Berke Breathed & Kirsten Bakis (March 2018)

Bloom County – Brand Spanking New Day, by Berke Breathed

After a 25-year absence, comic book artist Berkeley (“Berke”) Breathed restarted his famous and much-loved comic strip, Bloom County on Facebook, in 2015. Of course I was delighted, but it had me wondering: why did he stop in the first place? And why did he start again, with so many years in-between? (And even more important – is it working?) (Keep reading…) Or watch a 1 minute video about Bloom County…

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Lives of the Monster Dogs, by Kirsten Bakis

Lives of the Monster Dogs was first  published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 1997, and was a very big hit, getting rapturous critical acclaim. It won Bakis the Bram Stoker Award for best first novel, and was named a New York Times Notable Book of the year in 1997. On her website now is just that one book – and nothing else. I have the original edition, and even after more than twenty years, I have to admit, it is still astonishingly good. The themes are still relevant, the concept is still fresh and very well depicted. It reads as if it had been published just last week – a social commentary on our times. (Read more…)