Hate Revisited!

by Peter Bagge

Buddy Bradley and Lisa Leavenworth, now middle aged with a free-spirited young adult of their own, confront their own poor decisions as young people in the grungy 1990s. Expertly shifting between the present day (in full color) and their Gen X heyday (in glorious, crosshatched black-and-white), we learn for the first time the story of how Buddy met Lisa, Stinky, George, and Val. Meanwhile, Buddy is forced to come to terms with the tragic — and covered-up — circumstances of Stinky's untimely death in the original Hate series, while navigating elder care, contemporary politics, family and friendships. Hate Revisited! expertly showcases Bagge's inimitable humor and knack for character, and the generational shift lends an unexpected gravitas to their lives. While the original Hate is indelibly rooted in a key pop cultural era, the themes and characters of Hate remain timeless. Misanthropy never gets old!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

124 pages, Paperback

First published July 8, 2025

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

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the chance to read a digital galley of Hate Revisited, Peter Bagge's upcoming look at the gang from his classic series—now middle-aged and as gloriously messed up as ever. I loved connecting with these characters as they navigate the chaos of middle age, elderly parents, and adult children—so much to relate to! The art is inky and wonderfully gritty, clearly paying homage to R. Crumb. This was my first exposure to Bagge’s work, and now I can’t wait to dive into his original 1990s series. Time to dig deep into the archives!

[Jason Grote · Rating 4 out of 5]

The line work is looking a bit like Charles Schultz in the 70s, but I never read Bagge for the art. He couldn’t really compare to his peers in the peak indie comics era of the 1990s, but nothing was as delightful and as compulsively readable as Hate or Neat Stuff—in the 3-4 times a year a Hate would show up, it was always first in the reading pile. The Bradleys and their assorted casts of friends and enemies were some of the best to have come out of Gen X. The Seattle issues were my favorite, but I still found the book compelling when they moved to New Jersey and settled in with the very same also-ran hipsters I was living among at the time—as culturally literate as their cohorts in New York and Philadelphia, maybe even more so, but isolated and dismissed because of the Jersey of it all, not wholly unjustifiably.

This is an interesting experiment: for a while, Bagge was doing Hate Annuals that followed Buddy and Lisa in real time, as they aged and moved into a scrapyard by the highway. Buddy lost an eye and a leg, I think from diabetes, and leaned into it by dressing like a pirate. The scrapyard was sad, ugly, and toxic. I dutifully purchased and read all these comics, and I did enjoy them, but less than the 90s series, and unsurprisingly, they didn’t catch on the way the book did in the 90s—as it turns out, Buddy and Lisa aged as poorly as the rest of Gen X.

This book is a deliberate course correction. Buddy and Lisa have become ageless cartoons like Nancy or Spider-Man, but they have an adult son. Their friends and relatives from the 90s series all similarly look the same, in a cartoon middle age limbo, but they’re dealing with adult problems. The Jersey issues of Hate still happened, but Buddy and Lisa left and settled in Tacoma. If you’re counting years, these people would be elder millennials or Gen Y or whatever, but they’re reacting to the 2020s the way their 90s characters would if they were in their 40s. It works well, as far as I’m concerned (Buddy delivers exactly the takes you’d want and expect on polycules, CHAZ, and Trump), but these aren’t middle aged people who grew up with Napster, South Park, and beheading videos—they’re pre-internet people. Best of all, the book finally gives closure on Stinky, whose abrupt suicide legitimately traumatized me and by which I’ve been low-key haunted for 30 years. Poor Stinky.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Fantagraphics Books for an advance copy of this graphic novel that continues the adventures of Buddy Bradley once the angry young man of the 1990's now a father and husband in the 2020's, still dealing with many of the same problems, though with age comes even more difficulties.

