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FOUR COLOR REWIND™ – 90s Redux!

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Written and drawn by underground/alternative cartoonist Peter Bagge in 1993, HATE #8 really takes me back. Wow, the 90s! Please forgive me but… WOW! That’s back when commercial rap music could mean anything from MC Hammer to Public Enemy to Guru and Jazzmatazz. American cartoons made a comeback through television series such as Animanics, Batman and The Simpsons; as well as theatrical releases like Beauty and the Beast.

I had personally reached a certain level of uh, let’s say  “life experience” to understand the more abstract aspects of the 70s Underground Comics by the likes of Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton and S. Clay Wilson. Image Comics– spearheaded by Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Marc Silvestri, Jim Valentino, Erik Larsen and Todd McFarlane– was the company shaking up the mainstream Superhero Comics industry. And, getting to the point of this review– Grunge/Alternative Rock Music was invading mainstream pop culture in a big way. Peter Bagge, along with a handful of other artists, were peeking in on the phenomenon.

Hailing from the New York /New Jersey suburbs, Bagge lived in Seattle during the late 80s/early 90s and was actually friends with some of the people at Sub Pop Records (the original home of Soundgarden, Nirvana and others). Bagge was reportedly at ground zero for this trend and even drew the covers for several Seattle-based bands’ singles and albums.

After his anthology Neat Stuff was cancelled, Peter started Hate for Fantagraphics Comics. The writer/artist used one of the features he created for the former comic series– a slice of life about a dysfunctional family called The Bradleys– as the centerpiece for Hate.

The comic chronicles the adventures/friendships of the Bradleys’ cynical oldest son Buddy and his roommates Stinky & George… Plus his romances with Val and crazy girl Lisa.

In Part One of “Follow That Dream”, Buddy (after being prodded by girlfriend Val) stumbles on an opportunity to manage a young band that’s going nowhere fast. Buddy joins Stinky as co-manager, even though he thinks the group is awful. Still he sees the quartet (band members are Kurt, Kurt, Kurt and Greg) as a chance to relieve him from some of his malaise and make a few dollars. Stinky is a terrible manager (once he was so high, he accepted a diseased cat as payment for a gig). Despite the odds, Buddy succeeds in getting the band real money. His efforts don’t really seem to make that big of an impression though, as the band members’ main obsessions appear to be drinking beer and changing the group’s name for every gig.

It’s a great running gag– as Bagge uses the titles of several underground/alternative comics for the different band names. There’s even a shout out to future Image Comics head Larry Marder and his classic comic Tales of the Beanworld.

SPOILER ALERT: The issue ends with the band’s old singer quitting to go into teaching and Stinky making his debut as the rock band’s new front man.

Peter Bagge’s writing for Hate #8 is smart, cynical and funny. Still, I might have a slight bias: When this comic was originally published, I was living a similar lifestyle to that of the main characters. My friends and I would drive to rock shows and actively debate the merits of Iggy Pop’s Stooges work versus his “comeback” with Cry For Love. When we weren’t at gigs, we’d listen to music and consume mass quantities of beer. Bias aside, the plot in this issue is tight and fast moving. Although this is a comedy title, the events seem plausible in context. The characters are distinct and well rounded. Their dialogue sounds real. The humor is based on personalities and situations. Seldom are there arbitrary one-liners or gags for gags’ sake.

Peter’s art is, well… PETER’S ART. It’s crazy, exaggerated and perfectly suits the subject matter. It’s black and white, but Bagge’s excellent use of cross hatching and shading gives the visuals enough depth and weight that any reader shouldn’t feel like they are missing anything without color. To be blunt, I’ve seen some of Bagge’s color work for DC Comics from a few years ago and I prefer his grittier B&W stuff. His art isn’t exactly pretty, but it is one-of-a-kind and very funny. His characters are all big noses, crazy hairdos, beady eyes and comic imperfections. (When was the last time you saw one of today’s “realistic artists” draw someone with acne scars?) To prove Bagge’s uniqueness: I cannot think of just one individual artist that his work reminds me of. His style brings to mind EVERYTHING and EVERYONE from Crumb to Mad Magazine’s Don Martin, to Cracked Magazine, to Shelton’s The Fabulous Furry Freak Bros to Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s Ratfink.

