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Buddy Bradley #1-7
The Complete Hate
The Complete Hate is a three-volume set that includes the original 1990-1998 30-issue run, the nine subsequent Hate Annuals, and tons of other Hate-related comics, illustrations, and ephemera created for books, magazines, comics, toys, and other merchandise. Bagge combined his cartoony drawing style with uncomfortably real Gen X characters, and the comic books resonated with readers. Book One (Hate 1-15), focuses on young Buddy Bradley's travails in early 1990s Seattle. Book Two focuses on Buddy and his girlfriend Lisa Leavenworth's move back to Buddy's native New Jersey (and a switch from black-and-white to full color). Book Three features the final arc of Bagge's magnum opus, as Buddy and Lisa become parents (and buy a garbage dump). Each volume, along with the slipcase, contains new covers, endpapers, title pages, and other surprises by Bagge.
900 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2020
9 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Peter Bagge
277 books166 followersPeter 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.
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July 1, 2022I did it, and damn it, I should get credit for each of the three volumes individually, GOODREADS.
How am I supposed to meet my asinine reading goal if you count this as one? It's three books, all fitted into a cardboard box that's nicely decorated and open on one end, but still, three books. In fact, I checked them out at the library, and they were SEPARATE. That's right, the library considers this three books.
So who are we to believe? The library, sacred, beloved institution? Or Goodreads, which has banner ads at the top that I'm pretty sure load slowly so that you accidentally click them?
If you've ever done a Goodreads banner ad and wondered why so few clickthroughs result in sales, I'm sorry, I'm like 15% of those. It's not that I didn't like your book. I just don't have very fast internet.
I guess I'm looking at this all wrong, and reading isn't a contest.
Unless...
Maybe that's the problem: Reading IS a contest, we just don't know it!
And if it's a contest, it's one I intend to win. What's that line Sean Connery says in The Rock about winners? Something about...
Okay, I looked it up: "Your best? Losers whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen."
Not as inspiring as I remember. Somehow I don't think that one's going to end up as an epigraph in any new editions of Toni Morrison books.
It's such a weird line. Obviously, it's a setup so Nicolas Cage can say his wife WAS the prom queen. This whole exchange must've sounded much cooler in someone's head.
Was Cage even at the prom with his wife? I mean, I guess he had sex with her eventually (actually, I know he did, we see it in the movie), so maybe "go home" is translated to "go home that night, continue your life for a decade, THEN the prom queen comes around."
Kids, if you're reading this, why, but also: Reading the most on Goodreads is probably not the best way to have sex with the prom queen, should that be a hypothetical possibility on the horizon. I don't know that it'll hurt your chances, but it'll hurt your heart because the prom queen will bang someone who worked a lot less than you did this year, because let me tell you, some of these Goodreads folks read A SHITLOAD.
How would I advise a kid to end up with the prom queen?
Let's presume this is an average kid, not the quarterback of the football team, not even ON the football team.
I think your best shot is the long game, banging the prom queen at your 20 year reunion. During those 20 years after high school, you've got lots of time to work out, take care of your teeth. If you're bald, that's okay, shave it.
Whatever the style is, do that. Right now it's like beards and tattoos and shit, but who knows what it'll be in 20 years.
I'm going to be so pissed if patchy beards are really cool in 20 years. I'll have truly been born at the wrong time.
Forget the 10-year reunion. That shit's pointless. Everyone is the same except some people have kids.
20 is where it's at. By 20, people start to get blew out by life. If you can be the person who's better at the 20 than you were at the 10, you've got a shot.
But for all I know, kids who graduate next year will be fuckin' robots at their 20 year reunion. And then we've got a Ship of Theseus on our hands. If you finally sleep with the prom queen, but her entire body has been replaced with robot parts, is she still the prom queen?
It's these questions that keep philosophy students up late at night. Fortunately, they do drugs, so the right pharmacology will get them right back to sleep, no problem.
How am I supposed to meet my asinine reading goal if you count this as one? It's three books, all fitted into a cardboard box that's nicely decorated and open on one end, but still, three books. In fact, I checked them out at the library, and they were SEPARATE. That's right, the library considers this three books.
So who are we to believe? The library, sacred, beloved institution? Or Goodreads, which has banner ads at the top that I'm pretty sure load slowly so that you accidentally click them?
If you've ever done a Goodreads banner ad and wondered why so few clickthroughs result in sales, I'm sorry, I'm like 15% of those. It's not that I didn't like your book. I just don't have very fast internet.
I guess I'm looking at this all wrong, and reading isn't a contest.
Unless...
Maybe that's the problem: Reading IS a contest, we just don't know it!
And if it's a contest, it's one I intend to win. What's that line Sean Connery says in The Rock about winners? Something about...
Okay, I looked it up: "Your best? Losers whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen."
Not as inspiring as I remember. Somehow I don't think that one's going to end up as an epigraph in any new editions of Toni Morrison books.
It's such a weird line. Obviously, it's a setup so Nicolas Cage can say his wife WAS the prom queen. This whole exchange must've sounded much cooler in someone's head.
Was Cage even at the prom with his wife? I mean, I guess he had sex with her eventually (actually, I know he did, we see it in the movie), so maybe "go home" is translated to "go home that night, continue your life for a decade, THEN the prom queen comes around."
Kids, if you're reading this, why, but also: Reading the most on Goodreads is probably not the best way to have sex with the prom queen, should that be a hypothetical possibility on the horizon. I don't know that it'll hurt your chances, but it'll hurt your heart because the prom queen will bang someone who worked a lot less than you did this year, because let me tell you, some of these Goodreads folks read A SHITLOAD.
How would I advise a kid to end up with the prom queen?
Let's presume this is an average kid, not the quarterback of the football team, not even ON the football team.
I think your best shot is the long game, banging the prom queen at your 20 year reunion. During those 20 years after high school, you've got lots of time to work out, take care of your teeth. If you're bald, that's okay, shave it.
Whatever the style is, do that. Right now it's like beards and tattoos and shit, but who knows what it'll be in 20 years.
I'm going to be so pissed if patchy beards are really cool in 20 years. I'll have truly been born at the wrong time.
Forget the 10-year reunion. That shit's pointless. Everyone is the same except some people have kids.
20 is where it's at. By 20, people start to get blew out by life. If you can be the person who's better at the 20 than you were at the 10, you've got a shot.
But for all I know, kids who graduate next year will be fuckin' robots at their 20 year reunion. And then we've got a Ship of Theseus on our hands. If you finally sleep with the prom queen, but her entire body has been replaced with robot parts, is she still the prom queen?
It's these questions that keep philosophy students up late at night. Fortunately, they do drugs, so the right pharmacology will get them right back to sleep, no problem.
September 29, 2025
El mejor cómic de humor de los 90 y lo mejor de Peter Bagge. Un placer releerlo y comprobar que te sigues riendo tanto como antes. Las aventuras de Buddy, desde su adolescencia con su loca familia hasta su madurez teniendo un hijo con su novia Lisa. Un plantel de personajes que están con un cencerro y un dibujo underground genial. Obra maestra.
February 19, 2021
One of my favorite comics of all time, but definitely not one that I recommend to a lot of people, maybe because it’s too 90s, or too un-PC or something, I dunno....
Still, no comic has ever made me laugh out loud nearly as much as Hate has, and bravo to Fantagraphics for collecting it all in this sweet slipcased hardcover edition!
Still, no comic has ever made me laugh out loud nearly as much as Hate has, and bravo to Fantagraphics for collecting it all in this sweet slipcased hardcover edition!
December 28, 2020
My favorite comic ever. I've read HATE several times over. It still makes me laugh until I cry.
February 16, 2025
This is a three volume set. I only read vol. 1 cover to cover, which features the same content collected in Buddy Does Seattle. For some reason, the later Hate comics where Buddy moves back to New Jersey interest me way less (vols 2 and 3). I think the characters become caricatures and it goes a little more over the top, and the magic gets lost for me when they leave Seattle. I enjoyed the short essay by Bagge at the start of vol. 1, as it added context to the creation of Hate. I also appreciated the collection of Hate covers and other miscellanea, honestly could've used more of that (like photos from the Buddy look-a-like contest). The characters in Hate are all grotesque degenerates, so it was a relief to be done. That said, I do find it quite funny.
