In the hubbub of election day, I didn’t have time to comment on this interview in the Globe. Steve Greenlee’s questions weren’t as bad as Deborah Solomon‘s,
but I still found the first half flippant and rude, and he wasted a lot of time
treating Breathed like a penguin fetishist or something. Still, one
really interesting thing he did was push Breathed (not that it takes
much, really) to offer his opinions on other comic strips:

Did “Bloom County” look like it was affectionate toward anything
resembling Conventional Practices? I had [angered] my loyal readers and
editors in every way imaginable through vulgar and objectionable comic
material, and this seemed the Last Great Mountain to Climb. It worked.
Jim Davis has the right idea: For God’s sake, never, never stop.

On “Boondocks”:

Mr. McGruder is actually a cabal of leftist professors in Berkeley,
Calif., working with a hired artist. “Aaron McGruder” is the name of
their cat. I’m sorry to have to break this into the national media here
today.

Sideswipe at “Doonesbury”:

My family is deeply embarrassed that I am amused at my own work. Try
getting Trudeau to admit to giggling at one of his drawings.

The
thing is, I can’t seem to get into “Opus” the way I (think) I used to
with “Bloom County.” It feels too much like… well, like the 80s and
early 90s — a time of kinder, gentler politics when poking fun at the
personal foibles of politicians was considered “political.” Nowadays,
the country seems so polarized on the Big Issues that Breathed’s
lighthearted — but still partisan — humor seems quaint. But then,
maybe we do need more ribbing and less animosity. After all, I’ve also
found Doonesbury increasingly grating in his humorless partisanship
(“Joke-free since 1989!”).