Tue Oct 7, 2008 — by Robert Greenberger

'Opus' Comes to an End in November

Berkeley Breathed Swears This Time it's for Good

Opus will end its run as Sunday-only comic strip on November 2, according to a release from the Washington Post Writers Group.Berkeley Breathed in a press release, indicated, “With the crisis in Wall Street and Washington, I’m suspending my comic strip to assist the nation. The best way I can help is to leave politics permanently and write funny stories for America’s kids. I call on John McCain to join me.”

He told The Los Angeles Times, “30 years of cartooning to end. I’m destroying the village to save it. Opus would inevitably become a ranting mouthpiece in the coming wicked days, and I respect the other parts of him too much to see that happen. The Michael Moore part of me would kill the part of him that was important to his fans.”

“His ability to weave those emotions together is what makes Breathed such a great cartoonist, and it’s why he will leave a bigger hole on the comics pages. Both figuratively and literally,” Amy Logo, the Post’s Comics Editor joked to the Daily Cartoonist.

Readers will be asked in the final strip to guess the pudgy penguin’s ultimate fate. Logo indicated the winning choice and the resulting final strip will be available only online. The contest begins October 12 and details can be found in that day’s strip as well as Breathed’s website.

Opus is, of course, a spin-off from his immensely popular Bloom County, which ran from December 1980 through 1989.  Opus debuted in 2003.

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