[Book Review] Bloom County Episode XI: A New Hope

Bloom County Episode XI: A New Hope / Berkeley Breathed (Powell's Books)

I remember reading and re-reading my stepfather's volumes of Bloom County and all the antics within.  For me they were the next reading step from Calvin and Hobbes, a mix of seriousness and irreverence that I may not have always understood, but I certainly adored.  Jokes that I didn't get I strove to understand, and sometimes the strips weren't jokes but reflections on life itself.

When Breathed relaunched Bloom County via a Facebook page I was among the hordes of excited fans.  I was also better situated to understand more of the layered (and sometimes not so layered) humor within the strips.

I haven't read all the strips he's published on Facebook thanks to limiting algorithms and limitations of form factor (if I'm on my phone it's a significant hassle to read them).  The fact that he's publishing them as a book excited me to no end.

Bloom County Episode XI: A New Hope is a delight.  It had me laughing and crying, and sometimes just hitting me so hard in the chest that I had to stop and re-read a strip again.  Some of the characters are older, others un-aged, yet the world has moved forward and the characters stay deeply aware.  It's a wonderful madcap reflection of the world we live in, bring irreverent joy to the reader.

Advanced Reader Copy copy courtesy of NetGalley; differences may exist between uncorrected galley text and the final edition.

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