Re: promos at the end of the book... Pope and I did manage to get a bunch of 'Wingtip Caper' pages finished (me inking his pencils). Not sure what ever happened to them, but I don't think they were ever published. It was pretty quickly after this we both got super busy with paying gigs elsewhere. We were both keeping busy at Dark Horse (I was doing Land Of Nod for them at the time, and had moved to Prague), and I think I'd also started the second Atomic City series at Kitchen Sink. It's a real shame, as we loved working together, and agreed the style mash-up looked cool.
Man, I'm around Jimmy's age and i remember getting Heavy Liquid back in the day...and after that book i was on the hunt for Pope's work. Thb was harder to acquire but was lucky enough to snag a few. I was obsessed with his work. Anyhow, thank you for the great video!
Funny you should mention saddle stitching - - When I was in high school, I took Printing Trades in a full on printer's environment. Starting with layouts at a light table, working with typesetting machines (something that I never did get the hang of), and wax machines to attach text and images to a layout board, to using a large scale camera to take PMT's and negatives (and developing them in a darkroom). From there plates were burned (I tried my hand at hand color separation, and it's harder than it looks), to actually running a press. Among the various types of equipment, such as the large paper cutter, was the saddle stitcher. The booklets were folded over a angled metal plate (or a flat one), and it stapled them together with little pieces of wire that was coiled behind the machine, and fed into the back I only used the saddle stitcher once, but the experience still sticks with me years later (and all of the others as well).
Been on the Pope tip from the get go! Funny story...a friend of mine was in town in NY visiting from Italy and she told me how she was at a bar and met this guy and they flirted. He said he was an artist and while they were chatting he doodled a Batman sketch on a napkin. She wasn't a comic book fan so the sketch fell on deaf ears. She showed me the sketch later and I was like HOLY SH*T that's Paul Pope! haha
Pope seems like a cool dude. I saw him hanging out at decibel(sake bar in nyc). I wasn’t sure if it was him but I thought it was because he was also talking to one of the staff and looking at some manga. This is the early days of twitter and I sent him a tweet asking if he was at decibel earlier. He said he was and told me to say hi if he wasn’t busy next time.
Steven thomas on kickstarter with reprints of hell is in your heart and a new book. He's been mentioned here on kayfabe's mail call. Only a week left. Show him some love
Thanks for this -- THB is an all-timer for me, and I've made a hobby of collecting everything from the series I could find over the years. Wonderful to see an appreciation of the linework and influences from people who really know what they're talking about. I learned a lot and saw several new artistic wrinkles through your eyes. Thought I'd drop a publication history in here for the curious: • From October 1994 - March 1995 (more or less), Pope self-published THB 1-5 through his own Horse Press. It came on the heels of his first two books, SIN TITULO and THE BALLAD OF DR. RICHARDSON. The page-counts on these were *insane* -- Issue 1 was something like 96 pages, and Issues 2-5 range from 56 to 60 pages each. • Unsurprisingly, after that wildly prolific run, he seems to hit the wall on the main THB storyline (or maybe he gets wrapped up in developing work for Kodansha in Japan; not sure of the timeline). In late 1995, he put out a partially re-drawn "THB 1.v.2" -- the version you reviewed, which has about 40 new and re-drafted pages. At this point an unfortunate (but ultimately kind of hilarious) pattern begins where Pope promises THB projects that never quite see the light of day, because he's booking other gigs. From here on out, following THB becomes ... a bit of a treasure-hunt. • From 1995-99, Pope puts out several THB short-stories and short-story collections. A THB short story written and drawn with Jeff Smith, "Pan-Fried Girl," appears in Dark Horse Presents #100.5 (August 1995). This is followed by the tabloid-sized "Giant THB Parade" (1996) and "THB Circus" (1998), plus a collection of unfinished stories called "P-City Parade" (1997). There are also THB-universe short stories in "Buzz Buzz Comics Magazine" (1996) and "Escapo" (1999). • In 1999, Pope self-published "THB M3: Mars' Mightiest Mek" -- a 64-page short-story collection that's a pretty good intro to the world of THB for new readers. It's