Opus
Added 2019-11-07 15:27:16 +0000 UTCScrawled this good boy during an impromptu comic con held by my alma meter, Montserrat College of Art. I was on a panel and everything. More on that later... maybe.
Opus is the central character of Berkeley Breathed’s comic strip, Bloom County. He later starred in the Sunday-only strips Outland and Opus, and is currently in a rebooted Bloom County.
I hold Breathed as a major influence on my art. I was always a comic strip guy and not a comic book guy. He was someone who, to me, had it all. The art was wonderful, the humor was solid (though the 1980s political references are, by definition, dated), and unlike his pal Bill Watterson, he was unashamed to sell merch.
This strip from 1988 is one of my favorites. There’s so much acting crammed into four black and white panels. There’s not even a real punchline, just some silly back and forth between Opus and Steve that just keeps building.
https://www.gocomics.com/bloomcounty/1988/08/20
Comments
It makes so so much sense to me now that you say that you are more a comic strip guy than comic book guy -- it's why your sequences are so good and why your Angela series and such work so well -- in just a few frames you tell us so so much story and character
Scramble
2019-11-09 06:28:16 +0000 UTCAyyyyy, Bloom County! Read a ton of these back in elementary - high school. And you're right; the thing that sticks with me about the comic is the fantastic level of energy and expression going on in most of the strips. Bill the Cat certainly helped with that.
Val Salia
2019-11-07 20:06:08 +0000 UTC
