Sweatshop


By Peter Bagge with Stephen DeStefano, Bill Wray, Stephanie Gladden, Jim Blanchard, Johnny Ryan & Joanne Bagge (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-812-0

More generally known for his compulsively challenging (I so loathe that word “alternative”) strip material for mature audiences, cartooning legend Peter Bagge (Neat Stuff, Hate, Buddy Bradley, Everybody is Stupid Except for Me and Other Astute Observations) once found himself courted by the highest echelons of the comicbook mainstream and it resulted in two extremely different but delightfully enjoyable comedy ventures.

As he explains in his trenchant Afterword ‘Sweatshop: The Whys and What Fors’, forward-looking DC editor Joey Cavalieri accidentally oversaw the release of two overwhelmingly successful graphic novels – Bizarro Comics and Bizarro World – crafted by a host of Indie cartoonists and was asked/allowed to follow up the venture with something else in the same vein.

Bagge and Gilbert Hernandez had previously put together an intriguing and manically enticing, all-ages cartoon romp for the grievously underserved juvenile girls market (see Yeah!) for mainstream industry leader DC under their WildStorm imprint, and the company wanted to have another go.

Unable to commit to the punishing deadlines of a monthly comicbook solo, the cartoonist created his own sweatshop team to equitably distribute the workload and – after more dithering, ducking and diving – the saga of aging and indolent strip veteran Mel Bowling was born…

Naturally the feature was not what DC expected and the series was cancelled after #2, but due to the time lag involved, by then a full half dozen issues were completed. As with Yeah!, the compiled tales have now found their true spiritual home in these more enlightened graphic times as a sparky, spunky full-colour paperback collection from Fantagraphics, so you can at last profit from DC’s errors…

The premise is wickedly simple: Mel is the creator of successful family strip Freddy Ferret and officially has been for decades. However, with such an icon securely established, the crusty curmudgeon no longer does anything himself but “oversees” a studio of pathetic young hopefuls, doing their time and paying their dues before fame inevitably catches up with them all.

Acting as office manager and long-suffering interface between the modern world and the reactionary living fossil is Mel’s beleaguered spinster sister Millie who tries to keep the ship steady whilst the “creator” sits on his duff dreaming up increasingly more awful catch phrases and commissioning merchandising tat…

Scripted throughout by Bagge and coloured by his long-time collaborator and wife Joanne, the wryly seditious insider hilarity commences with the news that Mel has at last been nominated for a prestigious industry award. Pencil artist and closet superhero fanboy Alfred Post, creepily abrasive loner inker Nick Calamari and shy, quirky letterer Carrie cannot believe the trash they’ve been generating has garnered enough support for a Ham Fisher Prize but Millie is harbouring a secret.

Fed up with her brother’s annual carping and bitching, she’s pulled a few duplicitous strings to get him on the shortlist, but as far as the kids are concerned it’s a disaster: Mel was always appallingly mean when he wasn’t nominated, but now that he could actually lose something he’s never won and always wanted, they communally dread the next month…

Mel is gloating in advance, convinced he’s finally going to get one over on cartoon competitor and golf rival Wayne Goodman but the night of the ‘The “Hammies”’ (illustrated by Bagge) proves to be the train-wreck everybody – except Mel – expected… ‘The New Recruit’ (drawn by Stephen DeStefano) then introduces freshly hired gag writer Elliot: a hip ‘n’ cool, radical lefty wannabe who’s only killing time until his dope new strip Word Up! hits big.

Sadly the vegan newcomer’s ideals and stomach take a major hit after Mel treats his team to lunch at The King’s Trough – the nastiest old-school burger bar in town – where Mel’s effusive views on race and youth kill what’s left of Elliot’s appetite…

The tale is complemented by a trio of shorts illustrated from Bill Wray disclosing the efforts of the unsung juniors in ‘The New Guy’ (by Nick),‘Carrie’s Comic Diary 6/10’ and Alfred’s costumed crusader ‘The Peerless Penciller’…

Bagge & Wray then collaborate on ‘A Traitor in Our Midst’ as Nick starts disseminating cruel spoofs of Freddy Ferret and blames Elliot when Mel finds them. Typically, the fallout is not at all what the creepy inker anticipated…

DeStefano & Wray then delineate ‘Carrie’s Time’ as the letterer’s Indie diary strip is optioned for an animation show. Mel’s jealous interference at first seems selfish but there’s a few surprises in store for everybody concerned, after which Wray solos on ‘Carrie’s Comic Diary Storyboards’, detailing why this particular show was never going to fly…

‘Behold, the Peerless Penciller’ (DeStefano art) then focuses on shy, retiring Alfred as Millie encourages him to follow his superhero dreams: even self-publishing his comicbook for him. Following a hilarious cameo from Charles Burns the depressed kid listens to the wrong advice and tries to change his beloved Fights ‘n’ Tights style to chase the Manga comics dragon…

‘Millie the Enabler’ (drawn by Stephanie Gladden and inked by Jim Blanchard) then reveals the pressure the unappreciated sister is under as a romantic interest enters her life. Mel’s constant neediness almost scuppers the relationship until Carrie offers to pinch hit for her…

This chapter is accompanied by a page of “Alfred’s” manga doodles courtesy of that man Wray…

Johnny Ryan joins the team to illustrate ‘The Wrong Dates’ after Elliot correctly assesses his male co-workers as virgins and Carrie decides to help the unlovely – and possibly unlovable – comic geeks out by arranging meetings with some of her unattached female friends.

‘Freddy Gets “Edgy”’ (Gladden & Blanchard) finds Elliot at last a published strip cartoonist, prompting Mel to consider updating the ever-unchanging Ferret. First though he’s going to hire a focus group to evaluate the proposed changes…

‘A Convention to Remember’ is an all-Bagge affair as Mel is gulled into attending a Comics Expo. He was told he was to be Guest of Honour, but the organisers never said he would be the only one…

Drowning amidst a sea of nerds, pimples, body-odour, desperation and fanaticism, the sweatshop team individually experience their private hells (meek Alfred adopted by a sexy fan chick, Carrie finding her very own stalker and Nick having to talk to people) until somebody suggests setting Neil Gaiman’s pants on fire…

In ‘I Have No Son!’ (illustrated by Ryan), the salutary glimpses into our magic universe come to a close when the kids discover the grotesque bum regularly dumpster-diving outside the studio has a personal connection to Mel. However, there’s far more going on than meets the eye – or the nostrils – and a distressing reunion leads to soft-hearted Carrie befriending the bum’s mum in ‘The Ex’ (Gladden & Blanchard).

Before too long she knows why Mel divorced her…

A wicked cruel “Nick Calamari” sidebar (by Wray again) details ‘It’s the Adventures of… The Meddler starring Miss Carrie Big Buttinsky’ and the gloriously baroque carton Commedia dell’arte concludes with ‘Mel + Irene’s First Date’ (Gladden & Blanchard) which harks back to Spring 1973 when a shy, aspiring cartoonist made the rather rash move that started his little empire going…

Barbed, raucous and superbly outrageous, this marvellous warts-and-all comedic comics-industry expose is an ideal object and object lesson for everyone who ever considered indulging in the funniest of funny businesses.
© 2015 Peter Bagge. This edition © 2015 Fantagraphics Books Inc.