I’ve been a fan of Paul Pope’s work since the first time I encountered it. If memory serves, that happened around 1996, when I was deeply into collecting independent comics and a friend of mine gave me a copy of the beautiful tabloid Pope comic Buzz Buzz. From the moment I read my first Pope story I’ve been thoroughly enchanted by the energy and excitement of his linework, the liveliness of his stories and the pure joy that he brings to everything that he works on.
Recently some CB friends and I had the chance to review Paul’s Invincible Haggard West and then his Battling Boy, and we were all thoroughly impressed by these latest works by Pope, so full of energy, life, and amazing Easter eggs that made the experience even more special.
So when I had the chance to interview Paul at this summer’s San Diego Comic Con, I jumped at the chance. As you can see, Paul suggested we sit outside in the sun while we chatted, which got us both away from the chaos of the convention floor, put us both at ease, and led to one of the most pleasurable conversations I’ve ever had with a comics creator. Unfortunately, because of all the ambiennt noise (and because yr. obt. servant is a goofball), some of the audio is hard to make out, so we had it subtitled for you. Also, because of the length of the conversation, we split it up into four parts, which we’ll be rolling out each day this week.
Special thanks to Chris Wunderlich for his yeoman’s work putting this piece together.