also our first real glimpse at a new look and feel for THB; Pope has apparently been quietly re-drawing the early issues behind the scenes to bring them more in line with his developing art style and a harder, less-surreal sci-fi sensibility (though honestly one of the best things *about* THB is watching him develop as an artist over the course of the series, but maybe that's just me). • In 2000-2001, Pope returns to the main THB storyline with four new issues: THB 6a, 6b, 6c, and 6d. (Why he didn't just number them 6, 7, 8 and 9 is an amusing mystery.) • In 2003, he releases the terrific 96-page "Giant THB 1.v.2," which is in fact THB #10. It's in a larger format than the other books in the main storyline -- and ends on a cliffhanger that is apparently about 2/3 through the main story he always wanted to tell. It remains a cliffhanger to this day. • He's since put out three more THB short-story collections through Adhouse Books -- a limited-run "PULPHOPE.A" ashcan (2006), plus "THB: Comics from Mars" #1 (2007) and #2 (2010). • In 2007, First Second announced a multi-volume "Total THB" collection to be released after Pope finished BATTLING BOY. At this writing, Pope is still working on finishing BATTLING BOY. • Oh, and there's a one-page THB short story, "Good Morning," in Ronald Wimberly's LAAB comics tabloid newspaper (Issue #2), crowdfunded through Beehive Books. And as far as I know, that's it -- other than a few ashcans, some trading cards, a few t-shirts, an unfinished collaboration with Jay "Sin" Stephens called "The Wing-Tip Caper" (about 8 wonderful pages of which showed up online years ago), a 1997 silkscreen, and a gigantic 2003 promotional poster for "Giant THB 1.v.2." It's hundreds if not thousands of pages of incredible material, and I'd love to see it all properly collected.
Oh, AND: Circa 1996, Pope developed a series called "Super Trouble" for manga publisher Kodansha; it features "remixed" versions of two of THB's lead characters, Lollie and H.R. Watson (renamed "J.P." and "K.C." for Kodansha, with more aggressively mischievous cartoon personalities). About 39 pages of this material was collected in THE ONE TRICK RIP-OFF + DEEP CUTS (Image Comics, 2013).
Pope was definitely influenced by Kirby. He noted the bat in issue 1 was inspired by Kamandi’s battle with giant bats, and in the letters page to issue 3 he noted that for a long time his only comics were the Bring on the Bad Guys and Son of Origins collections. I thought he’d done an essay with illustrations on the Bat battle, too, but haven’t found it yet. And don’t forget his recreation of OMAC 1 in his issue of Solo. I still have all the THBs, bought as they came out, the first issue has a taped-in photo poster of a ‘THB girl’ posing as HR. His bonus material included (ala Los Bros Hernandez) a playlist of the music he’d been spinning while creating the particular issue. There’s also THB 69 from 1995 which looks to be where he created the opening dozen pages/scene of -your- THB 1-remastered edition. I’ll have to dig out the oversized issues that came out later. Note there’s also a THB: Mars’ Mightiest Mek 64 pager in 2000 which served as a reintroduction to the series before he finally came out with THB 6A, B, C, and D. Great memories here, thanks! Another stack of issues for the re-read pile!
Beyond the Pale in Midtown Sacramento back in the mid 90's was my go to for small press comics. THB release schedule was an absolute nightmare and filling holes in your collection was impossible.
THB was my absolute jam. Just like Jim, I found this on the shelf right when I was looking for something beyond the 90s superhero "junk." Paul Pope and THB will always be something that I never got enough of.
Mars Mightiest Mek has a story in it with a kid rock-climbing with an android Johnny Appleseed that is excellent. I’ll have to save up to buy another copy of it…lol.
Please review Pope's Escapo, it is one of the coolest comics I have encountered. This is PP at his finest. There are two versions-the original publication and a redo of the original with added story-both versions are a treat for art lovers. Check it out-I would love to see this get the Kayfabe treatment it deserves.
One Trick Rip Off would be a good one to look at. You can see his approach to page & panel layouts evolve as you read along. I think he writes about the manga influence in the book
Still heart broken that THB complete HC announced for 2008 release never happened. I still remember buying my first stack of non big 2 had THB, Madman Adventures, Milk & Cheese, Scud, The Disposable Assassin. These artists and titles are still big in my comic reading DNA.
