''Neat Stuff'' is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (Kamen Rider), Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an altern ...

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

series created by

Peter Bagge Peter Bagge (pronounced , as in ''bag''; born December 11, 1957) is an American cartoonist whose best-known work includes the comics ''Neat Stuff'' and ''Hate (comics), Hate''. His stories often use black humor and exaggerated cartooning to drama ...

and published by

Fantagraphics Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...

. It ran from 1985 to 1989 for fifteen issues. Most takes the form of a series of short stories featuring different sets of characters, although some issues feature full-length stories relating to just one set of characters. The series was Bagge's first one-man comics anthology. Described by

Dez Skinn Derek Graham "Dez" Skinn (born 4 February 1951) Miller, John Jackson"Comics Industry Birthdays" ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', 10 June 2005. Accessed 14 August 2010WebCitation archive is a British comic and magazine editor, and author of a number of ...

in ''Comix: The Underground Revolution'' as the work which "threw Peter Bagge into the limelight", Bagge soon retired the title in preference of continuing the Bradley characters' story in ''

Hate Hatred or hate is an intense negative emotional response towards certain people, things or ideas, usually related to opposition or revulsion toward something. Hatred is often associated with intense feelings of anger, contempt, and disgust. Ha ...

''.Skinn, Dez. (2004) ''Comix: The Underground Revolution'',

Collins & Brown HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the " Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster. HarperCollins is h ...

, p. 250. ''Neat Stuffs contents were collected in four books: ''The Bradleys'', ''Studs Kirby'', ''Junior and Other Losers'', and ''Stupid Comics''. Fantagraphics reprinted all fifteen issues in 2016 in a two-volume hardcover collection.

Characters

* Girly Girl - a grinning, leering, rambunctious young troublemaker who found humor in dead animals, festering sores and clobbering child psychologists with baseball bats. True to form, her first strip appearance ended with her being squashed underfoot by her unseen "biggest fan". * Chuckie-boy - Girly Girl's brother or best friend (their respective roles are never clearly defined) and the target for most of her bizarre, violent slapstick pranks. * Studs Kirby - a ranting, reactionary talk radio presenter who lives in the past (his favourite singers are Brenda Lee and Doris Day), gets drunk a lot, bends the ears of his friends with his ill-informed, prejudiced opinions and begins an escalating hate campaign against his former hero, fellow talk show host Mel Pratt, which becomes an all-out ego war. * Junior - a hulking, lantern-jawed and wimp social inadequate in a horrible plaid suit who still lives with his doting mother and seems terrified of the outside world. * The Goon On The Moon - as his name suggests, a friendless loser who lives on the moon. * Chet and Bunny Leeway - a young couple who seem increasingly dissatisfied with their tedious lives and isolated from the world around them. * The Bradleys - a spoof soap opera featuring a

dysfunctional family In psychology, abnormality (also dysfunctional behavior, maladaptive behavior, or deviant behavior) is a behavioral characteristic assigned to those with conditions that are regarded as dysfunctional. Behavior is considered to be abnormal when i ...

, apparently based on Bagge's own family. Brad Bradley, the father, is an overweight, perpetually complaining slob and Betty Bradley, the mother, is a God-fearing, occasionally foul-tempered 'woman of the eighties', whilst their children, Butch (a gullible, war-mad pre-teen), Babs (a plain, self-absorbed teenage girl with retainers on her teeth) and

Buddy Buddy may refer to: People *Buddy (nickname) *Buddy (rapper), real name Simmie Sims III (1993–Present) * Buddy Cage (1946–2020), American pedal steel guitarist, member of the New Riders of the Purple Sage *Buddy Holly (1936–1959), artistic ...

(a retro music-loving slacker) alternate between fighting each other and their own parents. Bagge would continue with these characters and story line in his later title ''

''. After the popularity of Hate, the Bradleys stories from Neat Stuff would be collected and reprinted in their own comic mini-series entitled The Bradleys. * Zoove Groover a manufactured and over-hyped new

pop star A pop icon is a celebrity, character, or object whose exposure in popular culture is regarded as constituting a defining characteristic of a given society or era. The usage of the term is largely subjective since there are no definitively object ...

References

Fantagraphics titles 1985 comics debuts Humor comics Satirical comics {{comics-stub