Harold "Buddy" William Bradley Jr.,
[Peter Bagge '']Hate
Hatred is an intense negative emotional response towards certain people, things or ideas, usually related to opposition or revulsion toward something. Hatred is often associated with intense feelings of anger, contempt, and disgust. Hatred is s ...
'' #6, 1991 Fantagraphics; page 6, panel 3. generally referred to as Buddy Bradley, is a comic book character created by
Peter Bagge
Peter Bagge (pronounced , as in ''bag''; born December 11, 1957) is an American cartoonist whose best-known work includes the comics ''Hate'' and ''Neat Stuff''. His stories often use black humor and exaggerated cartooning to dramatize the reduced ...
and the main
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
in several of his comic books, most notably ''
Hate
Hatred is an intense negative emotional response towards certain people, things or ideas, usually related to opposition or revulsion toward something. Hatred is often associated with intense feelings of anger, contempt, and disgust. Hatred is s ...
'' and ''
Neat Stuff
''Neat Stuff'' is an American alternative comic book series created by Peter Bagge and published by Fantagraphics. It ran from 1985 to 1989 for fifteen issues. Most takes the form of a series of short stories featuring different sets of characte ...
''. 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
Underground culture, or simply underground, is a term to describe various alternative cultures which either consider themselves different from the mainstream of society and culture, or are considered so by others. The word "underground" is used ...
, with the character being associated with
slacker
A slacker is someone who habitually avoids work or lacks work ethic.
Origin
According to different sources, the term ''slacker'' dates back to about 1790 or 1898. "Slacker" gained some recognition during the British Gezira Scheme in the early t ...
dom and the
grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
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
Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...
strongly identifying with Buddy and his problems. In this way he may have been seen as an
antihero
An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions ...
and archetype of 1990s underground culture. Bagge had the character enact storylines based on events from his past, such as his family life,
adolescence
Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the t ...
and his move to Seattle in the 1980s.
Buddy is a disaffected
adolescent who is a self-proclaimed outsider. He is directionless and unmotivated, drifting through life without goals and commonly has a cynical attitude to almost everything. By his twenties he has not changed much, although he is rather more comfortable in his
hipster persona, fitting into the
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
scene and listening to
obscure rock music as proof of his hip credentials. He has a brittle personality and is quick to anger, often becoming violent and getting into fights, be it with his family, friends, spouses or rivals. He has a ruthless and selfish streak which he uses to his advantage in his business dealings as a
music promoter
A promoter works with event production and entertainment industries to promote their productions, including in music and sports. Promoters are individuals or organizations engaged in the business of marketing and promoting live, or pay-per-view ...
, memorabilia salesman and
junkyard dealer.
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
A midlife crisis is a transition of identity and self-confidence that can occur in middle age, middle-aged individuals, typically 40 to 60 years old. The phenomenon is described as a psychological crisis brought about by events that highlight a pe ...
. 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
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
, 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
John Holmstrom (born 1954) is an American underground cartoonist and writer. He is best known for illustrating the covers of the Ramones albums ''Rocket to Russia'' and '' Road to Ruin'', as well as his characters Bosko and Joe (published in Scho ...
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."
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".
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
nose
A nose is a protuberance in vertebrates that houses the nostrils, or nares, which receive and expel air for respiration alongside the mouth. Behind the nose are the olfactory mucosa and the sinuses. Behind the nasal cavity, air next passes th ...
and hair that covers his eyes. Differences were the nose was originally hooked with flared
nostrils
A nostril (or naris , plural ''nares'' ) is either of the two orifices of the nose. They enable the entry and exit of air and other gasses through the nasal cavities. In birds and mammals, they contain branched bones or cartilages called turbi ...
and his floppy
bangs
Bang or bangs may refer to:
Products
* M1922 Bang rifle, a US semi-automatic rifle designed by Søren Hansen Bang
* Bang, a List of model car brands, model car brand
* Bang (beverage), an energy drink
Geography
* Bang, Lorestan, a village in I ...
were neater with individual strands of hair instead of being solid black.
