Paul Pope

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Not to be confused with Pope Paul.
Paul Pope
Paul Pope 2010.jpg
Born (1970-09-25) September 25, 1970 (age 50)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Cartoonist, Writer, Artist, Publisher, Letterer
Notable works
THB
Batman: Year 100
Heavy Liquid
100%
Battling Boy
AwardsBest Writer/Artist Eisner Award (2007)
pulphope.blogspot.com

Paul Pope (born September 25, 1970, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American alternative cartoonist. Pope's work combines the precision and romance of European comics artists with the energy and page design of the manga tradition. Pope's two protagonist types are the silent, lanky outsider male of One-Trick Ripoff, Escapo and Heavy Liquid; or the resourceful, aggressive, humorous young teenage girls of THB. He has self-published some of his work, most notably THB, through his own Horse Press, with other work for such publishers as DC Comics/Vertigo and First Second Books.

Early life[]

Born in Philadelphia, Pope grew up in Bowling Green, Ohio, with stops in Columbus, Ohio, San Francisco, and Toronto in between. He describes his influences as Daniel Torres, Bruno Premiani, Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, Tony Salmons, Hugo Pratt, , Vittorio Giardino, and Hergé.[1]

Career[]

Pope introduced THB in 1995, the same year he began work for Kodansha, Japan's manga publisher. Pope eventually developed the manga for Kodansha, which mined the "cutie-pie" girl adventure vein that THB exists in. His storytelling narratives continue to mature with well-paced, deftly-shaded combinations of science fiction, hardboiled crime stories and the Romeo and Juliet archetype.

Pope's One-Trick Ripoff was published by Dark Horse Comics, and Heavy Liquid and 100% were published under DC Comics' Vertigo imprint.

In 2006, Pope received an Eisner Award for Best Short Story for his work, "Teenage Sidekick", published in Solo #3.

In 2007, Pope won two additional Eisners, Best Writer/Artist and Best Limited Series, for his Batman mini-series, Batman: Year 100. Discussing the story, which is set in 2039, one hundred years after the first appearance of the caped crusader, Pope said: "I wanted to present a new take on Batman, who is without a doubt a mythic figure in our pop-psyche. My Batman is not only totally science fiction, he's also a very physical superhero: he bleeds, he sweats, he eats. He's someone born into an overarching police state; someone with the body of David Beckham, the brain of Tesla, and the wealth of Howard Hughes... pretending to be Nosferatu." The story, colored by José Villarrubia, was originally presented in a four-part prestige format in 2006. DC Comics later published a trade paperback collecting Batman: Year 100 in early 2007. The trade also includes Pope's "Berlin Batman" story from The Batman Chronicles No. 11. "Berlin Batman" involves a version of Batman who lives in the German Weimar Republic on the eve of World War II. The Weimar Batman helps keep the papers of Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises from falling into Nazi hands. Both Batman stories in the collection reflect implicit libertarian themes that often appear in Pope's work.[2] He also wrote Endgame for Toonami's website and came up with the character Orcelot Rex.[3]

Aside from comics, in the fall of 2006 Pope worked with Italian clothing company Diesel on a big store installation during their fall fashion week campaign, and a screenprint series based on their 'Chelsea Hotel' campaign as a 51st birthday present to Diesel's founder, Renzo Rosso. In the fall of 2008, Pope went a step further by partnering with DKNY to create the DKNY:2089 collection.

Pope's first art book, titled , came out in June 2007. A collection of his most representative work, the 224-page hardcover was published by AdHouse Books.

