Buddy Buys A Dump

Buddy Bradley #7

by Peter Bagge

In this graphic novel, he's back! Now in his 30s and married, with a child, onetime slacker hero Buddy Bradley shaves his head, dons an eye-patch, quits his "real" job and buys the local dump -- because what better place to raise a toddler? Peter Bagge's iconic character is to alternative comics what Homer Simpson has been to television animation over the past quarter-century: a generation-defining slacker and the greatest comedic character of its form and era. Featuring stories originally published in the comic book series Hate Annual from 2000-2011, as well as an all-new 20-page conclusion to the story arc, this book marks the first new book of Buddy stories since the now-perennial classics Buddy Does Seattle (2005) and Buddy Does Jersey (2007).

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Humor, Fiction, 21st Century

144 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2014

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

[Baal Of · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume is confusingly subtitled Vol. III, I guess because it is part of a different run of collections than the originals I had been reading. This one is not quite as good as the earlier stories, perhaps because Buddy has grown up to some extent, or maybe just grown more boring. He's still an asshole, but it's less intense, and this has more of Bagge's personal libertarian politics slipping through, and a lot less humor. The artwork is less exaggerated, without the occasional extremely distorted renderings of characters. Buddy's kid seems almost normal, compared to the Buddy and his siblings in the earlier stories, and even the relationship between Lisa and Buddy is far less volatile, which is the point I guess, of following them into later adulthood.

[Jan Philipzig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as organic and tight and urgent as the original series, but hey, it's Buddy Bradley we're talking about - of course it's still fun :) I especially enjoyed the "return" of Stinky...

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third volume in Peter Bagge's iconic character's life, this collection was culled from various annuals published over the years since Hate ended it's run. Hate is my favorite comic book series of all time and I was excited to have these stories collected in one place.

While I know there's a sizable contingent of folks who wished Bagge had left Buddy and Lisa as ageless hipsters in Seattle (something like Archie n' pals in Riverdale, only for the grunge set) I've always quite liked the fucked up progression of the Bradleys through marrage, parenthood, and beyond. No, Bagge's not mining the most familiar vein of humor most of his readers would have expected from the first volumes of Hate, but his fearlessness in marching the narrative forward, both in plot and art always made for an "anything can happen" mood to the book I dug. I especially loved the "new look" Buddy with all his silly affectations, something I imagine really turned off a lot of readers who dearly loved the beatle brow Buddy sported all throughout the 1990's. The stories here deal with that misconnection wonderfully, especially "Creative Outlet" which finds Buddy and Lisa trying to hang out with a "hip" couple.

Bagge's artwork has become more economical in the years since Hate became a color publication and that economy is still on display in this collection. While I enjoy Bagge's boldness in moving Buddy and Lisa's story forward, I have to admit, I vastly prefer the look of the original black & white Hate issues, with their vigorous cross-hatching and details. I mention it because some of the stories collected in Buddy Buys a Dump seem very rushed, with loose pencils and inks. I even spotted some spelling errors in the final stories in the book, which surprised the hell out of me.

Of course, this volume is especially worth picking up for the brand new Buddy and Lisa story contained within which brings the Bradley family story to something of a end, for now. Although this is Volume III, I'm hoping Peter Bagge isn't planning on permanently abandoning Buddy. Here's to Volume IV, sometime in the future.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I confess I mostly missed out on the whole Hate/Buddy Bradley phenomenon of the 90's, but have always enjoyed Bagge's comics in other venues & anthologies like Weirdo, etc. When I contributed to the recent Fantagraphics kickstarter, I picked this as my reward. It's overall pretty good but to me there's the sense of a series past its prime (I call it the Simpsons Syndrome), and a cartoonist who seems ready to move on to other ventures - as evidenced by Woman Rebel, his well-regarded comics biography of Margaret Sanger from last year (on my To Read list). I feel as if I should have started with the first Buddy Bradley book because this one just didn't quite hit the mark.

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the original 30 issues Bagge revisits Buddy over a ten year period of time in a series of annuals.

Annual 1 Are You Nuts?
Jay suggests he and Buddy but an aquabus and go into business together. On a test drive the aquabus sinks to the bottom of the river. Buddy's kid is a baby now!

Annual 2 A-Rod Goes to the Moon
Babs is over with her two kids - now tweens. The girls leave for a kids-free weekend. Of course its a disaster for Buddy and he ends up dropping all 3 kids off with his mom.

Annual 3 The Domestication of Lisa Leavenworth-Bradley
Buddy looks at relocating his business closer to his mom's house so Lisa can have a larger living space. It ends with Lisa redecorating Buddy's existing shop.

