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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

News / Books Pope Spock

Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 5:02 PM

941f/1240342594-popespock.jpg I know this is the second time I've linked to Wired today, but this is pretty neat. Paul Pope has made a six-page Star Trek comic book about Spock fighting a mutant panther with his bare hands. Pope is definitely a comics artist to watch. I've been reading his stuff for over ten years now, and I can't quite figure out why he's not the biggest comics artist in America. His stuff is sexy, fun, and beautiful, with some sci-fi elements, but not so much that you're overpowered.

5aed/1240343720-11209_180x270.jpg That said, I received a copy of Pope's most recent graphic novel, 100%, in the mail from Vertigo a month or so back, and I'm not super impressed. 100% follows a cast of six young, hot, and talented characters in the near future as they deal with violent crime and minimum wage jobs as they try to make it as artists. There is not so much in the way of sci-fi (the future version of stripping is called "gastro dancing," and it involves a large screen above the dancer displaying their gastrointestinal system as they dance). It's a lovely, Altmanesque story that doesn't really pay off in any meaningful, climactic way; the journey is definitely the destination.

100% is interesting and attractive. It's a book to take out from the library and dip into, but it feels way too slight for the exorbitant cover price. It is not worth forty dollars. Vertigo is usually fairly good about their pricing. I can't imagine why they would release a book in this economy as a forty dollar hardcover. Pope is a great cartoonist—one of the best of his generation—but if you like the Spock story, you should dabble in his sizable backlist first. Maybe 100% will be worth it when it comes out in paperback.

Comments (17) RSS

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I dunno, I read Heavy Liquid and it was both tepid and ugly. Are you saying the rest of his stuff is better?

Posted by Fisti on April 21, 2009 at 5:13 PM

I first discovered Paul Pope when he did a couple of fill in issues of X-Force or X-Statix for Mike Allred. I like his work A LOT, but that man's ego is just everywhere in his work. I can only liken him to Kanye West or someshit.

It makes me a little crazy.

Also, West Seattle IS NOT THAT FAR.

Posted by gayballs on April 21, 2009 at 5:50 PM

Paul, 100% isn't "new" -- it came out 5 years ago in miniseries form. DC Comics released it in a softcover collection in 2005, and this is a new, deluxe hardcover treatment. Personally, I thought it was a great book/miniseries, with a great atmosphere and an unusually happy ending for comics.

On a semirelated note, Paul Pope's upcoming book "Battling Boy" has already been optioned as a movie by Brad Pitt's production house Plan B, to be adapted by Alex Tse, one of the screenwriters of "Watchmen". Also, Pope has a line of clothing through DKNY featuring his art.

Posted by Peter F on April 21, 2009 at 5:51 PM

Oh -- and I dunno about Seattle's library, but the King County library system has copies of the softcover of 100%, as well as his books "Escapo" and "Heavy Liquid"

Posted by Peter F on April 21, 2009 at 5:52 PM

Would it hurt to do any research at all before you post about comics? 100% was published from 2002-2005 and first collected as a paperback in 2005. It is hardly Paul Pope's latest. The new edition is one of those Vertigo special editions that they release all of the time. You can usually find the paperback of 100% at used bookstores or even at SPL for, you know, free. Dinging it because of the high-price isn't exactly a high mark for criticism.

Posted by Andrew on April 21, 2009 at 5:55 PM

Also, just remembered something else I just discovered -- in iTunes, there are five "motion comic" episodes adapted from various "Batman: Black & White" stories, including one called "Broken Nose" by Paul Pope. The motion comics are pretty well done, and adapted from some great, short tales by the likes of Bruce Timm, Alex Ross, Dave Gibbons and Darwyn Cooke. You can get two shorts for 99 cents...

I'll stop now, sorry.

Posted by Peter F on April 21, 2009 at 5:56 PM

Peter F, you should write about comics on the Slog instead of Paul Constant.

Posted by Andrew on April 21, 2009 at 6:02 PM

@7, no no no -- I meant no offense. I like Paul's posts; was just trying to help.

Posted by Peter F on April 21, 2009 at 6:07 PM

Believe it or not, you can find 100% in the King County library system.

Posted by Arsenic7 on April 21, 2009 at 6:08 PM

Oh man, beaten by a ton.

Posted by Arsenic7 on April 21, 2009 at 6:09 PM

@3 "Paul, 100% isn't 'new' -- it came out 5 years ago". Oh comic book guy, we love you. I can practically hear the ostentatious nasally voice in the word 'new'.

Posted by datajunkie on April 21, 2009 at 6:15 PM

@11, seriously, I meant no offense. It's just a weird coincidence that I was discussing Paul Pope with another comic nerd type in my studio today and had all this info in my forebrain.

Well, maybe not a coincidence; we were trading recommendations on Paul Pope art after seeing the same comic in Wired that inspired Paul's post.

That said, I do have the Comic Book Guy action figure here on my desk...

Posted by Peter F on April 21, 2009 at 6:27 PM

@Peter F, don't feel bad seeing as you're on the right side of the facts. Not every correction requires a snarky reading (or response) so fuck all the other kids.

That being said, I think THB and Batman: Year 100, are my favorite Pope works. They both have a loony mish-mash of all of Pope's pet themes: bohemian living, paranoid surveillance culture, and technology accelerating art and identity.

Posted by christopher h on April 21, 2009 at 6:52 PM

And I suppose it goes without saying that everyone realizes this is a tie-in to the upcoming JJ Abrams "Star Trek" movie coming out next month.

Still, it's clear Pope has done his homework, with lots of little references to several of the series and to one of the previous movies. If this represents even an inkling of the level of canonical detail we'll see in the film, I think it bodes well.

Posted by COMTE on April 21, 2009 at 7:37 PM

Doesn't seem like that significant an error, when you're only talking about a comic book.

Posted by elenchos on April 21, 2009 at 8:50 PM

@14, that's a good point, actually -- if you're dead set against any movie spoilers, avoid the six page comic, which does have a few (oblique) spoilers for the movie. Also, depending on how you feel about same, the writers of the movie collaborated on a four-issue "prequel" miniseries that fills in some backstory leading up to the movie's plot, called Star Trek: Countdown. It already came out in a trade paperback two weeks ago:

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Countdow…

I thought the book was just okay, and the artist, Dave Messina, is no Paul Pope...

Posted by Peter F on April 21, 2009 at 10:32 PM

Worst comment thread ever!

Posted by The Amazing Jim on April 22, 2009 at 9:35 AM