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comics introspective volume one

PETER BA GE
G
Words and photos by:
Christopher Irving
Design by:
Rich Fowlks
Proofreading by:
Laura Hegyi & John Morrow
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PETER BAGGE

4
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

From MAD Magazine,

2007 Time Warner.
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Dedication
To Shaun Irving, my brother and best friend
who seems to always know the right thing to say.

PETER BAGGE
Peter Bagge interviews were conducted in Seattle, Washington on April 2, 2007 5
by Christopher Irving

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
All interviews were transcribed by Steven Tice & Brian Morrison

Published by:
TwoMorrows Publishing
10407 Bedfordtown Dr
Raleigh, NC 27614
www.twomorrows.com

ISBN 978-1-893905-83-2
First Printing, July 2007
Printed in Canada

Trademarks & Copyrights:

Hate, Neat Stuff, Apocalypse Nerd, Founding Fathers Funnies, and all related
characters are TM and 2007 Peter Bagge. All artwork Peter Bagge,
unless otherwise noted.
Spider-Man and Hulk are TM and 2007 Marvel Enterprises.
Tom Strong TM and 2007 ABC Comics.
The Matrix TM and 2007 Warner Bros.
All photos and text TM and 2007 Christopher Irving
Editorial package TM and 2007 TwoMorrows Publishing

From Rich: Special thanks to my lovely and ever-patient wife, Angela.

Yes, NOW I can come to bed on time.
Thank you to Sara Johnson for photograph materials.

The views displayed within are not necessarily those of TwoMorrows Publishing.
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PETER BAGGE

6
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

,
Author s Bio
Christopher Irving sprang from a coffee bean in 1977,
and has continued to consume vast amounts of both
coffee and comic books. His work as a comics
journalist and historian has appeared in The Blue
Beetle Companion, Comic Book Artist Magazine,
Comics Buyers Guide, Back Issue, and others.
He currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with
his black cat, Elise.
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COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
VOLUME I
Peter Bagge

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction by Joe Sacco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Johnny Ryan Speaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

1: Meet the Bagges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

where the author first encounters the artist and his surprisingly sane home.

PETER BAGGE
Hate Cover Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
2: Feel the Hate! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
the trials, tribulations, and life of Bagges semi-biographical cipher, Buddy Bradley.

3: Buddy Gets Animated, or Does He? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

where Pete learns the ins and outs of making a cartoon. 7
4: Pete Gets Socially Relevant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
a look inside Pete Bagges libertarian strips for Reason Magazine.

5: Pete on Pot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71

6: Never Mind the Mainstream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

we hear of Petes battles with corporate comicdom.

7: Stuff Blows Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Apocalypse Nerd and fighting the post-apocalyptic action hero clich.

8: Anti-Social Old Dudes in Powdered Wigs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101

where Founding Fathers Funnies uncovers the true bad-asses of the Revolutionary War.

Music Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109

9: The End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119

our author and Pete hang in an old bar, and Pete reveals his influences.
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I first met Peter Bagge in Seattle in

the mid-80s when, you could say, I
was a Peter Bagge wannabe. I had
tagged along with the cartoonist J.R.
Williams, a friend of Petes, ostensibly
to interview the creator of Neat Stuff
and the editor of Weirdo for a
comics/humor monthly I was co-editing
in Portland, but really to get near to
Cartoon Greatness and perhaps reveal
to Him my own Kindred Genius.
PETER BAGGE

In those days, among the handful

of independent comics titles slowly
making their presence felt, Petes Neat
Stuff was the one I responded to most
viscerally. While bratty and punkish,
8
his comic seemed aesthetically related
to the great hippie-era undergrounds,
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

which I was too young to have fully

experienced and relentlessly pined for.
And Neat Stuff was hilarious. To my
eyes, no one working since the old EC
Mad comics drew as funny as Pete.
His characters were pop-eyed and
rubber-boned, and they sometimes
seemed to explode off the page.
But for all his zaniness, there was
something very real about the Buddys
and the Juniors and the Stinkys that
populated his tales and something very
meat-and-potatoes about the way Pete
told their stories. His plots had a
beginning, a middle, and an end,
and he never seemed conscious of the
nouveau art of comics; he simply
knew how to make comics work to
serve his gut-busting and, often,
While John Lennon once claimed the Beatles were bigger than Jesus, Hate protagonist poignant ends. His approach, his
humor, and the sheer spontaneity that
Buddy Bradley settles for being bigger than the world. This illo was the cover of The Guide, oozed off his pages were something I
a UK entertainment magazine. wanted to somehow emulate in my own
writing and drawing.

Not that I had yet learned how to

write and draw. Because that day in
Seattle Peter Bagge gently let me know I
wasnt ready for the Big Time. He looked
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over a strip I red-facedly presented about

a soldier sodomizing Hitlers charred
corpse, and, bless him, he laughed
heartily. Then he made a suggestion or
two, which made me understand that
the piece still lacked that something that
would land it in the pages of Weirdo, or
anywhere else, for that matter. But, still,
Peter F*cking Bagge had laughed at one
of my strips! It was a triumph even if the
upshot had been a rejection.

Pete stayed in touch he diligently

answered my every inquiry with a
postcard which made me feel he was
somehow on my side as I struggled to
find my own voice and gain professional
traction. When I finally started my own
comic book series, Yahoo, and it was
dismissed in its first review, Pete
immediately fired off a letter-to-the- A cast figurine of Buddy clutching a bottle of booze that currently resides on top of a bookcase in Bagges
editor to defend my effort as good
enough to be worthy of encouragement.
studio, flanked by the Hate Zippo lighter and shot glass. Bagge himself is shown below in his studio.

PETER BAGGE
It was the sort of intervention that helped
steady my fledgling nerves, for what was
sniping from the critics section next to
Peter Bagges blessing to go forward.

My work has since moved in a more

9
serious direction, and not without some
misgivings on my part, because, damn it,

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
I still want to make my mark as a funny
cartoonist like Pete. Perhaps that will
never come to pass, but I am not surprised
that of all my peers, Pete is the one who
most appreciates the humor in even the
grimmest of my journalistic pieces. You
cannot imagine my ego-bloated delight
when he described to me how he had
laughed his ass off at my comic book
account of two young, war-weary
Sarajevans planning to film a porno
tragedy. Again, I submit with pride
that Peter Bagge laughed at this series of
panels, but then Pete understands that
laughter and tears are forever chasing
each others tail and that sometimes,
even in the worst of circumstances,
laughter gets the upper hand. For that
reason a number of Petes stories from
Neat Stuff, Hate, and Weirdo have stuck
with me ever since I first read them
10 or 20 years ago. They are that true,
that sad, and, ultimately, that funny.
Ill always envy Pete his abilities. I will
always be thankful he encouraged me
in my own. Joe Sacco is noted for combining his cartooning skills with those of a journalist, particularly in his
comic series Palestine, which recorded his two months spent in Israel and the Palestinian territories
during the early 1990s (for which he won the American Book Award in 1996), and his 2000 graphic
Joe Sacco novel Safe Area Gorazde: The War In Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995. He is currently working on
May 2007 Footnotes in Gaza, a graphic novel about the southern Gaza strip.
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PETER BAGGE

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I was living in Washington, D.C.

around 1999 and trying to get my comic
out there, sending it off to different
artists that I liked. I dont think Id read
any of Peter Bagges work at that point,
and I was in the comic store and decided
to give Hate a shot. It was one of the
later issues, where Buddy goes on a date
with a girl, which is a disaster, and

PETER BAGGE
winds up with him running home
through the swamp. It was hilarious, and
I noticed in the back pages that Pete
would do reviews of little comics that
people would send in to him. I sent him
a comic and didnt realize that hed just
wrapped up Hate. I wrote him and went 11
Hey, maybe if you like my stuff you
could give it a mention in your book.

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
In a relatively short amount of time, I
got an e-mail back from him where he
said I got your stuff, and it was great. He
was very complimentary and excited
about it, and said he wanted to pass it off
to Eric Reynolds at Fantagraphics, but
was very encouraging yet not too encour-
aging: Ill pass it off to Eric but, you
know, theyre into this whole Chris Ware
thing and I dont know if theyll be as into
you. Theyre more into arty stuff now.
In the meantime, there was a friend
of his from New York who was moving
to Seattle, a woman named Jenny Nixon.
She was moving to Seattle to do art
direction for The Comics Journal, and
was going to stay with him for a week or
so while looking for a place there. While
she was staying with Peter, he gave her
copies of my comics to read. She really
liked them and e-mailed me, and we
started an e-mail relationship. A couple
of months later, I came to Seattle and we
moved in together. I remember within a
few days of my being in Seattle, Pete
came by and we went to lunch. Thats
the first time I met him.He got me
published and he got me a wife! Johnny Ryans unique brand of sick humor can be found in
Angry Youth Comix, published by Fantagraphics.
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PETER BAGGE

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COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

Junior #2 Cover
Pen and Ink

Junior, Bagges virginal mommas boy, stares out at the reader in shock over his headliner status, in this Neat Stuff collection. The casts of other strips share
Juniors horror at having him usurp their page countexcept for some middle-aged guy, who serves as the punchline to this visual gag. This cover removes the
fourth wall and forces the reader to participate, albeit in the form of a voyeur.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 3:12 PM Page 13

where the author first encounters the artist and his surprisingly sane home.

It became crystal clear that I wanted to

be an underground cartoonist when I
saw Crumbs comics, especially the
comics where he did all of them from
cover to cover. I thought this is exactly
what I want to do: a comic book where
I have complete creative control.

