Buddy Bites the Bullet: Hate Col Vol. 6 (HATE TP) - Softcover

In the final collection of Bagge's comix magazine Hate, aging slacker Buddy Bradley is dragged kicking and screaming into adulthood. For the past 15 years, Bagge has chronicled Buddy's wasted life, from alienated high-schooler to directionless Gen-Xer to the not altogether clueless figure of recent stories. The real world rears its ugly head as Buddy begins taking his down-at-the-heels "collectibles" shop seriously, enters the weird, degrading world of adult dating, and faces matrimony ("It's not like I had anything better to do"). Long-departed characters, such as Buddy's ex-girlfriend Valerie and reclusive ex-roommate George, return for curtain calls, and the series has its closest brush ever with seriousness when one of Buddy's pals meets a sudden, violent demise. Bagge's wildly rubbery, "bigfoot" drawing style remains his stock-in-trade in these full-color stories. Hate , one of the most commercially successful alternative comics titles, may be no more, but bet that its cast will resurface in other venues. Gordon Flagg
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[A] real filmic tone to it...think Clerks meets Dazed and Confused and you're some way there. -- Mark Robertson, The List, 13 December 2001