I was always just a little surprised that Bagge, the Hernandez Bros and a few others from that group of artists weren’t bigger names during the mid-90s. Sure, they were all popular and some of them had much success in the commercial art field. (Daniel Clowes even got his Ghost World and Eightball’s Art School Confidential made into films.) But I thought they should have been massive for their COMICS! Bagge, like many of these creators, was getting write-ups in hip magazines like Rolling Stone and Spin. They seemed directly plugged into the zeitgeist… Yet maybe their publishers weren’t savvy enough to take them to the next level with a wider audience. (Most likely, best explored in-depth as another subject for another time.)

I’m Steve Ditko and I want you decadent freak, beatnik hippie punks to cut your god-blessed hair and get a job. Just kidding. I’m Ed. I just wrote that because Steve Ditko is notorious for two things; not giving interviews and not liking hippies. And I’m not sure this Shade comic– written by Peter Milligan with art by Chris Bachalo, Rick Bryant and Glyn Dillon– is the kind of book he would approve of.

This Vertigo title re-imagines Steve Ditko’s late 70s creation. For people who don’t know, Steve Ditko is also the co-creator of Spider-man and Dr. Strange. He drew a couple early issues of The Incredible Hulk. He created the Ted Kord Blue Beetle and Question for Charlton Comics, as well as the Creeper and Hawk & Dove for DC Comics.

Shade The Changing Man #38 finds the early 90s version of Ditko’s Shade character deep in brand new continuity– on a road trip with a couple of young ladies named Kathy and Lenny. The story highlights various conflicting ideas then plaguing contemporary America, including questioning authority and exploring alternative lifestyles like bi-sexuality.

This issue begins with a fey novelist named Miles attempting to write a story about a young man on a journey of self discovery. We soon learn that the novelist is staying at a hotel with Lenny, Kathy and Shade. Miles seems to be infatuated with Lenny– who he sees as some kind of free-wheeling, anything goes sort of character. Interestingly, she represents this both in Miles imagination and in the actual comic book we are reading.

Then a young man suffers a strange death (possibly a suicide) that unnerves everyone.  As the story progresses, the writer goes back to his room to write and we discover that Shade has been overpowered by his “evil twin brother”– and is being held captive in a pond behind the hotel. The evil twin has taken Shade’s place and although his friends are suspicious of the doppleganger’s unusually overt acts of kindness– they haven’t quite caught onto the switch yet.

Trapped in the pond, Shade starts seeing figments of his imagination from the “madness vest”… Visions that may– or may not– give him strength to fight his imprisonment.

SPOILER ALERT: This issue ends with the normally carefree Lenny writing the words “It’s not funny anymore” on a bathroom mirror and being found face down in the pond outside.

Although I was aware of this comic while it was being published, I was not a regular follower. I have never read the issues directly before or after #38. Reading this tale  isolated from the rest of the arc, I felt it wasn’t bad. I wouldn’t say I’m compelled but I am slightly intrigued to find out what happens next in the story. This issue has nice characterization and enough plot to make it worthwhile. The art is interesting. This was back in the day when Chris Bachalo’s art was more representational… Just moody and naturalistic enough to fit the story. The Rick Bryant pages are “OK” but I’m dismayed that they contain direct swipes from Jaimie Hernandez’s Love and Rockets work.

Some of the advertisements are interesting. Most of them are for other Vertigo comics. Sandman Mystery Theatre is fondly remembered by some fans. There’s an ad for Jonah Hex Two Gun Mojo. An advertisement for The Enigma, originally to be published as a Disney Comic– until the corporation shut down its comic book branch (again). Considering the material’s sexual subtext, The Enigma was going to be a surprise entry coming from the “House of Mouse”. There are also rock music ads featuring industrial band Front 424 and heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne.

I think these ads give a fair idea of the audience DC and various ad agencies thought this comic book might be reaching. It’s an interesting and different mix– especially when one compares it to the candy and x-ray spec ads a reader might have seen in a Superman comic just 10 years earlier. Finally, in the middle of the book, sits an advertisement for Six Flags Amusement Park– only odd because it is in the middle of all this “alternative” content.

Shade #38 was not an amazing read, but it was interesting.

Now you goth punks get outta my yard before I call the cops!

-ed2962

You can often find ed2962 on Inveterate Media Junkies
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