bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media in the selection of events and stories that are reported and how they are covered. The term "media bias" implies a pervasive or widespread bias contravening the standards of journalism, rather than the...
." Editor Overbeek's most common response to one of Milo's requests to go to press with an outrageous story he had just written was "RUN THAT BABY!!"
Yaz Pistachio
Yaz Pistachio was introduced in June 1983 as Bobbi Harlow's sixteen-year-old niece in need of a date for the junior prom. Bobbi's ex-boyfriend, Steve Dallas, was recruited to accompany Yaz. The prom was a horrible failure, as Steve got drunk early on, the school quarterback insulted Yaz, and Steve ended up puking during their spotlight dance, although she and Opus did enjoy a dance together (the latter being supported by Binkley and Milo so that he could reach her). After that, Yaz appeared most often in early Meadow Party storylines, as well as in Binkley's Return of the Jedi dream sequence.When Yaz challenged Opus to think of a stupider name than Yaz Pistachio, he responded 'Berkeley Breathed.'
Although she had a few storylines of her own in the strip (many of which were left out of subsequent Bloom County collections), Yaz never really caught on as a popular character. After her last appearance in the strip in January 1984, she was promptly forgotten in the Bloom County universe.
Yaz was usually seen wearing a flat cap
Flat cap
A flat cap is a rounded men or women's cap with a small stiff brim in front. Cloths used to make the cap include original wool, tweed , and cotton. Less common materials may include leather. Cord flat caps are also worn in various colours. The inside of the cap is usually lined with silk for...
.
L.H. Puttgrass
L.H. Puttgrass was a loud man who embraced his right to have his opinions heard, which included 'killing all the lawyers' and 'more skin on HBO'. His commentaries always ended with "This is L. H. Puttgrass signing off and heading for the tub!""Rockin' Charmin' Harmin"
"Rockin' Charmin' Harmin" was a popular disc jockeyDisc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
for Bloom County's classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
, KRNA. Twice he embarrassed Binkley over the air by exposing Binkley's need for bedwetting
Bedwetting
Nocturnal enuresis, commonly called bedwetting, is involuntary urination while asleep after the age at which bladder control usually occurs. Nocturnal enuresis is considered primary when a child has not yet had a prolonged period of being dry...
and nose-picking
Nose-picking
Nose-picking is the act of extracting dried nasal mucus or foreign bodies from the nose with a finger. Despite being a very common habit, it is a mildly taboo activity in most cultures, and the observation of the activity in another person may provoke mixed feelings of disgust and amusement...
self-help
Self-help
Self-help, or self-improvement, is a self-guided improvement—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. There are many different self-help movements and each has its own focus, techniques, associated beliefs, proponents and in some cases, leaders...
literature. Though his voice was heard over the radio in the strip, he was never seen in person, and remained an unseen character
Unseen character
In fiction, an unseen character is a character that is never directly observed by the audience but is only described by other characters. They are a common device in drama and have been called "triumphs of theatrical invention". They are continuing characters — characters who are currently in...
. The character's name came from "Charmin'" Jeff Harmon, a popular afternoon DJ at KRNA-FM. KRNA was an actual rock station located in Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, State of Iowa. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of about 67,862, making it the sixth-largest city in the state. Iowa City is the county seat of Johnson County and home to the University of Iowa...
, where Berke Breathed lived while writing the strip. The station was later bought out by Cumulus Media and moved to Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Cedar Rapids is the second largest city in Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and east of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city...
in 1999.
Rabies
Rabies was Milo's dog, who could talk. He only appeared during the first few years of the strip, later to disappear at about the same time that Opus became a regular character. Most of his final appearances were simply as part of the Sunday edition, specifically leaning against the logo while smoking a cigar.Rabies was also a character in Breathed's previous comic strip, 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...
, where he was Steve Dallas's dog.
