BUDDY BITES THE BULLET!: VOLUME VI OF THE COMPLETE BUDDY BRADLEY STORIES FROM HATE!

By: Andy Hershberger
Date: Thursday, September 20, 2001

You're angry, alienated, musically and cinematically literate and oddly enough driven to succeed on a small scale. Who ya want to read about? Well hell, you! Now it's not gonna be anytime soon that "your name here" comics will be appearing on the rack, unless you're making it. So why not check out Peter Bagge's wonderful HATE series, particularly in regards to the Buddy Bradley character you just might find yourself resembling (sorry ladies, I just assumed a guy was reading this). Best place to start is with one of the HATE compilations, and wouldn't you know it BUDDY BITES THE BULLET just so happens to be a HATE compilation what are the odds?!

For the uninitiated, Buddy Bradley is a twenty-something slacker with a fierce contempt for all things he doesn't agree with. Plus, deep down inside that enraged exterior beats the heart of a young Republican. So Buddy's wacky adventures are the core of HATE - Buddy getting his own comic after proving to be the breakout character from Bagge's earlier NEAT STUFF - and oh fortunate chance if Mr. Bagge didn't start the tale smack dab in the center of Seattle when all the gentrification, as a result of the then upcoming Seattle sound, was taking place.

But that was almost over two compilations ago. Buddy's now smack dab in the center of not hip New Jersey, moochin' off his mom and griping now that his long love Lisa has proven herself a switch hitter and ran to the other side - returning to her cool girl roots in Brooklyn of all places, hmmm ... think I'll look for her next time I'm out buying a two for a buck Indian Head Beer. What's a poor onanistic young man to do, particularly when his dim bulb brother's teamed up with the convicted felon next door with big plans to turn Buddy's mom's place into a crack house? Why not just bail out of the scene and retire to that nice comic book shop he co-owns? Plus, he could do more of those crazy things that make him, Buddy, one of the single greatest comic book literature creations in the last quarter of the 20th century. (Yeah, to hell with Adrian Mole!)


In its original run, HATE ran 30 issues, and for the most part concentrated on Buddy and the motley crew that surrounded him - girlfriends Lisa and Valerie, Stinky, George, Mr. & Mrs. Bradley, Butch Bradley, Babs Bradley, and ol' pal and ex-smack head Jay - yet during the last five issues, covered in BUDDY BITES THE BULLET!, Peter Bagge did something wonderful. He doubled the size of individual issues and devoted the new space to work by up and coming comic artists and writers. No longer was HATE merely to showcase his own work, but a place to taste the new flavors coming 'round the horizon. In BUDDY BITES THE BULLET! this extra bonus is absent. While the reasons for this are fairly obvious - who wants their Buddy hampered by the latest "Doofus and his pal Henry Hotchkiss" - it's such a shame that the compilation, by necessity, eliminated one of the enjoyable aspects of the last five issues. I would suggest to the person interested in HATE and expanding their tastes to hold off on buying this and instead purchase HATE #26-30 -always available in reprints - so as to get the extra material. Mr. Bagge has proven himself a man who promotes others through both the inclusion of extra material and his columns in previous issues, where he would often review fanzines. Mr. Bagge is that rare individual who crusades for others, while still putting out crack material himself. Kudos to Mr. Bagge.

A complaint has been raised in the HATE fanbase that the later issues tended to be a bit heavy on soap opera and light on comedy. While there is room for some argument for this idea, it may also be pointed out that while these final issues are a bit lower on the yucks they're still pretty damn funny. John Kricfalusi of REN & STIMPY fame was pretty much on the money when he said Bagge was "the funniest cartoonist in existence," being that George Herriman (KRAZY KAT) and Charles Schultz (PEANUTS, yes it used to be funny, damn funny) are dead, but Bill Waterson is still alive, and sorry folks, CALVIN AND HOBBES is better, albeit slightly.

Now go out and buy these inspired offerings from a true genius (and I only use that word a lot ... my cat's a genius) whose blisteringly funny take on one man's misspent 20s - as channeled through a style similar to Ed Roth (sigh, we'll miss you, RAT FINK creator you ... by the way, read Tom Wolfe's wonderful essay featuring Ed in THE KANDY-KOLORED TANGERINE FLAKE STREAMLINE BABY (1965), in the article of the same name, you'll love it) - has made many a person say, "damn this is good stuff, real damn good stuff." Then go out and buy the HATE annual, and bask in the knowledge that you're supporting an artist!

BUDDY BITES THE BULLET!: VOLUME VI OF THE COMPLETE BUDDY BRADLEY STORIES FROM HATE!

Grade: A

Author(s): Peter Bagge

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books

Price: $16.95