BILL, the Cat

Bill, the Cat. "Bill" is a cartoon character raised in Dubuque, Iowa, who moved to New York to become a film star and left his girlfriend, Sally, behind. Bill the Cat, or Bill D. Cat, according to the final Outland strip, appeared in the works of cartoonist Berkeley Breathed, beginning with the comic strip Bloom County in the 1980s and continuing in Outland and Opus in the following decades.

Bill also appeared in some of Breathed's illustrated children's books, including A Wish for Wings That Work, which was made into an animated Christmas television special, greeting cards and other merchandise. The cat's most frequent spoken sentiments are "Ack!" and "Thbbft!", unlike most other animals (and children) in Breathed's work, who not only can speak English, but have advanced vocabularies. The former is a result of his regularly choking on fur balls, the latter sound an approximation of the "raspberry."

Bill the Cat is commonly seen as a parody of Jim Davis' Garfield Breathed has also described Bill as his attempt to create a character so repulsive that it would have absolutely no merchandising potential. Surprisingly, Bill the Cat trinkets and figurines have sold in great quantity.