The pronunciation of cartoonist Peter Bagge‘s last name is ironic, since he somehow manages to make his characters on the paper page look as though they were made of plastic. Bagge has brought his malleable style to a variety of genres, from superhero to comedy to social commentary, often combining one or more elements. In his early days, Bagge even worked under the tutelage of comics legend Robert Crumb, and published his early strips in Crumb’s anthology Weirdo. In 1983, Crumb named Bagge editor of the magazine, a position he held for the next three years.Bagge is one of the few artists in comics to work for both independent and mainstream comics publishers. His early work for Fantagraphics, the series Neat Stuff and Hate, introduced both Bagge’s iconic characters the Bradleys as well as Bagge’s “elastic” style, which portrays typical alternative comics themes (such as the alienation of modern youth) in art which borrows from early Warner Brothers cartoons. (Read the rest of this story.)