{"id":27169,"date":"2022-12-06T09:00:23","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T09:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=27169"},"modified":"2022-12-05T18:19:02","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T18:19:02","slug":"pete-pickles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2022\/12\/06\/pete-pickles\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete & Pickles"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Berkeley Breathed<\/strong> (Philomel Books\/Penguin Young Readers Group)
\nISBN: 978-0-399250-82-8 (HB)<\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Because it Ain\u2019t Seasonal Without Cartoon Critters\u2026 10\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Throughout the 1980s and for half of the 1990s, Berke Breathed dominated the newspaper strip scene with agonisingly funny, edgy-yet-surreal political fantasy Bloom County <\/strong>and, latterly, Sunday-only spin-off Outland<\/strong>. They are all available digitally – so don\u2019t wait for my reviews, just get them now!<\/p>\n

At the top of his game and swamped with awards like Pulitzers, Breathed retired to concentrate on books for kids, crafting whimsical wonders like Red Ranger Came Calling<\/strong>, Mars Needs Moms!<\/strong> and Flawed Dogs: The Year End Leftovers at the Piddleton \u201cLast-Chance\u201d Dog Pound <\/strong>(and sequel Flawed Dogs: The Shocking Raid on Westminster<\/strong>), which all rank among the best America has ever produced.<\/p>\n

Get them too.<\/p>\n

Breathed\u2019s first foray into the field was 1991\u2019s A Wish for Wings That Work<\/strong>: a Christmas parable featuring his signature character, and the most charmingly human one. Between 2003 and 2008, Breathed revived Opus<\/strong> as a Sunday strip, before eventually capitulating to his career-long antipathy for the manic deadline pressures of newspaper production and often-insane, convoluted contradictions of editorial censorship.<\/p>\n

It seemed his ludicrous yet appealing cast of misfits – all skilled and deadly exponents of irony and common sense residing in the heartland of American conservatism – were gone for good, until the internet provided a platform for Breathed to resume his role as a gadfly commentator on his own terms.<\/p>\n

Since 2015, Bloom County<\/strong> has mocked, exposed and shamed capitalism, celebrities, consumerism, popular culture, politicians, religious leaders and people who act like idiots. Donald Trump figures prominently and often, but that might just be coincidence\u2026<\/p>\n

These later efforts, unconstrained by syndicate pressures to not offend advertisers, are also available as book collections. You\u2019ll want those too, and be delighted to learn that all Breathed\u2019s Bloom County<\/strong> work is also available in digital formats – fully annotated to address the history gap, if you didn\u2019t live through events such as Iran-Gate, Live-Aid, Star Wars (both cinematic and military versions), assorted cults, televangelists experiencing less than divine retribution and sundry other tea-cup storms that contributed to all us Baby Boomers beings so obnoxious, rude and defensive\u2026<\/p>\n

Not quite as renowned, but every inch as crucial to your enjoyment, is the lost gem on display today: a paean to the power of friendship, all wrapped up in a children\u2019s book about an odd couple thrown together by fate and necessity. And outr\u00e9 noses\u2026<\/p>\n

As previously stated, after the all-too-brief, glittering outing as a syndicated strip cartoonist and socio-political commentator (so often the very same hallowed function) Breathed left strips to create children\u2019s picture books.<\/p>\n

He lost none of his perception, wit or imagination, and actually got better as an artist. Even so, he never quite abandoned his entrancing cast of characters and always maintained the gently excoriating, crusading passion and inherent bittersweet invective which underscored those earlier narratives.<\/p>\n

Moreover, he couldn\u2019t ignore that morally uplifting component of his work that so upset hypocrites, liars, greedy people and others who let us all down while carping on about being unfairly judged and how we don\u2019t really understand complex issues. Trust me, we – and Breathed – understand perfectly\u2026<\/p>\n

This crushingly captivating cartoon catechism ruminates on the cost and worth of comradely fraternity.<\/p>\n

Pete <\/em>is a pig: practical, predictable and not in any way a perturbation to normal pedestrian life. He was a pig who didn\u2019t like fuss or surprises and lived alone until the night of the big storm. Aroused from his usual rain-induced nightmare of drowning, Pete gradually became aware that something had broken into his otherwise empty but extremely secure house\u2026<\/p>\n

Suddenly accosted, he is all but smothered in the capacious and so strong snoot of escaped circus elephant Pickles<\/em>, who begs him to shelter her. Of course, pragmatic Pete happily hands her over the moment the clowns hunting her turn up, but can\u2019t forget how she\u2019d smiled at him whilst being dragged away or that she\u2019s left him a posy of dandelions\u2026<\/p>\n

The event utterly disrupts his equilibrium and – despite himself – Pete eventually attends the circus. What he sees moves him so greatly that he abandons everything he ever believed and breaks her out.<\/p>\n

Hiding her in his house, he soon finds his staid, stolid and secure life shattered by odd adventures and intoxicating fantasies, but no matter how nice it feels, it\u2019s far more than his practical nature can abide. However, the subsequent confrontation jumps quickly from angry words to life-threatening peril when the plumbing breaks and they\u2019re both trapped in a rapidly-filling watery deathtrap\u2026<\/p>\n

Combining the potent desolate imagery of Grant Wood\u2019s American Gothic<\/strong> with the paintings of Edward Hopper: channelling the hidden comedic potential of the isolated rural heartland with manic, surreal whimsy in hyper-real fully rendered paintings acting in concert with powerfully simplified line drawings, Pete & Pickles <\/strong>explores loneliness, reticence, compromise and the hunger for companionship in a charming but potent fable. This astounding yarn was inspired by the drawing and razor-sharp perspicacity of Breathed\u2019s (then 5-year-old) daughter Sophie, and can teach us all a thing or two about understanding ourselves and just getting along\u2026<\/p>\n

This is a book to trigger personal reflection, audit consciences and promote more honest behaviour, but it will make grown citizens howl and children sit up and pay attention. It\u2019s also wickedly funny and deliciously sad. You\u2019ll laugh, you\u2019ll cry, and you\u2019ll think hard about what you want and who you\u2019d like to share it with\u2026
\n\u00a9 2008 Berkeley Breathed. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Berkeley Breathed (Philomel Books\/Penguin Young Readers Group) ISBN: 978-0-399250-82-8 (HB) Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Because it Ain\u2019t Seasonal Without Cartoon Critters\u2026 10\/10 Throughout the 1980s and for half of the 1990s, Berke Breathed dominated the newspaper strip scene with agonisingly funny, edgy-yet-surreal political fantasy Bloom County and, latterly, Sunday-only spin-off Outland. They are all … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Pete & Pickles”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[81,125,97,111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-books","category-humour","category-kids-all-ages","category-satirepolitics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-74d","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27171,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27169\/revisions\/27171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}