The Bradleys

Buddy Bradley #0

by Peter Bagge

Before The Simpsons, there were The Bradleys. Meet the Bradleys, America's most dysfunctional family: Pops, Mom, Buddy, Babs and Butch Bradley. Yes, even more dysfunctional than the Simpsons, though it's no surprise that Groening has cited the Bradleys as an early influence on his hit TV show. The best-selling humor cartoonist of his generation, Bagge has been hailed as one of comics' great satirists along with James Thurber, Harvey Kurtzman, and R. Crumb, and the Bradleys remain his most enduring creation. Created during the 1980s while Bagge was also editing R. Crumb's Weirdo magazine, this family for the ages has its roots firmly planted in All In the Family's Bunker family and MAD magazine, with a healthy punk rock anger occasionally exploding.

Noted comic critic R. Fiore once described Bagge as "the outsider with the entertainer's instincts" in praising these strips. Trenchant, caustic, but always hilarious, Bagge never fails to temper his anger with some of the most acute characterization in comics. The Bradleys may be drawn in one of the most wildly cartoony styles in comics history, but they also feature the some of the most living and breathing charaters as well.

These comics went on to inspire Bagge's legendary Hate comic book series, featuring an out-of-the-nest Buddy Bradley living in early 1990s Seattle; the title became the Nevermind to Bagge's Nirvana and the burgeoning alternative comics movement, with over one million copies sold and worldwide publicity.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Comix, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

152 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1988

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

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Simpsons can go suck a tail pipe, this is the funniest family in cartoons. "Rock & Roll Refugee" is a nasty story about record collector scum, "Brotherly Love" is about that super-annoying little brother, "You're Not The Boss Of Me" is the greatest tale of mother-daughter hatred ever, and more. It's bad enough being in a family of dorks, so you might as well get a good laugh about it.

[Hannah Garden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is pretty good. A pretty "good read," as it has been suggested I phrase my approval moving forward. Well well well a pretty good read.

This is the first of this guy I've read and it's funny and weird like you want comics to be if you are into things being funny and weird and if you're not well what are you doing here why don't you go look at a wall.

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

This collection of Bradleys stories from the pages of "Neat Stuff" is a perfect prequel for those who only know the stories from "Hate". While teenage Buddy is pretty consistent with adult Buddy, it's interesting to remember some of the other characters in their pre-Hate incarnations. Psycho marine Butch is here a gullible little boy obsessed with G.I. Joe and other cultural propaganda. Though this is common enough for a small boy of his age, he's never seemed to outgrow it. Single Mom Babs in the 80's is a snotty,popularity obsessed teenybopper. Tom, a minor character in Hate, is more prominent than Stinky in "The Bradleys", and is the perfect embodiment of all those douchey 80's teen boys decked out in Ray Bans and surfer gear, despite the fact that we never once see him anywhere near an ocean. Jay looks like a Ramones-wannabe and here doesn't come off as all that bad of a fellow--what on Earth turned him into the self-righteous con man he is in "Hate"? (she asked as if she couldn't figure it out...)

I also wonder how far ahead Bagge planned these stories. Though they certainly seem spontaneous, there's also little things like the fact that Stinky first enters this story on the toxic beach with a gun, the same way he makes his exit years later in "Hate".

[Baal Of · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first encountered Peter Bagge's work, I was still under the heavy thumb of the Christian religion, and this stuff freaked me out. The weirdly rubbery drawing style, with extremely exaggerated facial expressions that dive into some kind of nightmarish surrealist cartoon world, and the utterly hateful characters turned me off and injured my delicate sensibilities. Years later I picked up the books again, now with a much more worldly perspective on life, and now I found the disgusting humor, and caricatured nastiness to be reflective of real life. Much of what happens rings true, and Bagge's misanthropy walks a thin line between depiction and endorsement, depending on the character. But above all, this is some funny shit. This is my second read through, the first time being about two decades ago.

[Abbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did you have a family? If so, you will find this book completely hilarious.

[Ian Hrabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haw Haw.

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before Peter Bagge launched his seminal comics series HATE starring Buddy Bradley, the character had already been featured in a recurring segment in Bagge's anthology series, Neat Stuff. "The Bradleys" were feature stories in several issues before eventually being collected in standalone single issues that were also later compiled into this trade paperback.

Buddy, as depicted in HATE, was the symbol of slackerdom and commentary for the grunge movement, but his humble beginnings in Neat Stuff paints a slightly different picture. Buddy grows up in the suburbs of Passaic County, New Jersey to a typical Catholic family. Throughout the various strips featuring the Bradley family, Bagge explores how soft rebellions emerge within the confines of a traditionally conservative family - much of which does happen through the perspective of Buddy himself. Buddy isn't so much as the main character here though as much of the remaining family do heavily feature in their own segments. But "The Bradleys" does serve as a fun supplementary piece to HATE, and though there is a fair difference between the two series, Bagge's plotting is remarkably consistent. It's surprising to see just how many future plot lines were seeded right here, indicating that there might have been some planning on Bagge's part towards how the later life of Buddy Bradley would play out.

And even artistically, Bagge's work here is refined and confident, just as it would be throughout the entirety of HATE's run. The satire of cultural moments has teeth to them, derived solely through Bagge's witty observations. Whilst it's not nearly as potent as what we will get later on, "The Bradleys" still offer a lot for more ardent fans of HATE to enjoy.

