Now, we have philosophy from Elvis.

Berke Breathed is really getting into such things.

Go for it kiddo.

Breathed.

Hope you are okay, fella ???

What's going on with all the death stuff?

Is Elvis the savior for the next two milleniums? Well if you die nailed to a wooden board, what does that say?

Breathed has a fatal disease. He's trying to wrap up the strip while he can still draw. That's been out there for the last two months. You should have noticed by now, if you were reading the strip. Sheesh.

The author/artist is the victim of a nasty and very painful condition, the name of which escapes me. At any rate, it is becoming increasingly difficult and painful for him to do this. AS such, he's decided to let it come to an end while he still can, rather than suffer on and on until it just ends suddenly with no rhyme or reason. Anyone out there recall what it is Breathed has?

Specifically the May 18 comic.

We may be looking at a health issue that is non-life threatening, yet prevents working.

Also, remember that this will be the third time the strip has been retired. Continue to hope, people.

We know that BB is not well. We, as readers, do not know how much he has to struggle just to draw those lines and write those words.

He's trying to tell us, as gently as possible, that he's not going to keep doing this for much longer.

This is a long good bye.

It's been a nice ride, BB. Take care and thanks for the memories.

We all have to close our circles someday. Let him do his.

BB has Spasmodic Torticollis. You can read more about the disease at:

http://www.spasmodictorticollis.org/index.cfm

While not a fatal disease it is very debilitating and obviously makes it very hard for him to continue the strip. There is hope as in some cases it has gone into remission and they are always working towards a cure.

We can only hope that BB will make a 4th comeback in the future, but in the event that he doesn't I would like to say....

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE LAUGHS!!

I knew he was ill and in pain. I didn't know it was fatal.

Well, listen BB, it doesn't sound like you're going anywhere but it sounds like ol Opus is.

I just checked your Web site and was pleased to discover that my favorite Bloom County cartoon was included in your picks of your own favorites. This gave me more pleasure than it should have.

Separate farewell to Opus: Well, you've gone before so who knows, but it does sound like he's sending you off for good this time. Of course, the circle business is exactly right, did you know that older societies saw everything as circular anyway, that is, national celebrations were not reenactments but actually the event happening, each time, as if for the first time? The crops come in, the crops get planted, the God appears, the God departs, each time it was happening for the first time.

Not sure what that all means except that the first Bloom County cartoons seem like last week. Which is odd. But with luck they always will. Oh and one last thing: Would you mind putting your nose out while I'm eating?

Thanks for the melodies,

Hmmmmmmm, that's a deep question. Either at a sports bar with a bunch of my buds watching the Lions play the Super Bowl and win while swilling down lots of Budweiser orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, at home watching the Lions win the Super Bowl with lots of Budweiser in the fridge to swill while having a voluptuous red head in my bed to bang during half time and after the game.

Tomreedtoon seems fixated on Berke Breathed being about to die, but he does not have a fatal disease, or if he does he never said so. He has spasmodic torticullis, which isn't fatal, just really, really, really painful.

Can't go a week w/o those.

I'm still sorting through this, but here is my initial reaction. Elvis's place of death is actually one of the first things I think of when I think about Elvis's LIFE. Yes, it's amusing, and it's a great way to poke some fun at a guy who was larger than life. ("Was Elvis ever the King? Let's not be reflective...") The significance to me is that it proves that no matter how great Elvis was, he was still human like the rest of us. I suppose it's a good way to remind people to put things in perspective. (Although as David St. Hubbins would say, "That's too fucking much perspective.")

However, the toilet-thing is not the very FIRST thing I think of when I think about Elvis's life. I would wager that many people, especially his biggest fans, don't think about it at all, and some people don't even remember it. They remember his greatness.

When I think about what Elvis DID with his life, I don't think about him checking out in the potty. He did a lot of great things. Not even being reduced to a lounge act diminished him all that much. It certainly didn't take the shine off his earlier work. ("And three years down the track, we'll be a Las Vegas lounge act...") It's just that everything comes to an end. But like I said, that doesn't diminish what you did in your heyday. That's what most people remember.

Just like I remember my favorite bootleg album.

Lenny Bruce and Judy Garland come to mind right away.

The way BB does them, there's a certain whimsicality about them, compared to what ELSE we see in popular culture ('Jackass', anyone?)

Many years ago I bought a stuffed Opus, with detachable reindeer antlers trimmed with Christmas tree balls, to, yes, set under the Christmas tree. Opus looks bemused, confused, a little long-suffering, and as if he wishes the whole thing would just be over, already. As I myself feel more and more just that way every Christmas, Opus is unpacked each year along with ornaments and gets set under the tree in a place of honor.

Our newspaper just brought back the BC Sunday strip a year ago, so I haven't seen it since it featured, and promptly dropped, the dismal Outland. It will be sad when the end comes, but we've all been through this before.