Dear Mr. Breathed,

When I heard that you were coming out of retirement I was thrilled. Bloom County was one of my favorite comic strips and it when it stopped running in ‘95 it left a big hole in the Sunday comics. I'll admit that I was ticked off at you for awhile but I got over it. Seriously, man, no hard feelings. I missed Opus. I missed Bill the Cat. I miss the days when Michael Jackson jokes were still fresh (or, at least, slightly less stale).

But comebacks are tricky (just ask Michael Jackson). And…well, I don't know how to put this but...you've lost the touch. The satire used to drip from your pen like Voltaire's poison. And now…it's just not there anymore. Opus doesn't measure up to Bloom County. Let's face it, Opus doesn't even reach the level of Garfield.

I can't even begin to express what's wrong. The artwork. Sheesh, the artwork. It's sloppy. What were you going for with that look? Heavy Metal magazine, circa 1980?

And don't get me started on the satire. The clueless President bit? Yeah, you wore that out with Reagan. In fact you just dug up some rejected strips from out of the wastebasket and changed Reagan to Bush, didn‘t you?

But you know what's unforgivable? (Other than failing to bring back Bill the Cat, of course.) It's not funny. If it were funny then we could overlook the rest.

We understand what happened, Berk. After inflation and the Bear market, well, the money just never lasts as long as you think it will, does it? You see Matt Groening's cash machine still churning after all these years and you thought, what the heck, your name would get you back in the game. And, for a moment…it did. But it's time to go. You're embarrassing yourself. If you need some help I'll be glad to spot you a few bills to get you through. The economy is coming back. Perhaps you could get a job inking Boondocks on the weekends. Whatever you do you have to stop with this Opus stuff, Berke. Seriously, you have to stop.

You need to move on. Your fans already have.