Annual 4 Buddy Bradley Gets a Real Job
Buddy is tired of dealing with awful customers - adults that are still into Star Wars! and other such pain in the asses. He gets a job at UPS as a delivery driver. Of course its a disaster with his co-workers basically just robbing packages.

Annual 5 Fuddy Duddy Buddy
Buddy injures his eye and gets an eye-patch. He decided to wear the eye-patch (basically for the rest of the series!) He also cuts his hair short and gets a popeye style hat. Lisa and Buddy are looking to buy a house and Buddy eventually convinces Lisa to buy a junk yard!

Annual 6 Skeletons in the Closet
Stinky's death is still causing issues. Buddy goes and digs up the skeletons and buries it in his own backyard.

Annual 7 The Future's in Scrap
Jay starts working at the junkyard next door to Buddy and gets into buying and selling scrap metal. Buddy's kid is now about 4 or 5

Annual 8 Creative Outlet
Buddy and Lisa get involved at the school their kid goes to and meet another "weird" couple. Lisa starts a band with the other wife and they perform a show at the local strip club.

Annual 9 Heaven / Hell
Buddy's home life is going great. Lisa and Buddy go visit Lisa's family - the first time he's met them! Her parents are awful. Her cousin also lives on the property. Lisa decides to stay around to deal with the estate and defend it from her adopted brother.

Buddy Buys a Dump "Fuck it"
Buddy is facing issues as his junkyard is deemed a natural protected wetland. His son ends up shooting the geese that stop in the yard. Buddy once again needs to move Leonard's corpse - dropping in the local river.

[Kurt Kaletka]

This is an excellent coda to Buddy Bradley's adventures from Peter Bagge's "Neat Stuff" and "Hate" comics. Buddy is a fair and decent attempt to portray the "slacker generation" (or "Generation X", as we've come to be known). Buddy's story is not shown in a positive light or a negative light or a soft-focus light. It's just shown with integrity and respect.

In Bagge's "Bradleys" stories, Buddy coasts through high school, directionless and disaffected, unmotivated and unhappy with the world. In the 30 incredible "Hate" comics, Buddy moves out of his parents' house, finds a way to take charge of his life, and grows up. "Buddy Buys a Dump" shows what happens after that. We see Buddy still trying to figure out exactly what he wants out of life, and still assailed by forces outside of his own control, problems with no obvious solutions. For better or for worse, Buddy learns that life moves on, whether you want it to or not. Does he figure out where he wants to go? I won't tell. But in the nearly 30 years of Buddy Bradley on the comics page, he manages to learn to savor the journey.

Having followed Buddy since the release of Hate No. 4 in 1991, I've never been able to imagine how Buddy's saga would come to an end. I'm not sure Peter Bagge ever knew how he'd end it, either. But "Buddy Buys a Dump" is the perfect way to wrap things up. Thank you, Pee Bag, for this ride. You're not of my generation, but you're one of the few writers who actually seems to get us. Thank you.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this comic, our protagonist Buddy Bradley is living in New Jersey with his wife, Lisa and his son Harold. He buys a house at a dumpster area to live in which is very unconventional, but Buddy is an unconventional guy. Prior to that he tried working as a truck driver delivering packets, but his sleazy coworkers were opening the packets and stealing things and Buddy was just picturing himself getting in trouble and eventually getting arrested. So, although he liked the idea of a steady paycheck, working for himself buying and selling scrap material seemed like a much better proposition. When his eye doctor gives him a black patch to wear for a few days, Buddy decides to shave his head, and put on a cap to look more like a pirate, for pirates are cool, right?

Stories about Buddy, his family and friends are oddball, but very creative and fun.

[Binni Erlingsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good, but not as great as what came before. The least interesting character in this is actually Buddy himself, with Lisa taking a more center stage (at least in my opinion). That is not a bad thing because I like Lisa more than Buddy anyways. But these stories aren't as interesting as the 90's stuff and there isn't any sort conclusion here. (Although that feels like it's in style with the material). I'd actually love 1-2 more books with these characters because it feels like there may a lot more to be said.

I'll note also that I stylistically don't like Buddy at all in color. I would have loved a B&W option. This felt more cartoony and less grim and real.

[Julesreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’ve made it this far into Buddy Bradley’s life, what’s there to not like? From Seattle, to Jersey, and here now at the junk yard, life has settled into something sweet and relatable. But it’s also still Buddy and Lisa and all the awful, dumb, shifty, stupid, annoying people in their lives. There’s still plenty of hate and plenty to hate. But their son, Harold, is a sweetie, and Woof is a good doggy! I like the color work in this version of Bagge’s masterpiece. It is a nice way to see them off. I’ll miss them very much!