November 12, 2023
Collects all the Hate comics including the annuals and a bunch of supplemental art work.
BOOK ONE
Collects the first 15 issues of Hate - all the Black and White comics, which for my money look nicer than the colored second half of the series (but probably personal preference). This was such a good trip, hanging out with Buddy in his early 20s slumming it in Seattle. He's really just a normal guy - not a stoner or anything like that (although his alcoholism is in question at times).
Issue 1 - My Pad and Welcome to It
We get Buddy breaking the fourth wall giving us an MTV cribs tour of his apartment. He lives like a typical 20 year old in a cheap place - messy but he drinks fancy beer! We meet his roomate Leonard AKA "Stinky". He's similar to Buddy but a bit more of a loser.
Issue 2 - Hate at First Sight
Buddy at just 20 something is already falling apart from neglecting his body. Lack of exercise and too much beer. We meet his other roommate the introverted conspiracy-theorist enthusiast George. George is also black but doesn't fit in with that cultural group. Buddy goes to a hangout at a pool hall in the hopes of meeting a girl and gets asked out by Valerie. The first date ends in disaster as Valerie lives with Buddy's ex Lisa who told Valerie about some of the freaky sex they've had in the past. Later at his house party Valerie gets smashed and ends up in the hospital where Buddy visits her and they have sex in the hospital bed.
Issue 3 - The Enigma that is George Cecil Hamilton the Third
We see more of George and his introverted conspiracy theorist ways. It turns out he's actually a bit of a phony and likes McDonalds and trash TV as much as the rest of us.
Dinner for Two
Valerie and Buddy are now dating but Valerie wants to have a romantic dinner with Buddy - easier said than done in an apartment with 2 other male roommates. There's a pretty hilarious scene with Leonard completely naked coming in and eating some of the spaghetti they've prepared. Later at Valerie's place Lisa admits she still has feelings for Buddy.
Issue 4 - Buddy Bradley is Not His Brother's Keeper
Buddy's younger brother - now a big right-leaning gun-carrying man - comes to town and wants to crash at Buddy's. He ends up getting into all sorts of trouble at a local party.
What Ever Happened to Babs Bradley
My introduction to Babs - she had a series of abortions then babies and a terrible marriage.
Issue 5 Guys, Gals, Gals... and Buddy Bradley!
Buddy and Leonard go to a collector's house and talk about comics. The collector is a huge fan of Walt Kelly but doesn't like Kurtzman so Buddy and he don't see eye to eye. At Valerie's Lisa got a really embarrassing haircut which starts a big fight between Buddy and Valerie.
Issue 6 Valerie's Parents
Buddy finally meets Valerie's parents. It's a blast. Her parents are fairly wealthy which embarasses Valerie. Her father is the figurehead of a tech company, but knows nothing about coding. He also has health issues but him and Buddy somehow get along just fine.
Issue 7 Paranoia Rules Supreme!
George is a conspiracy nut. It's so funny - I always think conspiracy theorist started popping up in the 2010s... but they've been around for ages. And based on this they really haven't changed much. I feel bad for George although it is really funny. He does all his own research and things formal education stifles original thought. Here he goes on a date with Lisa and we get a lot of access to his thoughts as he waits for her, walks down the street with her, and has to suffer through her getting drunk and making moves on him.
Issue 8 Follow That Dream
Valerie wants Buddy to get a better job - but when he gets a job offer from Leonard to help manage a rock band, she's not too excited. Buddy ends up managing a loud rock band made up of four very small young men Kurt, Kurt, Greg, and Kurt! When the lead singer quits the band, Leonard steps up to fill the roll.
Issue 9 Follow that Dream Part 2
Now Leonard is a star in the Seattle underground music scene. Buddy has sex with a groupie looking for tickets to the show. He goes on tour with the band, neglecting his relationship with Valerie, but ends up quitting the tour very quickly.
Issue 10 The Nut
Valerie is in France and seemingly done with Buddy. Buddy helps Lisa get a job at the bookstore which - as George predicts - is a complete hilarious disaster.
Issue 11 Slumming with Buddy and Lisa
Lisa and Buddy are in a relationship and living like animals. Drinking way too much, not washing themselves. George is fed up. Lisa goes and gets a makeover and later Lisa and Buddy decide to go straight until they can't come up with a single thing totally straight people do for kicks.
