PAUL POPE is an American cartoonist living and working in New York City. Pope has made a name for himself internationally as an artist and designer. He has been working primarily in comics since the early '90s, but has also done a number of projects with Italian fashion label Diesel Industries and, in the US, with DKNY. His media clients include LucasArts, Paramount Pictures, Cartoon Network, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Conde-Naste, Kodansha (Japan), Sapporo (Japan), Marc Ecko, Dargaud Editions (France), EMI Canada, Warner Brothers, and The British Film Institute. His iconic Batman: Year 100, a science fiction take on the classic Batman origin tale, has won numerous awards, seen print in many languages, and appears frequently on many Top 10 Batman story lists. In 2010, Pope was recognized as a Master Artist by the American Council Of The Arts, and is currently sitting on the ACA advisory board. His 2010, short science fiction comic strip Strange Adventures (DC Comics)--an homage to the Flash Gordon serials of the '30s-- won the coveted National Cartoonist Society's Reuben Award for Best Comic Book of the year. He has won 5 Eisners to date.
Starts with a few essays on the world of THB. I don't know - it just feels overdeveloped and underwhelming to me. To simplify Mars has been impacted by colonialism, the native Martians are treated poorly and the ruling political structure is similar to that of Communist China with censures and whatnot. I am however very intrigued by Pope's ambitions here and I've been enjoying these peripheral THB comics more than the main series.
The Hidden Face The bug faces break into a couple's house in search of the woman. The man tells the woman to hide her face in the blankets and for some reason the bugs are so stupid they don't know a face is on the other side of her head. It's pretty funny.
Face Rub Collete and her dad and hanging out. The dad gets the girl to give him a pretty aggressive head massage. I don't get it!
The Circus HR and Lollie are at the circus and THB is needed to help defeat some gangsters. A bit confusing of a story for me. But the panels of THB jumping around fighting a robot were cool!
The Circus Happy Birthday HR is trying to get across town with a birthday cake for Lollie. It's a complete disaster but after getting THB's help she gets there with the cake nearly intact. Lots of fun. I really liked the full page drawing of the elephant in a parade that HR needs to cross. And the page of THB jumping over all the rooftops. Pope's art is fantastic here.