Bloom County: The Complete Library Volume 3 [Hardcover]

I became a Bloom County fan during the summer of 1984 (courtesy of a friend of mine that picked the strip up even earlier), so the strips in this collection represent the first occasions when I was reading the strip in real time.

After I first got interested in Bloom County, I went back as far as I could go in a newspaper microfilm library, and tracked the history of the strip almost from the beginning. I was thus generally familiar with the early years of the strip, including the material that wasn't printed in the early collections.

I had forgotten, however, that even into 1985, the book collections of Bloom County still weren't printing all of the strips that originally appeared in the newspapers. In this book, you will find instances where an individual strip from a story arc was left out of the book reprint for some reason. You will find story arcs where some or most of the newspaper strips didn't make it into the book reprint. There is at least one entire story arc that didn't make it into the earlier collections. And there are Sunday strips that weren't reprinted either (some with interesting stories to tell).

I wasn't expecting for there to be so much stuff in this volume that hadn't been previously reprinted. I like the format of these collections, and I like getting the interesting comments from Berke Breathed about the background behind some of the strips, so I would have bought the collection anyway. But if you have only encountered Bloom County in book form, then you're in for a treat, because there is stuff here that you haven't seen before.

A comprehensive collection of a classic comic strip, with annotations and interesting asides from the original artist -- it doesn't get any better than this. Keep it up!

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.

If you love Bloom County, then this is the 3rd chance to have a volume to complete a collection. Even if you have previously published paperback collections, there are some strips missing from them.
This book is sturdy, easy to handle, has a ribbon bookmark and presents the strips in an attractive manner.

Dates are put in very small print on the pages. There are explanations for some facts that might not be known by some, or forgotten, for example, a note to explain what the ERA was. There are some personal comments and statements from Berkeley Breathed which make for some very interesting reading. There are 3 daily strips on a page and one full page in colour for the Sunday strip. This volume covers 2 July 1984 to 23 February 1986.
It is nice to see a complete set of these comics made available in such a good form and manageable size.