Artwork Details
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Description19 x 24Character Roll Call: THB, HR Watson, Bumble Buzz, Super-Meks and Pope-Mek from THB. From Battling Boy: Haggard and Aurora West, Battling Boy and his father, Sadisto, Stain and various monster army minions. “S” and his shadow “Mr. Radiowave Spaceman” from Heavy Liquid. Adam Strange from Wednesday Comics. Batman from Batman: Year 100. From 100%, one of Eloy’s kettles. Note: Above Batman, Pope also includes the Joker 🤔 ******************************************************************************************** This commission started with a thought experiment: “what if Paul Pope drew a wraparound cover for an omnibus collection or career retrospective of his work?” The result conveys the breadth and quality of Pope’s work across creator-owned and mainstream comics over the last 30 years. I was thrilled to see just how much love for THB Paul shows on this piece. While it wasn’t his first comic, Pope made his bones with his self-published comic about a young girl on Mars and her super-powered bodyguard and it’s clear he still has a lot of affection for the series and its characters. It’s fitting, then, that Pope positions THB prominently on the “front” of the cover, flanked by the Batman from his Year 100 story. HR Watson hovers overhead and exclaims “THB!”—a charming touch and one of several examples of Pope adding his distinctive lettering to the piece. I couldn’t ask for a better set of Pope characters to anchor the commission. If Pope’s early and mid-career work dominates the “front” of this hypothetical cover, then characters from Battling Boy, his most recent published project, dominate the “back.” Battling Boy’s father strikes a Super-Mek from THB, while his son, Battling Boy (garbed in his T-Rex shirt imparting the powers of a Tyrannosaurus) battles Sadisto and his monster army minions. Haggard and Aurora West, heroes of Arcopolis, also appear prominently. While characters from THB, Batman: Year 100, and Battling Boy loom largest, Pope also includes characters from other signature projects like “S,” the Paul Pope lookalike main character from Heavy Liquid, with his shadow, “Mr. Radiowave Spaceman,” just behind. Adam Strange, from Pope’s Wednesday Comics serial, launches into the air with a heroic “Hup!”. From 100%, Pope adds one of the kettles from Eloy’s art installation in the lower left above his signature. Speaking of 100%, the lack of characters from that series reads as an oversight at first, unless you’re familiar with the series. Eloy’s kettles are used throughout as a significant recurring symbol—most strikingly on the cover of the second issue and in the introductory pages of the collected 100%. I read the omission of characters from 100% as a choice made to emphasize Pope’s most visually impactful and dynamic characters. I think it’s the right choice, because it helps to establish a composition in which multiple characters (Adam Strange, Battling Boy’s father, HR Watson) move along the horizontal and vertical planes in a more visually compelling way than a piece populated by Pope’s street-level characters might. The flourishes of movement Pope imparts to a career retrospective piece like this can be read as a statement for where he is at this point in his career. Many creators could rest on the foundation of the work they completed and were celebrated for earlier in their career. Were Pope of that mindset, one could imagine him filling this retrospective with dozens of static character headshots and poses. Instead, the commission’s collision of characters—flying, exclaiming, and battling—suggests Pope’s creations occupy an energetic and dynamic imaginative space. To me, this signals that Pope isn’t content to rest on his creative laurels and that even better work lies ahead. As both an original art collector and a longtime reader of his work, I can’t wait to see what’s next. I’m a reluctant commissioner so this piece was a leap into the unknown. Thanks to Paul for his incredible brushwork and for the decades of stories that inspired this commission and to Felix Lu for being the most collector and creator friendly art rep in the business. Social/Sharing |
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Comments on this Artwork
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K Gearon 
Member Since 2011
1 - Posted on 8/31/2024
Unreal! Literally...the gang's all here! Love how it's composed, and stylistically, clearly Pope. Congrats!
Ruben DaCollector
Member Since 2008
1 - Posted on 8/31/2024
I would have to say that that Pope succeeded in capturing the What If? genesis behind your commission idea, Mark! Now you'll just have to wait until a career retrospective IS published and Pope uses it for the cover. Talk about icing on the cake! But in the meantime, just enjoy it for what it is, a great looking commission!
Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005
2 - Posted on 8/31/2024
So now we'll answer roll calling
Under Paul's layers
Your crazy choice was dreaming it up
From bibliography we build from THB,
Growing with the scars,
We will follow the lines
It don't need anything from you
It's the last hope in a world of Pope
Nothing will ever be the same...
Bat it's last hope in a world of Pope
Nothing will ever be the same...
But it's the last hope in a world of Pope
Daryl R
Member Since 2015
1 - Posted on 9/1/2024
What an amazing idea for a commission. Clearly Paul knew how to bring this piece to life and you definitely got the ultimate bang for your buck with Popey goodness! This one is a show stopper! Congrats.
M L
Member Since 2015
2 - Posted on 9/1/2024
Daryl R wrote:
What an amazing idea for a commission. Clearly Paul knew how to bring this piece to life and you definitely got the ultimate bang for your buck with Popey goodness! This one is a show stopper! Congrats.
Popey goodness FTW!
F M
Member Since 2005
1 - Posted on 9/1/2024
GREAT idea and execution for a Pope commission (despite-because of?-a very busy composition for my own tastes).
Doug L
Member Since 2019
1 - Posted on 9/1/2024
Incredible. The monsters from Battling Boy are seriously underrated characters.
Mike (aka Off White) White
Member Since 2008
1 - Posted on 9/1/2024
What a great piece from Paul! Congrats!
Kavi H
Member Since 2018
1 - Posted on 9/1/2024
Such a killer idea and the results are tremendous, huge congrats Mark!
artless artmore
Member Since 2013
1 - Posted on 9/2/2024
Spectacular imagery from Pope! This piece is jammed with great characters. Love the movement and variety across the page. I could get lost in this for a while
Bill J
Member Since 2009
1 - Posted on 9/5/2024
OMG! This is the coolest and most incredible commission I've seen in a long time. First of all, I'm blown away by the whole idea of doing a commission that's the cover to a career retrospective. How did you come up with an idea like that? That's so cool! Second, the execution of the idea is jaw-dropping! The different characters Paul included--the Batman, HR Watson, Battling Boy, Haggard and Aurora West...The whole project is mind-boggling! My hat's off to you, Mark. And of course, to Paul Pope. Brilliant idea, brilliant execution.
Reba Jacobs
Member Since 2017
1 - Posted on 9/24/2024
Very worth you taking a leap into commissions for this one!
Jason Hussa
Member Since 2017
1 - Posted on 10/31/2024
I won't lie, Marc... I've been circling this one for a good while, totally intimidated by it! First off, your description is outstanding. I had found myself thinking about many of the exact things you mention, especially how interesting it is that this is Paul's summary of his own "important" or "omnibussable" work. Some omissions surprise me (where's Escapo or the One-Tricks?) but I do reluctantly understand (with heavy heart) the absence of others (love you, Dr. Richardson and Sin Titulo!). But then you also get the Bumble Buzz seal in the bottom dead center (right on the spine of the hypothetical hardcover) so it all balances out...? ;)
Like you, I started with THB (thanks to the Cerebus preview) and his and H.R.'s beefy representation here make my heart soar. (Even as I eagerly await any new work by Paul, I do hold out hope for an eventual check in with H.R. Watson at some point, just to see what she's up to.)
(And, yeah - the Joker behind Batman is awesome... and it's not just any Joker, right? This is the death rattle / self-destruction "HHK..." of the Dark Knight Joker...? Eeshk!)
Your piece is a gorgeous work by one of my favorite creators - a completely unfiltered, zen-like stream-of-consciousness blast of Pope ephemera, unmistakably awesome lettering and all. When Paul is in "the zone"? -THIS- is where he's at. The Pope Zone. And perhaps the greatest compliment is that it makes me want to dig -all- of these books out (plus I guess the apocryphal (?) Escapo, Sin Titulo, One-Trick Rip Off, and The Ballad of Dr. Richardson!) and dive right on in for a glorious blast of premier sequential storytelling. PHENOMENAL add, Marc - 100%. VERY sincere congrats!
Kevin Koch
Member Since 2015
1 - Posted on 3/14/2025
Not much I can add to the other excellent comments, except to say I love this!
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