Fans of Peter Bagge's generation-defining, satirical fiction may not
realize this, but the cartoonist doubles as an opinionated cuss, and has
been contributing provocative (but still hilarious) comic-strip opinion
pieces to Reason magazine for the last several years...collected in
this volume. Although a libertarian by inclination, Bagge is hardly
dogmatic, and many of the pieces undermine traditional party lines in
favor of a personal, rational and informed take on hot-button issues
that will force partisan Democrats and Republicans alike to rethink
them. And of course, Bagge's well-researched comic strip "essays"
crackle with the same energy and wit that propelled him into the
collective Gen X consciousness with his comic book series Hate.
Favorite topics include the erosion of our civil liberties (whether the
post-9/11 Bush administration's gradual erosion of the Bill of Rights,
the insanity of the war on drugs, or nanny-state meddling), ongoing
boondoggles of the American public (for professional sports stadiums or
ineffective public transportation systems), the Iraq war, so-called art
and so-called entertainment, the homeless, politicians both in general
and in particular (including the 2008 presidential race and a revelatory
one-on-one with Republican not-so-hopeful Ron Paul), and whether
citizens should be allowed to own bazookas. Each piece features the
voluble Bagge himself front and center as the puzzled, indignant, or
deeply conflicted everyman-on-the-street trying to make sense of this
21st Century. And of course, every panel is delineated in Bagge's
glorious, laugh-out-loud stretchy 4-color cartoon style, making even his
disquisitions on some very serious topics go down as smoothly as Buddy
Bradley's latest escapade. BONUS: This new edition of the sold-out
Everybody Is Stupid features an extra 20 pages of
never-before-collected comics, including an epic biography of eccentric
libertarian (and Ayn Rand contemporary) Isabel Mary Paterson.