In 2009, Pope was featured in The Cartoonist, a documentary film on the life and work of cartoonist Jeff Smith.[4]

Pope spoke at the 2005 New York and 2006 Sydney Semi-Permanent creative conference.[citation needed]

In 2010, Pope served as a Master Artist with the Atlantic Center for the Arts, a Florida-based artists' community providing artists an opportunity to work and collaborate with contemporary artists in the fields of composing, visual, literary, and performing arts.[5]

Pope lives and works in New York City.[6]

Awards[]

Bibliography[]

Horse Press[]

  • (w/a, graphic novel, 76 pages, 1993, ISBN 1-882402-13-8)[8]
  • The Corruptor] (w/a, 1993)
  • The Ballad of Doctor Richardson (w/a, 1994)[9]
  • THB (w/a):
    • Volume 1 #1-5 (1994–1995)
    • Giant THB Parade (1996)
    • P-City Parade (1997)
    • Giant THB Circus (1998)
    • Mars' Mightiest Mek (one-shot, 2000)
    • Mek-Power #6a-6d (2000–2002)
    • Volume 2 #1 (2003)
  • (w/a, 1996)
  • Buzz Buzz Comics Magazine (w/a, with various writers and artists, 1996)
  • Escapo (w/a, graphic novel, 112 pages, 1999, ISBN 1-882402-16-2)

DC Comics/Vertigo[]

  • The Big Book of... (a, Paradox Press):
    • "Harry Reichenbach: Hollywood's King of Ballyhoo!!" (with , in The Big Book of Hoaxes, 1996)
    • "Glam Rock" (with Jonathan Vankin, in The Big Book of the '70s, 2000)
  • Vertigo: Winter's Edge #1: "Tell Me" (a, with Paul Jenkins, 1998)
  • Batman:
  • Heavy Liquid #1-5 (w/a, 1999–2000) collected as Heavy Liquid (tpb, 240 pages, 2001, ISBN 1-563896-35-4; hc, 256 pages, 2008, ISBN 1-401219-49-7)
  • 100% #1-5 (w/a, 2002–2003) collected as 100% (tpb, 240 pages, 2005, ISBN 1-401203-49-3; hc, 2009, ISBN 1-401221-33-5)
  • Weird War Tales Special: "Mind Field" (a, with Bruce Jones, 2000)
  • Young Heroes: Fall Fashion 2000 (a, with , a 4-page advertisement ran through all DC books dated October, 2000)
  • The Dreaming #55: "The Further Adventures of Danny Nod, Heroic Library Assistant" (a, with Bill Willingham, among other artists, 2000)
  • Weird Western Tales #1: "Tall Tale" (w/a, 2000)
  • Bizarro Comics: "Help! Superman!" (a, with Jeff Smith, anthology graphic novel, hc, 224 pages, 2001, ISBN 1-563897-79-2)
  • Cartoon Cartoons #15: "And Now, a Word from Our Sponsor!" (a, with Will Pfeifer, 2003)
  • Solo #3 (w/a, 2005)
  • Wednesday Comics #1-12: "Adam Strange" (w/a, 2009) collected in Wednesday Comics (hc, 200 pages, 2009, ISBN 1-4012-2747-3)
  • Ghosts: "Treasure Lost" (w/a, with David Lapham, 2012)

Other US publishers[]

