Friday 5 October 2012

454: Gay American Football 1 - Berke Breathed

“The Academic Waltz”
By Berke Breathed
in “Daily Texan” 1979

“The Academic Waltz” was the first cartoon strip by Berke Breathed. It was drawn during his later years as a student at the University of Texas at Austin. “The Daily Texan” was the University’s newspaper. Breathed created characters and a style of humour which would transfer to his syndicated strip “Bloom County” in 1980.

This strip plays off the platitudes about sports players being good roles models who run about thanking god for their victories and display the all-American values we want our children emulating. Rather than any sissy innuendoes, Breathed goes for the gusto with his punchline about sex. Whether anything more should be made of the fact that the football player is sat with his legs crossed, I leave to your discretion.

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