Paul the DBA dropped by my desk this morning to shoot the breeze and we somehow ended up on the topic of Berke Breathed's children's books, so I tried to show him the beauty and majesty of Edward Fudwupper and Berke's other books that I've acquired and, well...I realized I hadn't ever posted anything about any of them. My slacking knows no bounds!

So now, many moons after the I wrote up my thoughts on the following Berke books, I'm finally going to get around to posting them.


The Last Basselope

I picked up The Last Basselope by Berkely Breathed many years before I had kids, but well after the untimely end of my childhood - despite this being a book written and intended for kids. Berke Breathed is better known as the creator of Bloom County, Outland and the Opus newspaper comic strips than for his children's books, but he does craft some fine children's literature.

The art is beautiful (who would have imagined that a cartoonist would be so skilled) and the story clever enough to entertain adults, yet simple enough to keep the kids enthralled.

Opus Handed Rosebud a last snack for the road. "A Great and Famous Discoverer knows that some secrets are better left undiscovered," Opus said sadly.
"Then I have one more undiscovery," said the beast, "Just for you." He scrunched up his eyes, and his face turned pink with strain. Slowly at first and then quickly, his antlers expanded like glowing balloons. They rose above his head, and gently, ever so gently, Rosebud's feet lifted off the ground.
"The stories never mentioned this," said a thrilled Opus, laughing and waving good-bye.

It's a nice little story about sacrifice, morality and adventure.


Edward Fudwupper Fibbed Big

I happened across a Berke Breathed children's book called Edward Fudwupper Fibbed Big (published in 2000) earlier this week when looking for the Ward translation of The Stranger at Borders. I'm always happy to add another Berke Breathed book to the collection, so I quickly snatched it up.

Dr Seuss couldn't have written more lyrically flowing prose.

From a long line of liars, there's none higher upper...
Than my fibbing big brother,
The Edward Fudwupper.

There he is now,
I know just what he's doing:
He's thinking of who could be next for some fooling.
Edwurd's been cooking up fibs full of phooey;
He'll serve them up SWEET, all gooey with hooey.

The illustrations are typical Berke. Unlike the artwork A wish for Wings that Work and The Last Basselope, the art in this book alternates between cartoon-style and fully-finished painted panels.

I read it to the kids before bed and, despite protests before I started that they didn't want to hear one of my stories, they were hanging on my every word and were full of questions about the colorful, vibrant - often very silly - illustrations in the book.

So I guess they liked it.


Mars Needs Moms

I picked up Berke's latest book, Mars Needs Moms, from Borders the week it arrived in the bookstore.

This book is an awesome tribute to mothers and the art is gorgeous.

And he barely sensed the gentle hands place her own helmet over his head.

Milo opened his eyes and for the first time, he saw neither a broccoli bully nor a slave-driving garden ogre.

He didn't see a tyrant or a dictator or a weary driver to soccer games.

Suddenly he knew what was special about mothers.

This is an awesome book for kids. And grown-ups. If you don't get at least a little emotional by the end of the story, you have no soul.


Opus: 25 years

I also picked up Opus while I was at Borders when I saw it on the discount rack for five bucks. Five bucks for a hardcover collection of all the Bloom County, Outland and Opus strips.

Sweet!

I haven't actually read them all the strips yet, but there are a couple of pages of introductory material (including some work Berke did for the film Secondhand Lions) that I've managed to find time to read. It's interesting to see how Opus and Berke's drawing style have evolved over the years.

I also bookmarked one of the strips from the Opus: 25 years book that I just got around to scanning.

Why? Because it reminds me of Mars Needs Moms....except it's the version from a Berke without kids. So instead, we get "Mars Needs Women!"

Whew! Okay, that's my Berke Children's Book archive (I don't think I missed any of them, though I didn't mention my treasured A Wish for Wings that Work video. Mission accomplished.



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I managed, after no small effort, to escape from Azeroth last year. I had been spending hour upon hour of my free time sitting in front of my computer, exploring the rich and diverse landscapes of a virtual world and working to build up the skills, fortunes and magical prowess of my online persona, Gnomdalf (as well as a few other less well-used characters). As uninteresting as this sounds to someone who has never indulged in World of Warcraft, I think you would be surprised at just how addictive this game becomes after you've given a try. It doesn't hook everyone, but for misanthropic trolls like myself, this game is hard to put down.

But I managed. And I even stayed relatively clean for about a year. I have been playing a few non-Massive-Multiplayer-Online-Role-Playing-games that were all but forgotten when I discovered WoW (Battle For Middle Earth I and II, Pool of Radiance and most recently, Diablo II), but I haven't really felt the same compulsion to play any of these other games - they're just time-killers when I'm bored. That said, I did finally finish both Battle for Middle Earth games and Pool of Radiance. My efforts in Diablo II are ongoing.

Between the monthly charge to play WoW (it's around $15), the need to buy the expansions periodically (which I haven't) and the addictive nature of the game, I'm pretty sure I need to stay away. But Blizzard wants me back, and they're dangling a pretty enticing lure to hook me again: a free 10-day pass and a free upgrade to the first World of Warcraft expansion pack, The Burning Crusade (which is going for about $20 now, I think).

I have to reinstall WoW (it has never been installed on my current PC) to install the free expansion pack and then I'm going back to Azeroth. For at least 10 days. We'll see if I can break free after that. Or if I can resist the Lich King expansion pack that's coming out this week.

Speaking of the Lich King, there are two comic book titles (published by WildStorm, a division of DC) set in the WoW universe that I've been enjoying almost as long as I've been WoW-free.

The WoW comics fill a part of the void left when I abandoned the game and one of them even fills in a lot of the back story that isn't really ever addressed in the game (the origins of the Scarlet monastery/Scarlet Brotherhood and the Lich King's henchmen were revealed in issue #2 of WoW Ashbringer). And the art is well done, too. The familiar locations, critters and races are depicted with such familiarity that the artists must also be players.

On another WoW-related tangent, I stumbled upon a great (for geeks/Wow players) web comic called Looking for Group a few weeks ago. It's not exactly Warcraft canon (as the comics try to be), but it's very similar and is quite often very funny.

Okay, okay...one last WoW reference and then I'm done. I saw - months ago - news of another WoW game: World of World of Warcraft.

Too funny.

Okay, I'm done.



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I mentioned a few weeks ago that that Opus was drawing to a close. And sadly, the end has come (the final Opus strip was published on November 2 in 2 parts). In true Berke Breathed fashion, it went out with a smattering of bikini-clad island girls, an irate and obnoxious Steve Dallas and concluded with a sappy, sentimental ending (that gives you a good idea of just how amazing Berke's children's books are). Check out Edward Fudwupper, Mars Needs Moms, and The Last Basselope for some beautifully illustrated examples of wonderful children's stories.

So long Opus. The Sunday comics will never be the same.

Here are the final five strips (from Salon.com - I clipped, but didn't scan any of these).

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