Rosebud the Basselope
Rosebud the Basselope was the world's last basselope (a cross between a basset houndBasset Hound
The Basset Hound is a short-legged breed of dog of the hound family. They are scent hounds, bred to hunt rabbits and hare by scent. Their sense of smell for tracking is second only to that of the Bloodhound....
and an antelope
Antelope
Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
). The rest of the basselopes died of clogged arteries
Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is a condition in which an artery wall thickens as a result of the accumulation of fatty materials such as cholesterol...
, as they liked lots of butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
on their Pop-Tarts
Pop-Tarts
Pop-Tarts is a brand of rectangular, pre-baked toaster pastries made by the Kellogg Company. Pop-Tarts have a sugary filling sealed inside two layers of rectangular, thin pastry crust. Some varieties are frosted. Although sold pre-cooked, they are designed to be warmed inside a toaster or...
. Rosebud tried out for Steve Dallas's
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...
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...
rock band
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
but was unsuccessful and ended up becoming an equipment carrier. After it was revealed that Rosebud was a female, it was discovered that Rosebud had had an affair with Hodge-Podge
Hodge-Podge (character)
Hodge-Podge the rabbit is a fictitious character from Berke Breathed's comic strip Bloom County. His best friends are Portnoy and Cutter John. Hodge is extremely politically conservative and fanatical about most things, though often ignorant and naive about just what those things are...
the jackrabbit, and was pregnant. Rosebud gave birth to 64 jackabasselopes
Jackalope
The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns or deer antlers and sometimes a pheasant's tail . The word "jackalope" is a portmanteau of "jackrabbit" and "antalope", an archaic spelling of "antelope". It is also known as Lepus...
who matured and left after a week. Rosebud made her first appearance while Milo and Opus were hunting for a beast that "easily devours fifty rhinos a day." Basselopes supposedly live extremely long lives due to "taking cold showers." Rosebud was part of three gag government weapon programs against 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....
. One involved Rosebud launching a six megaton atomic bomb from between her antlers with a large rubber band. The second depicted Rosebud as the control system for a space weapon, described as "powered by twinkies, cheaper than a computer, somewhat slow reflexes but can hold [her] breath for six months or more." The third had Rosebud disguised as an old Russian woman and distributing American commercials, Dove Bar
Dove Bar
DoveBar is an American ice cream bar, created by Leo Stefanos at Dove Candies & Ice Cream in Chicago in 1956, and introduced nationally in 1985. The brand was bought by Mars Inc. in 1985, and the Dove Bar today is made by M&M/Mars. The Dove chocolate brand was named for the ice cream.Each ice...
s, Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
clothing, and cheeseburgers.
Rosebud Enterprises is also the name of Breathed's personal business.
Bart Savagewood
Bart Savagewood was Lola Granola's ex, who tests fighter jets for the U.S. Navy, catches sharkShark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
s for fun, and bench presses 290 lbs. He made Opus – who nicknamed him "The Human Chin" – feel inadequate.
Opus' television
Opus' television usually appeared in segments used to satirize consumerismConsumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen...
. It would often get on its (until then, unseen) hind legs during infomercials and either browbeat or hypnotize
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
Opus into buying copious quantities of whatever product it was advertising (typically products sold by Ronco
Ronco
Ronco is an American company that manufactures and sells a variety of items and devices, most commonly those used in the kitchen. Ron Popeil founded the company in 1964, and commercials for the company's products soon became pervasive and memorable, in part thanks to Popeil's personal sales pitches...
, and which always seemed to involve "turnip
Turnip
The turnip or white turnip is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, bulbous taproot. Small, tender varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties are grown as feed for livestock...
twaddling").
W. A. Thornhump III
W. A. Thornhump III was introduced as the fictional CEO of Bloom County Industries in 1986. Thornhump was Breathed's attempt at satirizing the perceived hypocrisyHypocrisy
Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie....
of money-grubbing corporate
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
America, as well as the unreasonable demands of the cartoon syndicate
Syndicate
A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies or entities formed to transact some specific business, or to promote a common interest or in the case of criminals, to engage in organized crime...
bosses. Typical examples of this hypocrisy were his replacing characters with scab workers when they decided to go on strike and a Sunday strip that showed the results of drug tests of employees of the cartoons and even Berke Breathed himself, who Thornhump thinks should be executed because the drug test revealed that he ate "one marijuana brownie
Chocolate brownie
A chocolate brownie is a flat, baked square or bar introduced in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century and popularized in both the U.S. and Canada during the first half of the twentieth century. The brownie is sliced from a type of dense, rich chocolate cake, which is, in texture,...
six years ago." Thornhump's test, of course, reveals that he is a serious alcoholic
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...