I picked up a THB comic back in '94 or so, already having been exposed to Eightball and other alternative comics and I couldn't undrestand how all comics weren't like those comics' Not only was THB pleasing to look at but there was a voice that was more vital than what you would find in most of the mainstream comic media. It was more than just a re-hash of what would push sales numbers, it wasn't dumb, it was presented as literature.
Ten years ago Pope mentioned in an interview that first second would be reprinting thb in a collected edition. So sad it never happened. Also heavy liquid and 100% deserve hardcovers with the remastered art that came out in the trades. .. and make them bigger jeez its Pope art he deserves a large prestige format with that masterful line work
This is about the time I met Pope. He’d haunt Kinko’s. I’d bump into him there and at Long’s bookstore. Monkey’s Retreat was his shop towards the end of it’s hey day. It was wall to wall zines, some European comics and a lot of underground comics. The access to zines would explain the early esthetic. There was still ziipatone available at that time though I think the tones here are digital.
It's amazing how huge you guys make my gap in comic knowledge feel. Truly inspiring. On a side note does anyone know the Paul Pope comic where a character throws a dart at a map and where ever it lands that's where the character will travel? Can't remember the name of the book but I read it in my twenties and always hope I'd manage to muster up enough courage to do that sort thing when I became a proper grown up. Thanks in advance.
I think pope used live models if he could. He was at a Columbus spirit of independence comics show around 1996. A female friend was with him who looked exactly like the school girl Homie with blonde hair, friend of HR. I first heard of THB from a black and white Sampler I have about four pages that was an early promo. At the show he also gave out a few THP trading cards, mine had the bug man on it. He used to be on the Canadian antigravity TV show, the antigravity room. I thought of him like A rockstar Jim Morrison artist doing comics. He played guitar on one episode of the anti-gravity room. I remember his covers for DC Catwoman. This is a decade later but very disappointing. Nevertheless, when he was on target, he was very impressive throughout his career.
Based on a couple of interviews, it sounds like THB is tied up in contractual limbo with First Second. A collection was supposed to happen but after the Battling Boy stuff wrapped up.
Would love to be wrong, but PP has kinda gone a Jim Steranko-ish route with his career at this point, right? From interviews and bits of his writing he’s clearly passionate about comics/cartooning, he’s never distanced his professional ID from comics, but his creative output is in more lucrative/culturally relevant areas. Last 12 years it’s pretty much just Battling Boy, and he only did the art for one volume. I know this is classic ‘good for him, bad for us’ grousing concerning an artist who has nothing to prove w/r/t his body of work, but dammit I want more PP comics.
Re: promos at the end of the book... Pope and I did manage to get a bunch of 'Wingtip Caper' pages finished (me inking his pencils). Not sure what ever happened to them, but I don't think they were ever published. It was pretty quickly after this we both got super busy with paying gigs elsewhere. We were both keeping busy at Dark Horse (I was doing Land Of Nod for them at the time, and had moved to Prague), and I think I'd also started the second Atomic City series at Kitchen Sink. It's a real shame, as we loved working together, and agreed the style mash-up looked cool.
I definitely need more Paul Pope on the channel! A Pope Shoot interview/Co-host week would be extremely badass as well of course.
Thanks so much for making this video - Paul Pope is literally the only artist I collect, love his work and its ace hearing you explore his techniques
Man, I'm around Jimmy's age and i remember getting Heavy Liquid back in the day...and after that book i was on the hunt for Pope's work. Thb was harder to acquire but was lucky enough to snag a few. I was obsessed with his work. Anyhow, thank you for the great video!
Funny you should mention saddle stitching - - When I was in high school, I took Printing Trades in a full on printer's environment. Starting with layouts at a light table, working with typesetting machines (something that I never did get the hang of), and wax machines to attach text and images to a layout board, to using a large scale camera to take PMT's and negatives (and developing them in a darkroom). From there plates were burned (I tried my hand at hand color separation, and it's harder than it looks), to actually running a press.
