The Bradleys Book

Before The Simpsons, there were The Bradleys. Meet the Bradleys, America's most dysfunctional family: Pops, Mom, Buddy, Babs and Butch Bradley. Yes, even more dysfunctional than the Simpsons, though it's no surprise that Groening has cited the Bradleys as an early influence on his hit TV show. The best-selling humor cartoonist of his generation, Bagge has been hailed as one of comics' great satirists along with James Thurber, Harvey Kurtzman, and R. Crumb, and the Bradleys remain his most enduring creation. Created during the 1980s while Bagge was also editing R. Crumb's Weirdo magazine, this family for the ages has its roots firmly planted in All In the Family's Bunker family and MAD magazine, with a healthy punk rock anger occasionally exploding.

Noted comic critic R. Fiore once described Bagge as "the outsider with the entertainer's instincts" in praising these strips. Trenchant, caustic, but always hilarious, Bagge never fails to temper his anger with some of the most acute characterization in comics. The Bradleys may be drawn in one of the most wildly cartoony styles in comics history, but they also feature the some of the most living and breathing charaters as well.

These comics went on to inspire Bagge's legendary Hate comic book series, featuring an out-of-the-nest Buddy Bradley living in early 1990s Seattle; the title became the Nevermind to Bagge's Nirvana and the burgeoning alternative comics movement, with over one million copies sold and worldwide publicity. Today, Bagge pursues a variety of projects, notably his Hate Annual for Fantagraphics, Sweatshop for DC Comics, and a series of satires for Marvel Comics. His first, The Megalomaniacal Spider-Man, sold out almost immediately upon release in 2002. His second, The Incorrigible Hulk, will be released this fall, timed with the DVD release of Ang Lee's sure-to-be blockbuster.