Bloom County: Real, Classy, & Compleat: 1980-1989

This guy was way ahead of his time. Loved this comedic humor.

The illustrations are great and the humor superb. What's not to like about being able to forever return to the great humor at will? We love the set.The book set is very heavy, the shipping container and packing very standard (thin plastic bags), so it is virtually certain that some damage to the books will occur, and if you are buying them in part for collector value, you are going to be unhappy when you unwrap it and find at least one corner of the set caved in. In my case it was a fairly minor indentation and since I had just gone through some real hassle in returning The Far Side book set that was more substantially damaged, I decided to accept it but to vow to never again buy a heavy book from Amazon.

If you're even looking at this version of the book you already know what a brilliant man Mr. Berkeley Breathed is, how influential his particular brand of anthropomorphic animal, absurdest, surrealistic, political humor has been on a generation of comic strip fans. As such, you don't want a recount of the plot, don't need an introduction to Milo or Binkley, Opus or Bill. What you want is an an actual book touched and signed by the man himself - for a reasonable, discounted price.Out of all three volumes released so far released, I can't help but think this is the best. Unlike the previous two the makers have abandoned the sizable sticker on the back altogether and, like Vol 2, the autograph is set within the book itself. (For the record, Vol 1 had the plate pasted onto the second page, just after the inside cover). The parts that remain the same throughout this series are the high quality paper, strong binding and the absolute best presentation of Mr. Breathed's work ever released.The best part of it all is that this particular volume has been reduced to a fraction of the others by 50%. That's right! Goodbye 1000 copies; hello 500! Why the sudden change? I don't know. Maybe Mr. Breathed's signing hand cramps easier these days. Maybe it took longer for the previous editions to sell out than the makers would have wanted. Either way, you better snatch this up quickly before it sells out. Judging by previous editions' price on the secondary market, your pocketbook will hate you if you wait.

Bloom County is/was the best ever comic strip. I loved it from start to finish. When I saw the opportunity to get a hardcover compilation I was pretty happy so I could pass it on to grandkids, etc…. Each volume is a softcover and the case that holds them is a fairly stiff cardboard product - not a hardcover book. It’s misleading to call anything in this package a hardcover. Content and printing quality? 100% excellent. Product description? 35%

It's like living the 80's all over again. I don't know if Gen-Z / Millennial kids will get it, but if you lived through that time period every strip brings back the unfolding events of the time. Now, with 30 years of reference, looking back at those events we get to compare what the hip point of view was at that time to current cultural values. I believe you can't judge historical events and characters by today's morals, but Steve Dallas was a dinosaur then and now. He is also my favorite character and antihero, he knows who he is and at least he tries to improve him self. :)

"Bloom County" and "Calvin and Hobbes" are two of my favorite cartoons.This set of "Bloom County" is well bound and came in a nice case to hold both volumes.

Love it. I was a huge Bloom County fan back in the 80's and hugely disappointed when Breathed stopped producing strips. I have recently discovered his new online strips, and feeling nostalgic, I found this collection. I haven't seen these strips in years and it's been thoroughly enjoyable revisiting my past. This is a must have for true Bloom fans, buy it, you will love it too

Bloom County is brilliant as always. For the price of this edition, it should be a hardback.

Amazing books. Well worth the price

A MUST! Brilliant cartoonist, brilliant cartoon. Very pleased with quality of product and contents!!! Price was very reasonable considering the greatness packed within! Love it!

Packaging box was fine, so it seems item was sent already damaged.

Bloom County recently came back so this book is no longer compleat but it is bloody funny, this is not for the fainthearted or easily offended and yet despite that it is also tender and moving, satirical and biting, hysterical and sad, these earlier Bloom County are probably the purest form of what Mr Breathed was trying to achieve as I have not found quite the same voice in the recently revived strips, but this really is an essential purchase for any fans of short and sometimes long form panel humour.

Noch bevor "Calvin & Hobbes" war "Bloom County" mit Abstand der beste Comic in amerikanischen Zeitungen. Mit seinem Sprachwitz und beißenden sozialkritischen Kommentaren hat Berkeley Breathed immer wieder ins Schwarze getroffen. Auch heute noch ist sein Humor erhalten geblieben; vorausgesetzt, man hat die sprachliche Mittel um ihn zu verstehen. Gutes Englisch ist hier nur die erste Voraussetzung, man muss auch noch eine Menge über die amerikanischen (und manchmal auch die britische) Gesellschaft(e) der 80er Jahren wissen. Damit bewaffnet, eröffnet das Buch einen surrealistischen Blick auf eine urkomische Welt.