Buddy Bradley
Buddy Bradley | |
---|---|
salesperson, scrap dealer | |
Family | Brad Bradley (Father), Betty Bradley (Mother) |
Spouse | Lisa Leavenworth |
Significant other | Valerie Russo |
Children | Harold Bradley |
Relatives | Babs Bradley (Sister), Jnr Bradley (Brother) |
Nationality | American |
Harold "Buddy" William Bradley Jr.,[1] generally referred to as Buddy Bradley, is a comic book character created by Peter Bagge and the main protagonist in several of his comic books, most notably Hate and Neat Stuff. The character first appeared in Bagge's self-published Comical Funnies in 1981. In the 1990s Buddy became an iconic symbol of Seattle underground culture, with the character being associated with slackerdom and the grunge movement, something which his creator sees as fairly unintentional on his part. Bagge created Buddy as a fairly unlikeable character as a commentary on shallow hipster culture, but the character was immensely popular, with members of Generation X strongly identifying with Buddy and his problems. In this way he may have been seen as an antihero and archetype of 1990s underground culture. Bagge had the character enact storylines based on events from his past, such as his family life, adolescence and his move to Seattle in the 1980s. Buddy is a disaffected
Buddy's appearance developed from early sketches until by the mid-1980s he had arrived at the recognisable figure with a black crop of hair covering his eyes with a bulbous nose and perpetually dressed in a flannel shirt and jeans. He kept the same look for nearly 20 years, until Bagge changed it to reflect the character's aging and midlife crisis. Since 2004 he has been depicted with a shaved head wearing a sailor's hat. Buddy has had two major romantic relationships, firstly with Valerie Russo, an upper middle class feminist, and then with the neurotic and troubled Lisa Leavenworth, who later becomes his wife and the mother of his son.
Publication history and development
Buddy Bradley first appeared with the rest of the Bradleys in Bagge's short-lived early 1980s publication with John Holmstrom and J. D. King, Comical Funnies. The Bradleys family was based on Bagge's own, with Buddy being the character he most identified with. He recognised "what a great vehicle the Bradley's oldest son, Buddy, served as a way of re-telling stories from my own distant- and all too vivid - past."[2]
Bagge has said Buddy's life shadows events in his own but Buddy is ten years younger than Bagge. This, according to Bagge, "creates just the right amount of time and distance between myself and my own experiences where I can laugh at my problems and woes rather than cry and wail about them".[2] Buddy appeared with Bradleys again in Neat Stuff from 1985 until 1989, featuring particularly in issues # 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15. He then became the main character in Hate, featuring in all 30 issues from 1989 to 1998, and in all 9 of the Hate Annuals from 2000 to 2011. The Bradleys stories from Neat Stuff were collected in the 1999 6-issue comic series The Bradleys, which was also compiled into a trade paperback.
Initial drawings of Buddy have his defining features; a large
By the time of The Bradleys stories he was drawn in a fairly
In 2004, for Hate Annual #5, Bagge started drawing Buddy with a shaved head, wearing a sailor's hat and an eyepatch. This is how he currently appears. Bagge explained this change in Buddy's appearance by saying "I realized Buddy still looked the same as he did when he was a teen, even though I had aged him well into his mid-30s. So I decide to age him visually somehow, while also highlighting his gradual descent into a crazy old coot who works at a dump. He doesn't need the eye patch, of course; it's just an affectation."
Other artists who have drawn Buddy are
Fictional character biography
Neat Stuff
Buddy, born 1967, was raised in an unnamed suburb of
He also started spending an increasing amount of time in
Hate
Throughout most of the eighties, Buddy moved around the country with his high school friend Leonard "Stinky" Brown, moving around from
Buddy managed a
With his apartment becoming increasingly crowded and scared of reprisals from Murphy, Buddy returned to his parents in Jersey with Lisa following. Buddy bought a second hand monster truck to drive around in. He reunited with Jay, who suggested they go into the
In Hate #22 Buddy's father was hit by a truck and died instantly. His mother started dating another man and was never around the house, meaning the Bradley family home was taken over by his
Hate Annual
At the start of the Hate Annuals, Buddy was still in New Jersey with his and Lisa's baby Harold, running his collectables business and selling things on the growing internet. He was making a good living at it but was bored and felt stuck in a rut. He tried finding a different career, considered becoming a
Personality
Bagge has said the character is
In their review of the Buddy Does Seattle trade paperback, Publishers Weekly commented on Buddy: "The title character is perhaps the most honestly portrayed everyman the medium has ever seen, an antihero whose utter obnoxiousness, "who cares" attitude and disdain for everyone and everything around him make him as believable as any comics character can be."[6]In other media
In October 2009,
The character appeared in a 2006
Collected volumes
The original Buddy Bradley stories have been collected in eight trade paperback volumes, published by Fantagraphics:
- The Bradleys. (from Neat Stuff 1-15)
- Hey Buddy! (from Hate 1-5)
- Buddy the Dreamer (from Hate 6-10)
- Fun with Buddy and Lisa (from Hate 11-15)
- Buddy Go Home! (from Hate 16-20)
- Buddy's Got Three Moms! (from Hate 21-25)
- Buddy Bites the Bullet (from Hate 26-30)
Buddy Does Seattle collects Hate 1-15 (1990–94) in a single volume. Buddy Does Jersey collects Hate 16-30 (1994–98) in a single volume.
Since 2000, Bradley's exploits have continued in Hate Annual. The stories have been collected in a single volume trade paperback, Buddy Buys A Dump, which includes a new story written especially for this volume, in which Buddy sells his share of the scrap metal business to Jay, and with Harold in tow, moves back to Seattle to help Lisa settle her ailing parents' affairs.
References
- ^ Peter Bagge Hate #6, 1991 Fantagraphics; page 6, panel 3.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56097-837-4.
- ^ Dueben, Alex. "Bagge Talks "Hate," "Yeah!" and Bat Boy". comicbookresources.com, Thu, May 12th, 2011. Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
- ^ Heater, Brian. "Interview: Peter Bagge". The Daily Cross Hatch, February 28, 2007. The Daily Crosshatch. Archived from the original on 22 October 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
- ^ Bagge, Peter; Guido Sieber; David Coulson (September 1999). "The Bradleys- An Explanation". The Bradleys (4): 26–30.
- ^ "FictionReview: Buddy Does Seattle 02/28/2005". Publishers' Weekly. PWxyz, LLC. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
- ^ Schneider, Michael (14 October 2009). "Pair of toons unfold at Fox". Variety.com, October 14, 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
- ^ Heater, Brian. "Interview: Peter Bagge, Feb 20, 2007". The Daily Cross Hatch. The Daily Cross Hatch. Archived from the original on 17 November 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
- ^ "Greek Commercial featuring Buddy Bradley". youtube, 16 June 2008. Mo'Mad. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 28 October 2011.