Everybody is Stupid Except for Me - 9781606991589

Fans of Peter Bagge's generation-defining, satirical fiction may notrealize this, but the cartoonist doubles as an opinionated cuss, andhas been contributing provocative (but still hilarious) comic-stripopinion pieces to Reason magazine for the last several years...finally collected in this volume.

Although a libertarian by inclination (hence the Reasongig), Bagge (who lives in the fuzzy-headed, liberal capital of theNorthwest, Seattle) is hardly dogmatic, and many of the piecesundermine traditional party lines in favor of a rather personal,rational and informed take on hot-button issues that will forcepartisan Democrats and Republicans alike to rethink them. And ofcourse, Bagge's well-researched comic strip “essays” crackle with thesame energy and wit that propelled him into the collective Gen Xconsciousness with his comic book series Hate.

Favorite topics include the erosion of our civil liberties (whetherthe post-9/11 Bush administration's gradual erosion of the Bill ofRights, the insanity of the war on drugs, or nanny-state meddling),ongoing boondoggles of the American public (for professional sportsstadiums or ineffective public transportation systems), the Iraq war(Bagge is vociferously against it), so-called art and so-calledentertainment, the homeless, the mall-ification of America, politiciansboth in general and in particular (including the 2008 presidential raceand a revelatory one-on-one with Republican not-so-hopeful Ron Paulthat soured Bagge on the candidate forever), the conservative/religiouswar on sex and drugs, and whether citizens should be allowed to ownbazookas. Each piece features the voluble Bagge himself front andcenter as the puzzled, indignant, or deeply conflictedeveryman-on-the-street trying to make sense of this 21st Century.

And of course, every panel is delineated in Bagge's glorious,laugh-out-loud stretchy 4-color cartoon style, making even hisdisquisitions on some very serious topics go down as smoothly as BuddyBradley's latest escapade. Nominated for a 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award (Best Humor Publication).