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Fantastically wonderful artwork fills these pages. There are two great stories here, told more visually than through words. The depth presented in the visual story telling is already beckoning me back for many re-readings.
Paul Pope is amazing. His drawing style is excellent, and his story telling skills are to match.Escapo is one of his shorter ones- a love story about a disfigured escape artist who falls in love with a tightrope walker.Beautiful work, great story, excellent all around.
The story here is entirely secondary to the art, which makes the story beautifully explode. I got this from the library, but I'm thinking I would like a copy for my own library, and I'm just happy I have my graphic novels and comics shelved right next to my small but growing collection of art books. Never mind all that...this book is recommended, however you wish to consume it!
Escapo is a collection and museum-catalogue of Paul Pope’s overall design and work, transitioning to the short comic collection about the daredevil romantic escape artist of the same name. Beaten down by the world, Escapo makes a deal with death to live just a little longer, diving through the meatgrinder that is his professional calling. He is beaten up on the outside, with a past to keep closeted up in his heart. Additionally, when a woman enters his life, he has to make a difficult decision a...
Beautiful, kinetic art from Paul Pope. It's more a poem about death than a traditional comic, but escape artistry & intricate traps keep it from being too grim. The afterword where Pope talks about his monastic existence is fun too.
I'd been following Pope for a couple years by this point, through Dr. Richardson & Sin Titulo, and by THB (where Escapo originally debuted) I was starting to lose interest. His narratives were focusing more on the fantastic and I just wasn't wanting to follow him there. His art, however, continued to intrigue me, so when Escapo came out I went ahead and picked it up. I suspect this was the end of my interest in Pope overall.This book is slightly more than just the collected adventures of a circu...
Superb artwork wonderfully made even more delicious with excellent coloring!This is also some of Pope's most cohesive and emotionally resonant work ever!GorgeousGorgeousGorgeous!
Paul Pope has a wonderful style of illustration that makes me feel menaced. I haven't pinpointed why, yet. The story of Escapo is sketchy, but not unresolved. You can just tell that there is more to be told.
Revisiting this one having only previously read it in it's original B&W version, I loved it just as much. Most striking is how well the colour compliments it. My brain typically thinks "NO!" when it here's that original B&W work is being coloured, but it really works here.There's actually two stories in this, and I don't think I had read the second one before so that was a nice surprise. Paul Popes self published work was a real enigma (where, oh where, are the THB reprints/collections?) in my n...
Really dug this even tho’ the story seems a bit short. I adore his artwork and appreciate the comic-makers insider he includes at the end about his general process during and after the making of this book.
Cross Kafka with Houdini - wonderfully strange book - wonderfully strange art.
This is a story about a circus escape artist who confronts a series of deadly machines. As he works through these death traps, he deals with the emotions that preoccupy his mind--love and fear of death. The art is beautifully drawn and the color work is amazing. I also enjoyed the sketchbook section at the back of the book.
2.5 Stars--This was a genuine Grail Comic for me. One of those you strive years to find (i.e. Brendan McCarthy's Swimmini Purpose or Grant Morrison's Flex Mentallo).What happens when you finally acheive the Grail and find it to be a little less than full, and perhaps even a copy? Do you claim the important part was the quest and the search? Ultimately, Escapo is an early effort by Paul Pope--his style his here, but it's not fully developed. The writing is frayed and not solid. It's literally two...
I grabbed this from Mark 1 this morning, intruiged by the cover and quotes proclaiming a theme of the "futility of love". I love doomed love (in fiction) - give me Christian and Satine, Daisy and Gatsby, Cathy and Heathcliff, even Romeo and Juliet.This book didn't give me anything other than an unrequited crush and a protagonist I couldn't connect with.Great art, though
Great culmination of all of the 3 versions of Escapo. Additional sketches and preliminary work for character and covers included.
This reproduction/collection of the 1999 Paul Pope graphic novel Escapo includes the original story along with bonus material: sketchbook scans, an interview with the artist, and pin ups from other artists. As a reprint and mini-collection, this was nice and will probably appeal to Paul Pope enthusiasts.The story is a small vignette into the life of Escapo, a famed escape artist who performs bigger and better feats each night as part of a traveling circus. The story feels very stilted and choppy...
I am not much of a graphic novel reader. As a kid I was into a lot of Marvel comics, especially Thor and the X-men. In college I read a few graphic novels -- The Crow, Gregory, and V for Vendetta. Still later I briefly got into alternative comics -- R. Crumb and the sorts of things Fantagraphics was anthologizing. But I don't think I've read a graphic novel in at least 10 years, and closer to 20.So I read this on a bit of a lark, as I've been seeing an explosion of graphic novels at work in the
In his signature style, comics artist Paul Pope writes and illustrates this story about a circus escape artist who represents the losing battle we all enter with death. Escapo is a scarred but still young-looking man in a skeleton suit, a costume typically obscured with straitjackets, locks and chains. He hurls himself between spinning blades and into watery pits, picking locks, listening for tumblers to fall into place and even making a bargain with Death. At one point, he falls in love with a
I received this book free through Goodreads' First Reads program.Escapo is a hard-back, full-color graphic novel collecting three Escapo stories and a collection of concept sketches, along with a short write-up of the tools used by the artist in creating the artwork and some recollections about the time in which the stories were originally written.Despite the character's origins in the 1990s, these are definitely not the types of comic books I was reading as a kid/young teenager. Escapo is not a...
The art is messy; but in the art world, that's called "expressive" - and it is! One gets the idea that life itself is messy, which it is… (art is reminiscent of Jeff Lemire.)The Prelude if of the birth of Escapo - messy, birth is… and it's Escapo's first escape.Of course, he joins the circus, where he falls in love with the beautiful high wire girl; the clowns are mean (aren't they always??),; and he does death-defying elaborate escapes. He's obviously gotten close to meeting Death at least once...