Buddy Does Jersey

Buddy Bradley #3-6

by Peter Bagge

At the end of Buddy Does Seattle, with his rock-impresario career in tatters, his friends dispersed, and his career opportunities at zero, Buddy had decided to return with his tail between his legs (and his neurotic girlfriend Lisa on his hands) to his native New Jersey. Buddy Does Jersey collects all 15 issues of Hate describing the arc of Buddy's East Coast experience, including his launch as a small businessman (co-owning and running a nostalgia store with the dubious Jay) and his reintegration with his family (his sister now a tired mom, his brother still pretty much a psycho, and his parents — well, wait and see). Also included in this volume is the shocking final fate of the exuberant Stinky — a story that caused jaws to drop in unison all around the world when it was originally released.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Comix, Humor, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, The United States Of America

353 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 7, 2007

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

[Drew Canole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collects Hate 16-30. Bagge is joined by Jum Blanchard on inks and the comic is now in color! Buddy moves to New Jersey and lives with his parents.

Hate 16 Meet the Folks
Lisa meets Buddy's parents for the first time. Buddy sees his neighbourhood "friend" Jimmy Foley again. Buddy' father's health is not great. But in the end the two of them decide to stay in New Jersey.

Hate 17 Let's Get Serious
Buddy hangs out with his old friend Jay - a recovering heroin user and pervert who shares Buddy's interest in old useless collectables. Lisa goes to church with Buddy's mom but butts heads with her over religious stuff.

Hate 18 Brother Butch
Also around the house is Buddy's sister Babs with her two awful kids and his brother Butch. Buddy buys an old monster car, selects a location for his and Jay's store, and Butch tries to help out by breaking into and stealing from a closed up shop.

Hate 19 Partners
Jay and Buddy open their store but things are off to a bad start. Awful customers, and Jay has started doing heroin again.

Hate 20 Uncle Buddy
Buddy has to take Babs two kids for the day (Tyler and Alexis) when their Dad was too lazy to open the door and take them for the day. They trash his store and drive Buddy nuts.

Hate 21 I've Got Three Moms
Buddy realizes with his mom, Lisa and his sister Babs he basically has three moms. Him and Butch try to take their dad out to a bar which starts with the girls getting pissed and them and ends with the dad in the hospital.

Hate 22 Dear Old Dad
Lisa and Buddy try to get a bit more social since Lisa is spending all her time caring for Buddy's dad. Buddy's dad goes for a walk by himself and ends up getting hit by a truck and killed.

Hate 23 Babs' Ex
Lisa cheats on Buddy with Bab's ex Joey - the slimy dead beat.

Hate 24 Nothing that Twenty Years on the Couch Couldn't Cure
Lisa and Buddy are still having relationship issues. Lisa goes to therapy for her anger issues. Buddy goes to his old friends place, Tom who is now a police officer with a family.

Hate 25 It Had to Happen
Lisa starts to hang out with her "goth" friend Elizabeth. Lisa leaves Buddy without telling him and it takes him awhile to realize she's breaking up with him. Buddy tracks Lisa down to Elizabeth's place in NYC. Lisa is completely changed now with short hair and a tattoo.

Hate 26 Lets Start a Crackhouse
Butch and Jimmy Foley want to make some money. Leonard "Stinky" comes to town! He grew up in New Jersey too. Buddy isn't too happy about it.

Hate 27 Buddy Cleans House
Leonard accidently shoots himself in the head while goofing off with Butch at a shooting range area. Butch is worried he'll get accused of murder so decides to hide the body instead of calling the cops. Buddy finds out about it as well as Butch's friends Jimmy Foley and Jake. Now Buddy finds himself having to keep this secret with these 3 goons.

Hate 28 A Day in the Life of Buddy Bradley
Buddy now lives at the shop after buying Jay out of the business. He's a wreck now and seems to have turned into an old man overnight.

Hate 29 The Single Life
Buddy tries to go on dates! He goes out with Babs friend but gets rejected. Later he goes out with a very domineering professional woman. He's also getting essentially harassed at work by a younger woman who works at the next door Starbucks. Buddy's mom is moving and Lisa comes to town to grab some of the stuff she left there and bumps into Buddy.

Hate 30 Lets Get It On
Buddy meets up with Lisa and they "Get it on". Lisa is getting fed up with Elizabeth who is more controlling than Buddy ever was. Lisa reveals that she's pregnant and not going to get another abortion. Buddy takes this in stride and they decide to get married and raise the child together!

[Julesreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with most any saga, the more you get into it, the more it grows on you. Buddy Does Seattle had a grotesque, shameful charm to it, but as the stories went along, and the characters and relationships matured, it took on a life of its own. Buddy Does Jersey fully ingratiates itself to the reader, despite its off-putting ways, as you are now a part of the family. It’s a much more involved storytelling, while also keeping the spirit of HATE and Hate and hate alive in Buddy and his horrible buddies, tiring family, and just shy of deadbeat life. Of course, the drawing style, whether one finds it “pretty” or not, is distinct, it is Buddy, and it is clean. Let’s all move to Jersey! Wahoo!

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I last followed the exploits of Buddy Bradley in Bagge’s first collected volume of his series Hate, entitled Buddy Does Seattle. Being a denizen of the Emerald City myself, I found Buddy’s adventures to be hilarious send-ups of the 90s grunge scene that made my city the top of the hot list for all those years. Buddy was a riotous spoof of the disaffected slacker-turned-hipster-wannabe who came to Seattle to slum it. Whether it be his on-again off-again sordid relationship with the sex and attention-starved Lisa, or his creepy roommate Stinky (who sleeps in the pantry), Buddy’s life was anything but boring.

In this his second collected volume, Buddy Does Jersey, Buddy returns home to the Garden State with Lisa in tow. And even though they initially have no intention of staying, they wind up moving into his parents’ house. Which begs the question of what is more pathetic: Being a twenty-something slacker barely scraping by in a big city, or returning to the nest, so to speak? A moot point, perhaps.

Although I was initially hesitant about Bagge returning Buddy to his roots, I quickly found these misadventures to be just as wickedly funny as his sojourns here in Seattle. Buddy’s latest woes include: the return of his even-more-of-a-slacker brother Jay, Stinky’s arrival in Jersey (which ends calamitously), Lisa’s increasing instability, his wicked family members (his sister Babs, her awful kids, and her deranged and greasy-haired ex), not to mention his recovering narc of a neighbor. Oh, and imagine going to a strip club with your ailing father, whose heart is just about to give out while his face is planted within the bosom of a stripper. That in a nut-shell sums up Buddy’s crazy life back on the East Coast.

While Bagge has admittedly hung-up the mantle of penning and drawing Buddy Bradley’s exploits – all good things…, as they say – I feel lucky to be able to enjoy reading about his on-going misadventures in these handsomely collected volumes, courtesy of local indie publisher Fantagraphics. Amen.

[Sam]

With his comic series Hate, and more importantly with his character Buddy Bradley, Peter Bagge has created what is, for my money, one of the funniest, most thoughtful, and most realistic slacker tales ever.

Brief history lesson: Buddy Does Jersey is the second half of the Buddy Bradley stories that originally appeared in Bagge's Hate periodical (the first half can be found in the Buddy Does Seattle collection).

Over the course of these two volumes we see a character who lives the prototypical slacker lifestyle: He's out of school, intelligent, and has absolutely no desire to join the "regular" workforce. What's perhaps most interesting about Buddy, however, is that while he is trapped by his lack of desire, he embraces it as well. He's a pretty self-aware guy for the most part, but he'll only take action if something truly interferes with his easy-going existence.

The stories go from friendship squabbles to roommate squabbles to relationship squabbles to family squabbles, all through the perspective of Buddy. Most of the time it's funny, sometimes it's sad, sometimes it's thoughtful, but it's always entertaining.

Bagge's artwork is a fantastic mix of underground comics styles that mirrors Buddy's non-mainstream lifestyle.

Buddy Does Jersey ain't the end, however: Mr. Bradley's saga continues in Hate today, albeit on a much more infrequent basis.

