Explicit Warning! This episode contains strong language and is recommended for mature listeners.
For the last episode of 2020, we segue seamlessly from Bucky Barnes to another iconic comics antihero, Buddy Bradley, with a discussion of five stories featuring the Bradley clan from Peter Bagge’s 1980s anthology Neat Stuff, published by Fantagraphics Books!
Specifically, we dive deep into “Rock ‘n’ Roll Refugee,” “Mom Power,” “Sneakin’ a Peek at Babs Bradley’s Secret Diary,” “Hippy House,” and “Merry F—king Christmas.” (A sixth story that was announced last episode, “You’re Not the Boss of Me,” was cut for time.)
In these stories and others, Bagge presents a typical ’80s suburban family in all its dysfunctional glory, laying the groundwork for the likes of Married … With Children and The Simpsons.
But Bagge balances the caustic family dynamics with faithful depictions of the teenage experience and explorations of such issues as religion and the plight of the working suburban mom, employing a wonderfully expressive and exaggerated cartooning style influenced by MAD Magazine and Looney Tunes shorts, among others.
Will Buddy ever stop being such an a—hole? And will the Bradleys be invited into that nuclear family known as … The Comics Canon?
In This Episode:
- The provenance of Duran Duran’s “A View to a Kill”
- Kevin’s Uncle Ben moment
- The best-ever description of Boone’s Farm
- All in the Family
- The Complete Hate
- Our Eltingville Club episode
- Peter Bagge’s recent graphic novel biographies
- Peepshow: The Cartoon Diary of Joe Matt
Join us in two weeks as we begin 2021 with one of the best-reviewed comics of 2020: Superman Smashes the Klan!
Until then:
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And as always, thanks for listening!