AD.PULPHOPE.CVR 3/21/07 11:00 AM Page 1 fold fold fold fold [continued from front flap.] PULPHOPE contains an extraordinary and wide-ranging selection of graphic Since then, Pope has work by artist/designer Paul Pope. created a number of original, largely science fiction-oriented, stories for the American and European comics market. His work has been translated in over a dozen foreign languages. The gloomy-glam science fiction chase story Heavy Liquid made both Publisher’s Weekly and Time.com’s list of the Top 100 Books of 2001. His follow-up, the sexy, near-future noir-romance, called 100%, was nominated for the coveted Plume Award for Best Graphic Novel in 2003. Pope’s work on the DC Comics series SOLO earned him an Eisner Award for the short story Teenage Sidekick, a character study of Batman and Robin. This was then Pope has been called everything from followed by Pope’s unique Comics Destroyer, to the Dark Prince of take on the caped Comix, to simply, Pulphope. His work crusader, the sweeping ranges from superheroes to erotica, from science fiction-themed manga to rock’n’roll, from fashion design Batman Year 100. to science fiction futurism. Much of the work presented in the pages of Nerve magazine voted PULPHOPE has never before seen print. Pope one of the 50 “New Through an inter-locking series of Radicals” (The 50 artists, revealing essays, Pope writes candidly actors, authors, activists about his own creative process, his and icons who are making artistic heroes, his anxieties, and his the world a more earliest impressions of Japanese and stimulating place) adding, American comics. In considering some of “Pope moves seamlessly the works of artists who continue to between indie and influence him — artists such as mainstream, stretching the Hiroshige, Pablo Picasso, Egawa Tetsuya boundaries of each.” and Tadanori Yokoo — Pope offers a rare perspective into the private world of one More recently, in addition of America’s most exciting cartoonist. to his work in comics, Pope has branched out into the Paul Pope’s art style blends the graphic multi-media world of film and narrative traditions of the best and fashion design, con- comics from Europe, Japan, and the tributing to a number of United States. “At his best,” writes The projects for clients such as Comics Journal, “Pope’s drawings, Paramount Pictures, Diesel loosely and densely rendered with long, Industries, Visionaire, sinuous brushstrokes, have the grace and EMI-Canada, and DKNY. fluidity of Asian calligraphy.” Paul Pope lives and In the mid-90s, Pope burst onto the works in New York City, American comics scene with the and claims his goal is to charmingly odd and delightful science create “World Comics, fiction hit THB, garnering many fans and 21st-century comics, award nominations. Not long after this, stories set in the comics theartofpaulpope he was hand-picked by Japan’s largest medium, which can reach publisher, Kodansha, to be part of their out and speak to people experimental “World Manga” project, everywhere.” and for the rest of the decade Pope was creating a number of new projects expressly for the Japanese market. Oddly, after over five years of work for $29.95 US Kodansha, in which Pope produced mature readers hundreds of pages of material, only www.adhousebooks.com about a dozen pages have ever seen print. [continued on the back flap.] fold fold fold fold AD.PULPHOPE.TXTfile 3/21/07 11:02 AM Page 1 PULPHOPE AD.PULPHOPE.TXTfile 3/21/07 11:02 AM Page 2 AD.PULPHOPE.TXTfile 3/21/07 11:02 AM Page 3 PULPHOPE AD.PULPHOPE.TXTfile 3/21/07 11:02 AM Page 4 PULPHOPE: The Art of Paul Pope Table of Contents: Acknowledgements: To Jonas Hjertberg and Published by AdHouse Books. 1. ET IN ARCADIA EGO . .06 Andrew Johnstone, who pushed me to do this. To Doug Jaeger, Matt Spangler, Ben Neighbors, A Picture is a Sum of Destructions Adrian "Air Conditioner" Clifford, Joshua Davis, Design and AdHouse logo are © Yuko Shimizu, Istvan Banyai, James Jean, Dustin 2. IN THE STUDIO . .28 Harbin, Mark Borg, and Calvin Reid...all of whom copyright 2007 AdHouse Books. are the “without whoms...” In Rehearsal to A Vision Content is © copyright 2007 Paul To Tod Jatris, Stephen Daldry, Scott Rudin, James Pope, unless otherwise noted. Queen, Peter Birkemoe, and Leslie Converse. 3. STOPGO!! . .56 To Aliya, Scott, Harvest, Luana, and Erika. No part of this book (except small Kid Art To Cass and Frank and Bob. portions for review purposes) may be And finally, to Pitzer, for the firepower. used without expressed written 4. MANGA-KA . .68 consent from AdHouse Books. The Benefits of Thirst Fonts: Glypha for text, Sinaloa for essay headlines, Vienna Black for title pages. 