Opus the Penguin
Opus the Penguin, or Opus T. Penguin, is a fictional character created by Berkeley Breathed. An “existentialist penguin,” he became the star of Bloom County and later appeared in Outland and his own strip, Opus.
He first showed up in 1981 as a one‑off gag about a boy bringing home what he thought was a German Shepherd; it turned out to be a penguin. After a break, he returned in 1982 and quickly became Bloom County’s signature character. He started looking like a regular penguin, but his nose grew into a distinctive bump, and he jokes that he looks like a puffin. He usually wears a bow tie and collar, sometimes a striped tie when running for office. In Outland, he is occasionally seen wearing white briefs.
Opus hails from the Falkland Islands and was separated from his mother as a youngster, a backstory that fuels his longing for a mother figure. The Mary Kay Commandos tale explains how he ended up in Bloom County.
Over the years Opus has had many roles: secretary to Steve Dallas; traveled to Antarctica to look for his mother; played tuba in the heavy metal band Deathtöngue (later Billy and the Boingers); courted the sculptor Lola Granola; worked as a newspaper editor, lifestyle columnist, and writer; and even ran for vice president with Bill the Cat. He is famous for humorous gags about losing parts, from his nose to his rear end, with his navel described as the screw that holds him together.
He appears in books like A Wish for Wings That Work and Goodnight Opus; he wrote A Penguin's Story, later reworked as Naked Came I by Milo Bloom. He retired in 2008, ending with a final strip where Steve Dallas reads Goodnight Moon. Opus returned when Bloom County was revived in 2015.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 02:27 (CET).