My comics for the longest period of time were always superheroes. I had read other works but most of those were fantasy, horror or science fiction. Comics set in the real world without radioactive heroes, or even turtles knowing martial arts, didn't seem to interest me. Why did I care about some guy my age dealing with things. I was my age and dealing with things, I read to escape not go, oh yeah that guy is miserable just like me, let me read more of that. The owner of my comic book store was a little older than I was, and was more into independent comic scene than I was. He also had a policy, If I tell you something is good and you don't like it, he would take it back no questions asked. Though maybe you would be found lacking. That's how I started on Neat Stuff by Peter Bagge. I think it was pricey, but well to get the nod of acknowledgment from a comic book owner for liking what he liked was my drug, so I bought it. And liked it. And that is my Buddy Bradley origin story. Over the years I have followed the travails of young Buddy, growing older like myself, but it has been a while. Which is why I enjoyed this comic so much. Hate Revisited! written and illustrated by Peter Bagge, brings Buddy to the beginning of the 2020's with all of the problems we have now, as well as looking back at the past, to see how the Bradley menagerie, and we as readers got here.

The time is the end of COVID, and Buddy Bradley and Lisa Leavenworth are going to start visiting family, while worrying about their son and his life decisions. A visit to an old roommate and an od girlfriend reminds Buddy of the younger days, sharing a room with his friend Stinky, and meeting George for the first time. Buddy remembers days with Val, and realizes now that something was wrong with their relationship, and is glad that ended the way it did. Thinking of Stinky Buddy fears that his son is going to make some of the bad decisions he made with his friend, and their plans to buy a small plot of land and build a house in the Washington countryside. Buddy's sister calls off her wedding, and starts to date a person Buddy knows, but thinks will be wrong for her. Meanwhile Stinky starts to fill Buddy's thoughts, as Buddy remembers much about the past he wishes he could do again, or just forget.

The story is told in the present in full color, and in the past in black and white, with familiar dots. I liked the touch, the look back, even the art style that seems to regress a little as Bagge fills in bits a pieces. The future stuff is interesting and something many families can probably deal with I like this Buddy, a guy who is just trying to do right. Buddy has matured in many ways, though he still can be paranoid, and jump to conclusions. Watching Bagge change as an artist is also fascinating. To read about Buddy in the past, while discussing things rationally today, shows a lot of growth for both the writer and his characters. In comics characters seem trapped in amber. To see Buddy now, well it makes me wonder what I did wrong. Which is a good thing.

A really good story. I can see some people would be upset by the politics, but well get over it. If a comic character makes one uncomfortable, well maybe one should question why. I really enjoyed this, and hope to see more, and I am always happy to see anything with Peter Bagge's name on it.

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hate Revisited! is Peter Bagge's long overdue return to the world of HATE. Collecting the four-issue miniseries released in 2024, Hate Revisited! explores the real time that has passed in Buddy Bradley's life as last seen in the late '90s, where the characters now deal with contemporary shenanigans like CHAZ, anti-police protests, and the modern polarized political climate. Buddy's libertarianism has not eroded much in the years since his last appearance, nor has his general misanthropy, but what is new is the more established family unit environment that Buddy and Lisa (who miraculously are still together) have set up for themselves.

Returning characters like Val, Jay, Butch, etc. make appearances here as well, along with some timely and meaningful flashback sequences to the days of the original HATE series to really drive home the nostalgia. These flashback sequences are presented in black-and-white just as the original 15 issues of HATE were originally produced, whilst all the contemporary storylines use the soft, pleasing color palette that was used from HATE #16 onwards. While Bagge's biting satire and fervent libertarian politics remain intact for the new miniseries, the cartoonist's looping line style has noticeably aged. Not to say that the artwork isn't great - it still is - but in contrast to the sharp, swooping style of the original series, it's hard not to see the decrease in quality. But it's understandable and didn't really diminish my love for this return to the beloved world of HATE. After four issues, the shakier lines were not even all that apparent either.

Bagge's return of HATE doesn't really feel like a long-earned conclusion, indeed the four-issues as shown here indicate that Buddy Bradley's story could easily be returned to again should he choose to. Instead, I like to see this series as a set of bonus stories years after the original masterpiece - a supplementary piece, but not an an epilogue. I'm hoping Bagge will come back yet again to deliver more HATE in the years to come, but as it stands, Hate Revisited! was a nice addition to one of the great alternative comics of all time.

