Peter Bagge, along with the Hernandez brothers and Daniel Clowes, is one of the primary architects of the alternative comics genre that exploded in the 1980s and 1990s. His compelling and best-selling comic book series
Hate chronicled the exploits of Buddy Bradley and his gang of lovable losers through the rise and fall of the grunge era, and beyond. Going beyond mere satire, Bagge's observations helped fashion the aesthetics and attitudes of the only significant youth movement to emerge from the Pacific Northwest. A contemporary review by Bruce Barcott in the
Seattle Weekly stated, "Twenty years from now, when people want to know what it was like to be young in 1990s Seattle, the only record we'll have is Peter Bagge's
Hate."
The Complete Hate is a new paperback series that includes the original 30-issue run from 1990-1998, the nine subsequent Hate Annuals, and tons of other Hate-related comics, illustrations, and ephemera created for books, magazines, comics, toys, and other merchandise. Bagge combined his cartoony drawing style with uncomfortably real Gen X characters, and the comic books resonated with readers. Vol. 1 collects the first major arc of the series, (Hate 1-15), focusing on young Buddy Bradley's travails in early 1990s Seattle, with a lengthy introduction by Bagge. Each volume contains new covers, endpapers, title pages, and other surprises by the author.
