For a generation of readers --- some of whom, and I'm speaking from experience here, were probably way too young to get the political satire and realize that Steve Dallas was meant to be an absolutely terrible person --- Berkeley Breathed's classic Bloom County was one of the most influential comic strips on the newspaper page. While Breathed continued to do other strips until 2009, Bloom County itself ended in 1989.

Until last July, that is, when the strip made a surprising return online as Bloom County 2015, reviving the characters for more weird satire and the occasional exploding cat. And now, IDW has announced that it will be releasing printed collections of the strip starting next summer.

 

Bloom County 2015 by Berke Breathed
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The news isn't entirely surprising, considering that a few years ago IDW published the hardcover Bloom County: Complete Collections of the original strip, as well as bringing them back digitally on Comixology.

As for what format that new collections are going to take, and whether they'll mimic the spot coloring that Breathed has been experimenting with on the online strip, like the one above, that remains to be seen as we move closer to the release date. The first collection of Bloom County 2015 --- which will presumably be renamed when the new year rolls around --- is currently set for next summer. Here's the official word via IDW's press release:

It's hard to say why, but for me, doing Bloom County has suddenly become… what’s the word…fun,” said Berkeley Breathed, "I’d like to think readers can tell. When the strips are brought together in a book, I think you especially can."

In the meantime, you can catch up on the new Bloom County online.

 

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