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Berkeley Breathed’s Bloom County Series Continues in October

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Official Press Release

Berkeley Breathed’s Bloom County Series Continues in October

Volume five of IDW’s award-winning Complete Library now available for pre-order

Best-selling chronological collection will expand to include Outland, Opus

[Bloom County Volume 5 Cover]San Diego, CA (September 12, 2011)—The wildly successful return of Opus, Binkley, Bill the Cat and the entire cast of Bloom County continues in October with BLOOM COUNTY: THE COMPLETE LIBRARY, VOLUME FIVE, now available for pre-order. After weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list, multiple awards and nominations, and a museum retrospective, VOLUME FIVE brings readers the final chapter of Berkeley Breathed’s incredibly popular and Pulitzer Prize-winning series. And just as Breathed was drawn back to Bloom County, so will IDW finish the Complete Breathed Strip Library with the first full color, chronological reprints of both Outland and Opus, starting in 2012.

“The really funny thing about many of these past strips… is how utterly inappropriate they would be for today’s newspapers,” said Breathed. “I’m thankful there’ll be a complete record of inappropriateness now.”

BLOOM COUNTY: THE COMPLETE LIBRARY, VOLUME FIVE offers every daily and Sunday strip from November 30, 1987 through August 6, 1989, the day that Breathed, at the top of his game both critically and commercially, walked away from Bloom County. This ultimate volume features an introduction by Breathed and is also full of the annotations and behind-the-scenes antidotes from him, a hallmark for which the series has become known.

As with the first five volumes, OUTLAND and OPUS will also offer engaging comments and insights from Breathed about the strips. Each volume will contain the full run of Sunday-only strips, offering fans the first and only complete, full color, chronological collections, and featuring many of the characters from Bloom County.

“This is sort of a ‘the king is dead, long live the king’ moment for me,” said series editor Scott Dunbier, “While I’m happy the Bloom County Series is now collected, I’ll be sad to not be working on it anymore… but elated to have both Outland and Opus on the horizon!”

Breathed‘s Bloom County is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed newspaper strips of modern times. Premiering on December 8th, 1980 – a month after the election of Ronald Reagan as President – the strip brought a unique amalgam of contemporary politics and fantasy, all told with hilarious wit and humor. At its height, Bloom County was published in an astonishing 1200 newspapers, and the first collection, Loose Tails, sold more than one million copies.

Celebrating the cultural impact of this remarkable comic strip, IDW Publishing has teamed up with Breathed for the first complete and chronological collection of Bloom County. Each volume features the many quirky citizens of Bloom County—such as Opus, Bill the Cat, and Milo Bloom—while projecting Breathed’s uncanny ability to be both cynical and naïve, often at the same time. The first four volumes of BLOOM COUNTY: THE COMPLTE LIBRARY are currently available at fine bookstores everywhere, with Volume Five launching in October. The single volume of Outland will be released in April of 2012.

In addition to the print books, IDW has also released a BLOOM COUNTY application for Apple’s iPad, starting with the inaugural year, 1980-81, with more years soon to follow. BLOOM COUNTY will also launch in iBooks, shortly. Each digital edition is specially formatted, with one day’s strip per page for optimal viewing on the iPad or iPhone.

Bloom County: The Complete Library Volume Two is published by IDW under its imprint Eisner award-winning imprint, the Library of American Comics. Bloom County: The Complete Library series is edited by Dunbier and designed by Dean Mullaney.

BLOOM COUNTY: THE COMPLETE LIBRARY VOLUME FIVE ($39.99, 272 pages, hard cover, partial color) will be available in stores in October 2011. ISBN 978-1-61377-061-0. Diamond order code AUG11 0382.

BLOOM COUNTY: THE COMPLTE LIBRARY VOLUME ONE (iPad only, $7.99, December 8 1980 – December 31, 1981, partial color) is now available through iTunes [http://bit.ly/bloom-county-ipad].

Visit IDWPublishing.com to learn more about the company and its top-selling books.

About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The Transformers and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; HBO’s True Blood; the BBC’s Doctor Who; Toho’s Godzilla; Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; and comics and trade collections based on novels by worldwide bestselling author, James Patterson. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints; Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studio.

IDW’s original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.

Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod touch, and iTunes are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Content purchased from the iTunes Store is for personal lawful use only. Don’t steal music.

Bloom County Vol 2 Debuts on NY Times Best Seller List

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Official Press Release

Bloom County Vol 2 Debuts on
NY Times Best Seller List

Second installment of acclaimed series features Ted Koppel introduction

[Bloom County Vol 2 cover]San Diego, CA (May 21, 2010) – The wildly successful return of Opus, Binkley, Bill the Cat and the entire cast of Bloom County continues with the debut of Bloom County: The Complete Library, Volume Two at fourth on the New York Times Best Seller list. In Volume Two, creator Berkeley Breathed offers even more funny and insightful commentary than in the first volume, while context pages help fans recapture the glory of the 1980s.

“Ha, fooled them again!” exclaimed Breathed. “Seriously, I’m happy people still enjoy this stuff. Surprised, but happy.”

Beginning with September 27, 1982, Bloom County: The Complete Library, Volume Two offers every daily and Sunday through July 1, 1984, most reproduced from Breathed’s personal archives of original art. Kicking off this second installment, renowned journalist Ted Koppel takes readers on a brief journey back to the Reagan years and reflects on the strips he shared with Opus in his introduction.

