Often known better by his nickname, "Berke" Breathed.

The Onion recently interviewed him. The full text is at http://www.theonionavclub.com/avclub3728/avfeature_3728.html. In case the fact that it exists isn't enought to make you go read it right now, here are three choice quotes which I liked:


"Do you think that's a good way for other artists to work? Should novelists not read other people's books, musicians not listen to other people's music, and so forth?

No, no, no. Art is a synthesis of everything that came before it. Gary Trudeau told me that in 1982, just before he asked me to stop making my characters look like his, goddammit.


People frequently compare you to Bill Watterson, I think in part because both your strips centered on a sense of whimsy, but also because your work left them with few comparisons. Do you think there's a valid parallel?

No. He was the real thing. I was just scampering nude through the aisles before anybody could kick me out. Gary Trudeau was our greatest satirist in the second half of the century. Crazy ol' Bill Watterson created the purest comic strip, after Peanuts, probably. Or before Peanuts became a shadow. Bless him for quitting at the top. It's not easy.


One of the ironies of Bloom County was that the child characters were among the most mature, while the adult characters were prone to egregious silliness and elaborate fantasies. Did you think of yourself as a particularly mature child? Do you think of yourself as a particularly silly adult?

Yes. And, yes, you shrewd little imp. Hanging on to the silly as I sail toward my mid-40s is my current project. The middle-age temptation to get serious about everything is Satan's handiwork. My child may be my aging soul's salvation at the altar of silliness. That, by the way, is why they call us writers.