PETER BAGGE
Every generation is defined by the who spoke to us on our level. He had 13
pop culture left behind in the wake of to dig the crappiness of growing up
their getting older and passing the through the Republican Reagan and

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
baton on to the next group: the music, Bush administrations to then kick it
movies, and books that embodied their with the easy-going Democratic Clinton
own bottled rage or optimism are their of the 90s, just like we did, right?
greatest testament. But Hate wasnt really about Buddys
As for Generation X (of which this being a Gen X-er: it was about his
author stems from the tail end), we saw growing out of being a dysfunctional
the birth and death of college rock, its slacker and developing into a still
death throes culminating in the Seattle- dysfunctional adult as he finally takes
born and soon-to-be commercialized charge of his own life.
grunge movement of the 90s. Grunge The ironic thing about Peter Bagge is
brought a pissiness and skepticism to us that, while he did completely understand
slacking Gen X-ers while early punk the Gen X crowd, hes a baby boomer
had denied authority, we denied having with a penchant for khaki slacks,
to work hard enough to gain authority. sweaters, and button-down shirts.
We had Nirvana; we had the Matt Dillon On the cusp of turning fifty, Pete has
vehicle Singles, and that slight puffiness that comes with
We had the indy comic book Hate. middle age, with a fire to the eyes set in
Coming from the fertile mind of his round-ish Irish features.
cartoonist Peter Bagge, it starred slacker/
loser Buddy Bradley and his cast of Pete picks me up in the Bagge-
fellow misfits on their misadventures mobile, a Subaru hatchback; its
laden with sex, drugs, rock n roll (or a dashboard and faux leather interior are
close approximation thereof, courtesy covered with kiddie stickers broadcasting
of Buddys crazy roommate Stinky and sugary-sweet messages. They were his
his short-lived band), and even more daughter Hannahs rewards for all the
sex. Bagge, whose style is a hybrid doctor visits she had as a kidnow an
between Harvey Kurtzman and Big odd monument to every time she went
Daddy Roth, became a storytelling hero in for a check-up or a bad cold. The
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sandwich (our Happy Hour specials

didnt wind up being so happythey
were okay at best), Pete chatted with me
about this book and life in general.
Pete loves his music, and everything
else, with contrast, or a sweet and sour,
like Lennon and McCartney of The Beatles:
Pauls sweet, harmonic voice a great
contrast for Johns rather nasal delivery.
The core of what I really like is the
stuff I grew up on or anything that
resembles it: The Beatles, The Beach
Boys, The Who, and Motownall that
mid to late 60s pop rock, Pete said.
So like anything that is along those
lines is going to this day I likenot so
much right now, but there was kind of
a golden era of bubble gum or teeny-
bopper rock that started like with the
Spice Girls and Hanson around 96 or
97. It lasted about five years where there
was just tons of really good teenybopper
rock. An awful lot was disco-y, but
PETER BAGGE

whenever itd be kind of rock and roll-y,

it would remind me a bit of the Beach
Boys and also like the bubble gum
records that came out back then.
Sometimes, it even reminded me of the
early Jackson 5 and even new wave. The
14
last time before that, when there was a
whole chunk of music that I really got
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

excited about was the punk rock and

new wave era, especially in the late
70s and the early 80s. And then a lot
of my favorite bands either got sucky
and pretentious or broke up.
He likes a lot of crappy music,
Angry Youth Comix cartoonist Johnny
Ryan laughed about Petes musical tastes.
In their first appearance in 1981, most of ironic thing, Pete points out, is that I remember going to his house and we
The Bradleys are visually unrecognizable Hannah was always a tough kid to take were just sitting around talking. Hed
compared to their later Neat Stuff to the doc, yet shed always managed to put on this Aaron Carter CD, which had
walk away with these adhesive wonders.
incarnations. Ironically, Grandmas status After a quick nickel tour of the oldest
to be the most annoying f*cking thing
Ive ever heard. It was all poppy and
as dying invalid was later adopted by Pops section of Seattle, we settle on the Owl stuff, and Pete was singing along to it. It
in later issues of Hate. and Thistle pub in Founders Square, an was like a drill to the forehead. Its not
old area of Seattle that was going to be that I hate all popular music, but that
torn down in the 70s but, through the particular record was obnoxious.
grace of enough vocal citizens, was Back in the Owl and Thistle, Smashing
saved and refurbished. Its Seattles oldest Pumpkins came on the loudspeaker (a
part, and it wouldve been a crying shame tune from Siamese Dream, the break-
to see the cobblestones and metal molding through album that was, arguably, the
destroyed in the name of progress. The Pumpkins last good album before they
pub had a family get-together in the became commercial whores). As it turns
large front room before the bar and a out, former Pumpkins guitarist James
stage in the back; the icing on the cake Iha recorded on an album one of
was the cute waitresses (oddly enough, Bagges friends produced for a band
two of the three bars we went to wound called Movie Madness. Apparently,
up having incredibly cute waitresses). Pumpkins prima-donna lead singer Billy
Ordering two shots of whiskey with his Corgan would go in and re-record the
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other band members tracks after hours injection of even more female artists
on the old Pumpkins records and behind into comics (quite possibly even into
their backs. mainstream comics). Pete, however,
It was, after all, Seattle. noted the amount of female cartoonists
currently in the field and how he feels
Peter had been giving lectures on their dynamic differs from that of their
comics for a few years at the local library, male counterparts.
until the kids started asking more about Theres been an increasing number of
Manga than American comics. It was sad, female cartoonists for as long as Ive been
but true: many American kids just dont in this business, Pete said later in his
seem to give a damn about American home studio. Even when I started out in
comics anymore; theyre all gravitating the 80s, there were quite a few. A lot of
towards the ridiculously large eyes and them stuck with it, but and I suppose
speed lines of Manga, attracted more to you could probably find this to be the
the flash than to the structure and form case in almost any field women are
that may exist underneath. I probably also more likely to drop out of it, or to
shouldnt complain too much: after all, just treat it as a hobby, or an on-the-side
when I was that age, I was a huge fan of thingThe reasons for this seem to be
Todd McFarlane, one of the kings of all that men feel much more driven to make
flash and no substance. a career out of it. Its the only way they
can justify doing comics at all after a
Peter took a jab at Manga in the third certain point. Its like, if you arent mak-
issue of his short-lived DC Comic, ing a decent living off of [it] at a certain

PETER BAGGE
Sweatshop, a comic about a comic strip point, youre almost better off walking
studio. When artist Alfred self-publishes away from comics altogether.
his comic book The Peerless Penciller in The thing is, once youve chosen
2003s Sweatshop #3, hes advised at a comics, youre really locked into it,
convention to make his art more Manga- whether you like it or not. I experience a
ish. All the women in this comic have moment, almost every single day, where
15
big round eyes another character, says. I wish I wasnt a cartoonist, that I wish I
Dont these Japanese artists know how to was doing something else anything

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
draw Japanese people? Within the space else, depending on the mood Im in! Any
of five panels, Bagge deconstructs and profession gets boring after a while, no
then abandons Manga as Alfred, in a matter how much you might love it. Its
rage, declares, I hate Manga! ironic how the more you strive towards
On the upside, however, Manga has something, the more locked into it you
girls reading comics, a trend that may, feel once youve achieved it. But that still An excerpt from Lameness, an
within the next decade or two, yield an seems to generally be a male thing Its autobiographical strip.
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very old fashioned, the reasons for it, whatever hobbies and interests you have
but women still use marriage as a way to the time to pursue. Go dabble in whatever
free themselves from being obliged to you want to dabble in. But if you let
turn their artistic endeavors into a your career fall apart or destroy it, this
career, assuming their husbands make a is a real turn-off to women. What do
decent enough living, that is. So many you mean you didnt do any comics or
women cartoonists I know will just paintings today? Thats what youre all
dabble in comics off and on for years, about. Thats why I married you.
while occasionally dropping it to take up That is why Joanne married me.
writing or painting or pottery, or any She thought it was great that I wanted
other pastime that serves just as well as to be a cartoonist. That was always one
a form of art therapy. of those things that she thought was
really appealing and attractive. Even
Once you become a parent, the before she met me, this was exactly the
toughest adjustment is how you have to kind of life she wanted to live, and I
wipe somebody elses ass before you can was just a pawn her sugar daddy.
wipe your own ass. Thats the best way to Theres a really strong tendency to
describe it because you have no choice in fall into this Ozzie and Harriet-type
the matter. Their crap comes first. relationship as time goes by.
My daughter and Joanne come first
Aside from his long-delayed mini- and the comics are to support them.
series Apocalypse Nerd from Dark Horse But like I said, there are times where I get
Comics, as well as occasional visits to really burned out on comics and Id like to
PETER BAGGE

