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Saying Goodbye

Poor Opus.
Berkeley Breathed' retirement came as a big shock to me. And Opus was one of the newer strips in my Sunday paper; not only that, it was FUNNY.
Even more disheartening is an interview printed in the paper. Breathed appeared very cynical and disillusioned; it was as if he had to fight the syndicates in order to preserve his soul, but ended up losing his strength. He says that Calvin and Hobbes was the last great comic strip.
I don't believe that. Calvin and Hobbes is a classic, and it can't be replicated, but that doesn't mean that another great strip won't come along. On the Internet we have new talent emerging, albeit for more specialize audiences. We artists can't expect several hundred thousand dollars a year or millions of readers. However, we don't draw primarily for the money; we draw primarily because we WANT to.
Some of the masters have already earned a place in the world due to their work and persist to satisfy their creative urges; Scott Kurtz has produced three serials so far as well as an adventure comic; Marjane Satrapi enthralls us with stories of her childhood; Alison Bechdel completed a memoir while writing her own strip Dykes to Watch Out For. Even Craig Thompson, famous author of Blankets, plans to release another graphic novel about Persia. Maybe one of these artists will achieve what Bill Watterson couldn't.
With all due respect, Mr. Breathed, there may indeed may never be a comic like Calvin and Hobbes. But maybe there will be something even better.

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