Opus the Penguin

Opus the Penguin is a large-nosed, existentialist penguin, a main character in the Bloom County comic strip series and other works by Berke Breathed. Opus usually wears only a bow tie and collar, though he sometimes switches to a regular diagonally striped necktie when running for public office. He sometimes wears straw boater hats with fruit. Occasionally he walks around in his briefs.

Related Topics:
Existentialist - Penguin - Bloom County - Comic strip - Berke Breathed - Bow tie - Necktie - Boater - Briefs

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Opus was originally introduced as a one-time gag about hapless Mike Binkley bringing home what he thought was a German Shepherd, which turned out to be a penguin, much to the disappointment of Binkley's father. However, his popularity quickly grew until he became the signature character of Breathed's comic strips.

Related Topics:
Mike Binkley - German Shepherd - Penguin

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Over the years, Opus has served as Steve Dallas' legal secretary; journeyed to Antarctica in search of his mother; played the tuba in heavy metal group Deathtöngue (later renamed Billy and the Boingers); wooed an abstract sculptor named Lola Granola; worked as a newspaper personals editor, lifestyle columnist and comic strip writer; and run for vice president on the National Radical Meadow Party ticket, along with his running mate Bill the Cat.

Related Topics:
Steve Dallas - Antarctica - Tuba - Heavy metal - Deathtöngue - Billy and the Boingers - Lola Granola - Vice president - National Radical Meadow Party - Bill the Cat

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In the tradition of many other popular characters, Opus apparently died (while unwillingly brought along on a balloon expedition to Washington, DC to zap the ambassador from apartheid-era South Africa with a ray that would temporarily turn him black) only to return with amnesia. He later regained his memory after being in a state of intense and total shock; he heard an erroneous report that Diane Sawyer (whom he had an enormous crush on) had married Eddie Murphy.

Related Topics:
Washington, DC - Apartheid - South Africa - Amnesia - Diane Sawyer - Eddie Murphy

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Opus was the first Bloom County regular to appear in the Sunday-only Outland strip, and also appeared in some of Breathed's children's books, including A Wish for Wings That Work and Goodnight Opus.

Related Topics:
Sunday - Outland - A Wish for Wings That Work - Goodnight Opus

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Eight years after Outland ended, Opus returned in a second Sunday-only strip simply titled Opus, in 2003. The first few strips showed Opus's discontent living in Antarctica with his overbearing mother. A misdirected Mars probe happened to give him the means to return to Bloom County, where he set about looking for his old friends. To date, he has been reunited with two (Bill the Cat and Steve Dallas).

Related Topics:
Opus - 2003 - Mars

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Opus is apparently a king penguin, although one strip has him labeled as a "red-nosed magellanic flatfanny." It has previously been noted in Breathed's comics that Opus looks more like a puffin than a penguin.

Related Topics:
King penguin - Puffin

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According to the July 102005 edition of the Opus comic strip, Opus currently lives at 996 Melba Lane, presumably in Bloom County.

Related Topics:
July 10 - 2005

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