Buddy Bradley and company in the Hate do something else, especially if it involves
Annuals and his political strips in Reason writing. I would always draw, most likely,
Magazinenot counting the other but drawing is a real struggle for me,
projects on his slate, Bagge is far from whereas writing comes so much easier.
picking pottery up anytime in the near
future. Hes not only a cartoonist, but he The Bagges live in a three-story house
16
also balances that with being a husband (including basement) in the Ballard
and father, two roles that are intertwined section of Seattle, down an unassuming
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

with his career choices. side-street. Go through the comfortable

I think were falling into the very living room (past the den on your right),
traditional roles that, even in this and check out the framed comic art on
modern society, we have a hard time the walls: a Love and Rockets page from
shaking, Pete observed. Like my wife the Hernandez brothers (the two are such
is a great cook, likes to garden; she does perfectionists towards drawing beautiful
all those things and is a great mom, so women that, if you look closely enough at
Im like, Hell, yeah, Ill support you. the woman in the splash panel, you can
You make my life so much easier. Of see where her face had been redrawn
course Im going to support you and and almost seamlessly pasted over) and a
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caricature of an angry Peter Bagge,

drawn by his friend Dan Clowes. Then
head down the carpeted steps to Peters
basement and through a door to his
studio. With his art table and computer
at the far end, in a corner lined with
bookcases, there are bureaus flanking
both the left and right walls (one, Peter
says, contains his work from the last
century, the other his work from this
one). A Bagge-drawn poster for Mr. Show
hangs on one wall, next to a Hate
promotional poster showing Buddy and
his Seattle cast on the beach. Mementos
are propped up on one bureau (the 20th
century one), including a pewter Buddy
Bradley figurine, a Hate Zippo lighter, a
drawing of Bagge by pal Johnny Ryan,
and a Big Daddy Roth model reissue
given him by his wife Joanne.
Pete apologizes that his studio isnt
less cluttered or organized, but he
points out that at least it isnt as dusty

PETER BAGGE
as it usually is. In all honesty, it just
looks lived-in like most studios should.
The Bagge steps to creating a comic
are shown to me right off the bat, with
Peter using one of his Founding Father
strips as an example: First, the script is
17
typed out. Then the panels are hastily
scribbled down on paper for the rough

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
draft, which is then traced over and
cleaned up with onion skin paper.
Peter then takes the thin paper and
redraws it on the backside, tracing over
his previous drawing. This allows him to
check the drawing for any awkwardness
before its placed down on the vellum,
where it is drawn over once more, this
time with Peter sliding the figures
around for any changes in desired figure
placement. The imprint from drawing
over the tracing paper leaves a mark on more; what was in the daily papers A sample of Bagges ardouos work habits:
the vellum, which Peter then uses as a was getting worse and worse, and I tissue paper tracing from an in-progress
guide to ink by; as a result, his pages couldnt see myself doing either of
those. I was not inspired, but at the
Founding Fathers Funnies, for
are sickly clean, with little to no actual
drawing done on the physical page. Its same time, I knew I had to do something Apocalypse Nerd #6s back cover.
all part of the illusion that Bagge and for the rest of my life, other than just
cartoonists before him, like Toth and getting some dumb-ass job. So seeing
Kurtzman, are able to perpetrate: they the undergrounds, especially Crumbs
simply make drawing look easy, when comics (he is the king of the under-
in reality it is all the result of a long ground comic), a light bulb went off
and arduous process. in my head, and I went, I could do
When I was younger, I liked the this, too. It didnt all come right away,
idea of being a cartoonist, Pete of course. Its not like I immediately
revealed the next day. But until I sat down and drew something that
came across underground comics anybody in their right mind would
when I was older, I was getting very want to publish. And I still had to
disillusioned with what was out there. wait another 10-12 years before I was
Mad didnt seem as funny to me any making a livable wage at it.
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I could support everybody at the time

our daughter was born. For the first two
years after Hannah was born, Joanne still
had the deli and went to work every day.
I would draw all those early Hates at
night and then wake up at six the next
morning to take care of the kid.
But Joanne was getting pretty
burned out on the deli and wanted to be
home with the kid. So once I started
making money, we figured Id make
even more if she stayed home and I
could concentrate more on my work and
actually get some sleep, Pete laughed.
She sold her business, and weve been
living in this set-up ever since.
Hate is a success story of independent
and pop culture proportions that well
touch on later. For now, let it be said
that while working on Hate, Bagge
evolved from being a throwback to old
underground comics of the 60s into an
iconic cartoonist of the 90s. Once the
PETER BAGGE

figures in Petes work became more

bendy and exaggerated, he hit on the
unique style that he has today. Despite
the variety of genres he covers (humor,
drama, politicseven super-heroes,
sort of), he maintains the same basic
18
style each project. An interesting result
is that the absurdity of his drawing can
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

sometimes make horrible things that

much more effective.
I still alter and tweak with my style
a bit, depending on what it is that Im
working on, Pete pointed out. Ill
make slight changes or add crosshatch-
ing, depending on whether theres going
to be color added or not, things like
Studs Kirby, Bagges Republican, whitebred The Bagges struggled early on in their that. But that signature curvy elbow
radio show host, evokes a tantrum in this marriage, even with Petes working the thing is still there simply because, for
trade paperback cover. Note the parallel obligatory Barnes & Noble gig to make me, it always works better that way. I
ends meet. Fate took them from New
in shape between his large nose and looping York to Seattle, where they stayed with
could make more of an attempt to draw
more realistically at times, but in the end
tongue and his right foot (which is propped Joannes sister and athlete husband outside its not going to be worth the struggle. I
upon the soundboard for dramatic effect). of Seattle in a suburban wasteland, used to attempt it somewhat in the early
Studs oversized head serves as the that would become the setting of Petes Neat Stuffs, and even before then, where
focal point, angled as to draw the eye Chet and Bunny Leeway stories. I was always experimenting with my
down the page. Ironically, it was hate that rewarded their drawing style. There was still a generic,
lovethat is, hate with a capital H. go-to style that I used for the most part,
My wife and her sister opened a deli but there are times when I tried to be
in the Seattle suburbs, and they made more stylized, or tried to be a bit more
decent money off of it. So I was living realistic than usual. But if I tried to alter
off of her, for the most part. She was my style too much, it wound up taking
making three, four times, as much as I up so much of my concentration, and
was. That all changed with Hate. Prior to it still might not have worked. Its just
that, the plan was that I was going to so much more comfortable for me to
primarily [be] a stay-at-home dad, draw the way I do, regardless of the
because it still wasnt clear that I was subject matter, and then let the storyline
going to have any kind of a career where carry things.
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By the early 90s, Bagges writing had very much like a sitcom family, except
developed a sensitivity that blossomed that it started, Hey, heres Dad! Hes
in Hate and was on display in his short- drunk again and on a tirade again!
lived title Sweatshop for DC Comics. It was like, what a wacky lovable
I think that Petes probably, if not family! only all these typically horrible,
one of the best writers of comics ever dysfunctional things were going on, not
(he might be), hes definitely up there, unlike my own family. They were the
Johnny Ryan said. Hes a master at Bagges but being presented and sold
writing dialogue, and also of pacing a like the Brady Bunch. I found this set-up
story in a way that seems almost like hes so amusing that I immediately started
very aware of the reader. Ive noticed, as writing more stories about them. And
I would read his stories, as you become a whatever I had the teenage boy Buddy
little weary of the scene youre reading, doing was something that I would have
hell start moving on to the next thing. done as a teen. The very first time I drew
He kind of knows exactly when to stop him, he was me. The Bradleys werent
and move on to the next scene. exactly like my family, in that I had two
Part of what makes Pete such an brothers, two sisters, which I converted
effective writer is his ability to tap into into one each just for simplicitys sake.
personal experiences that are universal Also, my mothers personality was pretty
being jilted by a lover, getting angry at different than Mrs. Bradleys. Ma Bradley
traffic, or trying to hide something from is more like many of my friends moms
your parents. As some of the following than like my own. And I also didnt
essays reveal, much of it comes from Petes intend to make Buddy a stand-in for

PETER BAGGE
personal experiences and his unintentional, myself as much as he became later on,
almost method acting approach to but as time went by, Buddy was clearly
cartooning and writing. While Chet the one I related to the most. I kept
Leeway may have been Petes first avatar, coming up with story ideas for him. All
Buddy Bradley, star of Hate, is the one that the Bradley family stories that were in
most successfully channeled the essence Neat Stuff started focusing more and An early Bagge strip. The pile of vomit by
and experiences of Pete Bagge. more on him. the toothless bum gives him the extra bit 19
Around 1980 or 81, I doodled And the rest, as they say, is history of repulsion to justify the shocked couple
walking by. Note how they are walking

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
this one page strip called Meet the or simply just talked about in the
Bradleys, which presented The Bradleys next essay. from right to left, a sign of retreat.
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COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

SHUT-INS
2000
Xerox with magic markers

Pete revisits Chet and Bunny Leeway (from his Neat Stuff days) in this color guide to a strip. Santiago is the prototypical moocher, much in the spirit of Popeyes
Wimpy J. Wellington, while Chet is an example of a technophobic baby boomer anxious for the assistance of one of the younger, more tech-savvy generation.
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COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

The Bradleys: You re Not the Boss of Me!

