The Wacky World of Ken Weiner / The Wacky World of Peter Bagge #[nn]
The Wacky World of Peter Bagge / Ken Weiner (1982) is a self-published flipbook that captures Peter Bagge at his most raw and collaborative, bridging his work on the punk-scene tabloid Comical Funnies and his breakthrough Fantagraphics run on Neat Stuff. As one of the very few standalone objects from Bagge's pre-Weirdo-editor period, it documents the early visual language — exaggerated expressions, anarchic humor, underground sensibility — that would mature into the Bradley family sagas and ultimately Hate. The flipbook format, with each creator claiming one half, also reflects the DIY self-publishing ethos of the early-1980s New York alternative comics scene that incubated Bagge's entire career.
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Peter Bagge and Ken Weiner (who later changed his name to Ken Avidor after relocating to Minnesota in 1986) were colleagues in the New York underground comics milieu, both contributing to publications such as Screw, Stop, and Comical Funnies. Weiner was art-directing Screw at the time, and the two self-published this flipbook in 1982 — a single print run, black-and-white, adults-only — as a joint showcase for their individual work. Bagge later noted in interviews that the Wacky World collaboration was a direct predecessor to projects he pitched to Fantagraphics in the early/mid-1980s, some of which eventually fed material into Neat Stuff.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published in 1982 as a self-published, black-and-white flipbook with one printing; each half of the book is devoted to one creator's work (Peter Bagge on one side, Ken Weiner on the other).
- Co-creators are Peter Bagge and Ken Weiner; Ken Weiner subsequently changed his professional name to Ken Avidor after moving to Minnesota in 1986.
- The book is rated adults-only and falls within the underground/humor/satire tradition of early-1980s New York alternative comix.
- Characters indexed — including Buddy Bradley, Babs Bradley, Betty Bradley, Brad Bradley, Butch Bradley, Junior, Studs Kirby, and The Goon on the Moon — represent the roster Bagge developed across his early-1980s publications; however, the Bradley family's documented first appearance is in Comical Funnies (1980–81), predating this flipbook.
- Junior made his debut even earlier, in the East Village Eye in 1980, also before this flipbook.
- Studs Kirby and The Goon on the Moon are most prominently associated with Neat Stuff (1985–89); their specific appearances in Wacky World versus Neat Stuff as first appearances cannot be confirmed from available online sources.
- A strip titled 'The Wacky World of Ken Weiner and Peter Bagge' (subtitled 'Sour Grapes') appeared in Weirdo #12, edited by Bagge, suggesting at least one piece of Wacky World-branded material was published or reprinted in that anthology context.
- No known collected reprints of the flipbook have been identified; it remains a one-shot self-published item with no documented trade paperback or digital edition.