Peter Bagge (pronounced /bęg/, as in 'Plastic Bag') (born December 11, 1957 in Peekskill, New York) is an award-winning American comics artist and creator of Buddy Bradley, Hate, Neat Stuff, Martini Baton, and Sweatshop. His stories often use black humor and exaggerated cartooning to dramatize the reduced expectations of middle-class American youth. In recent years Bagge has concentrated more on expressing his libertarian views in political and social commentary.
Part of a family of five kids, Bagge grew up in the New York City suburbs. Bagge's father was in the military and Bagge has talked about how his Catholic household was the scene of "lots of drunken fights about money. We were the weirdo outcast kids of the neighborhood. I couldn't get away fast enough." Moving to New York City in the mid-1970s, Bagge briefly attended the School of Visual Arts before dropping out to work on Punk Magazine.
Other cartoonists associated with Punk were John Holmstrom, Ken Weiner, and Bruce Carleton; and Bagge worked on his cartooning with them and also J.D. King and Kaz. During this period, the young cartoonists also were the beneficiaries of "useful advice" from Art Spiegelman.
In addition to Punk, Bagge contributed to the notorious underground paper Screw; when Punk folded in 1980, Bagge and Holstrom co-published Comical Funnies. Bagge sent copies of Comical Funnies to underground comics legend Robert Crumb, who liked his work enough to publish a few of Bagge's strips in the anthology Crumb was editing, Weirdo. Eventually, in 1983, Crumb passed on the editorial reins of Weirdo to Bagge, who edited it for three years (and one guest issue in 1989).
Beginning in 1985, Bagge hooked up with alternative comics publisher Fantagraphics to produce his first solo title Neat Stuff, a wild miscellany that introduced such memorable characters as Girly-Girl, Junior, Studs Kirby, The Bradleys, and Buddy Bradley. Neat Stuff ran until 1989.
Hate (1990—1998), Bagge's most well-known comic series, was popular among grunge rock fans, perhaps because it satirized their "alternative" culture. After ending Hate as a regular title, Bagge produced a series of Hate annuals until 2007.
Sweatshop, published by DC Comics in 2003, was produced, unlike early issues of Hate, with the help of an art team. Sweatshop, ironically, is about a cartoonist who hits it big. The series was short-lived, ending after six issues.
In 2002, Bagge did his version of Spider-Man for Marvel Comics. He followed this up with a Hulk comic (title The Incorrigible Hulk) which was completed but never released due to a management change at Marvel Comics at the time. From August 2009, The Incorrigible Hulk finally released in serialised form for Marvel Knights's relaunched Strange Tales mini-series.
From 2005—2007, Bagge worked on Apocalypse Nerd, a comic published by Dark Horse Comics about two average, urban males dealing with the aftermath of a nuclear attack on the Pacific Northwest. Backup stories in Apocalypse Nerd featured historically researched anecdotal tales of America's "founding fathers". The final issue of the six-issue series was published in 2007. A trade paperback collection was released in 2008.
Recent publishers of Bagge's articles, illustrations and comics include suck.com, Reason, MAD Magazine, and the Weekly World News, with the strip "Adventures of Batboy". In January 2008, Bagge contributed illustrations to toonlet, an online comic construction web site.
He is currently working on a graphic novel for DC called Second Lives.
Starting with the February 2009 issue, the popular science and technology magazine Discover Magazine has featured a continuing series of History of Science comic strips created by Peter Bagge. Bagge’s comics feature key characters and events from scientific history.
Bagge is the subject of the first volume of TwoMorrows Publishing's new Comics Introspective series of books, published in 2007.
Bagge lives in Seattle with his wife and daughter.
Reason magazine
In 2003, Bagge became a contributing writer with the libertarian magazine Reason. Over the years, he has published both prose and comics pieces in their pages.
Animation
Bagge made a series of animated commercials for Round Table Pizza.
In 2001 Bagge collaborated with comedian Dana Gould to produce the Macromedia Flash Internet cartoon Rock 'N' Roll Dad. The four-episode series premiered on Icebox.com.
Music
Bagge plays drums and sings in the band The Action Suits, which also includes Eric Reynolds, Andy Schmidt, and producer Steve Fisk.
Bagge's signature elastic, kinetic art style is a product of his love for 1940s Warner Brothers cartoons (especially those directed by Bob Clampett). Bagge has said that he "always wanted to capture that sense of movement and exaggeration in a static format. In retrospect this sounds like a futile thing to attempt, but I think I wound up pulling it off better than I ever thought I would."
The Bradleys (Fantagraphics, 1999—2000) #1—6 ... stories about the Bradleys from Neat Stuff and elsewhere
Junior and Friends (Fantagraphics, 2000—2001) #1—6 ... non-Bradley stories from Neat Stuff and elsewhere
Hate Annual (Fantagraphics, 2001—2007) #1-7
Sweatshop (DC, 2003) #1—6
Apocalypse Nerd (Dark Horse, 2005—2007) #1—6
Collected editions
The Bradleys (Fantagraphics, 1992, ISBN 1-56097-576-8) ... collects stories from Neat Stuff
Hey, Buddy! (Fantagraphics, 1993, ISBN 1-56097-113-4) ... collects Hate #1—5
Buddy the Dreamer (Fantagraphics, 1994, ISBN 1-56097-154-1) ... collects Hate #6—10
Fun with Buddy + Lisa: Volume III of the Complete Buddy Bradley Stories from "Hate" (Fantagraphics, 1995, ISBN 1-56097-175-4) ... collects Hate #11—#15
Buddy Go Home: "Hate" Collection Volume IV (Fantagraphics, 1998, ISBN 1-56097-276-9) ... collects Hate #16—#20
Buddy's Got Three Moms: "Hate" Collection Volume V (Fantagraphics, 1999, ISBN 1-56097-335-8) ... collects Hate #21—#25
Buddy Bites the Bullet (Fantagraphics, 2001, ISBN 1-56097-415-X) ... collects Hate #26—#30
Buddy Does Seattle: The Complete Buddy Bradley Stories from "Hate" Comics, Vol. I, 1990-94) (Fantagraphics, 2005, ISBN 1-56097-623-3) ... collects Hate #1-#15
Buddy Does Jersey (Fantagraphics, 2007, ISBN 1-56097-837-6) ... collects Hate #16-#30
Apocalypse Nerd (Dark Horse, 2008, ISBN 1-59307-902-8)
Everyone is Stupid Except for Me (Fantagraphics, 2009, ISBN 1-60699-158-2) - collects strips from Reason
Monographs
Irving, Chris. Comics Introspective Volume One: Peter Bagge (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2007). ISBN 1-893905-83-7
