Paul Pope

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Paul Pope

Born September 25, 1970
Nationality American
Area(s) Penciller; Inker; Writer

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.

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[edit] 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, 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 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.[1]

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 Pulphope: The Art of Paul Pope 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.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Books

[edit] Anthologies

Short comic stories appeared in the books:

  • Negative Burn #18, My Rottenest Christmas Ever! 5 page story (1994, 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)
  • Fantastic Four #543, 45th Anniversary Issue - 12 page story (2007, Marvel Comics)
  • Michael Neno's Reactionary Tales #1, - 1 page introduction, "The Ballad of Michael Neno" (2001, M.R. Neno Productions)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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

[edit] References

Sources consulted
Endnotes
  1. ^ Cantor, Paul A., "Holy Praxeology, Batman." The Free Market, Vol. 16, No. 3, March 1998.[1]

[edit] External links