Hate

Peter Bagge’s Hate (1990–1998, Fantagraphics) is a landmark 30-issue series of slacker-era satire, following the perpetually frustrated Buddy Bradley as he navigates dead-end jobs, chaotic roommates, and the absurdities of early-’90s Seattle subculture. Bagge’s signature jagged, rubbery art—often inked with help from Electrolux Dumfuck—turns the everyday mishaps of Buddy, his girlfriend Lisa Leavenworth, and the insufferable Stinky Brown into cringe-comedy gold. A defining work of alternative comics, Hate captured the aimless energy of Generation X with a sharp, unsparing eye, cementing Bagge as a chronicler of the mundane horrors of young adulthood.