Ah, me.

The thirteenth of the month is indeed an unlucky day and your correspondent finds himself mourning a piece of news that’s been out since last Thursday, 9 October.

After close on thirty years, it is the end of the line for comicdom’s greatest Penguin. The strip has been moving in an ominous direction for several weeks, now and finally it is official. November 2nd sees the last ever appearance of Opus the Penguin in his own, or if creator, Berke Breathed is to be believed, any other strip.

Opus, originally conceived as a one-shot gag in the award-winning and frequently political Bloom County, went on to become a core player in the series. He also appeared in the follow-up comic Outland before starring in his own strip. Along the way he’s been a world traveler, a heavy metal tuba player, a contender for vice president, and, perhaps most importantly, an everyman philosopher.

Opus is being retired.

A wish for wings that work

Day four and Opus T Penguin, last seen being eyed up by a very startled Nessie, has taken it upon himself to remove himself from such Jurassic danger by taking a cable car journey into the Highlands. Let it not be said that he "hot tailed it out of there", but he chooses to sit on the ventilator...


( Low-flying cable cars behind our intrepid waterfowl cause momentary consternation... )

The day started slowly. Not unexpected after the events of the previous day, one supposes. By late morning, our intrepid hero was moved to look at a local museum in an effort to find somewhere his abductors may not venture:

( Towards the lochs... )

Further shenanigans from the Highlands. Or at least the Edinbrough area.

Plushed beyond endurance, our intrepid waterfowl turns the tables on a startled Cthulu and explains a few matters of import:



Sometime later, despite a close call involving caviar, tentacles, egg whites and ink, all is resolved and both parties retire for a dandelion break. Differences resolved. For now.

Quieter and yet more disturbing today, with but one picture of the missing penguin to be had and that out of focus, too!

See the poor flightless, aquatic avian stuck by an old police information box, which presumably he mistook for a phone box.



Barely recogniseable in the lack of focus, I initially thought that the squiddy swines had stuck him there upside down!