Who created Bloom County?
Bloom County
"Bloom County" originated from a comic strip known as "The Academia Waltz", which Breathed produced for "The Daily Texan", the student newspaper of the University of Texas. The comic strip attracted the notice of the editors of "The Washington Post", who recruited him to do a nationally syndicated strip. On December 8, 1980, "Bloom County", syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group, made its debut and featured some of the characters from "Academia Waltz," including former frat-boy Steve Dallas and the paraplegic Vietnam war veteran Cutter John.
Minor characters in Bloom County
Though the strip's various compilations do not do them justice, the original cast of characters in "Bloom County" were Milo, Bess, and Major Bloom, along with a basset hound named "Rabies" whose thoughts could be read à la Snoopy; the first year of strips are mysteriously omitted from all compilations save the "Bloom Library", although a selection did find publication in a 1986 anthology collection "Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness". Most of the strip's most memorable characters debuted later on, with Milo being the only key character to appear for the duration of the strip's run.
Alphonso Ali was the first significant African American character in "Bloom County". An ardent admirer of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, Alphonso was first introduced as Binkley's opponent in the boxing ring. Later, Alphonso would make appearances as a friend of Binkley and Milo, as well as everyone else in the meadow, and fought in the Great Snake Massacre. He disappeared in 1983, and was replaced by Oliver Wendell Jones later that year.