Bagge perfected the most well-known rendition of Buddy around 1986 and did not significantly change the look of the character until 2004. He was always drawn with black scruffy hair covering his eyes, a large nose and dressed in
sneakers, blue
jeans
Jeans are a type of pants or trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with copper-riveted pockets which were invented by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and paten ...
and, until 1994, a
checked flannel
Flannel is a soft woven fabric, of various fineness. Flannel was originally made from carded wool or worsted yarn, but is now often made from either wool, cotton, or synthetic fiber. Flannel is commonly used to make tartan clothing, blankets, b ...
shirt
A shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body (from the neck to the waist).
Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for a broad variety of upper-body garments and undergarments. I ...
. In "The Bradleys" strips in ''Neat Stuff'', Buddy has
acne
Acne, also known as ''acne vulgaris'', is a long-term Cutaneous condition, skin condition that occurs when Keratinocyte, dead skin cells and Sebum, oil from the skin clog hair follicles. Typical features of the condition include comedo, black ...
spots all over his face. By the time of ''Hate'' the acne had cleared up.
By the time of The Bradleys stories he was drawn in a fairly
ligne claire
''Ligne claire'' ( French for "clear line", ; nl, klare lijn) is a style of drawing created and pioneered by Hergé, the Belgian cartoonist and creator of ''The Adventures of Tintin''. It uses clear strong lines sometimes of varied width and n ...
style with occasional shading. In the early copies of ''Hate'', Bagge began using
cross-hatching
Hatching (french: hachure) is an artistic technique used to create tonal or shading effects by drawing (or painting or scribing) closely spaced parallel lines. (It is also used in monochromatic representations of heraldry to indicate what t ...
extensively, so Buddy's face always had a dark, textured look. When Bagge began employing a number of inkers and colorists after issue #14, the style returned to much cleaner, simpler-lined characters like in ''Neat Stuff'', although they were more
exaggerated
Exaggeration is the representation of something as more extreme or dramatic than it really is. Exaggeration may occur intentionally or unintentionally.
Exaggeration can be a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke stron ...
in
facial feature
The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...
s and the body shape of Buddy became less angular with more rounded,
spaghetti
Spaghetti () is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta.[spaghetti](_blank)
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridg ...
-like limbs. Bagge's use of highly exaggerated, less
naturalistic facial expressions
A facial expression is one or more motions or positions of the muscles beneath the skin of the face. According to one set of controversial theories, these movements convey the emotional state of an individual to observers. Facial expressions are a ...
to make the characters express strong
emotion
Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. ...
s increased over this period, until it became a
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
of ''Hate''. When he was angry Buddy would be drawn with jagged,
fang
A fang is a long, pointed tooth. In mammals, a fang is a modified maxillary tooth, used for biting and tearing flesh. In snakes, it is a specialized tooth that is associated with a venom gland (see snake venom). Spiders also have external fang ...
-like teeth, a large gaping mouth and huge bulging eyes, with steam rising from his head.
When he moved back to Jersey, Buddy stopped wearing his trademark flannel shirt and could be seen in a variety of plain single color shirts, most usually a bright yellow shirt.
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."
He also said the decision to change Buddy related to a
comedy routine
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and i ...
by his collaborator,
comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing
Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...
Dana Gould
Dana Gould (born August 24, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and voice artist who has been featured on HBO, Showtime, and Comedy Central. He voiced Hi Larious in the TV series ''Father of the Pride'' (2004–2005) and the tit ...
. "He talks about when he was a kid, his dream job was to be the crazy old guy with one eye that works at the dump. When I was a kid, we'd go to the dump, and I used to wish that I was that guy. So I decided that that should be Buddy."
Other artists who have drawn Buddy are
David Coulson, an
illustrator
An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...
friend of Bagge's, who drew a Bradleys story which appeared in ''
Weirdo'' #13 in 1985, and
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
artist
Guido Sieber, who drew three Buddy stories in 1998 for a German version of ''Hate'' called ''Kraß'' (Krass). In this story, Sieber moved the character from Seattle to Berlin.
Jim Blanchard was also credited as
Art Director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
and was credited alongside Bagge on the title pages on the last 15 issues of ''Hate''.
Fictional character biography
Neat Stuff
Buddy, born 1967, was raised in an unnamed suburb of
Passaic County, New Jersey
Passaic County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the population of Passaic County was enumerated at 524,118, an increase of 22,892 (4.6%) from t ...
in a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
family. As he became a
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
student he had frequent violent disagreements with his family as he tried to find independence and began to question their conservative values. He spent time with schoolfriends Tom and Kevin driving around getting stoned, although he became increasingly isolated from them too. In the story "Hippy House" from Neat Stuff #9 he mentions he believes he was considered the "school weirdo".
