IDW Publishing is offering a new collection of Berkeley Breathed's Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip Bloom County this fall.
This September, IDW will release Bloom County Library: Book One, the first of five editions collecting the original run of Breathed's daily strips, published globally in over 1,200 newspapers from December 8, 1980, to August 6, 1989.
Bloom County Library: Book One collects the strips from 1980 to 1982 in chronological order, which introduced readers to Opus the Penguin, Bill the Cat, Cutter John, Michael Binkley, Milo Bloom, and Steve Dallas.
"To be ironic, we originally published these collections bound beautifully in kiln-dried housecat hide (natural causes), which was an aromatic mistake. I can't tell everyone how happy I am that they're now available in nun leather," says Breathed, who according to IDW "gave us that quote when asked."
Book One will also include a new introduction and "insightful commentary by Breathed on his quirky creations."
"Bloom County has, for the past 40 years, been a source of constant joy, and with IDW releasing the Eisner Award-winning complete library as an accessible softcover, we are truly thrilled to be able to introduce these books to a whole new generation of fans, as well as all you longtime true believers," says Scott Dunbier, IDW's Director of Special Projects.
Bloom Country, which eventually spawned two spin-off strips, Outland and Opus, was at the center of a merchandising bonanza at the height of its '80s popularity. Fans old enough likely remember the stuffed Opus and Bill the Cat toys ubiquitous at any American shopping mall.
25 years after the original Bloom County ended in 1989, Breathed revived the comic strip in 2015 "to make sense of today's increasingly nonsensical world" says IDW.
Bloom County is currently being developed as an animated series at Fox.
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