Bobbi Harlow

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Bobbi Harlow is a fictional character in Berke Breathed's comic strip Bloom County.

A schoolteacher, Bobbi was popular among her students, particularly Milo Bloom and Michael Binkley, who both harbored crushes on her. However, the conservative adults in the town were suspicious of her liberal, feminist views. Their suspicions turned to outrage when she brought her politics into the classroom, such as having the students wear gas masks in case "the fascists" (or, as the children called them "fishes") tear gassed them, throwing fake blood at "the war mongerers" ("war monkeys" in kid-speak) and teaching them about liberated women. Bobbi originally started dating Steve Dallas, but was swept off her feet (figuratively and literally) by Cutter John.

Bobbi started out as a major recurring character in the strip, but as time went on her role became more and more limited. As the strip began to focus more on children and animal characters (with the notable exception of Steve Dallas), there was less room for Bobbi. By 1983, she was gone completely, without explanation.

In 1988, Bobbi was mentioned in a Sunday strip, where it was revealed that she had joined the staff of talk show Donahue in 1983, and then shaved her head in despair over the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment. She has not appeared in any of Breathed's works since.

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