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What makes a comic creator walk away from their most successful creation? In the case of Peter Bagge, he walked away from the successful Hate comic at issue 30, only returning to Buddy Bradley and the cast of losers and slackers in a series of annuals. "I always promised myself NOT to get tied to the same title or character for the rest of my life so now seems as good a time as any to pull the plug," he explained in the final issue of Hate. Growing up in the suburbs of New York, Peter Bagge and his wife, Joanne, were eager to get away from their dysfunctional and over crowded parents' houses and moved into New York city. After art school, he held down a series of undemanding jobs while pursuing his dream of becoming a cartoonist. In 1982, Robert Crumb asked him to take over the editorial duties on his magazine Weirdo which "made me next to no money, although it did turn out to be an invaluable experience for me." Forced out of New York by the high cost of living, the couple relocated to Seattle, but paying work was still hard to come by, until he was asked by comic publisher, Fantagraphics, to produce his first solo comic, Neat Stuff. "Eventually something had to give, so I regrettably had to resign from Weirdo, since I figured that title could easily continue without me - which it did - while Neat Stuff couldn't." By 1990, he had retired Neat Stuff as he wanted to produce a comic in a more traditional format, revolving around one main character. During the course of Neat Stuff, he became increasingly interested in the stories revolving around the Bradley family, and of Buddy in particular. The result was Hate, a title used as part of his effort to ensure that the 1990's wouldn't go down in history as some mushy, brain-dead love decade. Interviews: Resources: |
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ESSENTIAL READING: |
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"Bagge's genius lies in the fact that readers identify with
characters that often behave like greedy, lustful, immoral, indecent
slobs. Bagge is not only one of the most distinctive cartoonists
to come down the pike, he's hands-down one of the comic industry's
best writers. With the Buddy Bradley stories, Bagge created some
of the most fully realised, three dimensional characters in comics.
The fact that they often behave like jerks or worse only makes
them all the more funny and recognisable. What does that say
about us." |
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"Best described as The Simpsons without
the redeeming warmth. The Bradley family adventures typically
start out angry, escalate, and don't end with hugs and forgiveness...
hilarious." |
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| SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: | ||
The Collected Hate: Other Books: Short Stories: Periodicals: |
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