He also started spending an increasing amount of time in
second hand
Used goods mean any item of personal property offered for sale not as new, including metals in any form except coins that are legal tender, but excluding books, magazines, and postage stamps.
Risks
Furniture, in particular bedding or upholstere ...
record store
A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record shops sold the new formats that were ...
s, where he met Jay, an older role model whom Buddy admired, leading to him becoming interested in
1960s music
This article includes an overview of the events and trends in popular music in the 1960s.
In North America and Europe the decade was particularly revolutionary in terms of popular music, as it saw the evolution of rock music, rock and the begi ...
. After
graduation
Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is a ...
he became a small-time
drug dealer
A drug is any chemical substance
A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by ...
selling
marijuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
to friends and spending the money on
vinyl record
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...
s.
When his stash was stolen by two small children, Buddy abandoned his younger brother Butch in a 7-11 before wrecking his fathers car. Fearing his parents' wrath he was afraid to return home. At first he slept on a highly
polluted
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
beach.
Hate
Throughout most of the eighties, Buddy moved around the country with his high school friend Leonard "Stinky" Brown, moving around from
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
to
Hoboken
Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,69 ...
then to
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
, before setting out for the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
and ending up in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, moving into an
apartment
An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...
with the reclusive science fiction geek George. Buddy dated a depressed and somewhat insane girl named Lisa upon his arrival, but the pair stopped seeing each other after a while. Buddy got a job at a used
bookstore
Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...
. Visiting a
pool hall
A billiard, pool or snooker hall (or parlour, room or club; sometimes compounded as poolhall, poolroom, etc.) is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments commonly serve ...
with Stinky, he met Valerie and the pair began
dating
Dating is a stage of romantic relationships in which two individuals engage in an activity together, most often with the intention of evaluating each other's suitability as a partner in a future intimate relationship. It falls into the categor ...
. Buddy had concerns that Valerie may be too high class and intellectual for him. However the couple stayed together for some time, and it was Buddy's first serious
relationship, with him meeting Valerie's parents. Valerie's housemate turned out to be Lisa, who made frequent passes at Buddy and attempted to make him break up with Valerie. Buddy reacted angrily to this, literally dumping Lisa in a
trash can
A waste container, also known as a dustbin, garbage can, and trash can is a type of container that is usually made out of metal or plastic. The words "rubbish", "basket" and "bin" are more common in British English usage; "trash" and "can" a ...
.
Buddy managed a
teenage
Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...
rock band
A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...
, which became locally successful when Buddy convinced Stinky to be
lead singer
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...
. At the same time Buddy became distant from Valerie as he put more time into the band and she left him, going off with her boss to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. Buddy left his rock manager job when he had an argument with the band at the start of their first tour and went back to Seattle, while Stinky left for California and became a failed porn star.
He began a strange relationship with the mentally unstable Lisa, which led to him quitting his job at the bookstore. He then tried becoming a second hand
collectables
A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types of collectables and terms t ...
dealer, but ran into trouble with rival dealer and criminal Yahtzi Murphy making it difficult for him to work in that field in Seattle again.
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
A monster truck is a specialized off-road vehicle with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, large-displacement V8 engines and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock pic ...
to drive around in.
He reunited with Jay, who suggested they go into the
collectables
A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types of collectables and terms t ...
and
memorabilia
A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...
business together. They set up a
store in
Paterson, N.J., which was fairly successful, but Buddy challenged Jay over his erratic approach to
business
Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...
and his
drug habit, and ended up buying out Jay's share of the business, becoming the sole owner.
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
criminal
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...
acquaintances and neighbors.
Buddy moved into the backroom of his store when his mother moved to
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
with her new partner.
His relationship with Lisa got worse, as he was confused and angered by her
mood swing
A mood swing is an extreme or sudden change of mood. Such changes can play a positive part in promoting problem solving and in producing flexible forward planning, or be disruptive. When mood swings are severe, they may be categorized as par ...
s and erratic behaviour, having an unhelpful foray into
relationship counseling
Couples therapy (also couples' counseling, marriage counseling, or marriage therapy) attempts to improve romantic relationships and resolve interpersonal conflicts.
History
Marriage counseling originated in Germany in the 1920s as part of the eu ...