Among the various types of equipment, such as the large paper cutter, was the saddle stitcher. The booklets were folded over a angled metal plate (or a flat one), and it stapled them together with little pieces of wire that was coiled behind the machine, and fed into the back
I only used the saddle stitcher once, but the experience still sticks with me years later (and all of the others as well).
Been on the Pope tip from the get go! Funny story...a friend of mine was in town in NY visiting from Italy and she told me how she was at a bar and met this guy and they flirted. He said he was an artist and while they were chatting he doodled a Batman sketch on a napkin. She wasn't a comic book fan so the sketch fell on deaf ears. She showed me the sketch later and I was like HOLY SH*T that's Paul Pope! haha
funny enough, I've been on the Ursula 1000 tip since the 18th street lounge days. Cool to see you here
Going to need more thb episodes!
Pope seems like a cool dude. I saw him hanging out at decibel(sake bar in nyc). I wasn’t sure if it was him but I thought it was because he was also talking to one of the staff and looking at some manga. This is the early days of twitter and I sent him a tweet asking if he was at decibel earlier. He said he was and told me to say hi if he wasn’t busy next time.
Love Paul Pope’s off-kilter approach to comics making. I wish he’d return to THB and create a nice extended run, and explore this world a lot further.
Wonderful! Thanks for this. Pope completely changed my approach to inking, I'm sure that's true for lots of folks.
Steven thomas on kickstarter with reprints of hell is in your heart and a new book. He's been mentioned here on kayfabe's mail call. Only a week left. Show him some love
Thanks for this -- THB is an all-timer for me, and I've made a hobby of collecting everything from the series I could find over the years. Wonderful to see an appreciation of the linework and influences from people who really know what they're talking about. I learned a lot and saw several new artistic wrinkles through your eyes.
Thought I'd drop a publication history in here for the curious:
• From October 1994 - March 1995 (more or less), Pope self-published THB 1-5 through his own Horse Press. It came on the heels of his first two books, SIN TITULO and THE BALLAD OF DR. RICHARDSON. The page-counts on these were *insane* -- Issue 1 was something like 96 pages, and Issues 2-5 range from 56 to 60 pages each.
• Unsurprisingly, after that wildly prolific run, he seems to hit the wall on the main THB storyline (or maybe he gets wrapped up in developing work for Kodansha in Japan; not sure of the timeline). In late 1995, he put out a partially re-drawn "THB 1.v.2" -- the version you reviewed, which has about 40 new and re-drafted pages. At this point an unfortunate (but ultimately kind of hilarious) pattern begins where Pope promises THB projects that never quite see the light of day, because he's booking other gigs.
From here on out, following THB becomes ... a bit of a treasure-hunt.
• From 1995-99, Pope puts out several THB short-stories and short-story collections. A THB short story written and drawn with Jeff Smith, "Pan-Fried Girl," appears in Dark Horse Presents #100.5 (August 1995). This is followed by the tabloid-sized "Giant THB Parade" (1996) and "THB Circus" (1998), plus a collection of unfinished stories called "P-City Parade" (1997). There are also THB-universe short stories in "Buzz Buzz Comics Magazine" (1996) and "Escapo" (1999).
• In 1999, Pope self-published "THB M3: Mars' Mightiest Mek" -- a 64-page short-story collection that's a pretty good intro to the world of THB for new readers. It's also our first real glimpse at a new look and feel for THB; Pope has apparently been quietly re-drawing the early issues behind the scenes to bring them more in line with his developing art style and a harder, less-surreal sci-fi sensibility (though honestly one of the best things *about* THB is watching him develop as an artist over the course of the series, but maybe that's just me).
• In 2000-2001, Pope returns to the main THB storyline with four new issues: THB 6a, 6b, 6c, and 6d. (Why he didn't just number them 6, 7, 8 and 9 is an amusing mystery.)
• In 2003, he releases the terrific 96-page "Giant THB 1.v.2," which is in fact THB #10. It's in a larger format than the other books in the main storyline -- and ends on a cliffhanger that is apparently about 2/3 through the main story he always wanted to tell. It remains a cliffhanger to this day.