“What’s really astounding to me is the freshness of this material after so many years” said editor Scott Dunbier. “The events in these pages are right out of today’s headlines—the economy, politics, even Michael Jackson! But, most importantly, we see them all through Breathed’s own unique perspective, which is the true joy of Bloom County.”

Bloom County: The Complete Library Volume Two features the introduction of Binkley’s anxiety closet and boy genius Oliver Wendell Jones, as well as the fondly remembered death of the Bill the Cat storyline.

Bloom County: The Complete Library Volume Two is published by IDW under its imprint Eisner award-winning imprint, the Library of American Comics. Bloom County: The Complete Library series is edited by Dunbier and designed by Dean Mullaney.

[Bloom County, February 7, 1983]
Bloom County: The Complete Library Volume Two ($39.99; 304 pages; hardcover) is now available in stores. Diamond order code FEB10 1005; ISBN 978-160010-583-8.

Visit IDWPublishing.com to sign up for updates and learn more about the company and its top-selling books.

About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The Transformers and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; Fox’s Angel; the BBC’s Doctor Who; and comics and trade collections based on novels by worldwide bestselling author, James Patterson. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints; Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studios; and is the print publisher for EA Comics and ComicMix.

IDW’s original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.

About The Library of American Comics
The Library of American Comics, an imprint of IDW Publishing, was established in 2007 to preserve the long and jubilantly creative history of the American newspaper comic strip in archival, hardcover editions. To date, every LoAC release has been nominated for an Eisner or Harvey Award and the imprint’s inaugural series, Terry and the Pirates, won the Eisner in 2008. Creative and Editorial Director Dean Mullaney has been an influential force in the comics field since 1978, when he published the first graphic novel for the comics specialty market (Sabre by Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy). His pioneering efforts, as founder and publisher of Eclipse Comics, brought about many milestones to the field, including creator copyright ownership, the first line of Japanese manga in English translation in 1988, and the first digitally-colored comic book. More information about The Library of American Comics can be found on IDW’s website— www.idwpublishing.com—and that of the imprint itself—www.libraryofamericancomics.com.

*Comic strip for February 2, 1983.

Bloom County Continues in April

Posted on by

Official Press Release

Volume Two of New York Times best-selling series
by Berkeley Breathed features Ted Koppel introduction

[Bloom County Volume 2 cover]San Diego, CA (February 3, 2010) – The wildly successful return of Opus, Binkley, Bill the Cat and the entire cast of Bloom County continues in April with Bloom County: The Complete Library, Volume Two. Creator Berkeley Breathed offers even more funny and insightful commentary than in the first volume, while context pages help fans recapture the glory of the 1980’s. IDW is also expanding the series to include a limited edition of the first volume, featuring a tipped-in bookplate signed by Breathed himself.

“In the spirit of humiliating self-disclosure that has become so trendy of late, I stuffed this volume with more embarrassing background stories behind the cartoons. Drugs, sex and gunplay, it’s all there,” added Breathed.

Beginning with September 27, 1982, Bloom County: The Complete Library, Volume Two offers every daily and Sunday through July 1, 1984, most reproduced from Breathed’s personal archives of original art. Kicking off this second installment, renowned journalist Ted Koppel takes readers on a brief journey back to the Reagan years and reflects on the strips he shared with Opus in his introduction: “It’s come to this. I’m the opening act for a penguin.”

“Berkeley just turned in his margin comments for Volume Two,” said editor Scott Dunbier, “and they are hysterically funny. One of the many things I love about my job is that I get to read things like this—before any of you—and I get PAID to do it!”

Bloom County: The Complete Library Volume Two features the introduction of Binkley’s anxiety closet and boy genius Oliver Wendell Jones, as well as the fondly remembered death of the Bill the Cat storyline.

Bloom County: The Complete Library Volume Two is published by IDW under its Eisner award-winning imprint, the Library of American Comics. Bloom County: The Complete Library series is edited by Dunbier and designed by Dean Mullaney.

Bloom County: The Complete Library Volume Two ($39.99; 304 pages; hardcover) will be available in stores in April. Diamond order code FEB10 1005; ISBN 978-1600105838.

Bloom County: The Complete Library Volume One Limited Signed Edition ($50.00; 288 pages; hardcover; signed and numbered) will be available in stores in April. Diamond order code FEB10 1006; ISBN 978-1600107306.

Visit IDWPublishing.com to learn more about the company and its top-selling books.

About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The Transformers and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; Fox’s Angel; the BBC’s Doctor Who; and television’s #1 prime time series CBS’ CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints; Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studios; and is the print publisher for ComicMix.

IDW’s original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.

About The Library of American Comics
The Library of American Comics, an imprint of IDW Publishing, was established in 2007 to preserve the long and jubilantly creative history of the American newspaper comic strip in archival, hardcover editions. To date, every LoAC release has been nominated for an Eisner or Harvey Award and the imprint’s inaugural series, Terry and the Pirates, won the Eisner in 2008. Creative and Editorial Director Dean Mullaney has been an influential force in the comics field since 1978, when he published the first graphic novel for the comics specialty market (Sabre by Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy). His pioneering efforts, as founder and publisher of Eclipse Comics, brought about many milestones to the field, including creator copyright ownership, the first line of Japanese manga in English translation in 1988, and the first digitally-colored comic book. More information about The Library of American Comics can be found on IDW’s website and that of the imprint itself—www.libraryofamericancomics.com.

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