In Bloom County we were offered characters that grew familiar, even in their various deficiencies. The strips were episodic, frequently thoughtful and almost always hilarious. At the same time we came to identify with the various characters: Milo Bloom the precocious pre-teen and his paranoid buddy Binkley. Cutter John, the paraplegic Vietnam veteran who led his buddies on role-playing Star Trek adventures. Steve Dallas, the chain-smoking slime-ball lawyer who got his come-uppance over and over, usually as a result of his insensitivity to women. Oliver Wendell Jones, the young computer hacker who caused panic at the Pentagon, on Wall Street and in his school's science class.

Outland doesn't have the same feel as it's not episodic at all. Each Sunday comic "stands alone" - and each one is full of Breathed's inventive artwork and the same brilliantly conceived satire. I don't feel like the story stands still long enough to identify or care as much about the characters, and for that reason Outland isn't as satisfying to me as Bloom County.

Still - there is some good stuff here and Breathed skewers Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, the health-care industry, political correctness and Macauley Culkin.