Individual reviews for the four issues:

Hate Revisisted! #1, June 2024
Hate Revisisted! #2, July 2024
Hate Revisisted! #3, August 2024
Hate Revisisted! #4, September 2024

[Ángel Javier · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grandísima decepción. Es lo único que puedo decir después de leer esta colección, cuya única justificación y motivo tiene que ser la pasta.

Entiendo perfectamente que el señor Bagge tenga que comer, pero esta tomadura de pelo no es de recibo. Realmente, se trata de una serie de flashbacks sin conexión alguna entre sí, «hilvanados», por llamarlo de alguna manera, por la más tenue de las líneas argumentales: una especie de viaje de Buddy y Lisa a lo largo del cual visitan a viejos personajes de la serie que tanto nos gustó en los noventa. Y el resultado es patético, tanto por la excusa de guion como por los dibujos, que parecen más propios de un prometedor principiante que de un perro viejo como Bagge: figuras terminadas aprisa y corriendo y entintadas a base de manchurrones; y no hablemos de las inexplicables historias de Culodado metidas con calzador a modo de ¿prólogo? de cada número. Dan vergüenza ajena.

Lo que ha ocurrido, creo yo, es que, por un lado, Bagge ha cambiado y ya no le interesan estas cosas: lo hace por el dinero, y punto. Siente cariño cero hacia los personajes. Por otro, los que leímos ¡Odio! hace treinta y pico años también hemos cambiado, y no nos tragamos cualquier cosa solo porque venga firmada por este otrora grande del cómic underground. El único que parece no haber cambiado es el señor Hernán Migoya, que nos ha traído a España este bodrio calificándolo poco menos que de octava maravilla, derramando entusiasmo por los cuatro costados mientras admite que el país del mundo en el que ¡Odio! ha tenido más éxito es en España. No sé, no sé... lo mismo eso tiene un poquito que ver con su entusiasmo digno de un vendedor de coches usados a la hora de endilgarnos esta patata, ¿verdad?

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Hate Revisited!" visits some of the characters from the previous "Hate" comics. There are flashbacks from the past (which are in black and white) and the present is in color comics. Some of the comics have to deal with Bud’s relationship with his former friend Leonard "Stinky" Brown in the past and in the future, and his guilt over the tragic circumstance of Stinky’s death.

Buddy in the present is trying to help his son, Harold, not to follow his own mistakes. When he makes a friend of a character who reminds him of Stinky, he tries to discourage his son from the friendship. Like most parents, Buddy wants his child to do better than he did.

Buddy also remembers his former girlfriend named Valerie who he dated before he got involved with a woman who would become his wife, Lisa. He remembers Valerie as being irate when she wanted to be serious with him, but he did not want something serious. He was surprised by her violence when he told her that he did not want to move in with her, and felt that in retrospect he dodged a bullet and was lucky that he ended up with Lisa.

I like Buddy’s reminiscing, which is what a lot of us tend to do anyway as we get older, trying to figure out what paths drove us to where we are today.

[Tim Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Peter Bagge’s Hate Revisited! and it was okay. Bagge’s drawing and inking has degraded over the years and this book would have benefited from Jim Blanchard’s (or anyone’s) inking assist.
The narrative ambled more than usual and the updates on the characters was no surprise. Buddy Bradley has become the least interesting of all the characters and I’m wondering why I should take any interest in him in the future.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good to see the characters again, but this doesn’t really go anywhere. It’s been a while since I’ve read the original ‘Hate’ comics and, just as I was remembering who one character was, Bagge moves onto another, without any real logic or purpose. Nice to hang out with the gang again, but that’s about it.

[Ricardo Mena · Rating 4 out of 5]

He vuelto a disfrutar con Buddy, Lisa y toda la tropa como en los noventa. Peter Bagge sigue sabiendo hacer cómics a un nivel altísimo.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this revisit, a lot!