5. UKIYO-E-POPE . .86 ISBN 0-9770304-2-3 Proofreading: Lisa Pitzer ISBN 978-0-9770304-3-9 Pictures of the Floating World 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Photo Credits: frontcover flap HM King, page 35 6. HEROTICS . .112 Aliya Naumoff, pages 180-181 Chris Rubino, Paul Pin Ups Pope and Luther Davis, page 217 Scott Mou Design: Pitzer+Pope 7. DESIGN CONTAINERS . .142 Cover Credits: THB, Escapo, 100%, Heavy Liquid © copyright Paul Pope. Batman © copyright DC AdHouse Books Design and Persuasion 1224 Greycourt Ave. Comics. Five Shots and a Funeral, By the Balls and The Perpetrators © copyright Uglytown. Manga Richmond, VA 23227-4042 8. SCREAMING FUTURES . .188 Surprise © copyright Kodansha. Oni Double www.adhousebooks.com Feature © copyright Oni Press. Pulp © copyright New Monsters & Strange Kings Viz Communications. Solo © copyright DC Comics. Negative Burn © copyright Desperado Studios. First Printing, June 2007 INDEXETC . .216 The Escapists © copyright Dark Horse Comics. SP05 © copyright Semi-Permanent. Empty © copyright Design Is Kinky. Project: Superior © Printed in Singapore copyright AdHouse Books. Rosso 50 © copyright Diesel Industries. If any works have been missed, we apologize, and note that the work is the © copyright of the rightful owner. PS. Horse Press is rockin' the house. AD.PULPHOPE.TXTfile 3/21/07 11:02 AM Page 5 PULPHOPE The Art of Paul Pope AdHouse Books Richmond, VA AD.PULPHOPE.TXTfile 3/21/07 11:02 AM Page 6 ET IN ARCADIA EGO AD.PULPHOPE.TXTfile 3/21/07 11:02 AM Page 7 IA AD.PULPHOPE.TXTfile 3/21/07 11:02 AM Page 8 A PICTURE IS A SUM OF DESTRUC- TIONS “In the old days pictures went remains almost intact, in spite of telegraphs to us the startling, forward towards completion by appearances. I often ponder on a light singular image of artist-as-destroyer. stages. Everyday brought something and a dark when I have put them into Every cheerful demolitionist, loving new. A picture used to be a sum of a picture; I try hard to break them up his job, knows this — in order to additions. In my case a picture is a by interpolating a color that will create you must first create space. sum of destructions. I do a picture — create a different effect. When the You must remove what was there then I destroy it. In the end, though, work is photographed, I note that before. You must demolish it — nothing is lost: the red I took away what I put in to correct my first vision destroy the blankness of the white one place turns up somewhere else. has disappeared, and that, after all, canvas or the white page as the the photographic image corresponds demolitionist flattens the old building It would be very interesting to with my first vision before the or carpark or bridge. You must preserve photographically, not the transformation I insisted on.” consume the arctic blankness with stages, but the metamorphoses of a your colors and lines and forms as the picture. Possibly one might then — Picasso to Christian Zervos, 1935 cheerful demolitionist consumes his discover the path followed by the with dynamite, nitro, and implosion- brain in materializing a dream. But A sum of destructions. Even from physics. You must swallow the thing there is one very odd thing — to beyond the grave, this prolific with work in order to build something notice that basically a picture doesn’t painter-sculptor-printmaker new. Some destructions lead to new change, that the first “vision” buildings, some only to more PULPHOPE { 8 } ET IN ARCADIA EGO AD.PULPHOPE.TXTfile 3/21/07 11:02 AM Page 9 destruction. Picasso’s destructions summer way and as I sat on the and evermore. Comics is a fertile led to Cubism. stoop and drank it all in, it occurred seedbed of image, story, and myth, to me the last time I noticed the with rich plots, hybrid strains, and One must destroy in order to create. weather it was snowing. I wondered long-legged furroughs. Our proud This is a poetic notion and perhaps if perhaps the artist, the art-machine, medium shakes ideas off its vines like not properly a philosophy. We is only capable of doing what it was ripened fruit. mustn’t forget Picasso was an arch- created to do. A sewing machine prankster as well as a Spaniard, so it sews, a jack-hammer jack-hammers, a I take it as a moral imperative to is possible he was pulling the leg of cartoonist cartoons. I was so question all traditions and presumed the world. I think he meant what he absorbed in the act of rules of the comics medium. As an was saying and the idea suggests to making stories with artist, I will cleave to the traditions me what I take to be an elemental words and which point to real, true, and vital truth — life exists by eating other pictures I rules of art.