For fans of Peter Bagge (b. 1957) and his bracing satirical writing and
drawing, this collection offers a perfect means to track how he
describes his career choices, work habits, preoccupations, and comedic
sensibility since the 1980s. Featuring a new interview and much
previously unavailable material, this book delivers insightful,
occasionally gossipy, sometimes funny, and often tart conversations. His
career has intersected with the modern history of comics, from
underground comix and indie comics to comics journalism and graphic
nonfiction.
Bagge's detailed, garrulous, and often grotesquely funny (and
discomfiting) work harks back to the underground generation, recalling
Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton, while also pointing forward to the
emergence of alternative comics as a distinct genre. His signature
series, the rawly humorous Hate (1990-1998) and his editorship
(1983-1986) of the often outrageous Weirdo magazine, founded by Crumb,
established Bagge as a leading voice in alternative comics, and his
rude, wildly expressive cartooning makes him a counterpoint to the still
introspection of recent literary graphic novels.
In his career over three decades, Bagge has left his mark on various
formats and genres, as a prolific cartoonist, an accomplished musician,
and a sometime essayist, editor, and animator. While his creative output
encompasses autobiographical comics, graphic nonfiction, magazine
illustrations, gag cartoons, minicomics, political commentary, superhero
parodies, comic strips, animated videos, and one-page humor pieces,
Bagge stands out for creating continuity-based graphic stories that
revolve around sharply defined, over-the-top fictional characters.
Libertarians know him for his comics journalism, as his graphic
biography of Margaret Sanger in 2013 reaches new audiences. While some
have lazily branded Bagge as a grunge-era visual satirist, his creative
restlessness and expanding body of work make it difficult to confine him
within any single genre, cultural niche, or historical moment.