• He's since put out three more THB short-story collections through Adhouse Books -- a limited-run "PULPHOPE.A" ashcan (2006), plus "THB: Comics from Mars" #1 (2007) and #2 (2010).
• In 2007, First Second announced a multi-volume "Total THB" collection to be released after Pope finished BATTLING BOY. At this writing, Pope is still working on finishing BATTLING BOY.
• Oh, and there's a one-page THB short story, "Good Morning," in Ronald Wimberly's LAAB comics tabloid newspaper (Issue #2), crowdfunded through Beehive Books.
And as far as I know, that's it -- other than a few ashcans, some trading cards, a few t-shirts, an unfinished collaboration with Jay "Sin" Stephens called "The Wing-Tip Caper" (about 8 wonderful pages of which showed up online years ago), a 1997 silkscreen, and a gigantic 2003 promotional poster for "Giant THB 1.v.2."
It's hundreds if not thousands of pages of incredible material, and I'd love to see it all properly collected.
Oh, AND: Circa 1996, Pope developed a series called "Super Trouble" for manga publisher Kodansha; it features "remixed" versions of two of THB's lead characters, Lollie and H.R. Watson (renamed "J.P." and "K.C." for Kodansha, with more aggressively mischievous cartoon personalities). About 39 pages of this material was collected in THE ONE TRICK RIP-OFF + DEEP CUTS (Image Comics, 2013).
Pope was definitely influenced by Kirby. He noted the bat in issue 1 was inspired by Kamandi’s battle with giant bats, and in the letters page to issue 3 he noted that for a long time his only comics were the Bring on the Bad Guys and Son of Origins collections. I thought he’d done an essay with illustrations on the Bat battle, too, but haven’t found it yet. And don’t forget his recreation of OMAC 1 in his issue of Solo.
I still have all the THBs, bought as they came out, the first issue has a taped-in photo poster of a ‘THB girl’ posing as HR. His bonus material included (ala Los Bros Hernandez) a playlist of the music he’d been spinning while creating the particular issue.
There’s also THB 69 from 1995 which looks to be where he created the opening dozen pages/scene of -your- THB 1-remastered edition. I’ll have to dig out the oversized issues that came out later. Note there’s also a THB: Mars’ Mightiest Mek 64 pager in 2000 which served as a reintroduction to the series before he finally came out with THB 6A, B, C, and D.
Great memories here, thanks! Another stack of issues for the re-read pile!
You guys did my brother SOLID!! Paul Pope is The Comics Destroyer ..THB was his “On The Road “ let it all hang out D.I.Y punk comics
Woot! Love this! Groundbreaking indy stuff right here
I picked it up in 95 or 96 at a small shop in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It blew my mind, too. I loved those comics.
Beyond the Pale in Midtown Sacramento back in the mid 90's was my go to for small press comics. THB release schedule was an absolute nightmare and filling holes in your collection was impossible.
Paul Pope!!! Great big thank you, guys! Just want to say some of those panels reminded me of Al Columbia.
Obey is probably from the John Carpenter movie "They Live", which is where Shepard Fairey got it.
THB was my absolute jam. Just like Jim, I found this on the shelf right when I was looking for something beyond the 90s superhero "junk." Paul Pope and THB will always be something that I never got enough of.
Damn, definitely raw and super fun!!
This book is amazing! Glad to see the boys covering it. This and Heavy Liquid are just stunning and unique works.
Lots more please, that BATTLING BOY traveling art show book is awesome to look at right after revisiting the early THB stuff
Outstanding artist- it’s surprising he hasn’t dropped a trade paperback of all the THB material. I’m still missing the adhouse THB’s- very pricey!!!
I loved your look at this. I wish to anything there was an omnibus of this series.
Magnum Pope-us.
Mars Mightiest Mek has a story in it with a kid rock-climbing with an android Johnny Appleseed that is excellent. I’ll have to save up to buy another copy of it…lol.
YES! Love THB and Paul Pope!! Hopefully he gets back to it soon!
Please review Pope's Escapo, it is one of the coolest comics I have encountered. This is PP at his finest. There are two versions-the original publication and a redo of the original with added story-both versions are a treat for art lovers. Check it out-I would love to see this get the Kayfabe treatment it deserves.
