Volume Four of the complete Bloom County comic is out (it’s actually been out for 2 months, but I’m running behind). Again we have a complete run of the strips (except for one repeat because the original was never published due to some editorial complaint). This is some of Breathed’s finest works with the rise of Billy and the Boingers (nee Deathtongue) and many many swipes at pop culture icons. So, let’s see what’s in this volume.

The absolute highlight of this set of strips is the rise of Deathtongue which is then renamed as Bill and the Boingers after Steve has a run in with Tipper Gorp. The 3 piece band with Bill on lead tongue, Hodge-podge on drums and Opus on tuba (“heavy metal? weighty brass.” is a great line). The tour is my favorite part with the Sunday strip of the police asking Steve Dallas if a cat, penguin and rabbit can talk. The band quickly realizes that if they play as animals then Steve gets arrested.

We also get some of my favorite Oliver strips with him gazing at the heavens and the peering down at the neighbors. We have Opus (Spock) getting billions in funding to get Star Wars weapons defense working (with Oliver’s help). We also get Bill turning to pop culture trend after trend. With a great series of strips after Bill turns born again and threatens to call up four televangelists if he gets enough donations. The thought of the televangelists getting called up is enough to make everyone donate.

Breathed also starts branching out in his Sunday strips here (near the end). It’s not as adventurous as his later Sunday strips (which should be in Volume 5), but you can see the beginnings. Go and get this (and all the books in the series). Bill, Opus, Steve dominate this book (with a dash of Binkley and not enough Milo or Oliver), but it’s still a classic strip.