Paul Pope

Infobox Comics creator

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birthdate = September 25 1970
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nationality = American
area = Penciller; Inker; Writer
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Paul Pope (born September 25 1970) is an American alternative comic book artist. Influenced by Ray Bradbury and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Pope's stories evoke poignant, under-explored aspects of youth culture. Pope describes his own influences (listed in his book "P-City Parade") as Daniel Torres, Bruno Premiani, Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, Tony Salmons, Hugo Pratt, Silvio Cadelo, Vittorio Giardino, and Hergé.

Life and Work

Pope introduced "THB" in 1995, the same year he began work for Kodansha, Japan's best-known manga publisher. Pope eventually developed the manga "Supertrouble" for Kodansha, which mined the "cutie-pie" girl adventure vein that "THB" exists in. Pope has self-published some of his work, with "One-Trick Ripoff" coming from Dark Horse Comics and "Heavy Liquid" and "100%" published under DC Comics' Vertigo imprint.

Pope's work combines the precision and romance of the European artists he studies with the energy and page design of the manga tradition. 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 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".

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, "". 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 over-arching 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. [Cantor, Paul A., "Holy Praxeology, Batman." "The Free Market", Vol. 16, No. 3, March 1998. [http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp?control=91&sortorder=articledate] ] He also wrote one of the comics for Toonami's website. [ [http://www.toonamifan.com/toonamidemarco.html Toonami Fan - Jason DeMarco Interview ] ]

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.

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. Pope has also announced the pending publication of two original graphic novels, "Battling Boy" from First Second Books, and "La Chica Bionica" from French publisher Dargaud.

Born in Philadelphia, Pope grew up in Bowling Green, Ohio, with stops in Columbus, Ohio, San Francisco, and Toronto in-between; Pope now lives and works in New York City.

Bibliography

Books

* "Spider-man's Tangled Web" #15, 2002, Marvel Comics.
* "100%", 2002-2004, (as miniseries, 1-5), Vertigo/DC Comics; 2005, collected graphic novel, Vertigo ISBN 1401203493.
* "Solo" #3, 2005, DC Comics.
* "", 2006 (as miniseries, 1-4), DC Comics; 2007, collected graphic novel, DC Comics, ISBN 1401211925.
* "Heavy Liquid", 2001, Vertigo/DC Comics, ISBN 1563896354.
* "Escapo", 1999, Horse Press: softcover ISBN 1882402146; hardcover ISBN 1882402162,
* "The One-Trick Rip-Off", 1997, Dark Horse Comics, ISBN 1569712441.
* "THB"
* "Sin Titulo"
* "The Ballad of Doctor Richardson"

Anthologies

Short comic stories appeared in the books:
* "Negative Burn" #12, (1994, Caliber)
* "Negative Burn" #18, "My Rottenest Christmas Ever!" 5 page story (1994, Caliber)
* "Negative Burn" #20, (1994, Caliber)
* "Negative Burn" #22, (1994, Caliber)
* "Negative Burn" #23, (1994, Caliber)
* "Negative Burn" #24, (1995, Caliber)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #100-0, "Pistachio" 2 page story (1995, Dark Horse)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #100-2, "Pistachio" story (1995, Dark Horse)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #100-5, "Pan-Fried Girl" story (1995, Dark Horse)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #101, (1995, Dark Horse)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #102, (1995, Dark Horse)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #103, (1995, Dark Horse)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #104, (1995, Dark Horse)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #105, (1996, Dark Horse)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #106, (1996, Dark Horse)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #107, "Humiliation and Debasement" (1996, Dark Horse)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #108, (1996, Dark Horse)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #109, (1996, Dark Horse)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #110, 8 page story (1996, Dark Horse)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #111, "The One Trick Rip-Off" 8 page story (1996, Dark Horse)
* "Dark Horse Presents" #112, "The One Trick Rip-Off" story (1996, Dark Horse)
* "Vertigo: Winter's Edge" #1, "Tell Me" 12 page story (1998, Vertigo Comics)
* "The Batman Chronicles" #11, "The Berlin Batman" 18 page story (1998, DC Comics)
* "Dark Horse Presents" Annual 1997, "Four Cats" 8 page story (1998, Dark Horse)
* "Vertigo: Winter's Edge" #2, "New Century Tension" 2 page story (1999, Vertigo Comics)
* "Bone" #36, 3 page story (1999, Cartoon Books)
* "Weird War Tales" Special, "Mind Field" 8 page story (2000, DC Comics)
* "Batman: Gotham Knights" #3, "Broken Nose" 8 page story (2000, DC Comics)
* "Non" 5, "Airplanes" 3 page story (2001, Red Ink)
* "Michael Neno's Reactionary Tales " #1, - 1 page introduction, "The Ballad of Michael Neno" (2001, M.R. Neno Productions)
* "Captain America: Red, White & Blue", "Faces" 8 page story (2002, Marvel Comics)
* "Rosetta" 2, (2004, Alternative Comics)
* "Project: Superior", (2005, AdHouse Books)
* "Fantastic Four " #543, 45th Anniversary Issue - 12 page story (2007, Marvel Comics)

Illustrations

* "Strange Attractors" #6, pin-up (1994, RetroGrafix)
* "Cerebus" #189, promo (1994, Aardvark-Vanaheim)
* "Kabuki Gallery" #1, pin-up (1995, Caliber)
* "Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre" #10, pin-up (1996, Exhibit A Press)
* "JLA Gallery", pin-up (1997, DC Comics)
* "100 Bullets" #26, pin-up (2001, Vertigo Comics)
* "Heroes" #1, pin-up (2001, Marvel Comics)
* "9-11 - The World's Finest Comic Book Writers & Artists Tell Stories To Remember" #2, pin-up (2002, DC Comics)
* "The Preposterous Voyages of Ironhide Tom", "House Is Where Your Heart Is" pin-up (2006, AdHouse Books)
* "Popgun Volume 2", Cover (2008, Image Comics)

Awards & Recognition

* 2007 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series: "Batman: Year 100"
* 2007 Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist: "Batman: Year 100"
* 2006 Eisner Award for Best Short Story: "Teenaged Sidekick" in "Solo" #3 (DC Comics)
* 2000 Friends of Lulu' 'Lulu of the Year' Nomination

References

; Sources consulted

* [http://tci.homestead.com/HeavyLiquid.html Heavy Liquid review and artwork]
* [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.02/pope.html February 2006 "Wired" interview]
* [http://www.comicgeekspeak.com/episodes/comic_geek_speak-115.php Comic Geek Speak Podcast Interview (December 2005)]
* [http://members.aol.com/podium1/pope.html Interview by The Podium]
* [http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=1001 2002 Interview by Keith Giles]
* [http://www.lostateminor.com/2006/05/18/heroic-little-sisters/ Paul Pope interview with Lost At E Minor]
* Interview in "The Comics Journal" #191 & 192

; Endnotes

External links

* [http://www.paulpope.com/ The Paul Pope homepage] (requires JavaScript for navigation)
* [http://pulphope.blogspot.com/ Paul Pope's Blog]
* [http://www.batman-on-film.com/comics_year100_review_jett_2007.html Batman-On-Film.com] BOF's review of "BATMAN: YEAR 100"