More Paul Pope please!! He is a big influence on my art !!
One Trick Rip Off would be a good one to look at. You can see his approach to page & panel layouts evolve as you read along. I think he writes about the manga influence in the book
Bravo Cartoonist Kayfabe! Love seeing you break down Paul Pope work on the channel. I learned a lot this episode.
Still heart broken that THB complete HC announced for 2008 release never happened. I still remember buying my first stack of non big 2 had THB, Madman Adventures, Milk & Cheese, Scud, The Disposable Assassin. These artists and titles are still big in my comic reading DNA.
I picked up a THB comic back in '94 or so, already having been exposed to Eightball and other alternative comics and I couldn't undrestand how all comics weren't like those comics' Not only was THB pleasing to look at but there was a voice that was more vital than what you would find in most of the mainstream comic media. It was more than just a re-hash of what would push sales numbers, it wasn't dumb, it was presented as literature.
Ten years ago Pope mentioned in an interview that first second would be reprinting thb in a collected edition. So sad it never happened. Also heavy liquid and 100% deserve hardcovers with the remastered art that came out in the trades. .. and make them bigger jeez its Pope art he deserves a large prestige format with that masterful line work
This is about the time I met Pope. He’d haunt Kinko’s. I’d bump into him there and at Long’s bookstore. Monkey’s Retreat was his shop towards the end of it’s hey day. It was wall to wall zines, some European comics and a lot of underground comics. The access to zines would explain the early esthetic. There was still ziipatone available at that time though I think the tones here are digital.
Paul pope is my favorite comic book writer ad artist after Grant Morrison. And holy shit THB is impossible to find
Need more paul pope!
Have all the THB stuff but it's a shame there isn't a giant collection new readers can grab
Just in awe of his talent, a born comic artist.
Possible Pettibon influence in the earlier pages?
It's amazing how huge you guys make my gap in comic knowledge feel. Truly inspiring. On a side note does anyone know the Paul Pope comic where a character throws a dart at a map and where ever it lands that's where the character will travel? Can't remember the name of the book but I read it in my twenties and always hope I'd manage to muster up enough courage to do that sort thing when I became a proper grown up. Thanks in advance.
That sounds familiar. Was the character on the run or something? That might be One Trick Rip-Off. Or Smoke Navigator.
More Paul Pope please!
About time
15:03 This is Awesome!
Great ep. Love thb
Being listed in alphabetical order as "Pope Paul" is what really put his name on the map. The map of Italy, that is.
I know they have a copy of Zap Comix number one. That might be worth looking at.
I think pope used live models if he could. He was at a Columbus spirit of independence comics show around 1996. A female friend was with him who looked exactly like the school girl Homie with blonde hair, friend of HR. I first heard of THB from a black and white Sampler I have about four pages that was an early promo. At the show he also gave out a few THP trading cards, mine had the bug man on it. He used to be on the Canadian antigravity TV show, the antigravity room. I thought of him like A rockstar Jim Morrison artist doing comics. He played guitar on one episode of the anti-gravity room. I remember his covers for DC Catwoman. This is a decade later but very disappointing. Nevertheless, when he was on target, he was very impressive throughout his career.
Gamechanger
Based on a couple of interviews, it sounds like THB is tied up in contractual limbo with First Second. A collection was supposed to happen but after the Battling Boy stuff wrapped up.
Yes please.
Would love to be wrong, but PP has kinda gone a Jim Steranko-ish route with his career at this point, right? From interviews and bits of his writing he’s clearly passionate about comics/cartooning, he’s never distanced his professional ID from comics, but his creative output is in more lucrative/culturally relevant areas. Last 12 years it’s pretty much just Battling Boy, and he only did the art for one volume.
I know this is classic ‘good for him, bad for us’ grousing concerning an artist who has nothing to prove w/r/t his body of work, but dammit I want more PP comics.
Shoot interview? Seems like you guys have a lot of questions for him....
I've got an original THB #1 signed. Let me know if you need photos or scans.
Whats Paul Popes book about art thats also a drug.. something like that.
These need to be reprinted.
Paul Pope was one of the friendliest artists I've met at SDCC.
More Paul Pope please!