Preview: ‘Hate Revisited’ Takes Peter Bagge Back To A Classic Series And Characters

Peter Bagge‘s classic alt-comics slacker misadventure returns this June as the four-issue Fantagraphics series Hate Revisited – we’re all going to be catching up with Buddy Bradley!

It wouldn’t be wrong to call Peter Bagge’s Neat Stuff and Hate two cornerstones of the late 80s and 90s indie comics movement, giving us chaotic slacker comedy with bite and bile – and now it’s coming back in a new four-issue series this summer – Hate Revisited.

Yep, it’s time we all caught up, Bagge included, with Buddy Bradley and the gang of misfits – older for sure, but better? wiser? probably not.

It all began back in 1985 with the 15 issues of Neat Stuff that ran through to 1989, with Bagge throwing himself into a one-man anthology that was just full of his exaggeration and bile, over-the-top characters railing against life, a perfect thing for its time. The stand-out strip in Neat Stuff was always The Bradleys, Bagge’s version of the ultimate dysfunctional family, and it was The Bradleys who moved with Bagge to his break-through comic, Hate, where the slacker adventures of Buddy Bradley caught a cultural wave in grunge and slacker culture and just went with it.

Hate ended up going for 30 issues from 1990 to 1998, regularly selling in the range of 25-30,000 copies, an impressive number for a distinctly adult alternative title. After the series ended, Bagge revisited Buddy and his world in a series of Hate annuals, nine yearly collections.

In Hate Revisited, we have a distinctly middle-aged Buddy and Lisa, parents now themselves, navigating modern life in glorious full colour whilst also taking a look back to their 90s selves in Bagge’s wonderful black and white.

So, expect tales of modern life ennui and anger mixed in with flashbacks to just how Buddy met Lisa, Stinky, and the rest of the gang of social incompetents. Plus, there’s a look at just how Stinky died. All of it with the typically kinetic, exaggerated style that Bagge fans know and love.

Bagge had this to say of the new series –

‘While it was suggested to me that I revisit the old Hate cast, once I got started on it I was more than happy with the results. This stuff writes itself! I’m also glad I decided to split it between the present day as well as flashbacks to the ’80s and ’90s. This was especially true with Stinky. I forgot what a loose cannon that character was!’

And Eric Reynolds, Fantagraphics VP/Associate Publisher had this to say:

‘Hate Revisited not only captures the humor and anarchy of the original series, but adds a layer of emotional gravitas as Buddy and Lisa and co. are confronted with the consequences of some of their youthful indiscretions.’

Here’s the Fanta blurb…

Peter Bagge returns to the series that defined a generation with this all-new, four-issue monthly miniseries! Buddy and Lisa, now middle aged with a free spirited young adult of their own, confront their own poor decisions as young people in the grungy 1990s. Expertly shifting between the present day (in full color) and their Gen X heyday (in glorious, crosshatched B&W), we learn for the first time the story of how Buddy met Lisa, Stinky, George, and Val. Meanwhile, Buddy is forced to come to terms with the tragic — and covered-up — circumstances of Stinky’s untimely death (way back in Hate #27). Hate Revisited expertly showcases Bagge’s inimitable humor and knack for character, and the generational shift lends an unexpected gravitas to their lives. This is the must-have comic of the summer!

HATE REVISITED issue 1 (of 4) – by Peter Bagge

Published by Fantagraphics in June 2024

And here’s just a little of what to expect in the pages of Hate Revisited: