The only thing that bugs me about these new Opus cartoons is the computer coloring (I won't even mention the photoshoppery of the last panel). I'm sure it's easier, but I don't think it's on the level of the inkwork. (Does Breathed do the coloring?)

Sorry to moan, because I love that Opus is back.

I play my Xbox360 between classes and spend my weekends skiing or hiking.

That may make me an anomoly to the stereotype, but I assure you there are lots where I come from.

I'm not sure you how you'd draw a cartoon about a well rounded person doing healthy, normal things and still make it at all funny.

I'm completely lost on this one. What does it mean ? When I was young, we had radio serials, then TV came along but over the years, nothing like this.

Ted, Ted, Ted.

The "photoshoppiness" of the last panel is the whole point.

I guess well-rounded people aren't funny. But really, neither is playing on cliches that seemed old the first couple years videogames were popular. As someone who plays games and knows lots of people who do and don't play games, I guess I just don't find gamers as mysterious or funny or whatever as the audience Opus is apparently writing for. Maybe my dad's generation would find this comic (slightly) funny.

There are plenty of reasons to critique Guitar Hero as a game, and none of them have to do with "reality deprivation" or killing the hookers you've just scrozzled in Grand Theft Auto. There is something intrinsically wrong with wanting to experience the fame of being a guitarist, and spending hours to copy the on-screen commands of a game, all at a cost greater than buying a real guitar and learning how to play it. God help us if those overpriced game consoles ever encouraged us to learn something useful.

But Breathed didn't say anything about that. He probably has never seen anyone play Guitar Hero or Rock Band in the flesh, and only read a sarcastic article in Time about the game. That's the real problem; Breathed basically phoned this strip in. Which wouldn't be bad if it didn't seem to be a recurring problem for him.

Most of you geeks hit this site for the personals looking/hoping to hook up with someone possessing only the a few STDS.

Great cartoon...get out of the house, away from the tv and get some fresh air...a message for Salon readers!

And to have Salon subscribers comment.....LOL!

I thought it was clever. I liked the "nature deficit disorder" joke at the end. It was both witty and sweet. Yes, sometimes wit doesn't have to be biting or even profound.

You also apparently read Salon and comment on its articles. Pot, kettle, anyone?

P.S. Berkeley, gamers don't call it "CG." It's "graphics," dude, plain and simple.

And their Negro music and funny cigarettes. If only we could give them all haircuts and force them into the army.

Opus has a long history of obsessive-compulsive behavior. He once bought a gazillion products from a infomercial because he watched too much late night TV. So this latest breakdown is fairly predictable. Still funny as hell, though.

and proving he ain't.

Will someone kindly tell Mr. Breathed that comics, even those with a message, are supposed to have at least a smidgen of humor within them? Because the last time this guy was funny, I was happy with the Democratic party.

I do hope that you'll take this in the gentle spirit that I'm hoping to convey.

There is something intrinsically wrong with wanting to experience the fame of being a guitarist, and spending hours to copy the on-screen commands of a game, all at a cost greater than buying a real guitar and learning how to play it.

I assure you, as an active member of the Guitar Hero-playing community, that we have no illusions about our "fame." From the greatest of us to the least of us, we know full well that we're not going to be rock stars, nor even that we're going to be all that well known for these exploits by people outside the community (with an exception being granted to the young man who won a Pontiac on G4 for playing Guitar Hero).

But back to something else...

intrinsically wrong

One can argue that playing a proper guitar in your room is intrinsically wrong as well. Neither feeds or clothes the homeless, and it becomes a sticky wicket when we start assigning right/wrong/"less right"/"less wrong" values to entertainment options. Both entertain people in their own special way, and indeed, there are people who enjoy both.

Comparing Guitar Hero to playing guitar is like comparing the Madden games to playing professional football: sure, it might be nice to do it, but for some of us, it's just not happening, so here's a fun (if not overly realistic) option.

I agree.

P.S. G.Owen is never "with it"...

Mike J W Wood's comment about the "nature deficit disorder" was 'with it'...IMO.

Heeby! Smokin' sweet CG!!

I wondered if Opus puffs on:

Lucky Strike or stinkin' Camel cigs?

Pall Mall smokers are distinguished.

Kurt Vonnegut lit either end of a cig.

`

The yellow dandelions in the last Opus frame made me wonder if the Opus comment-question,

"What's that stink?' ... Well, Maybe Gary Owen stepped in Camel dung?

Perhaps Opus's toes squished into a Lion cats pile of doo doo?

Berkeley Breathed has a Lion that drinks water from his toilet bowl?

Any cartoon, IMHO, is always a breath of fresh Air. Especially after daily visits to the lawyer blog who Salon hired to dig up the bad odors smells we gotta sniff coming out of the White House stink latrines.

Those GOPS need to be tossed out the door.

They blow smoke up the stinky fishy halibut butt.

Make way to the Hague!

1. I have played the guitar for about 50 years. I see no relationship between playing "Guitar Hero" and playing the guitar. These people aren't doing anything related to music. They are practicing to become real obsessive-compulsives when they grow up (if ever).

2. The reason the strip is funny is that Opus gets carried away with even a REALLY DUMB game.

It's a joke. Get it? It is not a piece of deep social criticism about a game that is destroying society.

3. It is a really, really dumb game.