Paul Pope (b. 1972) is a United States alternative comic book artist. Influenced by Ray Bradbury and William S. 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.

Pope introduced THB (see bibliography) 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 primary 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 (with its numerous short publications).

Originally from Bowling Green, Ohio, with stops in Columbus, Ohio, San Francisco, and Toronto in-between, Pope now lives and works in New York City.

Bibliography

Paul Pope is best known for his work on the following serials and graphic novels:

• THB
• One-Trick Ripoff
• Escapo
• Heavy Liquid
• 100%

External Links

• The Paul Pope homepage (requires JavaScript navigation)