. Eventually Lisa left him for a
bi-sexual co-worker. Tracking her down with the help of Jay's girlfriend, Buddy found her living in an apartment in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. After going on a series of disastrous dates with other women, Buddy was reunited with a calmer,
medicated
A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and rel ...
Lisa and they had sex; he then helped her sneak away from her increasingly domineering girlfriend. At the end of Hate #30, Lisa revealed she was pregnant with Buddy's child, and when she was determined not to get an
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
he
married
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
her, rather than have his son being brought up by Lisa's family or put up for
adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...
.
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
tour guide
A tour guide (U.S.) or a tourist guide (European) is a person who provides assistance, information on cultural, historical and contemporary heritage to people on organized sightseeing and individual clients at educational establishments, religio ...
with Jay and tried being a
UPS
UPS or ups may refer to:
Companies and organizations
* United Parcel Service, an American shipping company
** The UPS Store, UPS subsidiary
** UPS Airlines, UPS subsidiary
* Underground Press Syndicate, later ''Alternative Press Syndicate'' or ...
delivery man
Delivery is the process of transporting goods from a source location to a predefined destination. Cargo (physical goods) is primarily delivered via roads and railroads on land, shipping lanes on the sea, and airline networks in the air. Cer ...
, but he resisted working with his former
nefarious friends and acquaintances. Moving to a house next to a
junk yard
Junk may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Junk'' (film), a 2000 Japanese horror film
* '' J-U-N-K'', a 1920 American film
* ''Junk'' (novel), by Melvin Burgess, 1996
* ''Junk'', a novel by Christopher Largen
Music Groups
* Junk (band), a ...
, he eventually went into business with Jay as a
scrap
Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap Waste valorization, has monetary ...
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
dealer. He shaved his hair off and started wearing an
eyepatch
An eyepatch is a small patch that is worn in front of one eye. It may be a cloth patch attached around the head by an elastic band or by a string, an adhesive bandage, or a plastic device which is clipped to a pair of glasses. It is often worn ...
and
sailor cap
A sailor cap is a round, flat visorless hat worn by sailors in many of the world's navies. A tally (cap), tally, an inscribed black silk ribbon, is tied around the base which usually bears the name of a ship or a navy. Many navies (e.g. Germany) ...
. He returned to Seattle with Lisa to visit her ailing parents, Lisa deciding to stay and sort out their affairs, so Buddy planned to return home to New Jersey with Harold and look after him on his own for a while.
Personality
Bagge has said the character is
semi-autobiographical
An autobiographical novel is a form of novel using autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fictive elements. The literary technique is distinguished from an autobiography or memoir by the stipulation of being fiction. Bec ...
, being a more bad-tempered,
aggressive
Aggression is overt or covert, often harmful, social interaction with the intention of inflicting damage or other harm upon another individual; although it can be channeled into creative and practical outlets for some. It may occur either reacti ...
and
pessimistic
Pessimism is a negative mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general. A common question asked to test for pessimism is "Is the glass half empt ...
version of himself.
[
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."]
In other media
In October 2009, Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
announced it had commissioned a script for a pilot of ''The Bradleys'' cartoon series. The script was to be written by Bagge and Matthew Lawton, who were also to be executive producers
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
along with Barry Katz
Barry Katz is a television producer, film producer and talent manager. He was the owner and founder of the Boston Comedy Club in New York City and helped launch the careers of many successful comedians, including Bill Burr, Dane Cook, Louis C.K ...
, Brian Volk-Weiss
Brian Volk-Weiss (born May 28, 1976) is an American film and television producer and director. He is the founder and current chief executive officer (CEO) of The Nacelle Company and its subsidiary company, Comedy Dynamics.
Volk-Weiss is the c ...
and Michael Pelmont.
The character appeared in a 2006 Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
television commercial for cellphone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
company Mo'Mad.
Collected volumes
The original Buddy Bradley stories have been collected in eight trade paperback volumes, published by Fantagraphics
Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint.
History
Founding
Fantagraphics was found ...
:
* ''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
{{Reflist
Fictional characters from New Jersey
Comics characters introduced in 1981
Culture of the Pacific Northwest
Child characters in comics
Male characters in comics
Fictional cannabis users
Fictional drug dealers
Fictional salespeople
American comics characters
de:Peter Bagge#Buddy Bradley