[Hamish · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's cliche, but I really do love Hate. Bagge does something extremely difficult: he creates characters that are stereotypes/caricature/satires with very exaggerated traits, and yet he also makes them seem very human and real. Part of the reason this works is because instead of using a character to satire a large group, he uses more specific targets. These are all people we know in real life, just a little exaggerated. It's not "this guy is a parody of all those crazy liberals", it's "this guy is a parody of that friend you had in High School who could never get his shit together and eventually became a dealer." Everyone knows a Lisa or a Stinky, and that's why it's so fun to watch them destroy their lives, but unlike in real life you can laugh at them instead of just feeling depressed. And yeah, they're all fuck-ups (my favorite issue title: "Buddy and His Loser Friends in 'Let's Start a Crack House'"), but Bagge makes you love them, warts and all.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This comic revolves around a character named Buddy Bradley, who moves from Seattle, Washington into his parents’ home in New Jersey. He arrives with his girlfriend Lisa. His girlfriend Lisa takes it upon herself to assist as a caretaker and a friend to Buddy’s dad. Her relationship with Buddy is not without its problems. In the meantime, Buddy goes into business opening a hobby, toy shop with his friend Jay. Jay ends up creating a lot of problems as he is more interested in “borrowing” money from their profits to go out drinking and meeting girls.

After Buddy’s dad dies, Lisa feels she has lost her purpose and unexpectedly leaves Buddy and moves away. Buddy’s quest to find a new girlfriend, or least opportunities to have sex, bring disastrous results. For instance, one woman is a control-freak. Buddy is missing Lisa. Despite her being a big mess, he is used to her mess and misses her.

I enjoyed reading about Buddy. What makes the book interesting is the humor and honesty. Buddy is trying to be a responsible worker and save money, but his peers around him seem to want to pull him down. He also has his imperfections, such as his bad temper.

The comic shows his relationship with his friends and family. His divorced sister’s kids are rowdy and out-of-control. Her ex-husband is lazy and not interested in being a good father. This is part of the fun, reading about real life, reading about some of the stupidity of it all. This is how the reader can relate. Most people have people in their life or know of some who are constantly making bad decisions, being self-destructive, being involved with drinking, or drugs, and making poor choices in their relationships. Bagge writes about people like this, in an honest, creative way.

[Binni Erlingsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this even more than the Seattle book. Any graphic novel could be about misfits, losers and outcasts but Peter Bagge just does them more justice than the rest. There's humour and there's real depth. It's just all so well made.

Buddy Bradley is not a likeable guy to be honest but he has heart and a conscience. My favourite character throughout the series is however the lovable, manic-depressive Lisa. She and Buddy together really is the best part in both books. Can't wait to read the conclusion.

[Petr Nakasharal Fabián · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tak to vzalo hodně rychle hodně dark turn. První knížka je pohodička ve stylu Kevina Smithe a najednou se řeší vztahový krize, krize identity, stárnutí, smrt. Sakra tohle byla depka, trochu too close to home ale je to prostě zatraceně dobrý.

[Si Squires-Kasten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Along with Dykes to Watch Out For, Hate is the platonic ideal of a 90s alt comic

[Fantagraphics Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buddy Does Jersey collects all 15 issues of Hate describing the arc of Buddy's East Coast experience, including his launch as a small businessman (co-owning and running a nostalgia store with the dubious Jay) and his reintegration with his family (his sister now a harassed mom, his brother still pretty much a psycho, and his parents — well, wait and see). Also included in this volume is the shocking final fate of the exuberant Stinky — a story that caused jaws to drop in unison all around the world when it was originally released — and the riotous tale of Lisa's brief conversion to lesbianism and subsequent breakup with Buddy. Originally released in color, the stories in Buddy Does Jersey are here presented de-colorized in the pristine black and white of earlier Buddy stories, in order to better show off the crisp beauty of inker Jim Blanchard's linework. (Or as much crisp beauty as you need to delineate a row of partygoers setting fire to their own flatulence!) Buddy Does Jersey features a long introduction by Bagge describing (for the first time) how the stories in this book reflected events in his own life, and a foreword by the inheritor of Bagge's mantle of hilarious grossness, Angry Youth Comix' Johnny Ryan.

[Niklas Pivic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Human and funny, dirty and real. This is the second volume of what happens to the main character, Buddy Bradley, after he during the mid 1990s leaves American Seattle for New Jersey together with his girlfriend, Lisa, to go live in his parents' house. His decrepit old dad is mean and his younger brother, dishonourably discharged from the navy, stays at home and gets up to no good, which drives Buddy to try and start a new business with a friend. Things get more complicated as his relationship with Lisa moves in different directions and his "friends" edge him towards all kind of edges.

Of course, Buddy's master of his own destiny, and as such perhaps isn't the best captain of his own ship...

This is a very human, heart-felt second omnibus of comics from the depths of low society-life where Buddy confesses to living as a snarling, optimistic yet dirty scoundrel. Funny, original and I really liked the characters; I will most definitely get the third volume.