1988
Pen and Ink

Mom Bradleys obviously been pushed by the first panel: her eyes have furrowed down into an angular furrow, but it isnt until
panel four that her teeth turn sharp and, by the next shes completely snapped. Babs contorted, unjointed, increased size in
the foreground of panel five not only exaggerates her fear of her mother, but also establishes a distance between the two
(indicating the speed with which she is running).
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PETER BAGGE

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COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

NEAT STUFF #13 COVER

1988
Bristol, pen and ink, with
color acetate overlays

Girly-Girl and Chuckie Boy peer back at the approaching viewer, while respectively toasting a dead rat and a marshmallow, each item establishing
Girly-Girls meanness and Chuckie Boys innocence. The frightened look on Chuckies face is either because the viewer is not in view yetor because the
viewer is horrific in appearance.
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COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

FELICE
Early 1980s
Pen and Ink
Its unclear whether Felice is merely a repulsive girl with horrible acne and a big foreheador something worse.
This drawing was part of an ugly art show from 1982, done with cartoonists Ken Weiner and Kaz.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 24

PETER BAGGE

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COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

IN PETES OWN WORDS:

Ages ago Girly Girl was in development with some Hollywood production company, and someone there came up with an incredibly lame character for the never-to-
be-produced show to be part of Girlys gang: a computer expert named Hacker Joe. Years later, someone asked me to quickly come up with some characters for
an online cartoon (that also never was produced, thankfully), and not having any other ideas at the time I perversely revived Hacker Joe!
I later recycled Flopsie for the Carrie character in Sweatshop. I recycle characters a lot. And yes, Flopsies name is derived from floppy discs, since this
was done back in the mid-90s.
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PETER BAGGE
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COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

ALIEN DESIGNS
Pen and Ink

The most alien aspect of these outer space high school students are
in the eyes. Save for those, they are very human in nature,
from their headphones to trademark Bagge slouches. As a result,
they have just enough human to them to make them endearing.
These Discman owning aliens were part of a Sony commission
that Pete did for an ad campaign that never gelled.
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PETER BAGGE

26
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

HATE #1: PRISONERS OF HATE ISLAND STRIP

1990
Pen and Ink

This satirical strip strands Bagge on an island with Fantagraphics founders Gary Groth and Kim Thompson and serves as Bagges
self-deprecating commentary on his position as an alternative cartoonist. This strip would become oddly prophetic, as Hate would
eventually become a cult classic. Groths Jughead (from Archie) beany crown and crate desk (as well as their being stranded away
from society) is representative of the isolation of the small press. Courtesy of Mike Benson.
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PETER BAGGE
27

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

HATE #2 BACK COVER

1990
Pen, Ink, and Collage

Buddy and Valerie have found themselves as paper dolls, playing up to societys gender roles, most clear when experiencing the
dating scene, most ironic when one considers Valeries feminist nature, along with Buddys non-chivalrous attitude.
Note how Valeries dresses overtake the cover, while Buddy is only expected (from his outfits) to be a professional or an athlete.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 28

PETER BAGGE

28
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

HATE #12 COVER

1992
Inks by Jim Blanchard
Colors by Joanne Bagge and Rhea Patton
Pen and Ink, Color Overlay

Buddy gets ready to confront rival junk collector Yahtzi Murphy over a videotape of Bop Girl Goes Calypso, a 1957 film about white
people afraid of the encroaching Jamaican Calypso music crazemuch like Buddy decides to not let the advancing (and, because of
perspective) larger Murphy invade his turf. Lisas defenselessness in retreating with the bag of VHS tapes gives the slant that Buddy
has fallen into the primitive hunter-protector role, devolving over a piece of junk culture.
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PETER BAGGE
29

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

HATE #25 COVER

1996
Layout Pencils

Buddy, mowing the grass at his parents suburban home in Jersey, is wearing the uniform of a suburbanite, while Lisa has gone
punk in the big city of New York, her pierced nose and middle finger a sign of her regressing into rebellion.
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PETER BAGGE

30
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

HATE ANNUAL #5 COVER

2004
Pen and Ink, Computer Coloring

The premiere of the New Look Buddy Bradley (a play on the New Look Batman of 1964), who resembles an eccentric comic strip
pirate over his classic long-haired appearance. His band-aids are crossed over in the classic x shape, and his shaved head and the
wrinkles around his eyes show him as more a crusty old man than an irresponsible slacker.
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PETER BAGGE
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COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

HATE ANNUAL #6 COVER

2006
Pen and Ink

The current whereabouts of Leonard Stinky Brown, AKA Leonard the Love God, as revealed in this cutaway shot that also displays attributes of
other stories present in this annual. Stinkys distinctive odd haircut, along with his glasses, cements his identity to long-time Hate readers.
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PETER BAGGE

32
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

BUDDY BRADLEY DOLL PACKAGING

2004
Pen and Ink

This box design by Bagge is for a limited edition vinyl action figure/ doll manufactured by a Japanese company.
Bagges design elicits memories of older, more innocent toys of the 60sas well as an interesting
(and most likely unintentional) reverse Statue of Liberty pose, his bottle of Ballard Bitter Beer akin to the torch.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 3:15 PM Page 33

the trials, tribulations, and life of Bagges semi-biographical cipher, Buddy Bradley.

When people would see my comic they

would think it would just be all surface
humor and fart jokes. When I started
doing stuff, thats all Id almost ever hear
from mainstream publications like The
Comics Buyers Guide, whose reviews of
Neat Stuff would read: If you think
throw-up and farts are funny, youll like
this comic. Obviously, the reviewer

PETER BAGGE
wasnt reading it. Hed just look at it and
conclude that it was mindless crap

Hate was a spin-off of Bagges semi- beach, oblivious to the vat of open toxic 33
autobiographical strip The Bradleys, the waste down the embankment from him.
title characters being the epitome of the It was based on the success of

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
dysfunctional family featured in Neat that issue and on the readers seeming
Stuff. At first, the situations seemed just a preference for full-issue stories, Pete
little over-the-top, and it all seemed a tad said. And I had countless story ideas
bland. By the third story, however, the for Buddy Bradley, so I thought Id just
trademark Roth-inspired aspect of Bagges age him a few years and do a comic
art took over and the characters reactions book entirely about him.
matched the absurdity of their situations. Since the adult Bagge now lived in
When Pete decided to launch a new title, Seattle (as opposed to the teenage Pete
the teenage slacker Buddy Bradley was a in New York Citys suburban wastelands
natural subjectmaking Hate a spin-off where The Bradleys had been set),
more in a Mork and Mindy from Happy Buddy became a Seattle resident by
Days way than in a Joanie Loves Chachi 1990s Hate #1, where we see him
from Happy Days way. hanging out in the apartment he shares
A camp counselor by the name of with the still-shady Stinky and the
Stinky first appeared in a Girly Girl paranoid George Cecil Hamilton IIIrd.
strip in Neat Stuff #13; with his John Well f*ck your parents! Buddy
Lennon shades and squiggle of blond proclaims to the reader. You gotta live
hair topping off his cone-shaped head, it up while youre still youngLet the
he reminds you of a socially inept old folks do the worryingThats all
version of Bert from Sesame Street. When theyre good for
the final issue of Neat Stuff, #15, hit in Buddys a slacker who drinks too
1989, Buddy Bradley took over the much, smokes, and works part-time at a
entire issue in the classic Buddy the used book store (where he sneaks out
Weasel story. Starting with the bang of more than an occasional free book).
Buddy and Stinky playing with a gun on Through the Seattle years, Buddy dates
a polluted beach, it ends with a pathetic Valerie, a feminist who happens to be
whimper as a now out-on-his-ass Buddy the roomie of Buddys crazy ex, Lisa, and
finds himself camping out on the same finds himself constantly stuck in yet
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PETER BAGGE

Sex, drugs, and rock n roll, from My Pad another of Stinkys get-rich-quick so it was very easy for me to take all of it
and Welcome to it in Hate #1 (1989). schemes; the most infamous of which and turn it into stories. It all became
was when Buddy managed Stinkys band, grist for my mill.
Leonard and the Lovegods. He was the Hate, visually speaking, was a grimy
classic Gen Xer modeled off of the life of book: The art was heavily cross-hatched,
34 a man then in his 30s, a way for Peter one of Bagges ways of creating depth of
Bagge to look back with a more objective field and atmosphere. According to
and detached eye. Bagge, though, it was also a wink and
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

Around the time I started Hate, I nod to the classic underground comics
had been married for a while. We had of the 60s that were so influential to
owned a house for a couple of years, and him as a cartoonist.
I was finally making a livable wage off of By then, nobody seemed to be
my comics. Also by then, my wife was doing comics that looked like an old
pregnant, so I was about to become a underground comic, other than the few
dad. So here I am: a middle-class, old undergrounders themselves who
home-owning, married father, and all of were still active, Bagge said. And by
this came together like within the last that, I meant the really cheap newsprint
couple of years. Being in that situation, and all the cross-hatchy stuff that
I suddenly was able to look at my Crumb and Gilbert Shelton always did. I
previous existence more objectively, wanted it to have the look and feel of an
from the moment I left my parents old Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic.
house and the ten years or so following. A year later, Nirvanas landmark song
That part of my life was all over. I was Smells Like Teen Spirit hit the airwaves,
no longer living on fried rice, no longer bringing college alternative rock out to
renting, no longer putting up with the forefront, letting loose a slew of
roommates, no longer working crappy other Seattle-based bands, and creating
day jobs, no longer being coerced into the 90s grunge movement.
going to crappy rock clubsThat was all Buddy Bradley and his life in Seattle
behind me, and I wasnt in my twenties just happened to come at the right time,
anymore. So things that used to not be commercially speaking.
so funny because I was still stuck in the He settled Buddy in this Seattle
middle of it were now hilarious, like milieu and trapped lightning in a bottle,
always being broke and having to lug as far as finding a resident contemporary
laundry to the Laundromat and stuff like milieu, Fantagraphics Eric Reynolds
that. Now that I was personally distanced observed later. But one that he could
from it, it suddenly all seemed hilarious, impose his own memories on from his
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PETER BAGGE
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COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

The (first) death of Stinky. Stinkys first appearance from Neat Stuff #13 (1989). Unlike Bagges later work, this page features the end of one scene,
and the start of another; he would later employ starting a scene on a new page. The Head Counselors decision to rehabilitate
Girly Girl and Chuckie-Boy in the final panel is given added weight via the use of silhouettes and a lack of panel borders.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 36

