Apocalypse Nerd

by Peter Bagge

Software Engineer Perry and his friend Gordo are two average suburban guys who just wanted to go camping in the North Cascade Mountains near Seattle - but Kim Jung II had other plans. Now Seattle is a smoldering nuclear wasteland and Perry and Gordo are about to be put to the test in ways they have never imagined!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Humor, Horror, Comic Book

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

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

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was written after Bagge, way back in 2003, heard a diplomat from North Korea bragging on air that "his country now had the capability to hit Seattle with a nuclear bomb." It's sad that 15 years later, this remains not only a possibility, but all the more likely thanks to tensions escalated by our own "Dear Leader."

Here we meet Perry, a software engineer who's really more hipster than nerd, and his friend Gordo, two pals who are off camping in the North Cascade Mountains when Seattle is nuked back to the stone age. Instantly they become survivalists, though neither possesses many survival skills. Things go downhill pretty quickly, and it's not a pleasant ride.

We'd all like to think that a national emergency would see us at our best behavior, but that seldom seems to be the case. Nasty instincts take over, and before long it's every man for himself . . . regardless of the consequences. I admire how Bagge did not make his main character into a hero, but allowed him to be changed by his circumstances.

This is indeed a dreary and disturbing read. You may even find yourself questioning - what would I do if this happened to me?

Let's hope we never, ever find out.

[Jim Ef · Rating 1 out of 5]

1,5 stars

If you are a fan of post apocalyptic stories STAY AWAY from this one. The only thing you see is bunch of unlikable characters living in a cabin in the woods. But it is still cool if Zombies attack the cabin and the only way to escape is brutally kill all the zombies with a knife. Not that any of that happens i said if, IF zombies attack. In this story there is NOTHING.

Well ofcourse there isn't any of that stuff, because this a post apocalyptic comedy..... without any jokes in it. Seriously the humor is terrible.

So i don't know what this is suppost to be, but don't read it.... or do i am not the one who is going to tell you what to do. *Whispering "don't read it"*

[Printable Tire]

I read this after reading the Ninth Configuration last night: after some gunshots outside my apartment woke me up and cops were combing the area, it seemed like an appropriate thing to read.

For the most part, I got the sick feeling that Bagge was using the story to work out and entertain his survivalist/libertarian fantasies, and I didn't like that. But at other times I could marvel at his ability to show something really fucked up and his attempt to find the everdayness in the incident, and the awkward black humor that would be revealed in Average Jaded American's reaction to the inconceivably horrible. Yet I feel if he was going to go that route he should have created an even more mundane post-apocalyptic scenario. As it is though this one is unsettling, and I found humor in the fact that even though the world is in shambles and there is no more law, nonetheless the nerd protagonist still finds himself in the "love jail" oblivion of marital hell, where it's hos before bros.

Still, this book wasn't as fleshed out as I would have liked, and felt overly rushed and sick-fantasy-driven. There was a little too much sadistic joy in expressing oblivion, and I like Bagge more when he is finding sadistic joy in the imperfect, unfantastical oblivion that is his and our daily lives.

[Drew Canole · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has the nice artwork I associate with Peter Bagge, but it's a pretty by-the-numbers post-apocalypse story with asshole characters. I'm not entirely sure what the point of it was besides to say people become awful when they're desperate? It reminded me in some ways of Ennis/Lapham writing Crossed but without the gore and zombies.

[Sarah]

Extra points for highly specific local references to western Washington. Negative points for the characters constantly complaining about how bad deer meat tastes. I found myself constantly wishing that the main character would die in a hunting accident.

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

Much bleaker than Bagge's other works, and characters are not explored as in-depth as they are in Hate or Other Lives. His usual tragi-comedic storytelling is replaced with dystopian scenarios. Bagge is still one of my favorite writers and cartoonists working in comics, but it should be noted that this is quite different in story and tone than most of his other work. That's not to say it's bad (it's not!), just that it's not what I've come to expect from Peter Bagge, i.e. don't pick this up expecting to read Buddy and Stinky type antics.