Issue 12 Collector Scum
Buddy has a table the local flea market but has issues with a tape seller named Yahtzi Murphy. Lisa decides to help and steals a bag of Yahtzi's tapes - but Yahtzi knows Buddy was involved as shows up at their house where Lisa goes berserk on Yahtzi, creating a feud between Yahtzi and Buddy that won't end anytime soon.
Issue 13 In Search of George...
George has published a zine. Free and a ton of copies! Which features an article dissing Buddy. Buddy tries to find where George is living and finally catches up with him. He's living with an older wealthy(ish) woman who is funding the publications. She gets George to agree to publish Buddy's rebuttal in the next issue of the zine.
I Left My Stash in San Francisco
Leonard is now stuck in San Francisco after his band imploded. He gets a free flight to NYC but while on the plane realizes he forgot his drugs hidden under a mattress at a woman's house.
Issue 14 The Old Flame
Buddy bumps into Valerie at a laundromat and gets invited to her dinner party. He doesn't want Lisa finding out, but gets dressed up nice and goes to the party, which is a disaster. Valerie tells him she still likes him and they makeout but Buddy realizes he's not longer interested.
Stinky Does Gotham
Leonard is now trying to find a gig in NYC but is couch surfing and running out of friends to stay with. He goes to an audition but a girl he's with gets in a fight with the band.
Issue 15 My Pad (Revisited)
Leonard shows up in Seattle to get his room back. But Lisa has promised Valerie that room. Later George wants his room back! And Buddy ends up on the couch. The book ends with Buddy and Lisa heading the Buddy's parents house outside of NYC.
BOOK TWO
Collect 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!
BOOK THREE
This collects Hate Annual 1-9 (which came out 2001 till 2011). So it takes place after issue 30 and Buddy and Lisa raise their child together. I like how this series has the characters age basically in real time.
I thought it wraps up the series quite well.
Also collected are a bunch of supplemental material from the original comics, cover galleries from various collected editions, and some strips that appeared in other places.
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.
BOOK ONE
Collects the first 15 issues of Hate - all the Black and White comics, which for my money look nicer than the colored second half of the series (but probably personal preference). This was such a good trip, hanging out with Buddy in his early 20s slumming it in Seattle. He's really just a normal guy - not a stoner or anything like that (although his alcoholism is in question at times).
Issue 1 - My Pad and Welcome to It
We get Buddy breaking the fourth wall giving us an MTV cribs tour of his apartment. He lives like a typical 20 year old in a cheap place - messy but he drinks fancy beer! We meet his roomate Leonard AKA "Stinky". He's similar to Buddy but a bit more of a loser.
Issue 2 - Hate at First Sight
Buddy at just 20 something is already falling apart from neglecting his body. Lack of exercise and too much beer. We meet his other roommate the introverted conspiracy-theorist enthusiast George. George is also black but doesn't fit in with that cultural group. Buddy goes to a hangout at a pool hall in the hopes of meeting a girl and gets asked out by Valerie. The first date ends in disaster as Valerie lives with Buddy's ex Lisa who told Valerie about some of the freaky sex they've had in the past. Later at his house party Valerie gets smashed and ends up in the hospital where Buddy visits her and they have sex in the hospital bed.
Issue 3 - The Enigma that is George Cecil Hamilton the Third
We see more of George and his introverted conspiracy theorist ways. It turns out he's actually a bit of a phony and likes McDonalds and trash TV as much as the rest of us.
Dinner for Two
Valerie and Buddy are now dating but Valerie wants to have a romantic dinner with Buddy - easier said than done in an apartment with 2 other male roommates. There's a pretty hilarious scene with Leonard completely naked coming in and eating some of the spaghetti they've prepared. Later at Valerie's place Lisa admits she still has feelings for Buddy.
Issue 4 - Buddy Bradley is Not His Brother's Keeper
Buddy's younger brother - now a big right-leaning gun-carrying man - comes to town and wants to crash at Buddy's. He ends up getting into all sorts of trouble at a local party.
What Ever Happened to Babs Bradley
My introduction to Babs - she had a series of abortions then babies and a terrible marriage.
