Where would we be without Opus? Or Steve Dallas? Or the hair-ball producing, electric-tongue playing Bill the Cat? Our lives would have far less laughter. Berkeley Breathed debuted his political send-up strip in the Washington Post on December 8, 1980, with the famous "Whopper, hold the bun" strip - and we never looked back. Bloom County ran until 1989 and spawned two offshoots - Outland and Opus - and several picture books but the strip was never published in its entirety. Until now. Volume 1 contains all the strips in chronological order from the debut to September 26, 1982; Volume 2 is in the works for Spring 2010 and more volumes are expected. I carted my precious Volume 1 home the day it came in and spent a the entire evening (night) chortling over Milo hunting Commies, aka ducks, with his Grandpa, Steve Dallas's inept womanizing, and Bobbi's attempts to control her classroom. Breathed takes all the 80s cliches and politics and throws them back at you - no holds barred. What makes the Complete Library extra-special are the margin notes provided by Breathed pointing out little tidbits and asides (he'll tell you where Milo got his hame) and the inclusion of some strips from The Academia Waltz, Breathed's strip for The Daily Texan at UT-Austin. This is my all-time favorite comic-strip; I was too young to appreciate Milo and the gang when they were in the paper but fell in love with the wacky crew through Bloom County Babylon and Billy and the Boingers Bootleg. Now I get to read the strips not included in previous Bloom County collections and I couldn't be happier. This is the perfect addition to any comic-strip aficionado's collection.