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Return to form for Peter Bagge, I was getting a little tired of not finishing his editorial comics for reason magazine. A Microsoft employee and his drug dealer friend are camping when north korea drops a nuclear bomb on seattle.
I wish this was longer and a little more fleshed out, but its still great and has plenty of yucks.

[Mylesgorton · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like Bagge's work you will love this. also accessible to people interested in a post apocalyptic graphic novel about what would really happen (i.e. quite mundane things interspersed with periods of crazy and dangerous situations)

[Thurston Hunger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recently saw mention of Peter Bagge's 2003 take on *bizzaro* Spiderman and decided to grab some of this stuff from Mountain View's splendid library. Started with this one, and my first thought was that this sort of falls in the Fabulous Freak Brothers camp. (Or I guess I should say R. Crumb, since a brief reading indicates that more refined comic connoisseurs would consider FFB Crumb crumbs?) Or would you believe from whatever pimple Ren & Stimpy popped out of?

Anyway, a post-apocalyptic premise always beckons, the way art is almost always at least tangentially about our mortality. Why not stare it straight in the zombified face after an atomic flash?

The introduction is worth reading, it discusses Bagge's inspiration (how long will we let North Korea keep up their little big boy missile dick-tatorship?) As I was reading this, I felt at home as it sure seems Bagge is a pretty wordy cartoonist. Many panels nearly 50% text, which may turn off some. Honestly, I like it more than the type of Crumb/Mad Magazine art.

The story devolves over time, and I'm not sure but I think Bagge's stand-in is Perry. And his worries about not being man enough to handle the survivalist times ahead make for some jokey moments especially contrasted with his odd company buddy Gordo. A comedy of errors and airheads follows, but and while this doesn't really have zombies, it does have plenty of the kind of misanthropy that zombie empires are built upon.

More on that misanthropy in a review or two....

[RSC_Collecting · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh man! I love Peter Bagge! I was so excited to find this in the wild. It was excellent! I hadn't heard of it before but I knew it was gonna be good. It's about two friends camping in the woods of Washington State when North Korea drops a nuclear bomb on Seattle. We watch as our two characters struggle to survive the wilderness after a nuclear fallout. We see the many different people they encounter on their journey. We gain and lose hope for our characters over and over again. It's hilarious in a very dark way. Classic Peter Bagge style. The art is obviously phenomenal. His art is so unique and expressive. And this book is no different. Overall it was a funny comic about an apocalypse. I laughed out loud more than a few times and I definitely recommend you read this if you can find a copy!

[Karen JEC · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times, quite entertaining, but mostly quite bleak. The reader is thrust into the story as clueless as the two main characters, and then horrible acts follow in a bit of a haphazard way, and then it kind of trails off at the end with a blip. You’ll keep thinking about it afterward. The artwork is humourous.

Favourite Quotes:

“For all we know the entire state is covered in fallout! These woods will soon be crawling with diseased survivors desperate to get their hands on our Twizzlers!”

“Aren’t you afraid of dying out here?”
“Pfft. What difference does it make where you die?”

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably disturbingly accurate.

[Club Còmic Sabadell · Rating 3 out of 5]

El Club de lectura de Novel·la Gràfica i Còmic de Sabadell ha puntuat aquesta obra amb un 5,9 sobre 10.

En concret, el guió ha obtingut un 6,9, el dibuix un 6,1 i el color un 4,6.

[DURTY · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great field manual. Ya know, just in case.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

https://ucplbookchallenge.blogspot.co...

[Eric]

I may have outgrown Peter Bagge.

