A few weeks ago, I posted the incredibly sad news that vegetarian and animal rights activist Berkeley Breathed was being forced to retire from writing and drawing his comic strip Opus (stripping, as Breathed calls his profession) due to spasmodic torticollis.  Breathed made a name for himself penning Bloom County back in the eighties, and is one of those we hoped would just never hang it up.  Well, the sad news is that the retirement day was yesterday.  Opus will probably never grace our comic pages again.  I’m including a small version of the strip here, but please go HERE to see the final in-print strip, and HERE to see the full-sized image of the final panel.

The silver lining of all this was that Breathed left Opus the Penguin’s fate up to readers.  He wanted you to decide what paradise Opus would find himself in.  The winner received a $10,000 donation to the animal shelter of his or her choice. The Human Society helped present the contest, so please takepart and visit their website.  I’d also recommend that you visit Berkeley Breathed’s website, but it’s been having some trouble the last few days, so it may not work, but give it a shot.  And, if you’ve been a big a fan as I have, take the time to read some Bloom County today.