Opus and Bloom County are no more

Opus has come to an end.

A year or so ago Berkeley Breathed mentioned
the end of the Opus strip and something about
killing him off, then he took it back,
said he was just kidding.
Apparently he wasn't kidding at all.

I suppose the last 2 strips
can be left to open interpretation.

For me it's clear what happened.

In the weeks leading up to this,
Opus ended up in a animal shelter with a dog.

Starting with the Aug 31st strip
BB essentially tells Opus his fate.
In that strip BB discusses the circle of life
and Opus notices that other comic
strips went away due to the creators croaking,
BB... "we'll be trying a different circle."


Next he meets Elvis who appears because,
"I hear you'll soon be checking out for good, hound dog"
and advises him on choosing his final place wisely

Through the 3-4 strips after that,
Opus is trying to understand
what he was put on earth to do.


Here realizes his destiny is to take
the place of the dog in the shelter so dog can go free.

Taking Elvis' advice about choosing one's
final resting place wisely,
Opus imagines that after he "goes"
he would like to
be in a happy place,
a warm place, a friendly place.
A beloved children's book.

As Steve Dallas is looking down at the book,
we see a reflection in Steve's glasses
coming from above.
We see a refection of Opus smiling.

So my interpretation is that Opus' life
was ended on the physical sense.
His spiritual being was caste into BB's
children's books to be seen there
and remembered by children for all time.

So don't mourn Opus because
he is in his happiest of all places

A place of his own choosing.




Go back to April and read Opus final adventures.

www.comics.com/opus