[Aleksandar Janjic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Два лика се враћају са викенда у некаквој брвнари у некој шуметини анд, ло анд бехолд, испостави се да је Сјеверна Кореја испалила нуклеарку на Сијетл (што ли баш на Сијетл а не рецимо на Њујорк или Вашингтон није нам објашњено). Наступа стандардан апокалиптични хаос, ликови се враћају до брвнаре да би тамо направили базу и покушали некако да преживе и онда долази до гомиле ГРОЗНИХ ствари које чине иначе ОБИЧНИ људи када их на то притисну околности и жеља за ОПСТАНКОМ.

Велики је овде контраст између цртежа и дешавања на терену, што је, претпостављам, врло намјерно. Цртеж је врло симпатичан, црно-бијели и карикатурални, врло налик на нешто што би се појавило у каквом дјечијем часопису. Довољно је да баците поглед на насловне стране издања. С друге стране, међутим, ако очекујете да је и прича симпатична и весела у складу с тим, већ на почетку друге епизоде чека вас руде ањакенинг кад један од наше двојице "хероја" добије пролив и онда прије него што стигне до пољског ЊЦ-а пресретне га власник викендице у којој ова двојица бораве, а онда његов јаран просвира мозак дотичном власнику викендице (који му је иначе пријатељ), све то пред очима његове жене и дјеце, као и пред згранутим погледом другог "хероја" чија дијареја је у међувремену нашла пут напоље и он све то посматра спуштених гаћа и за гомилом измета около. Ето. Ово је вјероватно и најгаднији моменат у цијелом стрипу, мада их има још охохо и није неки спојлер ако вам кажем да је врло мали број људи преживио до краја.

Дакле, има много клања, убијања, силовања и других ствари и све је то представљено као најобичнија могућа ствар (ако сте гледали трилогију Феаст, нешто тако је у питању). Има и доста црног хумора, који је понекад успјешан, а понекад чисти мех. Моје двије главне замјерке су везане за причу. Прво, она суштински не садржи ништа што нисмо видјели милион пута раније и једина оригиналност стрипа лежи у тој бизарној презентацији. Друга ствар је што ми све изгледа некако набацано и неосмишљено, завршава се нагло у једном тренутку кад је ваљда аутору досадило да се даље тиме бави, иако је комотно могло да се настави још дуго (нпр. како би преживјели ликови наставили даље у НОВОЈ ситуацији у којој су се задесили?) или да се заврши на крају било које од претходних епизода (има их шест укупно). Два "хероја" се превише спремно бацају у потпуну изолацију, не покушавајући ни да сазнају шта је било са оближњим насељеним мјестима или да ступе у контакт са још неким преживјелим, и тако даље и тако даље.

Посљедњих неколико страна сваке епизоде одвојено је за кратке шаљиве епизоде из живота америчких фоундинг фатхерса, које такође нису ништа посебно. И ту има неколико одличних момената и овог пута цртеж и дешавања су у хармонији, али опет је ту та набацаност, недостатак квалитетног панчлајна у већини епизода, као и потреба да добро познајете америчку историју да би вам све то било пријемчивије. Ово је први Баггеов стрип који читам (што није ништа необично, јер тек прије коју недељу сам схватио да ме вата стрипоманија) и изгледа ми као неко ко одлично црта и има добре идеје, али да би му веоооооома користила сарадња са још неким сценаристом.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disturbing, but thought provoking.

[Harris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inspired by increased tensions between the US and Nort Korea during the Bush administration, a situation that seemed all too familiar early in the Trump administration, alt-comics legend Peter Bagge sets his grim but slapstick scenario after Kim Jong Il nukes Seattle, ruining the camping trip of a pair of hapless Microsoft workers. Trading in hypermasculine tropes of wasteland survival, with women often being an obstacle to our protagonists' needs, Bagge draws deeply from long-standing pop cultural depictions of nuclear war and its aftermath. As the situation escalates and our milquetoast IT guys become willing to go to any length to survive, people murder each other over candy bars and pop and begin to rape and pillage at will, a common motif of what happens when society breaks down. Betraying a pretty cynical view of human nature, in Apocalypse Nerd banding together for mutual aid only makes you a bigger target for those more ruthless and violent than yourself.

post-apocalyptic literature focusing on our current US political climate at Harris' Tome Corner

[Jeff Buddle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two buddies from Seattle go on a camping trip in the Cascade Mountains. Meanwhile, a North Korean nuclear missile hits their home town. How are two guys, one a computer nerd who works for Microsoft, going to survive? That's Peter Bagge's thought experiment here. It's bloody good fun with startup survivalists, camps of lesbian back-to-the-land types, and roving bands of marauders.

