Bernie (Doonesbury)

Bernie is a character from the comic strip Doonesbury.

He was first introduced as Mike Doonesbury's laboratory partner in a science class they both took at Walden College. Bernie was portrayed as a typical mad scientist, and was clearly as insane as he was brilliant.

Over the strip's early years much humor was derived from Mike's deadpan reactions to Bernie's crazy antics. In the first strip he appeared in, he drank a potion of his own creation that turned him into a werewolf. He later on came up with variations on this such as a giraffe and a warthog. He also frequently blew things up, teleported, travelled through time and space, and cleaned himself in a washing machine along with his laundry. He also had aspirations of world domination, but kept them mainly to himself. In 1976 Bernie went on a hunt for the Loch Ness Monster, but was unsuccessful.

When the other characters moved onto Walden Commune, Bernie joined them along with his girlfriend Didi, who had hair so long she resembled Cousin Itt from the Addams Family. They later broke off in the 80s as Bernie found nothing he could relate to her.

At Walden he continued his scientific exploits, but became a more minor character, as Garry Trudeau shifted the strip's focus more towards politics and contemporary lifestyles. He felt that Bernie's slapstick humor was an unnecessary distraction thus Bernie's behavior was toned down. Bernie later became a personal trainer for Zonker when competing in tanning competitions. Following graduation from Walden, Bernie ended up working for Apple Computer. He would appear in the strip from time to time in a scene or two. Bernie would once again return with a vengeance during 1995's Mike's annual summer daydream, he imagined that he had gotten a dream job working as a marketer for Bernie. Bernie had patented his werewolf formula into morphing technology, gaining him a great deal of money with which he started his own software company. Mike woke up from his daydream to find that it had come true, and he really was employed.

Mike and Bernie worked together for several years, until Mike split to start his own company with Kim Rosenthal. The two remain good friends, and Mike often turns to Bernie for business advice. Bernie has become so rich in recent years that his net worth is bigger than the gross national product of some countries. In numerous ways, Bernie is portrayed as Bill Gates in Doonesbury. In a gesture of humility, as his value passes that of each country he visits it, but is very leery of having to visit France. He is a financial backer of Mike and Kim's business, MyVulture.com and the former Mikim.

Bernie now serves as a springboard for any sort of discussion about technology issues, which means that he appears quite regularly.