Alternative Visions
Alternative Visions |
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Page 15 of 29  panel from the graphic novel Ed the Happy Clown (Vortex, 1989) Bagge's second comic, Hate (Fantagraphics, 1990), was a bigger hit commercially, and followed the story of one member of the Bradley family, twenty-something slob Buddy. The humour was more brutal if anything, gleefully un-politically correct, with more emphasis on sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Buddy is most at home with his old records and comics, but has more trouble relating to his friend Stinky (another slob, and a member of a terrible punk band), and to the various women he hitches up with. The tenor of the comedy in the early issues can be gauged from an episode in which Buddy is accused of sodomizing a girlfriend while shoving her head down the toilet: all he can say is, 'Must have been one of those nights when I was on a bender ... the greatest moment of my life, and I don't even remember it!!!' Bagge too had appeared in various anthologies, and pre-Neat Stuff had done a stint editing Weirdo. His love of underground comics and affinity with punk were the main influences on his work , and critics have traced his studied nihilism to these roots. Neat Stuff and Hate were an expression of this, and because they happened to be set in Seattle, came to be seen as part of the post-punk 'grunge' movement. (On one cover to a Hate collection, Buddy is pictured with a Nirvana sleeve under his arm, while Bagge also produced various record covers for local bands such as Tad.) The creator later explained his attitude thus: 'I felt if I tried to be more idealistic as opposed to being nihilistic, I'd be a phony. So I figured there were bound to be people like me who are going to be shocked and disgusted by whatever it is that the people who are going to save society are going to shove down our throats. I'm getting on what I perceive to be an alternative bandwagon. There's always plenty to hate.'  Snake Eyes  Cover to Inkling (Inkling Inc. 1993). Art: Lawrence Burton. As ever, the anthology form remained an ideal way to introduce new talent. |