However, when Bagge is at his best his characters are well-developed with believable, though at times extreme, behavior. Here they're just extreme. The turn from civilized man to a savage survive-at-all-costs murderer happens abruptly. Bagge gives his characters little remorse for the cruelest of actions. Taken seriously, its one bleak take on a potential future. Taken with the grain of humor that underlies much of the action, it's much more bearable.

[Mark Desrosiers · Rating 3 out of 5]

North Korea nukes Seattle, and the title character (an obvious Microsoft careerist) plus his manly buddy end up "surviving" on their own in the mountains. I know Bagge doesn't shy away from killing off characters, but this work features his all-time highest murder rate. It's a cruel libertarian fantasy, really. If you don't take it seriously, it works as an evening's entertainment.

If you do take it seriously (like I did) it showcases libertarianism as a blind, trigger-happy ideology of species-propagating selfishness. Bagge is down with that. I ain't.

[chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

So, nuclear missiles have hit Seattle, and the survivors go around slaughtering each other for gum. This is a bleak worldview without any nuance at all; people are self-centered murderers kept in check by the thin reins of civilization. It made for an awful read, it is nothing but savagery, there is nothing redeeming in anyone. In the intro Bagge claims that he created this to explore some of the moral questions that the situation might bring up, but the questions all have the same answer; you should (and will) kill someone over gum.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Peter Bagge's take on what would happen if N. Korea went through with their brag that they have the capability to hit Seattle with a Nuclear bomb. A whiny Microsoft employee goes survival mode in the North Cascade mountains. Humorous and brutal with black and white gore. Oh, and there's even an unlikely love story in the midst of the violent anarchy. A good, fun read.

[Jack Cheng]

Peter Bagge has lost his mind. A comic exploration of what would happen if Seattle was nuked by the North Koreans begins and ends, pretty much with normal people killing each other. Not desperately afraid people, not self-defense, just killing people because they are off the wall and there are no authorities. Yep, that's the way it's going to be.

[Ian Hrabe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A look at post-apocalyptia that treads the same ground as EVERY OTHER OMG THE WORLD IS ENDING STORY but still manages to be funny, pointed, and occasionally towards the end REALLY REALLY MESSED UP. However, the question of "how do we humans who have basically bred our survival instincts out of ourselves re-learn them?" There's a lot of gamey deer meat and killing. Basically.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it is not quite Peter Bagge's version of Buddy Bradley at the end of the world, this is an at times humorous and often disturbing take on a survival after the nuclear bombing of Seattle. The moral of the story is that even in the worst of times we should be even more attentive about how we treat each other instead of wallowing in our me-first sensibilities. Well done.

[Nadine Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Bagge scores again with this dark but amusing tale of apocalyptic mayhem. Sort of like Cormac McCarthy's The Road if that novel had a sense of humour. I have been reading Bagge since the 1980s when he came out with Neat Stuff and his subsequent series Hate. I love his loopy drawings and mordant wit. A superb graphic artist and still one of my favourites after all these years!

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lord of the Flies meets Ren and Stimpy? My admiration for Peter Bagge's work kept me reading. But somehow I didn't pull for Perry or Gordo -- and there was a monotony to their plight. Or maybe it makes sense that I was ill-at-ease with watching goofy cartoons do real bad things.

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

A handful of moments but pretty trite overall. And no Buddy.

[George (Abandoned Places) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Evil...