After a bit of a hiatus, A Beautiful Gory Display is back. This week we’re looking at archival reprints of a classic comic strip, the long-delayed ending of a series, and, if you can believe it, a good Iron Man story. Sound good? Well then, let’s get to it!
Bloom County: The Complete Library Volume One (IDW) – I am just now realizing as I type this that Bloom County ended more than twenty years ago, and I have never felt older than I do right now. Bloom County was one of the comic strip greats, and in its prime it was like nothing else on the comics page. Unfortunately, since it was a topical strip (more often than not) it’s largely ignored today and the collections are long out of print. Those Bella Abzug jokes just haven’t aged as well as you might think. That’s a real shame, because unlike the similar-on-the-surface Doonesbury, Bloom County was as much a character piece at it was a commentary.
Some of those characters may still be recognizable to new readers. Opus the Penguin spawned a merchandising mini-empire, evidence of which can still be spotted today. And since then, he’s starred in two further comic strips, a Christmas special, and a couple of illustrated children’s books. And then there’s Bill the Cat, who seems to still be pretty well-remembered. Bloom County may be gone, but it’s not entirely forgotten.
