Neat Stuff Buddy, born 1967, was raised in an unnamed suburb of
Passaic County, New Jersey in a
Roman Catholic family. As he became a
high school student he had frequent violent disagreements with his family as he tried to find independence and began to question their conservative values. He spent time with schoolfriends Tom and Kevin driving around getting stoned, although he became increasingly isolated from them too. In the story "Hippy House" from
Neat Stuff #9 he mentions he believes he was considered the "school weirdo". He also started spending an increasing amount of time in
second hand record stores, where he met Jay, an older role model whom Buddy admired, leading to him becoming interested in
1960s music. After
graduation he became a small-time
drug dealer selling
marijuana to friends and spending the money on
vinyl records. When his stash was stolen by two small children, Buddy abandoned his younger brother Butch in a
7-Eleven before wrecking his fathers car. Fearing his parents' wrath he was afraid to return home. At first he slept on a highly
polluted beach.
Hate Throughout most of the Eighties, Buddy moved around the country with his high school friend Leonard "Stinky" Brown, moving around from
Brooklyn to
Hoboken then to
Minneapolis, before setting out for the
West Coast and ending up in
Seattle, moving into an
apartment with the reclusive science fiction geek George. Buddy dated a depressed and somewhat insane girl named Lisa upon his arrival, but the pair stopped seeing each other after a while. Buddy got a job at a used
bookstore. Visiting a
pool hall with Stinky, he met Valerie and the pair began
dating. Buddy had concerns that Valerie may be too high class and intellectual for him. However the couple stayed together for some time, and it was Buddy's first serious
relationship, with him meeting Valerie's parents. Valerie's housemate turned out to be Lisa, who made frequent passes at Buddy and attempted to make him break up with Valerie. Buddy reacted angrily to this, literally dumping Lisa in a
trash can. Buddy managed a
teenage rock band, which became locally successful when Buddy convinced Stinky to be
lead singer. At the same time Buddy became distant from Valerie as he put more time into the band and she left him, going off with her boss to
Paris. Buddy left his rock manager job when he had an argument with the band at the start of their first tour and went back to Seattle, while Stinky left for California and became a failed porn star. He began a strange relationship with the mentally unstable Lisa, which led to him quitting his job at the bookstore. He then tried becoming a second-hand
collectables dealer, but ran into trouble with rival dealer and criminal Yahtzi Murphy, making it difficult for him to work in that field in Seattle again. With his apartment becoming increasingly crowded and scared of reprisals from Murphy, Buddy returned to his parents in Jersey with Lisa following. Buddy bought a second hand
monster truck to drive around in. He reunited with Jay, who suggested they go into the
collectables and
memorabilia business together. They set up a
store in
Paterson, New Jersey, which was fairly successful, but Buddy challenged Jay over his erratic approach to
business and his
drug habit, and ended up buying out Jay's share of the business, becoming the sole owner. In
Hate #22 Buddy's father was hit by a truck and died instantly. His mother started dating another man and was never around the house, meaning the Bradley family home was taken over by his
criminal acquaintances and neighbors. Buddy moved into the back room of his store when his mother moved to
Florida with her new partner. His relationship with Lisa got worse, as he was confused and angered by her
mood swings and erratic behaviour, having an unhelpful foray into
relationship counseling. Eventually Lisa left him for a
bi-sexual co-worker. Tracking her down with the help of Jay's girlfriend, Buddy found her living in an apartment in
New York City. After going on a series of disastrous dates with other women, Buddy was reunited with a calmer,
medicated Lisa and they had sex; he then helped her sneak away from her increasingly domineering girlfriend. At the end of
Hate #30, Lisa revealed she was pregnant with Buddy's child, and when she was determined not to get an
abortion he
married her rather than have his son being brought up by Lisa's family or put up for
adoption.
Hate Annual At the start of the
Hate Annuals, Buddy was still in New Jersey with his and Lisa's baby Harold, running his collectables business and selling things on the growing internet. He was making a good living at it but was bored and felt stuck in a rut. He tried finding a different career, considered becoming a
tour guide with Jay and tried being a
UPS delivery man, but he resisted working with his former nefarious friends and acquaintances. Moving to a house next to a
junk yard, he eventually went into business with Jay as a
scrap metal dealer. He shaved off his hair and started wearing an
eyepatch and
sailor cap. He returned to Seattle with Lisa to visit her ailing parents, Lisa deciding to stay and sort out their affairs, so Buddy planned to return home to New Jersey with Harold and look after him on his own for a while. ==Personality==