[Chelsea Martinez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this less than the previous volume of HATE comics set in Seattle... once Buddy hits the road for suburban New Jersey and leaves behind the time capsule of 1990s Seattle, it's really just a misogynist mess (self-aware of course, but still). There are returns to Seattle and to old flames, as well as sister drama and (an actually affecting) storyline with Buddy's father, but overall the strung-out feeling here is somehow way more of a bummer, even though it's perfectly believable (well I guess real life) that Buddy would move back home and start a junk store that he's terrible at running and selecting a business partner for. I did find the friendship between Lisa (I think that's the girlfriend's name) and the mom very sweet, so I credit Bagge for making the space for that part of it.

[John Parkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the things about getting older, either your discrimination gets looser or you are able to pick stuff to read more selectively......another four star review. Although, perhaps, my enjoyment of this is related more to the memories of enjoying earlier editions of Hate in monthly format years ago than to any close current analysis. Buddy Bradley is a particular type of everyman and everything he does and processes is believable, even to someone from a drastically different location (but similar background).

[Ian Hrabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars only because Bagge decided to have this printed in black and white, which makes all the comics look really weird and unfinished because so much of the latter half of Hate relied on color. The stories though, the stories are excellent. Buddy Bradley is forced to mature after moving in with his parents and then has to deal with you know, life stuff. The comics get funnier and sadder at the same time, which is what Hate does best. Not quite tragicomic, more sadfunny.

[Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man, I thought Pete Bagge's comics read well in single issue form. Almost 10 years later, these Buddy Bradley stories read even better all in one run. No need to fuss through the non-Buddy stuff in the original comics; here, you can get everything in one clear line of storytelling. It's more coherent than I noticed the first time!

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The rest of the Buddy Bradley (and related) stories take Buddy's life to a semi-closural moment, after more sometimes funny but more often grim adventures in the lives of major losers and dickheads. The increasingly realistic and serious tone of the stories is somewhat at odds with Bagge's rubbery style, but there's no question he's a strong cartoonist and writer.

[Azathoth · Rating 5 out of 5]

J'avais déjà beaucoup aimé "En route pour Seattle", et celui-ci est du même acabit. Des anti-héros drôles et attachants, pas mal paumés, qui font ce qu'ils peuvent pour s'en sortir mais se retrouvent toujours dans des histoires qui les dépassent. Un vrai plaisir que des les suivre dans leur quotidien !

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though Buddy Bradley is sort of a self-absorbed asshole, I love Hate. (I guess that's sort of the point, actually.)

I found the end of the series incredibly bleak. For some reason, everyone else I've ever spoken to seems to think it's a happy ending.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

***SPOILER Alert***
Best ending in American Literature. Buddy coming to terms with pregnant Lisa and owning a ma and pa business: "And Baby Makes Three!!! We'll be living the American Dream! Hey Lisa, is it okay to pork you while your pregnant?".

[Phil Overeem · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved BUDDY DOES SEATTLE. But this one takes the cake. Hilarious, true, exasperating. Read 'em both folks. I came to these late (46)--and I can't imagine how much I would have liked them when they came out. Buddy (despite some obvious detriments) is a great Everyman.

[Abbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apparently the last half of the Hate series wasn't as well loved by fans, but I love this book. It enriches all the characters so much, especially Butch. Also Buddy and Lisa: possibly the most poignant ending to a comics series ever. (Sorry, Captain America.)

[chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talking about this at work the other day, I hastily compared it to Dostoevsky. I felt a little bit silly about it immediately afterword, but after taking some time to think it over, I have to say that I stand by the comparison.

[Darran Mclaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second half of the adventures of Buddy Bradley. More great stuff. His star seems to have waned a bit compared to other alt comics stars like Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns which is partly a result of his work being less polished and refined than theirs, but I like the punkiness of it.

[Matt Shaqfan · Rating 5 out of 5]

this one's great cause it reprints HATE #16-30 in black and white, instead of color as they originally appeared. no offense to the color but the b/w fits better i think.

[Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Peter Bagge, for understanding.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this today. The storylines are darker and more complex than Seattle, but you still want to jump into the panel.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish it didn't have to end!!!

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great misanthropic fun. Highly recommended.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

raunchy, sordid, comical, bittersweet slice of life. My favorite part was Buddy's reaction to a potential date to a U2 concert.

[Erik Wirfs-Brock · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good it distracted me from the season finale of Mad Men!