PETER BAGGE

36
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

Smells like a parody Buddy is introduced time of growing up during the punk era from the association to some degree.
in New York. I think it all translated There were a lot of folks who wouldnt
to the band he hesistantly manages with from one period to the next. Then, you touch it or take Hate seriously because
Stinky in Hate #8 (1992); theyre oddly read the second long story arc of Hate, of it. Once all these terms came into
reminiscent of Nirvana, whose grunge the New Jersey years. I reread those, and being: Gen X and grunge and
anthem Smells Like Teen Spirit debuted theyre anything but a Generation X slackera lot of people, especially
roughly a year prior. comic. Reading those now, I was struck those who fit those descriptions, became
by how good they were and how they resentful of it, of being categorized. It was
arent trapped in a time warp. In a way, as if they became allergic to everything
maybe the first fifteen issues of Hate they thought they were supposed to like,
(as brilliant as they are) are sort of or resemble, including my comics.
trapped in this time period in a way that While the term grunge already
the New Jersey issues arent. I think existed, none of those bands were
theyre all the better for it. household names at the time I started
One would think that the whole Hate. And yet the first two years I was
grunge thing must have contributed to doing Hate, it was selling great, before all
Hates popularity, Bagge, who ironically of these catch phrases caught on and
isnt a fan of grunge, said of the timing Time Magazine was writing about flannel
with the movement, but it also suffered shirts. What changed everything was
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when Nirvanas album Nevermind came When characters have sex, its never
out and became such a monster hit, its pretty or even uglyits just morbidly
first release, Smells Like Teen Spirit absurd, characters contorting into
became a mainstream radio anthem. impossible positions as theyre trapped
A lot of these grunge bands became in the throes of ecstasy. The characters
overnight sensations, and Seattle was seem to have no joints in their bodies as
suddenly flooded with journalists they strut from one panel to the next,
writing stories not just about the music their arms and legs moving like snaked
but about our rain and beer and coffee. tentacles and the men noticeably
All our liquids! It also was a phenomenon slouching. Reactions are always over-
in part because it came along during a stated, one panels sedate characters
slow news cycle, so even your mom being instantly transformed into Big
knew about it. And then just as Daddy Roth monsters for the next:
quickly it became a joke because it was tongues becoming lightning bolts, heads
so overblown. growing larger than bodies, eyes twirling
But the thing was, prior to all that, in opposite directions, or brows furrowing
Hate was selling a certain amount. When so low that the bridge of the nose almost
the grunge phenomenon happened, the meets the upper lip
sales didnt really go up at all. It pretty In the world of Hate, even love and
much stayed the same. Youd have sex are angry and violent.
thought and I certainly was hoping
that because of all this attention, that Halfway through the series
more people would make a point of run, with Hate #16, Buddy

PETER BAGGE
searching out and buying my comic, and Lisa wound up living in
but that really didnt happen. It goes to Buddys familys basement
show you how theres only a finite in Jersey. Like a lot of us,
amount of people who are willing to Buddy found himself stuck
read a comic book at all. But like I said back in his hometown.
before, there seemed to be a set number Buddys Seattle crew (including
37
of 20-somethings who made a loud Stinky) was replaced with his
point of not reading Hate! Its a shame, re-introduced high school acquaintances

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
too, since those poor, painfully self- from Neat Stuff.
conscious darlings probably would have Theres a gravitas to (the later
enjoyed it. Another thing that was a bit Hates) that I dont think
of a problem was folks assuming I was exists in the Seattle years,
jumping on some bandwagon and Reynolds reflected.
exploiting the whole grunge thing, Partly because in those
which wasnt the case at all. It just was years, Buddys just a
all very coincidental and as it turns young guy. Even
out, very much a double-edged sword. though hes being put
It transcends that stigma that this is through hell and the
the comic from the 90s for people who wringer between crazy
listen to Nirvana and pierce their nose, roommates and girlfriends,
Bagge friend and fellow cartoonist Johnny hes still a young guy and
Ryan said. Even more than Robert can roll with the punches.
Crumb whose comics were about the 60s Whereas, in the Jersey
hippies, I think Petes writing is more years, theres a real weight to
accessible to anybody, more so than the it, because hes approaching
stuff Crumb was writing about. I think domesticity and settling down,
that for any writer stuck in any particu- really getting the sense that this
lar time who does work that you can is the only life he has and that he
still read and enjoythe Hate comics is not invincible. Every choice he
have that aspect to them. Even though makes has repercussions because he
its about that time, it kind of transcends has responsibilities that he didnt have in
the datedness. Seattle. It all makes for a more potent
While Hate is satirical on the surface, novel [in the end].
Bagges deceptively simplistic and over- Was Hate kinder and gentler? Hell, no!
the-top, expressive style masks a much Did that make it better or worse? Better,
more powerful undercurrent of raw in this writers opinion, as the stories
human emotion that carries each issue. became more adult and sophisticated in
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COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

From Hate #1 (1990); through Stinkys scheme to employ Buddy in a porn flick, Bagge not only establishes Stinkys shuckster nature, but also
Buddys dysfunctional relationship with the yet-to-be introduced Lisa, and his ability to outsmart his old friend and roommate.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 39

nature and Bagge tapped once again into

his own life experiences.
Perhaps if I were smarter, he
confessed. I would have kept it going
the way it was and not age [Buddy] at
all. I used to joke Hate was like a dirtier
Archie comic, since it had a very similar
dynamic set-up, with Buddy in the
Archie role and with two main male
friends: the wise guy friend, Stinky,
whos Reggie; and the weird nerdy
friend, George, whos Jughead. And
then theres the love triangle between
Buddy and his Betty (Lisa) and
Veronica (Valerie).
Also, the most popular comic Ive
ever made was Hate #2. I was actually
embarrassed with myself when I drew it: I
liked the story, but it was so relationship-y,
yknow? It was full of all the most typical
romantic comedy clichs: boy-meets-
girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-wins-girl-back;
and with a love triangle thrown in for

PETER BAGGE
good measure, while his male friends
give him bad advice. It even opens with
Buddy having a Cathy moment, sweating
over his body image. Yet the very people
I thought would call me out on all this
actually loved it! All these hipsters, these
39
editors of alternative-y indy magazines,
they all raved about it like I just re-

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
invented the wheel. Its funny how even
the hippest of the hip cant resist a good
boy-meets-girl story.
That issue also helped to attract a lot
of female readers, which was a rare feat
in those days. So I probably could have
milked that whole formula for a long
time, if not forever, but it was all too
silly and I was embarrassed by it right
from the beginning. So I sabotaged the
whole set-up by having Buddy settle
with Lisa, much to everyones chagrin.
I also wanted to start doing deeper couldnt imagine how I would get his
stories that were more personal and dealt parents and siblings to all move out
with crises that were more profound to Seattle. Plus his sister already had
than wondering who Buddy was going to little kids, and I wanted to see Buddy
date next, and the best source for that dealing with kids, as well as his old
would be Buddy for the immediate messed up acquaintances.
family. That was another thing about the But more than the setting of Hate
early Hates that I was starting to find had changed: the title was given a huge
limiting, is that they were solely about visual revamp. Bagges heavy-handed
the trials and tribulations of a bunch cross-hatching changed into a cleaner,
of 23-year olds. I wanted to get older crisper style that would better hold
people and children back into the mix color, inked by Bagges new inker Jim
because that would make for story ideas Blanchard. The stories took a more
that were deeper and more complex and dramatic tone that retained the cynicism
even more painfulBut the only way I and dark humor of the first half of the
could do those is to have Buddy move series. Rather than having three tiers of
back to where his parents lived, since I panels per page, the new Hate featured
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four tiers; Bagge switched his original art by choice. Even the color issues of Hate
size from 11" x 17" to 12" x 14" to had black-and-white back-up stories!
accommodate the format change. But I never thought that indy comics had
I figured that since the stories would to be in black-and-white. It was just the
be more painful, it would make them economics that made it so. But once color
more palpable if they were in color. became an option I couldnt wait to take
Likewise, I thought that it would be advantage of it. I thought color would
interesting to tell these more painful, greatly increase the visual possibilities of
darker stories by simplifying the artwork what an indy comic could be. And it has!
more. I would make it look like an The reaction to Hates going color
old-fashioned humor comic book where elicited some cries of sell out aimed
the color was very candy-colored, so towards Bagge.
thered be that very weird, contrasting Im still flabbergasted that there was
mix that Ive always liked. such a backlash, Pete said, how just the
I always liked to touch on some fact that it was in full-color translated into
personal, uncomfortable subjects in my selling out. To me, selling out has every-
comics, but I also liked to draw them in thing to do with content. And as it turned
this exaggerated, somewhat moronic- out, being in color didnt really help sales at
looking Big Daddy Roth style so that all, much to my disappointment. So the
what you see isnt necessarily what you only plus for me going full-color was that it
get. Its like a clash between shallow and appealed to my own personal aesthetics.
deep, smart and stupid, and I figured Im sure Peter handled the bulk of the
this contrast would be even more intense criticism, Jim Blanchard added via e-mail.
PETER BAGGE

