Bat Boy: The Weekly World News Comic Strips by Peter Bagge

by Peter Bagge

Collected for the first time in one deluxe hardcover edition, Peter Bagge's Bat Boy strips, which ran in the Weekly World News for two years, are filled with all the insanity, inanity, and cartoonish humor you'd expect from a team-up between Bagge (Hate) and the Bat Boy (beloved). See Bat Boy attain the office of the Presidency (alongside adopted First Lady Martha Stewart and Secretary of Defense Li'l Kim) and other craziness.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Strips

104 pages, Hardcover

First published April 26, 2011

About the author

Peter Bagge is an American cartoonist known for his irreverent, kinetic style and his incisive, black-humored portrayals of middle-class American youth. He first gained recognition with Neat Stuff, which introduced characters such as Buddy Bradley, Girly-Girl, and The Bradleys, and followed it with Hate, his best-known work, which ran through the 1990s and later as annuals. Bagge’s comics often exaggerate the frustrations, absurdities, and reduced expectations of ordinary life, combining influences from Warner Brothers cartoons, underground comix, and classic cartoonists like Bob Clampett, Tex Avery, and Robert Crumb. Beyond satire and fiction, Bagge has produced fact-based comics journalism, biographies, and historical comics, contributing to outlets such as suck.com, MAD Magazine, toonlet, Discover, and Reason. His biographical works include Woman Rebel, about Margaret Sanger, Fire!!, on Zora Neale Hurston, and Credo, on Rose Wilder Lane. Bagge has collaborated with major publishers including Fantagraphics, DC Comics, Dark Horse, and Marvel, producing works such as Yeah!, Sweatshop, Apocalypse Nerd, Other Lives, and Reset. He has also worked in animation, creating Flash cartoons and animated commercials, and has been active as a musician in bands such as The Action Suits and Can You Imagine. Bagge’s signature art style is elastic, energetic, and exaggerated, capturing movement and comic expression in a way that amplifies both humor and social commentary. His personal politics are libertarian, frequently reflected in his comics and essays, and he has been a longtime contributor to Reason magazine. Bagge’s work combines biting satire, historical insight, and a relentless visual inventiveness, making him a central figure in American alternative comics for over four decades.

Reviews

[Ed Erwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this book months ago, but didn't want to mark it read until I'd written the perfect review. That's never going to happen.



I would have started out quoting the song "Bat boys, bat boys, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they're comin' for you?"

I would have pointed out the irony of the weekly world news being the first to predict that the white house would one day be inhabited by a cave-dweller who surrounds himself with minor celebrities and bites the face off of Rosie O'Donnell.

I would have included a trigger warning that there are images of shaved sasquatches.

I would have been careful to note that Beyoncé, being only half sasquatch on her father's side, was not subjected to such shaving. (She uses a depilatory creme.)

But I'll never find time to write that review.

[Maricruz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Con un poco de buena voluntad puede decirse que esta colección de tiras cómicas tiene una trama delirante. Sin ella, se diría que Peter Bagge iba dibujando cada semana lo primero que se le ocurría y sin calentarse demasiado la cabeza. Las perras más fácilmente ganadas por Bagge.

[Andrés Santiago · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of disappointing, a bit too silly and self-indulgent for my own liking. It might have worked better in small doses, as it was being serialised, that as a collection. Only for Bagge's die hard fans.

[Sotiris Makrygiannis · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is my first impression of Bat Boy and I dont get it. Drawings like a 8 year old and story is for sure for an 11 year old. Sorry not my style.....

[John “Hoss” · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s good. Funny, and great work from Peter Bagge. But overall it’s just really goofy and zany to really go back to. It’s pure nostalgia for those who would see Bat Boy on WWN magazines. I did when I was younger, and kinda spooked out by it. Bagge does a great job making a zany adventure locked into semi political commentary during the Bush W years.

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this was fun. Bagge did this satirical strip for a couple of years, taking the famous/notorious Weekly World News character on amusing adventures--through the presidency, engagement to Beyonce Knowles (who turns out to be half-Sasquatch), to being King of America and various other silly situations, with an excellent sense of rhythm, aping the structure of a comic strip perfectly. Hard to say whether the whole WWN approach to "news" is part of what Bagge mocks here, but it sure feels like it, especially in how he treats their columnist "Ed Anger." Demerit points, though, for the lack of any sort of editorial material at all--no introduction, no foreword, no notes, nothing to explain or contextualize it, which is actually fairly unusual for an IDW project. Also, it might have been nice if Bagge's numerous spelling mistakes had been corrected--unless they're part of a subtle satire of the general illiteracy of the whole WWN thing.

[La Revistería Comics · Rating 3 out of 5]

Siguiendo en la sintonía de la última recomendación, sobre la obra de Robert Crumb, les comentamos que ya pueden conseguir en el local Bat Boy, de Peter Bagge.


"Recopiladas por primera vez en una edición de lujo en tapa dura, las tiras consagradas al personaje de Bat Boy, de Peter Bagge, aparecen de la mano de La Cúpula. Originalmente fueron publicadas en el desaparecido Weekly World News durante dos años". El personaje fue creado por el entonces editor de la WWN, Dick Kulpa, debutando en Junio de 1992. El trabajo de Baggle mantiene la locura, la crítica y el humor que lo caracterizan. En esta recopilación veremos a Bat Boy alcanzar la oficina de la presidencia, su adopción por parte de la primera dama Martha Stewart, su encuentro con Michael Jackson y otros episodios delirantes.

[Ruz El]

While not as good as his "Hate" material, or his recent "Other Lives", it's still great to see Bagge working a weekly comic strip. Bat Boy is irresistible, and the plots featuring a Bigfoot Beyonce and others make it well worth a your while to check out.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

O me falta cancha con los famosos estadounidenses (aunque tengo que admitir que reconocí a la mayoría) o a este libro le falta chispa. Quizás mitad y mitad, pero lo que es seguro es que me gustó bastante menos que lo poco que llevo leído de Hate.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who doesn't love Bat Boy?

[Mark]

Hilarious, and very highly recommended for afficionados of the absurd.

[Matt Shaqfan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was some of his funniest stuff ever! I didn't really know what to expect from the Bat Boy strips, but it had me cracking up. Pop culture comic zaniness as only Peter Bagge can do.