Bloom County: The Complete Library
{{Short description|Book series}}
{{Infobox comic book title
| image =
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| caption =
| schedule = biannual
| format = Hardcover
| limited =
| ongoing =
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| genre = Humour
Political satire
Satire
| publisher = The Library of American Comics
| date =
| startmo = September
| startyr = 2009
| endmo = November
| endyr = 2012
| issues = 7 in total:
5 Bloom County
1 Outland
1 Opus
| main_char_team = Milo Bloom
Cutter John
Steve Dallas
Michael Binkley
Opus the Penguin
Bill the Cat
Hodge-Podge
Portnoy
Oliver Wendell Jones
| writers = Berkeley Breathed
| artists = Berkeley Breathed
| pencillers =
| inkers =
| letterers =
| colorists =
| editors = Scott Dunbier
| creative_team_month =
| creative_team_year =
| creators =
| TPB =
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| nonUS = n
}}
Bloom County: The Complete Library is a book series published by The Library of American Comics which collects the complete comic strips Bloom County, Outland and Opus all written and drawn by Berkeley Breathed between 1980 and 2008. The first volume of this series was published in September, 2009, and also received the Eisner award in the category Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips in 2010; in November 2012, the final and seventh volume finished the series.{{cite web|url=https://www.comic-con.org/awards/2010s|title=2010-Present|date=2 December 2012|website=www.comic-con.org}}{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Background
When Breathed was approached by the Library of American Comics (LoAC) to publish a complete collection of Bloom County, he was initially resistant to the idea of a new reprint of his works. His opinion was that much of the strip's content was badly dated, which in turn hindered him from agreeing to LoAC's idea of a publication. LoAC continued to pitch the project and finally persuaded Breathed with the argument that "context pages" would be added to inform readers about what was going on when the strips were first published, so that readers would more readily comprehend the political satire.{{cite web|url=https://gocomics.typepad.com/rcharvey/2009/03/bloom-county.html|title=THE COMPLETE BLOOM COUNTY|website=Rants & Raves}}
When The Library of American Comics announced the publication of a hardcover series, other collections of the strip were still in print; however, these had never covered the entire output of Bloom County comic strips, a fact that LoaC had used to justify publishing a complete collection.{{cite web|url=https://westfieldcomics.com/blog/interviews-and-columns/kc%e2%80%99s-bookshelf-idw%e2%80%99s-bloom-county-the-complete-library-volume-one-1980-1982/|title=Westfield Comics Blog » KC's Bookshelf: IDW's Bloom County: The Complete Library: Volume One 1980-1982|publisher=}} Breathed himself estimated that around 80 percent of the comic strip had never been reproduced in any of the previous collections prior to Bloom County: The Complete Library. This was due to his lack of confidence in the work and therefore selecting only the best-of every year for reprinting in these other collections.
Breathed's own opinion on this complete collection, was that it was "a mixed blessing," since he thought the books themselves were beautiful, but disliked being confronted with very dated contents and comic strips he had not revisited for 25 years.{{cite web|last=Thielman |first=Sam |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/43048-berkeley-breathed-sets-the-record-straight.html |title=Berkeley Breathed Sets the Record Straight |publisher=Publishersweekly.com |date=2010-05-04 |accessdate=2019-03-31}} At first he considered writing all the strip annotations a chore, but later, as old memories came back, it became something enjoyable, and the fact that he had many behind-the-strip stories to share was a benefit to his readers.{{cite web|url=https://www.graphicnovelreporter.com/authors/berkeley-breathed/news/interview-100609|title=Breathed in Bloom - GraphicNovelReporter|website=www.graphicnovelreporter.com}}
Format
The volumes of this complete library features approximately 3,500 strips in total, in editions which each collect two years of daily and Sunday strips in chronological order, each comprised by approximately 300 pages. All the books are hardcover and measure 11 inches × 8.5 inches, (279 mm × 216 mm), and have been designed by Dean Mullaney.
Among the comic strips, there are parts taking up the historical context for the strip.{{cite web|url=https://www.comicsbeat.com/bloom-county-library-due-from-idw/|title=Syndicated Comics|first=The|last=Beat|date=5 February 2009|publisher=}} The books were edited by Scott Dunbier, foreword by the creator Breathed is included in all volumes as well as an essay by Ted Koppel.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbr.com/idws-bloom-county-collections-continue-in-april/|title=IDW's Bloom County Collections Continue in April - CBR|website=www.cbr.com|date=3 February 2010 }} A selection of Breathed's pre-Bloom County strips, among these quite a few from The Academia Waltz and some from other stand in comic strips which was drawn as backups for the first publisher, in case if the regular strips was not received on time for printing. The extensive notings and recollections by Breathed himself, annotations and behind-the-scenes anecdotes by the creator are also featured. The editions of Outland and Opus in this LoAC line were the first ever reprints of these two strips done in a complete, full color, chronological order.{{cite web|url=http://alternativemindz.com/tag/bloom-county/|title=Bloom county Archives|publisher=}}
Volumes
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ style="background:#b0c4de;"| Bloom County volumes | |||||
| style="background:#d0e4fe;" data-sort- type="number"| Volume
! style="background:#d0e4fe;"| Release date ! style="background:#d0e4fe;"| Title ! style="background:#d0e4fe;"| Period | style="background:#d0e4fe;"| Page count ! style="background:#d0e4fe;"| ISBN | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2009-09-29 | “Bloom County: The Complete Library - Vol. 1” | 1980–1982 | 288 | {{ISBNT|978-1-60010-140-3}} |
| 2 | 2010-04-29 | “Bloom County: The Complete Library - Vol. 2” | 1982–1984 | 320 | {{ISBNT|978-1-60010-583-8}} |
| 3 | 2010-10-26 | “Bloom County: The Complete Library - Vol. 3” | 1984–1986 | 272 | {{ISBNT|978-1-60010-755-9}} |
| 4 | 2011-04-12 | “Bloom County: The Complete Library - Vol. 4” | 1986–1987 | 288 | {{ISBNT|978-1-60010-899-0}} |
| 5 | 2011-10-25 | “Bloom County: The Complete Library - Vol. 5” | 1987–1989 | 288 | {{ISBNT|978-1-61377-128-0}} |
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ style="background:#b0c4de;"| Spinoff title volumes | |||||
| style="background:#d0e4fe;" data-sort- type="number"| Volume
! style="background:#d0e4fe;"| Release date ! style="background:#d0e4fe;"| Title ! style="background:#d0e4fe;"| Period | style="background:#d0e4fe;"| Page count ! style="background:#d0e4fe;"| ISBN | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | 2012-07-10 | “Bloom County: The Complete Library - Outland” | 1989–1995 | 304 | {{ISBNT|978-1-61377-176-1}} |
| NA | 2012-11-27 | “Bloom County: The Complete Library - Opus” | 2003–2008 | 272 | {{ISBNT|978-1-61377-408-3}} |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://loac.idwpublishing.com/product-category/bloom-county/ Publisher website - IDW Publishing - The Library of American Comics - Bloom County: The Complete Library]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg-Gdo78UFU The Library of American Comics' YouTube channel - Inside look: Bloom County: The Complete Library - Vol. 3]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPa65IeGIkI The Library of American Comics' YouTube channel - Inside look: Bloom County: The Complete Library - Vol. 4]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aIFeBBtUJQ The Library of American Comics' YouTube channel - Inside look: Bloom County: The Complete Library - Vol. 5]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDsOXObrB9k The Library of American Comics' YouTube channel - Inside look: Bloom County: The Complete Library - Outland]
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Category:Comic strip collection books
Category:The Library of American Comics publications