In the 1990s Buddy became an iconic symbol of Seattle underground culture, with the character being associated with slackerdom and the grunge movement, something which his creator sees as fairly unintentional on his part.

Bagge had the character enact storylines based on events from his past, such as his family life, adolescence and his move to Seattle in the 1980s.

By his twenties he has not changed much, although he is rather more comfortable in his hipster persona, fitting into the Seattle grunge scene and listening to obscure rock music as proof of his hip credentials.

Buddy's appearance developed from early sketches until by the mid-1980s he had arrived at the recognisable figure with a black crop of hair covering his eyes with a bulbous nose and perpetually dressed in a flannel shirt and jeans.

Buddy has had two major romantic relationships, firstly with Valerie Russo, an upper middle class feminist, and then with the neurotic and troubled Lisa Leavenworth, who later becomes his wife and the mother of his son.

He recognised "what a great vehicle the Bradley's oldest son, Buddy, served as a way of re-telling stories from my own distant- and all too vivid - past.

Differences were the nose was originally hooked with flared nostrils and his floppy bangs were neater with individual strands of hair instead of being solid black.

He was always drawn with black scruffy hair covering his eyes, a large nose and dressed in sneakers, blue jeans and, until 1994, a checked flannel shirt.

In the early copies of Hate, Bagge began using cross-hatching extensively, so Buddy's face always had a dark, textured look.

When Bagge began employing a number of inkers and colorists after issue #14, the style returned to much cleaner, simpler-lined characters like in Neat Stuff, although they were more exaggerated in facial features and the body shape of Buddy became less angular with more rounded, spaghetti-like limbs.

When he was angry Buddy would be drawn with jagged, fang-like teeth, a large gaping mouth and huge bulging eyes, with steam rising from his head.

In 2004, for Hate Annual #5, Bagge started drawing Buddy with a shaved head, wearing a sailor's hat and an eyepatch.

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 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 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 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 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.

The script was to be written by Bagge and Matthew Lawton, who were also to be executive producers along with Barry Katz, Brian Volk-Weiss and Michael Pelmont.

The stories have been collected in a single volume trade paperback, Buddy Buys A Dump, which includes a new story written especially for this volume, in which Buddy sells his share of the scrap metal business to Jay, and with Harold in tow, moves back to Seattle to help Lisa settle her ailing parents' affairs.