Berke Breathed's Bloom County was a must read comic strip for me back in the day. I loved his character designs and his truly warped sense of humor spoke to me. Bill the Cat reminded me of more than one unrefined feline that I had known, so he was a favorite of mine. I can't say I ever picked up a copy of Omaha the Cat Dancer, but I from what I saw of it remember thinking that the artwork was a notch above most of the adults-only comics that were around.
I'll be sending you my medical bill, based on the fact that you just broke my brain.
ReplyDeleteAck! Thbbft!
Brilliant!!
ReplyDeleteI'll be frank, since most of your posts are so mainstream, and you tend to avoid independent publisher characters, I NEVER in million years expected to see something like OMAHA THE CAT DANCER here. Holy Guacomole!!! Can we move in a direction where you use artwork from Love & Rockets, Persopolis, Joe Sacco's works, etc. Small Independent publishers could use the publicity! Support Small Press!
ReplyDeleteThis blog is mainly a reflection of the comics, artists and characters that I read and loved when growing up which is why it skews more mainstream most of the time. There will definitely be more non-DC/Marvel and independently published characters appearing in the future, though, I've tried to make an effort to branch out a bit more.
ReplyDeleteI tried one issue of Omaha in the early '90s and never went back. It's basically a soap opera that used furries and moderately salacious content to survive a market hostile to its more honest inclinations. It had a dedicated fan base at one time, but either their interest or their voice faded.
ReplyDeleteI could never "get" Calvin & Hobbes in a world that already had Bloom County. I didn't see the point.
@Diabolu Frank: Interest in Omaha never died out, her creator Reed Waller's partner, Kate Worley, did, after a protracted battle with cancer. That was following Waller's own recovery from cancer. Waller self-published and found regular employment outside of comics in order to cover his medical expenses. Completing the series' complex storyline with Worley's husband Jim Vance has been occupying much of Waller's spare time over the last ten years. The conclusion was finally published in trade form this September. It's a story I started reading in the Reagan administration. Because it uses adult themes, comics stores with a lot of kid traffic aren't going to put it on low shelves, so for a lot of fans it's been literally "out of sight, out of mind".
ReplyDeleteOmaha The Cat Dancer always felt more "European". I initially thought it was a English translation reprint of a French graphic novel series.
ReplyDeleteIgnorant people usually see nakedness and assume its European maybe due to the American puritanism (hypocrisy), Lots of American stuff has been going the "euro" way, and that does not mean its better.
ReplyDeleteI only saw Omaha as an excuse for Reed to hang around strip clubs with the artist at work label.
I didn't know who either of these characters were before i saw this cover. But it did inspire me to google both of them, so I can say I've learned stuff here today.
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