by combining stark stories with bright, I was a lowly inker and didnt hear much
garish comic book colors. opinion, good or bad, regarding the new
The possibility of going full-color format nor did I care to hear it. I think
in the first place came about thanks to the majority of the feedback was positive,
computer technology with Photoshop. although there was a segment of the alt.
That, combined with Hates sales figures, comic crowd who preferred the early,
40
made going full-color economically black-and-white plus cross-hatched issues
possible. The economical reasons why we were staking out new ground, as I
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

underground and alternative comics were saw it. Those color issues have an odd
always black-and-white were pretty quality to them, sort of a cross between
obvious: you simply couldnt afford it with undergrounds and mainstream comics
all the labor involved to publish something very hard to pin down. I seem to
in full-color. They also rarely had any ads remember some rather harsh criticism from
in them, so color simply wasnt an option. the Drawn and Quarterly dude regarding
Not that I have anything against black-and- the color Hates so, f*ck that guy!
white. I like both! I understand perfectly The only logical reason I can make
why an artist would prefer to work in out of that initial criticism was envy,
black-and-white, or feel like their work is Pete speculated. At that time there were
best represented that way, and I still do a bunch of younger cartoonists who
work in [black-and-white] myself, usually were just starting out getting published
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 41

or trying to get published, doing the

Xeroxed mini-comics and what have
you. They were still trying to achieve
what I had achieved so far, which is
difficult enough in and of itself, yet with
the color it looked like I raised the bar
yet again. Nobody has ever said this to
me, but I suspect that the introduction
of color would raise the publics
expectations of what an indy comic
should be. Thats what I think pissed
them off: Will I ever have a full-color
comic? And are people going to ignore
my comic book because its in black-and-
white? I could be wrong, but thats the
only sense I could make out of the reaction
the color received back then. Younger
artists in particular acted threatened by it!
Ironically, what I thought people
would justifiably regard as a sellout
about was when we started selling ads in
Hate a few issues after the introduction
of color, only no one said anything! Pete

PETER BAGGE
pointed out. We meaning me and
Fantagraphics started selling ads so
we could expand the page count and run
color comics by other artists without
raising the cover price. Rick Altergott
was the first, with his soon-to-be-regular
41
regular Doofus strip. Rick knew how to
use Photoshop, which was still a fairly

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
rare skill back in 1995, and I was really
impressed with the full-color comic
strips he had done on it. He also was
understandably eager to see his color
work in print, but the only way we could
afford to include him or anyone else in
Hate was by selling ads.
Well, it was that or raise the price,
which I was loathe to do. I was determined
to keep Hates cover price as low as
possible back then, since I associated that
with accessibility. A lower price meant
someone was more likely to buy it on an
impulse, thus making Hate double as a
recruiting tool or introductory title to indy
comics in general. Which it was to some
degree, though Ive come to realize that
it was pretty futile of me to try to make
anything published by a company like
Fantagraphics cheap and accessible.
Trying to create ephemera just doesnt fit
into their business model, since it ignores
the fact that alternative comics and at
this point, all comic books are and
always will be a specialty item that only A sampling of the process Bagge undergoes for his artwork: shown above is the tissue paper images
appeals to a small subset of the general of Buddy and Valerie for Hate #6, which are then transferred to Bristol board for final inks.
public. I deeply regret and resent that As a result, Bagges final art rarely has any smudges or pencil smears.
thats the case, but Ive finally realized
that theres no point in fighting it, either.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 42

Pete has always said that he separated moody, difficult guy, and nobody mourned
himself and Buddy Bradley by a decade: it his passing. There was not a wet eye in
was only natural, then, that Buddy slowly the house at his funeral. Its not like my
accrue the responsibilities of Peter Bagge a dad was a total monster, but he was
decade back. Part of that was in having short-tempered, and he hid his own
Buddy mature, going beyond the 100% insecurities by coming off like an arrogant
certified slacker of the Seattle years, and know-it-allI got along with him
take on responsibilities like the ones hed sometimes and have some fond memories
spent his first fifteen issues avoiding. of him, which is more than most people
Buddy and his pal Jay the Junkie (last could say, but he also drove me nuts as
seen in Buddy the Weasel) start a used well. There were times when everyone in
junk business, and Bagge repeatedly leads my family wanted to kill him.
us to expect Pops Bradleys death from his At Pops funeral, Buddy and Lisa
deteriorating healthonly to depict Pops wind up leaving the service early to take
getting hit and killed by a car while out Buddys bratty niece and nephew across
walking. It seems like Pops death was the the street to a Pizza Hut (in an under-
one event in Hate that started the wheels stated Bagge one-two-punch that rubs
of change turning for Buddy: the catalyst in Pops fate, Buddys sister chides his
for the remaining threads of Buddys days nephew for not looking both ways while
as a complete slacker to hit the fan. crossing the street).
I was basing it on my own experience I did the story about Pops Bradleys
with death, and how its not at all like the funeral right before my father died, but it
way its always treated on movies and TV, echoed my dads funeral perfectly. Like,
PETER BAGGE

An example of Bagges mixing of tragedy Bagge said, noting an all-too-eerie instance there were no touching eulogies, little
of lifes imitating art. When Pops Bradley being said or done regarding why we were
and comedy in this sequence from Hate died [in Hate #22], my father died right all there. Even while youre viewing the
#22 (1996). Note the parallels in figure after it - and just as suddenly, too. It was a open casket, youre thinking about how
poses from top to bottom panel for both frightening foreshadowing of reality. My morbid and weird the whole thing is.
42
Pops and Buddy, particularly in the father was not a beloved man: he was a Meanwhile, your stomach is grumbling,
close-ups of Pops in panels three and six.
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 43

and your new shoes dont fit, and my Its typical in a story to introduce and
cousins really getting on my nerves, etc. I establish a character in a setting and
remember standing next to my Uncle then, at the end, return that same but
George, who was my fathers only sibling, newly developed (through the events
yet all he thought and talked about of the narrative) character to the initial
through the entire service was where we settings to show just how much they have
were all going to eat once it was over. evolved. By having Stinky doing the exact
You in the mood for Italian If so, I same thing in his final appearance that he
know a good place Honey, whats the had in his first (in Buddy the Weasel),
name of that place? And kids are the Bagge showed just how Stinky hadnt
most distracted and clueless. They dont evolved in close to a decade.
know whats going on. So I just wrote Stinkys the type of guy who doesnt
about what happens at funerals or at see anything totally through, Pete said.
my own emotionally detached familys With him everything is 99% inspiration
funerals, anyway. The kids get crazy and and 1% perspiration. Thats why hed
restless. And Buddy, of course, isnt gonna always try to get someone like Buddy
be a funeral guy. So hes like: The kids are involved with his crazy schemes, half-
hungry. What a great excuse for me to get hoping that Buddy will do all the heavy
out of here. But Ill act like Im doing lifting. Its also why he burns all of his
everyone a favor by volunteering to take bridges, since after a while everyones
the kids to the Pizza Hut. going to realize that yeah, he comes up
Just as Buddy the Weasel forced with these great ideas, and hes a great
Buddy to shake off the vestiges of his salesman, but then Im left holding the bag

PETER BAGGE
teenage life, preparing him for Hate, the or just having to do all the boring stuff like
last six issues of Hate had him discarding licking the envelopes while hes got some
the elements of his life as a slacker, other million-dollar idea brewing.
sometimes in a harsh way. The one tragic Ive known a lot of Stinky prototypes,
farewell to his past life, however, came in and theyre really amusing and magnetic
the death of the newly-returned Stinky because of their gift of gab and energy.
43
in Hate #28. Playing with a handgun But at the same time, if they dont settle
with Butch Bradley and on the same down or wise up some as they get older,

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
beach from Buddy the Weasel, Stinky their whole shtick gets really old, really
held the gun to his temple: fast. It isnt always as charming when
Stinky stopped being a regular you run into someone like that 20, 30
character once Id brought Buddy back years down the road whos still talking
to Jersey, Bagge said. I had gotten a lot and acting that way.
of complaints about that, since he was a Whenever I travel somewhere on
popular character, but the reason I business, and theres a car and driver
stopped working with him as much sent to pick me up, the limo drivers are
was that I didnt really know where to almost always this type of guy, full of
go with him. Hes based on the type of tall tales and million dollar schemes.
person who doesnt really grow or evolve Especially in L.A Theyre in L.A. for a
much and is always going through the reason: they were going to be a star, or a
same motions, like a gerbil on a wheel. stunt double, or a big shot manager or
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PETER BAGGE

44
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

HATE #27
1997
Pen and Ink
Notice how this page (perhaps the most dramatic in Hate s entire run), features cross-hatching like the earlier Hate issues.
As a result, the sequence is not only made darker in tone, but also sets it apart from other Jersey issues. The use of close-ups is
reserved for the most emotional moments (Stinkys death on panels seven and eight), while the long shot of Butch in the final
panel not only draws the readers eye, but also emphasizes his fear.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 45

producer. I invented this new technology Stinky lacked self-awareness, which

that was gonna revolutionize the industry, makes him lots of fun, but [if] I suddenly
see, but then this schmuck stole my idea had him stop and go, Whoa, what am I
and blah, blah, blah. Oh, and their driver doing? I better check myself! then he
status is always only temporary. This is wouldnt be Stinky anymore. It wouldnt
just paying the rent until my new idea be very interesting, either.
takes off. Wanna know what it is? Talking A problem with Hate, if you can call it
houseplants! Theyre also half-hoping a problem, is that its not like Peanuts or
that youll invest in their idea, figuring Beetle Bailey or even The Simpsons, where
that if youre riding in their back seat Bart is 10 years old forever and everything
that you must be some kind of mover is stuck in time. Instead I took the
and shaker. Theyre always amusing, Gasoline Alley route and had everybody
fascinating guys, but theyre also fifty- age and change and either evolve or
year-old limo drivers. Im also struck by devolve. Stinky was a disaster waiting to
how quickly theyll walk away from their happen, so I figured it was about time
earlier million dollar ideas. Like lets to have a disaster happen. Im surprised
show some stick-to-itiveness, pal! at how often people ask me to explain
When Stinky showed up in Jersey in his death not only because of all the
Hate #27, it started with a crank call and foreshadowing I just described, but also
Stinkys driving up to Buddys shop in a because Buddys brother Butch explains
girly convertible rental car that had the whole thing accurately at the end of
an unloaded Uzi affectionately named the same issue Stinky dies in! Buddy says,
Suzi in the back seat. You were there. What happened? And

