Buddy Bradley

I'm really exited because today I went down to Boxcar books in hopes of finding my mother a birthday book and instead I got an autographed copy of Hey, Buddy! Volume I of the complete Buddy Bradley stories from Hate by Peter Bagge.

One of my favorite activities is to go down to the local comics shop and ask the owner for a suggestion. This guys knows that first off, I like something dense and as 90's as they come. And he suggested one day Buddy Does Jersey.



Buddy Does Jersey is brilliant. There are enough references to 90's Americana (grunge/post-grunge) that you can remember exactly how old you were when you experienced these things first hand. In this sequel to Buddy Does Seattle, Buddy has moved back to his hometown in Jersey to live in his mom's basement with his girlfriend Lisa from Seattle. All the old losers and junk heads are still there, all "recovering" from rehab and trying to move on with their otherwise scummy lives.

I could just imagine moving back to my own hometown and finding that one kid who's still there, that in the sixth grade ate a cigarette because no one had a lighter and he thought that you could get the same buzz off the nicotine. Then later in high school that same kid tried to get you to buy powder in the school bathrooms. You know the one.

Anyways, I'm a huge fan and word on the street is that fox has signed a deal to finally turn it into a cartoon. (Finally something to take care of every other awful fox cartoon (Yes, Family Guy)) To read it from the horse's mouth, visit and subscribe to FLOG!, the Fantagraphics Blog.