Bloom County: The Complete Library Volume 3 by Berkeley Breathed (Oct 26 2010)

This is a high-quality compilation of Bloom County strips that ran in newspapers in the 80s. It is the most complete collection of them made so far--even the paperback compilations don't have all of these. It's hard to understand why the omissions were made--the restored strips are terrific! Though this is Volume 3, readers do not need to have read the first two books to understand or appreciate this one. The characters are immediately recognizable and relatable and just as fresh and relevant now as they were in the 80s. An ensemble cast of young children, talking animals, and childish adults interact with the issues of their day: religious encroachment, non-substantive politics, scientific inquiry, and heavy metal music. Those issues haven't changed much since these strips were new. I especially liked Breathed's occasional liner notes on the strips; it was neat to get a little insight as to what he was thinking at the time. Those of a delicate constitution (or Republicans) will probably not like this book very much, but for the subversives among us, it's a godsend in an increasingly dogmatic age. Definitely recommend.

Throughout the book, I would frequently laugh out loud at the material. I thought this book was funnier than Level II. The material came out in years 84/86. The 84 campaign fills a lot of pages. Opus antics dealing with anxiety and romance will give you a lot of laughs. I thought much of the material could run today and get the same amount of laughs it got way be then. It sort of shows as time moves on often not much changes except the names. That way this book serves as much as history as comical fodder. It shows how the issues haven't changed. Our nation struggles over the same sort of issues now as we did then.

My daughter surprised me with volumes 1 and 2 for Christmas. I never even realized that she knew I loved Bloom County when it was out in the '80's, but she got them. I am grateful, since it brought back a lot of memories, and laughs. This was my favorite comic strip, with all it's strange but lovable characters. From the chauvinistic, frat boy Steve Dallas, to the duo of Hodge Podge and Portnoy, the warm hearted but somewhat gullible Opus and the barely alive most of the time Bill The Cat, with Milo and his neurotic friend Binkley in the middle of it all, you are sure to find many laughs at the weirdness, and even find many social commentaries buried in those laughs, some still work 30 years later.

This hardcover collects Berkeley Breathed's "Bloom County" comic strips that originally ran from July 2, 1984 to February 9, 1986. Most of these were previously collected in trade paperback form in the second half of "Penguin Dreams and Stranger Things" and "Bloom County Babylon". Strips appear in sequence, three dailies to a page, with Sunday strips each spanning one full-color page. Breathed provides annotations throughout the book, explaining both his thoughts about the strips and pop culture references that young readers might find obscure. The familiar cast of characters is here: Opus, Milo, Binkley, Steve Dallas, Cutter John, Oliver Wendell Jones, Hodge Podge, Portnoy, etc. I got into "Bloom County" a couple years after these strips appeared, devouring the aforementioned trade paperback collections in junior high school. Rereading these strips two decades later revealed some previously unappreciated jokes. Some charmingly dated 1980s references inspire nostalgia, but the majority of this material remains culturally relevant. Breathed gently satirizes both the political left and right. I enjoyed this collection just as much as Volume 2. Very strong cases can be made for both "Calvin and Hobbes" and "The Far Side", but "Bloom County" remains my favorite comic strip of the 1980s.

I love catching up on all of the Bloom County I missed as a child. Mr. Breathed was very talented both as an illustrator and social commentator. What I love most is that you can't make out for certain his political affiliation and nor should you. A strip like this just couldn't be made in today's hostile, polarized climate.

I love Bloom County, but I already have all the paperback collections and bought this 3rd volume for one reason only, and that reason was to learn what was in the mind of creator/artist/writer Berke Breathed when he wrote these strips. In the collections for Pearls Before Swine, Stephen Pastis waxes on every page about why he wrote strips, and what reader outcry erupted from which strips. For the extra money I'm paying for these big, fat collections, I'd like to see a lot more commentary by Breathed and not just strip after strip. I've already read the strips! They're terrific and look great here, but I want to hear from Breathed.

It is funny how much do you want from a comic strip? If you want funny and logically done with my kinda price, have a look at this. Doonesbury still wants more $ typical Yale 6700838 years and it will still have to get $.Thank you BB

Berkeley Breathed delivers all the amazing characters and very humorous circumstances as fondly remembered. Loved Volumes 1-3 in DIGITAL content. Stay away from further volumes 4-9, since these are, for some reason unreadable in the digital mode / not able to view in landscape mode.

è interessante notare in Bloom County come le strips rappresentino correttamente gli eventi storici del tempo, i vari personaggi (cantanti, politici, evangelisti) mettendone poi a nudo i tratti di ciascuno tramite le varie vignette completamente soddisfatto dell'edizione, per chi ama la serie è da avere assolutamente

All comic fans should have at least one of the collection

More must-have cartoons from a master of wit and sardonic characterisation. Bill the Cat Rules! So many odd situations and unexpected turns.