Finally, my big chance to read all the Hate stuff in a row. Is it as groundbreaking as everybody seems to think it is? How about just being one of the best series ever? After reading the first of the collected Hate volumes, I have to say… not really.
That’s doesn’t mean that this series is bad or hard to read in any way. And, to be fair, it’s a little presumptuous of me to say that all the hype is unwarranted after reading only one book. If my opinion changes on that point during my reading, believe me, you’ll be the first to know. I have no problem admitting that I’m wrong on something, and this will be no exception. But I’m judging this series by what the first book has to offer, and it’s only mediocre. Tales in this book: introduction to Buddy, getting to know his roommate George Hamilton III, dealing with his girlfriend, tolerating a visit from his brother Butch, and Buddy dealing with his girlfriend’s trendy friends. An enjoyable book, but he hadn’t really found his rhythm here yet. Which is hard to figure, because he had been doing great work for years before this came out in Neat Stuff and Weirdo. He had never really dealt with continuing characters before though… no, Buddy’s family is in Neat Stuff a lot. I don’t know, OK? It was strange to see Lisa and Valerie develop after knowing what they all go through in the course of the series though.
This is officially impossible to review. I feel like I’m reviewing the first five pages of a novel. And I still don’t know how I should be reviewing this: looking it as the groundbreaking series that changed comics forever, or by trying to ignore the historical impact this series had on everything and just trying to take it on its own. From now on, I think, I’m going to try to just take it as it is, not for what it did for the rest of comics. As for the historical side, and I’m only going to address this now, I still don’t see how this comic could be the main one that a lot of people tried to emulate. It’s a good series, even a much better than good series, but it’s not the “bees knees”, as the kids say. Or at least as they used to say about 60 years ago. Anyway, bottom line, don’t buy this book until you read some of the other ones that are much better. Which ones are much better? Keep reading these reviews, you’ll see…