PETER BAGGE
At some point I decided to bring him Butch says something like: Im sure that
back in, only he wasnt going to be the he thought hed emptied the whole gun,
main thrust of the story as far as Buddy and that he just wanted to freak me out,
was concerned. He was going to be the B and make me pee my pants, only he
story, where Buddy would be preoccupied obviously miscounted the bullets we
with other woes, yet here comes Stinky used. But he also comments on how
45
to compound his problems. As in having Stinky must not have valued his life much
Buddy shaking his head and going, What or he wouldve never pulled that trick in

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
else can go wrong? and in walks Stinky, the first place. Like, Im assuming you
shouting Hello! TV writers call that a want to live a long, healthy life, so you
hello joke, where whenever someone wouldnt dream of pulling that trick on
says something like: Who would do such me. Even if you thought you counted the
a thing? in would walk Urkel or Gilligan bullets correctly, I still cant imagine you
or whoever the shows biggest buffoon saying, Wouldnt it be hilarious if I made
is and unknowingly shout Hello! Pete piss his pants by pointing a gun at
Whenever Ive collaborated on a Hate my head and pulling the trigger?
pilot or movie script (yes, theres been Only a guy who had a suicidal
several), I noticed that Stinky was element to him would pull that trick. Bagge invokes classic Grit Magazine
always the Hello Joke guy. Just the mere fact that he was willing to subscription ads, in this retro ad
Only in Hate # 26, I set it up as, Yes, pull that trick shows that he for Hate subscriptions.
Stinkys back, and hes still crazy and
wacky and thats a bad thing! I
thought I foreshadowed his death pretty
well, because even though hes still a
fast-talking operator, he was also clearly
devolving. Like, look at what hes doing
now: selling drugs to kids in a borrowed
US mail truck. Government property!
And hes carrying a loaded UZI with him!
Sure, I played it up for laughs, but at the
same time Yikes! That transcended his
former wacky behavior by quite a bit.
And where is he going to go from there?
Its either prison or death. Hes going to
have to find Jesus or something to derail
him from this path he was on, because
he obviously never stops and thinks.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 46

Pete paused and then revealed another due to insecurity, which he seemed to
odd aspect of Stinkys death. It wasnt suffer from even before he came down with
Stinkys putting a bullet through his diabetes; he never was a very happy guy.
brain, only to be buried in an anonymous But those last five years of his life
grave on a farm: the situation paralleled were really wretched and he was a really
the cartoonists life in a scary way. unhappy guy. He also resented the hell out
Again, it was a bit of foreshadowing of me, because my life was going relatively
to my own life: right after Stinky died, fine and I was his kid brother. He was
my older brother Doug passed away, really nasty towards me, to the point that I
from complications from diabetes. couldnt stand being around him anymore.
Technically he died from natural causes, What was even worse was during the last
but for the last ten (but especially the year of his life, whenever he would call
last five) years of his life, he wasnt me, instead of him ragging on me, hed
acting like someone who wanted to live. get all sentimental and go I love you,
He had the bad kind of diabetes, Type man, and he never talked like that before.
A, where he had to inject himself with Gave me the creeps! I figured it had to be
insulin, and he came down with it when because he knew he was dying, but he
he was 12. You have to really watch your kept insisting he was fine. But hed be
diet, too which he did for most of his calling me from a hospital bed, recovering
life. Well, he was really into drugs off from the umpteenth car accident hed had
and on, but he didnt drink at all for that month. And the last time I saw him
most of his life. But then he got in a bad he was going through two packs of
marriage, and after they got divorced he Marlboros a day and drinking hard liquor.
PETER BAGGE

started on this downward spiral. He His bedroom floor was covered with
never could settle on a job that he empty vodka bottles, and during the
really liked. He never decided what he evenings he was constantly passing out,
wanted to do; he just went from job to then reviving, then passing out again. My
job. He would do things like get a ex-brother-in-law and I were constantly
truck or bus drivers license and dragging his sorry ass, tossing him onto
46
then never apply for a the back of a pickup truck whenever we
truck- or bus-driving couldnt revive him as we went from one
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

job. A lot of this was friends house to another, in this endless

search for more of the free pot and booze
that the two of them were on. Doug told
everyone the fainting spells were due to
the diabetes, but he was blind drunk as
well when I was with him. I tried to get
him to lighten up on the sauce at one
point, but he lit into me like you wouldnt
believe, so I just dropped the subject.
Did you ever see that Crumb film
documentary? Well, my relationship
with my brother Doug was exactly like
Crumbs relationship with his older
brother, Charles. Plus, Doug also lived
upstairs in our moms attic toward the
end of his life. My mother wasnt
allowed up there, and it turns out even
his own platonic girlfriend never went
up there. He also had five cats living up
there with him. He was so paranoid of
the cats getting run over that he wouldnt
let them out. So the whole place
reeked of kitty litter. The floor was just
completely covered with empty cigarette
cartons and empty bottles of vodka just
all over the place.
Then a couple years later he faints
while making a sandwich in my mas
kitchen, cracks his head on the floor
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 47

and that was that. So, yeah, I think it would remain uncollected and forgotten,
was a form of suicide, or at least an utter so it isnt nearly the time commitment
indifference towards remaining alive. that the regular Hate title used to be.
And it was odd that it happened right Buddy, while still ten years younger
after I wrote that Stinky story and his than Pete (which would put him at 39),
accidentally-on-purpose suicide, and then has grown more in the eccentricity
with my brother it was the same thing: department: Now a parent, he still
an accidentally-on-purpose suicide. runs the junk store and has bought a
After thirty issues, Bagge retired house on a former Jersey dump, with a
Hate, continuing the series in not-quite concrete backyard.
annual annuals. I still kind of relate to him, and I
I suppose I could have kept Hate going certainly relate to his impulses, Pete
forever, Bagge said, leaning back reflec- admitted. But the direction hes going in
tively. But the sales started to dip, and I compared to me is far more idiosyncratic
didnt like that trend. Plus, at that same and eccentric. In appearance alone hes
time I was getting a lot of other opportu- become a total kook.
nities. For the first time ever, people Buddy Bradleys appearance pushed
were calling me up, offering me fairly him further away from that of a younger
lucrative freelance jobs. That was when Bagge, and more into that of a traditional
Hate was at its hottest, and I had several oddball comic character. Gone are the
opportunities to develop it for TV all flannel and long unkempt bangs: Buddys
of which failed, though I made good now rocking out on a pipe, eye patch,
money off of development fees alone. and shaved head.

PETER BAGGE
All of a sudden I was making the Hes literally become the Crazy Old
best money Ive ever made before or Guy That Works at the Dump, right
since, sadly so why would I want to down to the eye patch, even though
keep slaving away on this single labor theres nothing wrong with his eye.
intensive comic book title? I was making I recently saw Gilbert Shelton, the
much better money not doing Hate! But Freak Brothers guy, at a Spanish comic
47
the idea behind Hate Annual was to just convention, and he asked me if Buddy
simply keep the Buddy character alive. still needed the eye patch or if it was just

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
Its kind of like hes dog paddling (or an affectation. When I told Gilbert it was
that Im dog paddling) just to see if sud- the latter I expected him to roll his eyes
denly he can take off again, creatively or in dismay, but instead he laughed and
otherwise. It doesnt sell nearly what it said, Thats great!
used to, but it sells well enough that Buddys become a thoroughly
Fantagraphics is always ready and willing domesticated creature of habit at this
to put it out. I also pad the thing out point, Pete added later. But hes still
with various freelance jobs that otherwise trying to figure out exactly what settled
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 48

means and how he wants to live the might interest you. And once you buy a
rest of his life. The readers would much house, chances are its nowhere near any
prefer I went back to, like, full-length of those rare comic shops that bother to
stories, but with Hate Annual I much carry alternative comics, so the whole
prefer doing these eight-, ten-, 12-page comics hunting experience becomes that
stories, these little snapshots documenting much more of a chore. The only way I can
how Buddy is slowly turning into a total keep up at all with alternative comics is
nut. Not a nut in a bad way, but as when Fantagraphics gives me free copies
someone that few people would relate or if somebody else sends me one.
to. How he still is paralleling my own Otherwise, new titles will come and go
life at this point is hard to say. Maybe he and I wont even know that they exist.
isnt anymore! Or else Im in denial of Also, with Buddy now being a
my own idiosyncratic behavior. family man, this core demographic
When Hate first hit in 1990, the who read alternative comics simply
alternative audience was most likely in doesnt relate. Hates all about old people
their late teens to mid-20s; by the time now. A big reason the main reason
the series wrapped in 1998, most of the for the success of those early Hates was
readers had grown to their late 20s to that the characters so accurately reflected
early 30s. They, in a fashion, grew up with the people who buy and read alternative
Buddy Bradley and Lisa Leavenworth. comics. The whole title was like a mirror
While, from a literary perspective, it made image of themselves and their lives, so of
Hate a book that paralleled its readers course they loved it. But once Buddy
lives as it came out, it doesnt necessarily started a business and started to settle
PETER BAGGE

help its commercial shelf-life. down, thats when I started to lose a lot
One major problem with alternative of readers. They simply didnt relate to
comics is demographics. We like to think Buddy anymore.
that were making comics for anyone and But for those readers who can still relate
everyone to enjoy, but there still is a very to Buddy Bradley and his dysfunctional
core demographic who buy alternative adventures, Pete continues his occasional
48
comics, which is people in their twenties annuals. As all things pop culture go, a
who live in downtown urban areas or new appreciation emerges roughly twenty
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

college towns. What eventually happens years later, with a crowd too young to
to these indy comic fans are what remember when those same movies,
happened to me: marriage, family, music, and comics originally came out.
mortgages, career, etcAll of which take When college kids in 2017 latch on to the
over your life to the point you dont have music and clothing of the 90s, Buddy
the time to invest in comic books, let and his pals may find themselves pop
alone go out and look for the ones that culture gods to a new group of readers.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 49