Issue 5 Guys, Gals, Gals... and Buddy Bradley!
Buddy and Leonard go to a collector's house and talk about comics. The collector is a huge fan of Walt Kelly but doesn't like Kurtzman so Buddy and he don't see eye to eye. At Valerie's Lisa got a really embarrassing haircut which starts a big fight between Buddy and Valerie.
Issue 6 Valerie's Parents
Buddy finally meets Valerie's parents. It's a blast. Her parents are fairly wealthy which embarasses Valerie. Her father is the figurehead of a tech company, but knows nothing about coding. He also has health issues but him and Buddy somehow get along just fine.
Issue 7 Paranoia Rules Supreme!
George is a conspiracy nut. It's so funny - I always think conspiracy theorist started popping up in the 2010s... but they've been around for ages. And based on this they really haven't changed much. I feel bad for George although it is really funny. He does all his own research and things formal education stifles original thought. Here he goes on a date with Lisa and we get a lot of access to his thoughts as he waits for her, walks down the street with her, and has to suffer through her getting drunk and making moves on him.
Issue 8 Follow That Dream
Valerie wants Buddy to get a better job - but when he gets a job offer from Leonard to help manage a rock band, she's not too excited. Buddy ends up managing a loud rock band made up of four very small young men Kurt, Kurt, Greg, and Kurt! When the lead singer quits the band, Leonard steps up to fill the roll.
Issue 9 Follow that Dream Part 2
Now Leonard is a star in the Seattle underground music scene. Buddy has sex with a groupie looking for tickets to the show. He goes on tour with the band, neglecting his relationship with Valerie, but ends up quitting the tour very quickly.
Issue 10 The Nut
Valerie is in France and seemingly done with Buddy. Buddy helps Lisa get a job at the bookstore which - as George predicts - is a complete hilarious disaster.
Issue 11 Slumming with Buddy and Lisa
Lisa and Buddy are in a relationship and living like animals. Drinking way too much, not washing themselves. George is fed up. Lisa goes and gets a makeover and later Lisa and Buddy decide to go straight until they can't come up with a single thing totally straight people do for kicks.
Issue 12 Collector Scum
Buddy has a table the local flea market but has issues with a tape seller named Yahtzi Murphy. Lisa decides to help and steals a bag of Yahtzi's tapes - but Yahtzi knows Buddy was involved as shows up at their house where Lisa goes berserk on Yahtzi, creating a feud between Yahtzi and Buddy that won't end anytime soon.
Issue 13 In Search of George...
George has published a zine. Free and a ton of copies! Which features an article dissing Buddy. Buddy tries to find where George is living and finally catches up with him. He's living with an older wealthy(ish) woman who is funding the publications. She gets George to agree to publish Buddy's rebuttal in the next issue of the zine.
I Left My Stash in San Francisco
Leonard is now stuck in San Francisco after his band imploded. He gets a free flight to NYC but while on the plane realizes he forgot his drugs hidden under a mattress at a woman's house.
Issue 14 The Old Flame
Buddy bumps into Valerie at a laundromat and gets invited to her dinner party. He doesn't want Lisa finding out, but gets dressed up nice and goes to the party, which is a disaster. Valerie tells him she still likes him and they makeout but Buddy realizes he's not longer interested.
Stinky Does Gotham
Leonard is now trying to find a gig in NYC but is couch surfing and running out of friends to stay with. He goes to an audition but a girl he's with gets in a fight with the band.
Issue 15 My Pad (Revisited)
Leonard shows up in Seattle to get his room back. But Lisa has promised Valerie that room. Later George wants his room back! And Buddy ends up on the couch. The book ends with Buddy and Lisa heading the Buddy's parents house outside of NYC.
BOOK TWO
Collect 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!
BOOK THREE
This collects Hate Annual 1-9 (which came out 2001 till 2011). So it takes place after issue 30 and Buddy and Lisa raise their child together. I like how this series has the characters age basically in real time.
I thought it wraps up the series quite well.
Also collected are a bunch of supplemental material from the original comics, cover galleries from various collected editions, and some strips that appeared in other places.
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.
September 17, 2021
3.5 stars, with a star and a half solely for Bagge's self-inked black and white art (about a third of the pages in the set).
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