End of ‘Opus’ opens new doors for ‘Fox Trot,’ ‘Pickles’

The penguin has finally found his wings.

Earlier this week, cartoonist Berkeley Breathed announced that his Sunday-only comic strip “Opus” will end on Nov. 2.

Beginning Nov. 9, the ever-popular “Fox Trot” will move to the lead position in the Sunday comics section, and we’ll be adding “Pickles,” the runner-up in our 2007 comics poll.

“Pickles,” which tells the story of a retired couple in their 70s and their family, was particularly popular with older readers in the poll, but also had strong support from all ages.

Breathed, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for editorial cartooning, will turn his focus to children’s books. His latest, “Pete & Pickles,” a tale about a sad, lonely pig who is befriended by a flamboyant elephant, will be released Thursday.

“With the crisis in Wall Street and Washington, I’m suspending my comic strip to assist the nation,” Breathed, 51, said sardonically in a news release. “The best way I can help is to leave politics permanently and write funny stories for America’s kids. I call on John McCain to join me.”

In an e-mail Monday to the Los Angeles Times, Breathed explained further: “I’m destroying the village to save it. Opus would inevitably become a ranting mouthpiece in the coming wicked days, and I respect the other parts of him too much to see that happen. The Michael Moore part of me would kill the part of him that was important to his fans.”

Opus, the mild-mannered, bow-tie wearing penguin, first appeared in Breathed’s “Bloom County,” a popular daily strip running from 1980 to 1989. The character was also prominent in “Outland,” a Sunday-only spin-off strip that ran from 1989-1995. The “Opus” strip, which featured other “Bloom County” mainstays, including Steve Dallas and Bill the Cat, started in 2003.

Breathed will end the strip with an online contest for readers to guess Opus’ fate. Keep an eye on the Sunday comics for details.