fallen penguin butt

January 18, 2007 11:24 AM

Specific Bloom County or Outland strip

I seem to remember a Bloom County or Outland strip where Bill the Cat lopped off Opus' butt with his chainsaw. I think there were some recurrences where Opus' butt would fall off.

Can you point me to a specific book, link, or scan of either the lopping or a recurrence? My local bookstore doesn't carry any Breathed titles.

posted by mdpc98 to media & arts (21 comments total)

I remember that too! I have most of the older Bloom County books at home, and I can check tonight. Any chance you remember about when you saw those strips, so I can get a good place to start looking?
posted by Shecky at 11:41 AM on January 18, 2007

I'm pretty sure it was Portnoy the groundhog who did it. He either did it to Bill or Opus or both (I'm pretty sure he did it twice) and was weraing a hockey mask. And I can picture the art and it's a later strip. My guess based on that is that it's a sunday strip in Night of the Mary Kay Commandos
posted by Mayor Curley at 11:49 AM on January 18, 2007

This seems familiar, but the strip I remember had Portnoy lopping off first Opus' butt, then Hodge Podges tail, claiming "Post traumatic stress disorder - wasn't myself," "Premenstrual Syndrome," etc. Was this the one?

If so, I think it's in either "Night of the Mary Kay Commandoes" or "Happy Trails" books...
posted by krippledkonscious at 11:52 AM on January 18, 2007

oh man, i forgot about portnoy... hmmm. if someone can confirm which book, i will have to dig it up and re-read.
posted by mdpc98 at 11:59 AM on January 18, 2007

You can watch it recurr in "A Wish For Wings That Work". Here's part three (of three) on YouTube -- it falls off at 3:08.
posted by ewagoner at 12:09 PM on January 18, 2007

Apparently, the entire run of Bloom county is available online at mycomicspage.com. Subscription based, about $12 a year.
posted by cosmicbandito at 12:26 PM on January 18, 2007

It was Outland, definitely.
posted by keswick at 12:28 PM on January 18, 2007

It was Outland, definitely.

Then why did it have Portnoy and Hodgepodge in it?
posted by Mayor Curley at 1:22 PM on January 18, 2007

It wasn't Portnoy, it was Bill. He did it to Opus and Mortimer Mouse, IIRC. I was just flipping through an Outland book last week. It might be a gag recycled from Bloom County, though. He's done a lot of that in Outland and Opus.

I'm pretty sure most of Breathed stuff is out of print right now. I wish they'd publish a complete Bloom County like they did with Calvin & Hobbes. (Without the creepy revisionism we've seen in both the CC&H and Breathed's work.)
posted by keswick at 1:31 PM on January 18, 2007

I'm pretty sure this gag/strip is in my "Best of Bloom County" collection. Night of the Mary Kay commandoes sounds exactly right. Tell you what, I have the book on hand, in a little while I will try to find that one, scan it, and send it to you.
posted by Derive the Hamiltonian of... at 2:43 PM on January 18, 2007

I'm pretty sure it was a joke he recycled from BC for Outland. It was Portnoy in the original, Bill in the repeat.
posted by o2b at 3:02 PM on January 18, 2007

Page 50 of Happy Trails, the last book of Bloom County (if I remember correctly). Script follows as thus:

Hodge is wearing a yellow mask and cuts off Bill the Cat's (who is now Donald Trump) tail:
"Hey! You cut off my tail!"
"Wasn't me. it was the Booze."
"Was not."
"Temporary Insanity. I wasn't myself."
"Were Too."
"Veitnam Stress Syndrome. I wasn't myself."
"Baloney."
"My dog beats me. "Victimization Disorder." I wasn't myself."
"Ha!"
""Post-Traumatic accident stress-syndrome"...wasn't myself. Excuse me."
(Hodge starts up chainsaw and cuts off Portnoy's tail)
"HEY!"
"Oops! "Pre-menstrual-syndrome"...
posted by stresstwig at 3:43 PM on January 18, 2007

I got the title wrong: "Classics of Western Literature," not "Best Of." Anyways, I couldn't find that strip in the section taken from Night of the Mary Kay Commandoes, and a cursory examination of the rest of the book didn't turn it up. The rest of my Bloom County books are several hundred miles away at my parents' place. Sorry.
posted by Derive the Hamiltonian of... at 3:45 PM on January 18, 2007

Excuse me, I got Portnoy and Hodge mixed up. It's the other way around.
posted by stresstwig at 3:46 PM on January 18, 2007

What's more is that it apparently goes for a cent (plus shipping on amazon.
posted by stresstwig at 3:48 PM on January 18, 2007

Oh, damnit, I do have one that matches. Portnoy cuts of the tails of Bill the Cat and HodgePodge. I'll send along a scan, if we still had img tags I'd put it in the thread too.
posted by Derive the Hamiltonian of... at 3:53 PM on January 18, 2007

wow, thanks for looking that up--i would love a scan (email in profile). am i confused or are we yet to determine when opus gets nipped?
posted by mdpc98 at 4:07 PM on January 18, 2007

mdpc98: Sent you a scan. Here is a copy on imageshack for anyone else who is interested.
posted by Derive the Hamiltonian of... at 4:24 PM on January 18, 2007

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/915/bloomcountyrz0.jpg
posted by Derive the Hamiltonian of... at 4:25 PM on January 18, 2007

Awesome! This brings back tons of memories. I'm going to go visit my mom's place to find all my old Bloom County collections. Like Calvin & Hobbes, Bloom County is great fun to read again now that I'm older and can understand the underlying political and social commentary going on. The world always needs more cartoons depicting Donald Trump's brain trapped in a flea-infested, slobbering, Lil' Frisky-freebasing, cat body.

And I'm pretty sure I remember Opus' ass falling off, on occasion, but the exact sequence of events escape me. Will have to do more research.
posted by krippledkonscious at 4:44 PM on January 18, 2007

derive: thanks for the scan. i'm in the same boat--my books are at my folks' place, along with all my 'life in hell' books :)
posted by mdpc98 at 5:41 PM on January 18, 2007