BUBBA THE REDNECK WEREWOLF
30th Anniversary Comic

Coming Soon to Amazon! (And benefitting a great cause.)

BUBBA THE REDNECK WEREWOLF 30th Anniversary Comic

Written by: Mitch Hyman
“Bubba” Art and letters by: Michael Broom
“The Un-Making of the Bubba Movie” Art: by Ozzy Fernandez
“The Un-Making of the Bubba Movie” Letters by: Carlos Mangual

First… We all hope you buy and enjoy this 30^th anniversary celebration of Bubba. It’s important for several reasons. One is that all proceeds will be donated to Cancer research. Read on and I’ll explain…

The best thing about this comic book was getting the original crew who launched him back in 1996 together and renewing our long-time friendships.  I have loved every minute of chronicling the adventures of Bubba and being able to give you the original artists involved was a feat unto itself. The fact that we’re all still friends after all this time and that we could just pick up where we left off together thirty years ago without missing a beat is part of the magic that Bubba always shows. Michael and Ozzy went off to amazing careers in film, TV, fine art, toy and game design. Michael has been part of Academy Award, Golden Globe and Emmy award-winning projects for his art and design work. Ozzy has been a go-to for toy, game and comic projects.

Me? Hell, I built a full-size tiki bar at my house with a writer’s nook, and that’s where you can find me if I’m not traveling. But the best part of all this is that we have all our fans and from all over the world. When the movie got re-dubbed in other languages, it opened a whole new world of people to meet and hear about their own “redneck” adventures or friends and relatives. It’s cool to find out that everyone has or knows a “Bubba” in their life. It’s especially nice to have you, my dear reader come celebrate with us, but please put your beer cans in the re-cycle bin and put your shoes back on before you go back to the outside world. And again, glad you could all hang out and please now consider yourselves citizens of “Cracker County”.

Cracker County’s most prominent citizen is Bubba the Redneck Werewolf. You just hear or see the name, and you want to know what the hell is going on. It just grabs your attention and your imagination.  I thank him for popping in my head that Halloween night when I had been given the green light for my own comic book anthology series for the 1990’s comic book juggernaut company CFD.  Bubba was born on Halloween. It is an important detail and more about after you read another few brilliantly written paragraphs.

Now, back to Bubba. The first version of Bubba (drawn by Michael Broom for the “Bound in Darkness” comic series) was an angry disliked public servant who hated himself even more than his job. Remember, Bubba was created in the 1990’s. It was a time when punk, goth and grunge were like the perfect storm creating an era. The style in indie comics was called” Splatterpunk.” It was open rebellion by the creative community. We covered subjects that no one wanted to deal with but were lurking in the shadows like a mugger about to take your wallet or kill you, whatever matched this person’s mood that day.  We took on subjects that the mainstream media stayed away from.  AIDS, LGBTQ, and other societal issues that were not spoken about in polite company.

As time went on, the world changed and there was enough anger in it, and it was time for change. At a comic con I got into a discussion with some other writers and artists about the stories of crazy stuff that went on and the partying we all did during and after the show. One friend looked at me and said that he would love to dress up in disguise and go table to table, just causing mayhem. I laughed and then said the jail time wasn’t worth it. But I walked away that night thinking, maybe we couldn’t do that, but I had the perfect someone who could.

And so, the comedic version of Bubba was turned loose. I had him go to a con and just tear the hell out of it. Wrecking displays, partying with fans and making pompous celebrities in the mouth. All the stuff I and my buddies wanted to do. Well, the comic was huge hit especially with my fellow comic folks. The fans liked the new version too. Cosplayers were popping up all over and one of them wound up marching in a big city’s Christmas parade which still kinda has me wondering but what the hell, it was cool to see.  And the best part was all the cops, celebrities and little kids who wanted their picture taken with him.

Now, Bubba has one more incredible claim to fame that as a proud poppa I will brag about. Bubba is the ONLY indie comic concept that also pulled off his own global cult hit movie.

Bubba rose to be a most popular title on Hulu for over two years and was part of their “Huluween” celebration for both those years. Bubba was available as well in DVD form and was sold in Walmart, Target, FYI, Best Buy, and Blockbuster. He was on many streaming services and still is on Amazon, Fandango, for rent, sale, ROKU and TUBI for free streaming with commercials and from me for kid’s parties, weddings and your mom getting out of prison. My favorite thing about the film is when my European distributor got the film shown on Silverline, which is Germany’s premiere streaming service, and they re-dubbed the movie. Not just subtitled, they re-dubbed the damn film!  The best part is that the German version is funnier than the original USA.

That’s my proof that Bubba is just fun. I’m telling all of you this…When you have had a crappy day and you just need to feel better. Go read one of the comics or go watch the film. You’ll find yourself howling like Bubba with laughter.  Don’t believe me, believe the millions of world-wide fans who have.

And Bubba has one more thing that I love about him to share. Bubba is the power of laughter to heal. I know this personally because he saved my wife while she went through the most horrible thing I have ever witnessed. My wonderful and enduring wife, Amy, contracted leukemia. It was when we were halfway through this project that my wife called me from her doctor’s office and informed me that she was being taken by ambulance to the hospital because she had difficulty breathing and collapsed during an exam she had because she was short of breath for a couple of weeks. Anyone who has experienced this, as patient or their caregiver, knows the unreal hell of this. The helplessness, the anxiousness and the hope that a miracle could restore everything. Months went by and several times she almost died because of residual effects, much less the disease.

No immunity from chemo left her open to any tiny infection or microbe from even a piece of fruit could spell death. I stayed with her for almost two days straight when they wanted me to make funeral arrangements, and I told them to “Screw off” and let me keep her here by asking her things like her childhood phone number or telling her bad jokes. But what really worked was I would discuss the things I wanted to do with the new Bubba book and kept asking her if this joke or that scene would work. She helped me to tweak the book over those two days, and you’re reading the results right now. She is now in full remission and a cure is coming soon. Turned out that her version of this disease was one that was the focus of a study which resulted in a cure. Yes, a cure! The research for a cure came from a St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital program targeting bone marrow transplants and specialized chemotherapy. The good news is that this is only the beginning of more cures for other cancers to come. But it’s going to take money and help from us all. First, have faith in science. Next, give where you can help to keep this science going. And lastly, do it for the kids. They deserve to grow up and then do even greater things.

So, to do my part and show my gratitude, every single penny this book makes will be donated to St. Jude’s. If we are going to see more miracles like the one that saved my wife, then it’s going to start with the youngest and most helpless. That’s what all the wonderful doctors and nurses we met and worked with told us. They told us one other thing too. They said that laughter and positive energy were the other part of getting well.

I promise you this, if you are not feeling right or are stressed from the world today, you’re not alone. Join me and hang out because I got me a redneck werewolf, and I ain’t afraid to use him. I invite you to do the same. Never forget this… Bubba is the kind of guy who if you call him at 2am and tell him that your house is surrounded by zombies who are being dropped out of alien spaceships on your driveway, he’ll show up to help and only ask if you got at least a six pack of good beer and some of them Cajun spice chips he likes.

In the meantime, thanks for buying this. And I am ensuring that your money is going to be a good cause and not my wallet. I have my wife and Bubba to have fun with so I ‘m good to go. See y’all back here for the next issue as we begin Bubba’s next thirty years and my wish that you, my friend, are around for every goofy bit of it.

With all our best wishes,

Mitch, Mike and Oz