Opus Revealed as Love Child of Berkeley Breathed and Garry Trudeau

[livius drusus]

The shocking revelation was made by Opus' mummy, Berkeley Breathed himself, in an in-depth interview with some guy who is not Oprah but probably should have been.

On Poppa Garry

RUSSELL: Ever feel the urge to call Garry Trudeau and finally make the peace? Your statements in recent interviews almost feel like ramp-ups to this act.

BREATHED: Good ol' Garry. Ever see the interviews with Elizabeth Edwards where she's asked about Rielle Hunter and she can't get herself to actually say Hunter's name? Calls her "that woman"?

He's sorta like that with me. Come to think of it, I'm sorta like Rielle. I just want all of us to be a big happy family even while I hold his fat homely bastard love child that looks like a penguin.

Just when you thought the Weinsteins could not get any stupider

RUSSELL: Before Zemeckis came along for "Mars Needs Moms!," you had frustrating Hollywood experiences: an animated "Wish for Wings that Work" special that you mildly dismiss in the Vol. 3 side-notes as "sentimental"; a production of "Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big" that you've called "unfinished and unwatchable"; and a recent Miramax development process for an "Opus" movie that your recent comments suggest is best forgotten. (They wanted to redesign Opus? Really?) What are some of the most dunderheaded notes you've gotten during a Hollywood development process?

BREATHED: Bob Weinstein in 2006: "You can't have a penguin talk to people."

The project only had one place to go from there. It's very funny now. In the end, it cost him an astonishing amount of money to be allowed to say that.

Where are the Mary Worths of yesteryear?

RUSSELL: Re-reading "Bloom County" now, the sheer rudeness of some of these comics is still sort of breathtaking. What sort of editorial gauntlet did you have to run at the time to preserve what you've called the comic's "up yours" attitude?

BREATHED: Few fights then. Almost none. Interestingly ... probably impossible now. Fear rules in the pages today. Shivering, pee-in-your-pants fear that another subscriber will cancel. So the editors edit everything and anything out that could possibly offend. Or be vaguely interesting. A brilliant, sad strategy to speed up the inevitable collapse.

RUSSELL: Could "Bloom County" even exist in syndication today?

BREATHED: "No" is the short answer. Papers would be flummoxed by "Bloom County" now. It was meant for youthful eyeballs -- and there be none of those ogling newspaper comic pages now. Old-timers chuckling over "Doonesbury" and "Beetle Bailey" are pretty much all that's left. They clip out their favorites, stick 'em on the fridge, and put the rest under their parakeets to shit on. The good ol' days.

[Doctor X]

One thing I loved about Breathed from the beginning was he could laugh at himself and his opinions unlike Trudeau.

--J.D.

[LadyShea]

[Pinecone]

I have a plush toy Opus and you guys don't so THERE!

[livius drusus]

I have the Billy and the Boingers record. SO DOUBLE THERE!

[Pinecone]

[Kael]

I had a collection of Bloom County, but I can't find it anymore. So there to me, I guess.

[Sock Puppet]

I had a Bill the Cat, so there. At one point my friends and roommates put him through a series of increasingly bizarre and obscene stagings. At one point, baguettes were involved. You might not want to inquire further.

[LadyShea]

Dear Secret Santa, I like Bloom County plushies

[Janet]

I had a "Don't blame me, I voted for Bill and Opus" t-shirt I used to wear every election day. Sadly I did a huge t-shirt cull years ago when I realized all t-shirts look terrible on me. I miss that one and several others.

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

I have a plush toy Opus and you guys don't so THERE!

Yes I do! I've had him since I was little!

[Pinecone]

Originally Posted by Anastasia Beaverhausen

Yes I do! I've had him since I was little!

Ok so then ... WE have plushies and the rest of you guys don't and so THERE!

[mulebear]

I used to have a large Opus plush, but I don't know what happened to it.

Does the fact that I have a rare Stinky Cheese Man Bobble Head Doll count for anything?

[livius drusus]

Yes. Yes it does.

[ChuckF]

B. Breathed publishes first Bloom County strip in 25 years on his Facebook

[Qingdai]

I can't love that enough.