[Carla A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some how this still manages to be decent. I followed the life of Buddy since the era of Neat Stuff and think I have all the single issues of Hate kicking around in spite of a newly imposed (by myself) two year rules. Also makes me feel old. I did love the earlier stuff more but yeah good and true to the characters.

[Petr Nakasharal Fabián · Rating 4 out of 5]

V barvě Hate vizuálně moc nefunguje. Jako uzavírající se kruh to je super, ačkoliv slabší, než první dvě knížky. Nicméně série Hate si získala místo v mém srdci, i když American Elf je nepřekonatelnej. :D

[Paige Compositor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bagge continues to be be one of the most underrated cartoonists still in the game. It admittedly took a little time for me to get used to some of the tonal and image changes, but once I did I was all in.

[Ruz El · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final collection if Buddy Bradley stories finds the slacker embracing a middle class existence and family life. It's incredibly good, I wouldn't mind another series catching up with him.

[DURTY · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buddy and Lisa are the best!

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar to an aging human.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hope this isn’t the end of ole Buddy and Lisa. Maybe we can look forward to “Buddy Goes Over the Hill!” someday.

[J. Gonzalez- Blitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The back of this book says this is the "conclusion" of the Buddy Bradley saga. Is it? It seems to be an open ended conclusion.

Anyway, that's the final chapter. The rest has been previously seen in Hate Annuals, and centers around Buddy & Lisa's adulthood, raising a child of their own. We also learn the truth about Lisa's horrible estranged family, which had only been alluded to previously in Hate (or in the Buddy Does Seattle collection) and witness his transition from dealing in pop-cultural nostalgia artifacts to entering the scrap-metal trade. This change both reflects the economic downturn of the past decade (metals are more practical & necessary than collectibles and therefore "recession-proof")and the continuance of Buddy's maturation into a responsible husband and father. I won't say how it all ends except to say that it still feels there's more of this story to tell.

One thing though...Buddy and Lisa's kid ages, Tom's kid ages...why are Bab's kids still the same age?

[Jeff Buddle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading the saga of Buddy Bradley for about 25 years and have never bought a Buddy Bradley book. That's because I've always bought the pamphlets, reading the story in serial format the way it was originally intended. But Fantagraphics decided not to issue the final Buddy story in pamphlet form and instead included it as the final 20 pages of this little book. And after 25 years, I had no choice but to pony up the extra $$ to find how it all ends.

And I'm not sure it does end. The final story is anti-climactic, ending with what seems to be a new beginning, leaving room for Bagge to continue the Buddy Bradley story indefinitely. I love Bagge's sense of humor, his storytelling skills and his drawing, but if this is the conclusion of the Buddy story it ends not with a bang, but a idle whistle as Buddy strolls slowly off stage. I was hoping for a little bit more.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that Peter Bagge is still checking into the life of Buddy Bradley every so often. As one of my favorite comic books, I started reading HATE in college and am always excited to bump into Buddy every two or three years. This adventure has Buddy (ahem) buying a dump as he still deals with the trails and tribulations of paying bills, raising a kid, hanging out with family and trying to be a somewhat loving husband. If you haven't read any HATE comics, I would advise to start from comic #1 and make your eventual way to this book. Bagge still has the drawing talent. I love his unique style. Although it's not the B&W look as the original comics, the inking is still phenomenal. And so is the dialogue.

[Derek Royal · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's so good to see Buddy Bradley back in a new collection. Most of the stories that make up this collection were previously published in the Hate Annual, but those were spread out over ten years. Taken together, they pack more of comedic punch and are even more enjoyable than they were in the individual issues. Reading this book makes me yearn for a time when it wasn't unusual to get a serialized alternative title. In this instance, we need less love, more Hate!

[Jarett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Buddy! Always funny and he makes outrageous situations and characters feel incredibly realistic. He relies a lot of the storytelling on the previous Buddy stories so be sure to read the earlier ones to be caught up

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bradleys are my favorite group of dysfunctional weirdos in comics.

Oh, and I had a sneaking suspicion before, but this volume confirmed it: I married Buddy Bradley.

So it's no wonder I love these books. Ha.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Bagge is the best, the man just never disappoints. This book made me laugh out loud, and the art is awesome and expressive and perfect.

[Hassanchop · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Peter Bagge. I wish he would do more stuff.

[Mark]

Hahahaha!

[Giselle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dont know why i didnt read this sooner..good quality Hate comics. It didnt disappoint.