  • Negative Burn (Caliber):
    • "Eulogy to Marx" (w/a, in #12, 1994)
    • "The Triumph of Hunger" (w/a, in #13, 1994)
    • "Rotten Hubert" (w/a, in #18, 1994)
    • "Portrait of a Girl With an Unpronounceable Name" (w/a, in #20, 1995)
    • "The Visible Man" (w/a, in #21, 1995)
    • "Armadillo/The Island" (a, with , in #23, 1995)
    • "Gangster Strip Dragway" (w/a, in #24, 1995)
    • "Strip for 6.30.93" (w/a, in #25, 1995)
  • Dark Horse Presents (w/a, Dark Horse):
    • "Pistachio!!" (in v1 #100-0, 1995)
    • "Yes" (in v1 #100-2, 1995)
    • "Pan-Fried Girl" (with Jeff Smith, in v1 #100-5, 1995)
    • "The One Trick Rip-Off" (in v1 #101-112, 1995–1996) collected as The One Trick Rip-Off (tpb, 104 pages, 1997, ISBN 1-569712-44-1)
    • "Four Cats" (in Annual '97, 1998)
    • "1969" (in v2 #9, 2012)
  • #9: "Untitled" (w/a, King Hell, 1995)
  • #1: "Ukieo-E-Pope" (w/a, Fantagraphics Books, 1997)
  • #2-3: "Car Crash" (w/a, Oni Press, 1998)
  • The Spirit: The New Adventures #7: "The Ghost of Tiger Traps" (a, with Jay Stephens, Kitchen Sink, 1998) collected in Will Eisner's The Spirit Archives Volume 27 (hc, 200 pages, Dark Horse, 2009, ISBN 1-56971-732-X)
  • Bone #36: "Woah! Just 36 Seconds to Diffuse This TNT!!" (w/a, Cartoon Books, 1999)
  • #5: "Airplanes" (w/a, , 2001)
  • Michael Neno's Reactionary Tales #1 :"The Ballad of Michael Neno" (w/a, , 2001)
  • Marvel:
    • Spider-Man's Tangled Web #15: "The Collaborator" (w/a, 2002) collected in Volume 3 (tpb, 160 pages, 2002, ISBN 0-785109-51-X)
    • Captain America: Red, White & Blue: "Faces" (w/a, graphic novel, hc, 192 pages, 2002, ISBN 0-785110-33-X)
    • X-Statix #5: "The Mysterious Fan Boy" (a, with Peter Milligan, 2003) collected in Good Omens (tpb, 128 pages, 2003, ISBN 0-785110-59-3)
    • Fantastic Four #543: "A Day at the Races!" (w/a, 2007) collected in Civil War (tpb, 176 pages, 2007, ISBN 0-785122-27-3)
    • Strange Tales #1: "Untitled" (w/a, 2009) collected in Strange Tales (hc, 192 pages, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4626-1; tpb, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-2802-6)
  • Volume 2 (w/a, anthology graphic novel, 268 pages, Alternative Comics, 2004, ISBN 1-89186-762-8)
  • AdHouse Books:
    • Project: Superior: "The Rest of Xondex-Xomax" (w/a, anthology graphic novel, 288 pages, 2005, ISBN 0-972179-48-8)
    • (w/a, graphic novel, 224 pages, 2007, ISBN 0-977030-43-1)
    • THB: Comics from Mars #1-2 (w/a, 2007–2010)
  • The Lone Ranger #11: "Downbeat" (a, with Brett Matthews and Sergio Cariello, Dynamite, 2008)
  • CBLDF Presents: Liberty Comics #2: "Place 4 Loverman!!" (w/a, Image, 2009)
  • #1-6 (w/a, co-feature, IDW Publishing, 2010) collected in Strange Science Fantasy (tpb, 196 pages 2011, ISBN 1-600108-88-1)
  • Adventure Time #5: "Emit Erutnevda!!" (w/a, co-feature, Boom! Studios, 2012)
  • Battling Boy (First Second Books)
    • The Death of Haggard West (2013) — 32-page pamphlet-format preview of Battling Boy vol. 1
    • vol. 1: Battling Boy (2013)
    • vol. 2: The Rise of Aurora West (2014) — prequel to Battling Boy written with J. T. Petty; art by
    • vol. 3: The Fall of the House of West (2015) — written with J. T. Petty; art by David Rubín

Cover work[]

References[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Pope, Paul. P-City Parade (Horse Press, 1997).
  2. ^ Cantor, Paul A. (March 1998). "Holy Praxeology, Batman." The Free Market, Vol. 16, No. 3.
  3. ^ "Toonami Fan - Jason DeMarco Interview". Archived from the original on 2017-10-02. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  4. ^ The Cartoonist Movie Archived 2012-08-15 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 23, 2012.
  5. ^ Johnston, Rich. "Comic Artist Residency On Offer In Florida With Paul Pope, Craig Thompson and Svetlana Chmakova," Bleeding Cool (April 28, 2010).
  6. ^ Paul Pope - About Paul Pope - About
  7. ^ 2010 REUBEN AWARDS WINNERS," National Cartoonists Society website (May 29, 2010).
  8. ^ "New Publisher, New Artist, New Graphic Novel: Horse Press Launches New Line with Paul Pope's Sin Titulo," The Comics Journal #152 (Aug. 1992), p. 12.
  9. ^ "Paul Pope to Release Dr. Richardson," The Comics Journal #163 (Nov. 1993), p. 25.

Sources[]

External links[]

Interviews[]


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