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book introduces the Bradley family. Unlike TV's famous "Brady Bunch," the Bradleys are your typical dysfunctional family, where the mother and father argue all the time. and the children do not listen and get into mischief, bullying and fighting with each other. The children are Buddy Bradley, who is our protagonist - and his brother and sister. Buddy has some lame friends, and they get into trouble in and out of their high school, trying to make a buck, going to parties, and not having a clue how to talk to girls. I enjoyed the stories as unfortunately I can relate (!) to some of them, as my family was/is dysfunctional! This book is the prequel to "The Complete Buddy Bradley Stories from Hate Comics, Vol. 1: Buddy Does Seattle." At the end of this book, Buddy leaves his family - perhaps just temporarily -, but with nowhere to go, he is lying on a former beach, which is now banned and toxic. You know that he will be moving away from his family for real, as soon as he can.

[Rex Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

A prequel graphic novel to Bagge's Hate series, starring the archetype of the Gen X slacker Buddy Bradley. It details the character's dysfunctional home life and the origins of his slacker lifestyle. He is a small time drug dealer living with his parents, uninterested in planning a future for himself, wishing to live constantly in the now. This book took me back to my youth and a time when Buddy was a reflection of myself as well. Highly recommended for anyone who grew up in the 80s and 90s.

[Julesreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice little prequel to the Buddy Does series. The Bradley’s are so messed up, it makes me love my family....er, more than I already did. haha. Tee hee. Xomics.

[Ned Bajic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brings back many awkward, embarrassing, teenage memories 😂

[Shawn]

Compiles all the "Bradley Family" installments from Bagge's NEAT STUFF magazine, serving as a nice precursor to the more popular HATE series of solo Buddy adventures on the opposite side of the United States. Here, we get to see Buddy's origins as a bitter, sullen, suburban teenager trapped in New Jersey circa the mid 1980s. Even better, while Buddy slowly develops as the main focus, his whole dysfunctional family is featured in these installments that start as merely wacky, domestic cartoon slapstick sitcom (think a more violent, abusive, nastier SIMPSONS) but expand into something like a fairly realistic (if humorously bilious) snapshot of your average suburban family in that time and place. One of the things I really appreciated about this strip at the time, and now even more in retrospect, is how much attention Bagge paid to making each of his cast a realistic character, with understandable drives, flaws, desires, fears and histories. This pays off later in HATE with the return of tormented pipsqueak brother Butch (now grown into a rage filled muscular bully) and the painful "Whatever Happened to Babs Bradley" - not to mention Buddy's eventual return to his old stomping grounds (with an eerily circular fate for Leonard "Stinky" Brown, introduced here in the same setting where his story inevitably ended).

But all that was in the future. Here we have the raw characters, rubbery and expressive in Bagge's early style (in his later work he would tone down a bit of the Ed "Big Daddy" Rothisms and broader slapstick - like the goofy but entertaining culmination of "Mom Power" seen here). Very quickly, Bagge begins to expand on details of the character's personas - especially Buddy (the last 5 panels of "Rock N Roll Refugee" are still one of my favorite, resonant moments in indie comics) - making you understand the fearful, shallow, status-seeking Babs; the simplistic, childish Butch, their long-suffering Mom and ground-down, conservative Dad. Even Buddy's fellow high-school classmates are well-sketched (what was Wendy's deep secret, we are left to wonder?), with the highlight being the familiar ritual of stupid teenage parties that ends in the extended character study (of both Buddy & older hipster Jay Spano) in "Hippie House." I especially liked the mother/daughter friction examined in "You're Not The Boss of Me!" (great spotlight on Babs and her Mom) and the book ender "Buddy The Weasel" which shows Buddy's various scams, laziness and character flaws finally catching up to him, ending the book on an oddly powerful & reflective note.

That Buddy is a weasel, an abusive jerk, a loafer, a short-tempered scammer, an immature cynic (and, yes - honest to the setting, time and the character's age - a racist and a misogynist) is undeniable, but it is his inherent ability to be somewhat reflective about the dull, suburban world around him that makes him an interesting character to follow (I'd forgotten how the only moment of actual respect and communication we see between him and his father - a Christmas Eve conversation about religion & cynicism - is a really great scene).

There's a lot to enjoy in this book!

[Idleprimate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a dog eared copy of this in a flop house, during my roving hobo punk years. gulped it one morning with vodka.

its nothing more than a sardonic tale of suburban teenage angst. . . but for me it was the first time i heard a voice given to the torments of family. it was the first narrative i encountered (despite being a bookworm) that spoke to my feelings as an alienated family member

I've followed the author and character of "Buddy" ever since, but the connection is that one brief moment that shone a light on something unspoken. it connected the horror kafka felt with my modern world.

[Markku Kesti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Päätin ottaa Baggen Bradleyt uudelleenlukuun ja kyllä kannatti. Teini-iän kapinointia ja perheen ristiriitoja kuvataan mehukkaasti ja törkeästi yliampuen. Mietoja huumeita, teinien kiimaa kokemattomuuden ja huonon käytöksen kuorruttamina. Kilttiä, tuhmaa ja törkeää.

[Joz Hunter]

Not what I thought it might be. Had to choose a graphic novel for a book club thing. This is more like longer versions of the comic strips in the papers. Read the first couple, they seem familiar family stories, nothing really exciting me here yet.

[Matt Shaqfan · Rating 5 out of 5]

here we get to see a slightly younger buddy, and what it's like living with his family. everyone's insane. so funny...

[Rory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parts of everyone's families are in here.

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muistan samaistuneeni Buddy Bradleyhyn silloin joskus. Nyt tämä kokoelma oli ainoastaa paikoitellen huvittava mutta tälläisenä pidempänä pätkänä hyvinkin raskas luettava.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy cow, the Bradley family makes my own seem hopelessly uptight and repressed... and we're not!

[Reyel2107 · Rating 5 out of 5]

the genesis of my hate !!!!