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URL: http://www.paulpope.com

Biography:

Born (around 1972) and raised in agrarian Ohio, U.S.A., Paul Pope finally fulfilled his destiny and burst onto the comics scene in 1993. He had made comics all his life for fun, producing Gestalt with a friend when Pope was only 17. With the formation of his publishing company Horse Press, Pope produced his first work Sin Titulo, an ambitious if unsatisfactory journey of three to Mexico in search of fulfillment, fame or companionship. Also with Horse was Pope's next work, a soulful intellectual romance called The Ballad of Dr. Richardson. When this book hit the comics world, Pope had arrived, with the aura of a rock star, the creativity and aesthetic sense of a graphic designer and the ambition and personal unsatisfaction of a true artist.

Pope is what American comics creators are so rarely. Rather than a comic book artist, he is an artist who chooses to primarily express himself through comics. His speed at production (record is 70 pages in one month, when most struggle to produce 20 in the same amount of time), and loose and furious art style allowed him to continue to produce works, both short, long, serious, and silly. With the start of his THB series about a teenage heroine on the pop-cultured Mars-that-should-be, Pope had well established himself, and earned a league of Pope-fanatics.

Countering this is Pope's continued drive to develop himself as an artist and his discovery of new influences, most noticeably Japanese comics (he had already grown up on American and European comics). As Pope grows as a creator, he has been redirected in both vision and choice of work. This leads to Pope's greatest criticism, his inability to complete work (THB went missing in action in 1995 but is now being completed!) and his lack of follow-through as a publisher, often promising works that he then dropped through lack of interest or delays to work on other projects.

None of this has damaged Pope in the eyes of his fans, but it has earned him his critics. A due sense of skeptism now accompanys any of Pope's announcements of his plans, but this only adds to the excitement of the arrival of any new Pope comics. With his desire for big, sexy comics, Pope has also created the Buzz Buzz Comics Magazine and THB Circus, P-City Parade, and Giant THB Parade comics at new levels of size and content, blowing comics up to a more respectable size of a foot wide and 100 pages thick. His design work on his comics has also earned him nods from awards committees while catching the eyes of new readers.

Besides the great design work and expansive size of most of his work, Pope is also known for his rambling and interesting essays and comments that are sprinkled throughout his comics. These range from updates on his comics and personal anecdotes to art criticisms, food and musical recommendations, to discourses on art. Pope has been building on the public's perception of him as a rock star, because it's so much fun! - which is what comics are all about. His views and personality suffuse each comic he produces.

Pope's latest projects include Escapo from Horse Press (released 30 June 1999) and a five issue color series called Heavy Liquid under the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics in August 1999. He has also begun the final part of THB, the long-awaited issue #6, which is now being published as 4 parts, #6a to #6d. Hopefully a THB collection will follow in 2001! Also, look for Pope Batman stories in the future, as well as a proposed second series to be published by Vertigo, called 100%.

Other Works

Reviews

A Review — THB issue # 6b
A Review — Giant THB 1.v.2
A Review — P City Parade
A Review — THB issue # 6a
A Review — Giant THB 1.v.2
A Review — Buzz Buzz Comics Magazine issue # 1
A Review — THB issue # M3: Mars' Mightiest Mek
A Review — THB issue # 6d
A Review — The Ballad of Dr. Richardson: Fifth Year Anniversary Edition
A Review — THB Circus
A Review — The Comics Interpreter volume 2 issue # 1
A Review — THB issue # 6c
A Review — Sin Titulo
A Review — P City Parade
A Review — THB issue # 6b
A Review — Giant THB 1.v.2
A Review — Buzz Buzz Comics Magazine issue # 1
A Review — THB issue # 6a
A Review — THB issue # 6d
A Review — The Ballad of Dr. Richardson: Fifth Year Anniversary Edition
A Review — THB issue # M3: Mars' Mightiest Mek
A Review — THB issue # 6c
A Review — THB Circus
A Review — Sin Titulo

HIGHLIGHT

Locas in Love
Another new collection of Love and Rockets comics by Jaime Hernandez! This collection reprints the first four issues of his Love and Rockets spin-off series, Penny Century, including the multiple award winning story "Home School". It also reprints (in full color!) Maggie and Hopey Fun. A great place to start on the legendary Love and Rockets comics.
Only 13.45!
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