PETER BAGGE
49

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

PRISONERS OF HATE ISLAND

1990
Pen and Ink

This cover, more reminiscent of Bagges earlier work, features Fantagraphics publishers Gary Groth and Kim Thompson in the
background, and an empowered and bloodshot Bagge advancing towards the reader. One can only suppose his publishers met the end
of the rolled up issue of Neat Stuff in his right hand. Bagge added that this cover was inspired by a Basil Wolverton sci-fi comic cover.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 50

PETER BAGGE

50
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

HATE #2, page 7

1990
Pen and Ink

Buddy, on his first date with the feminist Valerie, has his testosterone extinguished when confronting a Vietnam veteran.
Note Bagges alternating use of open, borderless, panels for those shots that involve impending violence and conflict.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 51

PETER BAGGE
51

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

HATE #18 , page 12

1995
Pen and Ink
Peter Bagge and Jim Blanchard
Buddy buys his new set of wheels, in this page, a Big Daddy Roth-inspired truck which looks like it has polio. The opening
panels thick character outlines work to create depth, even without the printed color. Bagge also takes a humorous scene
that is composed mostly of dialogue and, through varying camera angles from panel to panel, makes it visually arresting.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 52

PETER BAGGE

52
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

HATE # 19, page 4

1995
Pen and Ink
Peter Bagge and Jim Blanchard
This scene opens with a wide, establishing panel that details the scenery and the relation between the players. Having set
the stage, Bagge then utilizes close-ups and medium shots, bringing the focus more on the characters and their conflict.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 12:50 PM Page 53

PETER BAGGE
53

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
Hate #26, page 8
1997
Pen and Ink

Within eleven panels, Bagge establishes the long-absent Stinkys current situation, and foreshadows alleged zaniness
(but, in the end, tragedy) that is to come. Buddys probing questions and further doubts about Stinky reinforce his own
more adult development since the early Seattle issues.
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PETER BAGGE

54
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

Hate! #24, page 8

1996
Pen and Ink

Bagge normally begins scene changes at the start of a page. This scene, where Buddy reunites with his Neat Stuff pal
Tommy is entirely self-contained. Coming out of the bar, drunk, Buddy is perhaps given his first example of an old friend
whose accepted the responsibilities of an adult life. It seems that Tommys becoming a policeman is the focal point of this
scene, as Bagge has left the panel open, with the characters in silhouette.
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PETER BAGGE
55

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

Hate! #24, page 15

1996
Pen and Ink

This page is the second of a two-page scene, where Buddy encounters the depressed Lisa. Lisas feelings of
alienation are well illustrated through Bagges reducing the amount of speech balloons in key moments:
her breakdown in panel three, and her self-pity in the final panel.
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PETER BAGGE

56
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

Hate Annual #6, page 1

2006
Pen and Ink

It would seem that Buddy Bradley really has settled down into the suburban, domestic lifeBut Bagge slaps in the face of any sense
of normalcy by presenting a willingly bald and eye-patched Buddy who has moved his family into a junkyard.
CI-Bagge-FINAL 7.0.qxd:CI-Bagge.qxd 7/6/07 3:16 PM Page 57

or does he? Where Pete learns the ins and outs of making a cartoon.

We were watching Peter Bagge-

designed characters, computer generated
and possessing weight and dimension,
on a televisioncreator Eric Kaplan did
The Mooch as a five-minute presentation
cartoon in the hope of having a cable
channel pick it up as a regular show.
The main character, a deadbeat computer

PETER BAGGE
programmer who quit his job because
he wouldnt work on a video game
where the hero is a rapist, is out on the
street without any money or a place to
live, and he imposes on both his best
friend and his friends wife. Living on
57
their sofa, The Mooch quickly comes
close to ruining his pals marriage and

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
finds himself once more kicked out on
the street and knocking on his
wanna-be girlfriends door.
The characters were Peters in form
and movement, their bodies moving
without any visible joints and the Im doing the same exact thing with A character from The Mooch.
Bagge slouch ever-present as their heads them, only its with The Bradleys, so its 2007 Mirari Films.

bobbed forward; they even freaked out Buddy as a teenager, and Ive only just
like Buddy Bradley (with a shade less Big got started on it.
Daddy Roth). There was something Around 1993, Bagge was courted a
almost creepy about them, though, but few different times about producing Hate
not exactly in a soulless Polar Express as a show or film, particularly by MTV
way. The figures had warm, human faces (this was, after all, when Beavis and
but contorted, Bagge-ified bodies. Butthead and The Simpsons were staking
their claim in televisions landscape) and,
Bagge had been flirting with animation later, by HBO. Despite a positive testing
for a bit more than a decade. Judging by of an animatic (or quasi-animated test
the recent wave of creator-owned and short), the one-two punch of a new
directed films (everything from Dan MTV President and another shows
Clowes Ghost World to Frank Millers receiving the greenlight instead killed it.
300), Hollywood is sinking its vampiric For every single television show that
teeth into the jugular of comics for some you actually get to see make it to TV,
fresh blood. One would think that Pete theres probably a hundred different
would soon be a successful donor. properties that get optioned, Bagge
As we speak, Im in the exact same speculated. Out of those, only one out
place with MTV that I was ten years of ten reach to where I am. Its like a
ago, Bagge admitted. Back then I had a rapidly narrowing funnel that Im still
development deal with MTV to turn entering, and I still have a long way to
Hate into an animated TV show. Now go before I come out the other end.
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A model sheet of a bald Buddy Bradley,

complete with bottle of Ballard Bitter.
PETER BAGGE

This was used for the PressPop Buddy doll.

So theres not only a lot of most obvious thing to do with Hate,
competition, but animation projects apparently. And it always turns out to be
also are relatively more expensive to someone whos basically going around
make than a live action show, and pitching several ideas, just throwing sh*t
58 especially a reality show. This is especially at the wall to see what sticks, and they
true with cable networks, where the want the right to fling Hate around as well.
budget for an animated show can be Im not opposed to the idea of Hate
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

prohibitively expensive. as a live-action movie, at least during

With CGIs giving film-makers times when thats the only thing anyone
the ability to convert pages is interested in doing with it, but Im not
from comics and graphic novels really a movie guy. My stories arent
into convincing silver-screen exactly novel-length: theyre more bite-
life (particularly in Millers past sized. So I dont think of what I do as
two films), could an iconic indy movie material at all. To me, converting
comic be turned into an indy them into a TV series, preferably animated,
movie? Bagges not a fan of that idea: is a natural and obvious way to go
Well, first of all, the nature of my especially something like Hate, where
comics are so radically different from each installment already reads like a
all these recent successful superhero half-hour sitcom.
movies and even more so from I think movies are inherently too
something like Sin City, which is so long, anyway. Whenever Im watching a
dramatically stylized. As stylized as movie, I think, This movie could easily
Frank Millers work is, he still draws be over now. But you always get the
realistically proportioned people, so its requisite plot twist two-thirds of the
very easy to take live action actors way through in order to justify the
and create the Frank Miller comic movie being two hours long and worth
book world around them. Whereas the nine bucks you had to pay to see it.
with my comic, that would be Oh, so hes the bad guy. Yawn, Pete
Models of The Fun Girls, who appeared completely impossible: it would be like laughed. I prefer stories that are a bit
in an episode of Bagges Flash-animated trying re-create Peanuts with real actors. more concise. You know, like a TV
Murray Wilson shorts, based off the manager Whenever someone contacts me to show! So the only possibilities that come
and father of The Beach Boys Brian Wilson. option Hate, nine times out of ten they up that I ever get remotely excited about
rock n roll Dad is 2007 Icebox.com. want to make a live-action indy flick out are when something of mine has been
of it. They want to give it the Ghost World optioned for the express purpose of
treatment. That seems to be the easiest, making it into an animated TV show.
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PETER BAGGE
59

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE
Model sheets of Babs Bradley, Tommy, and
Butch Bradley, for the proposed MTV animated
series of The Bradleys.
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PETER BAGGE

60
COMICS INTROSPECTIVE

Clockwise, from upper left: Murray Wilson, a Fun Girl, Terry and the Tykes, and The Fun Boys,
from various episodes of Bagges Murray Wilson online animated shorts.