. This point is driven home when Opus appears with his six-martini lunch. Nevertheless, the final verdict of his test declares him to be "drug free."
Thornhump was always prepared to pander to whomever he felt the need to pander to. He also did whatever he could to make a quick buck or rating point, regardless of legal, moral, or ethical issues, even going so low as to schedule a field trip to the "Acme Stewardess Academy" during a "Nudeness Week" in the strip.
Thornhump was not present when Bloom County was "sold" to Donald Trump
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...
in 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...
's body, although he was later parodied in an editorial cartoon
Editorial cartoon
An editorial cartoon, also known as a political cartoon, is an illustration containing a commentary that usually relates to current events or personalities....
by Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes is a syndicated daily comic strip that was written and illustrated by American cartoonist Bill Watterson, and syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. It follows the humorous antics of Calvin, a precocious and adventurous six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his...
creator Bill Watterson
Bill Watterson
William Boyd Watterson II , known as Bill Watterson, is an American cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes...
that attacked Breathed's penchant for allowing merchandising rights for his creations.
Tess Turbo
Tess Turbo was a rebellious goth rock star who first appeared at the Meadow Party's 1984 benefit concertBenefit concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause at...
, (a satirical take on Steve Wozniak
Steve Wozniak
Stephen Gary "Woz" Wozniak is an American computer engineer and programmer who founded Apple Computer, Co. with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne...
's Us Festival
US Festival
The US Festivals were two early 1980s music and culture festivals sponsored by Steve Wozniak, formerly of Apple Computer. The first was held Labor Day weekend in September 1982 and the second was Memorial Day weekend in May 1983...
) with Opus playing air guitar
Air guitar
Playing air guitar is a form of dance and movement in which the performer pretends to play rock or heavy metal-style electric guitar, including riffs, solos, etc. Playing an air guitar usually consists of exaggerated strumming and picking motions and is often coupled with loud singing or lip-synching...
behind her. One of the comic strips from this time revealed her inner dialogue in which she characterized herself as a "shy, sensitive, withdrawn young woman who likes Smurf dolls, sad rainy days, and silly, romantic poetry", in contrast to her public image.
She appeared in an earlier strip, in which 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...
won a role in her MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
music video after being unknowingly entered by Opus. Steve unsuccessfully sued her after all his chest hair was permanently burned off during the making of the video (referencing Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's similar incident the previous year
1984 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1984.-Janury-March:*January 21 – "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood reaches number one in the UK singles chart, despite being banned by the BBC; it spends a total of forty-two weeks in the Top 40.*January 27 – Michael Jackson's...
); during the trial, televised on The People's Court
The People's Court
The People's Court is a US television court show in which small claims court cases are heard, though what is shown is actually a binding arbitration....
, she called Steve a "total jerkface" who deserved everything that he got. Her songs include "Scuzzbucket From Nantucket".
Tess, along with her band "The Blackheads", was a parody of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
"Weird" Harold
"Weird" Harold was a classmate of Yaz Pistachio's, presented as a socially awkward geekGeek
The word geek is a slang term, with different meanings ranging from "a computer expert or enthusiast" to "a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts", with a general pejorative meaning of "a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp[ecially] one who is perceived to...
. He was the only boy who paid Yaz any attention, much to her horror and disgust. He was present at Yaz's prom, and later became her accidental target in a game of spin the bottle
Spin the bottle
Spin the Bottle is a party game in which several players sit/stand/kneel in a circle. One player spins a bottle and must kiss the person to whom the bottle points, who then spins the bottle in turn...
. He only appeared in storylines pertaining to Yaz, meaning that he was not seen again after 1983.