Breathed Will End Opus on Nov. 2

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 — Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Berkeley Breathed announced Monday the end of his 30-year comic strip career. The last Opus, the Sunday-only "sequel" strip to Outland and Bloom County, will appear in newspapers on Nov. 2.

Twice before Breathed terminated lucrative comic strips, but this time, he insists, is for good. Said Breathed, "With the crisis in Wall Street and Washington, I’m suspending my comic strip to assist the nation. The best way I can help is to leave politics permanently and write funny stories for America’s kids. I call on John McCain to join me."

Writers Group Editorial Director and General Manager Alan Shearer spoke to the cartoonist's legacy: "Berkeley Breathed took comic strip artistry to places it had never been. He pushed all sorts of topical and stylistic envelopes. In the process, he gained millions of fans and influenced a generation of new cartoonists looking to do the same. Almost nothing was sacred. It was an unforgettable voyage, and I feel privileged to have been along."

Returning the sentiment, Breathed said, "The Writers Group had the vision – and the patience – for my work to flourish. Few would have."

Comics Editor Amy Lago has read the final Opus strips. "The remaining four are poignant, with references to Breathed's 'greatest hits' strips, but they're also funny. His ability to weave those emotions together is what makes Breathed such a great cartoonist, and it's why he will leave a bigger hole on the comics pages. Both figuratively and literally," she joked, referring to Opus' half-page-mandated size.

Ever the innovator, Breathed is ending the strip with a contest asking readers to guess the pudgy penguin's ultimate fate. To preserve the integrity of the contest, Lago said, the actual solution will not be seen in newspapers, but will be available only on the Internet. She would not provide details but noted the irony in this decision on Breathed's part. When Breathed brought Opus back in November 2003, he would not allow the strip online, preferring to give newspapers the sole right to reproduce the work – which meant readers had to buy a newspaper to read it. (The ban was lifted a year later.)

Breathed began his comic strip career with Acadamia Waltz for his college newspaper at the University of Texas. Some of those strips made their way into the hands of editors at The Washington Post Writers Group, which launched Bloom County in 1980. Breathed won the Pulitzer for editorial cartooning in 1987. In 1989, with 1,300 clients and after selling more than 6 million books, Breathed ended Bloom County and began Outland, a Sunday-only strip. In 1995, he quit again and went on to complete five picture books in eight years. After the fifth was released in 2003, Breathed announced his return to the comics pages, and Opus began that November.

In recent years, Breathed has devoted more time to picture books, screenplays and novels. His latest book for children, "Pete & Pickles," is due in bookstores on Oct. 16. He is currently developing film projects and finishing his first novel for young readers, "Flawed Dogs."

Breathed resides in California with his wife and two children.

As the syndicate for The Washington Post, the Writers Group develops and markets editorial features and comics to newspapers, magazines and electronic publications worldwide. The Writers Group is host to opinion columnists such as Pulitzer Prize winners George Will, David Broder, Jim Hoagland, Charles Krauthammer and Ellen Goodman, as well as Kathleen Parker, David Ignatius, Ruben Navarrette Jr., E.J. Dionne and Eugene Robinson; Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonists Nick Anderson, Clay Bennett and Signe Wilkinson; advice columnist Carolyn Hax, humor columnist Gene Weingarten (also a Pulitzer winner); the comic strips Pickles by Brian Crane, Red and Rover by Brian Basset and Candorville by Darrin Bell; and the Newsweek and AmericaEconomia news services.