Plot
“The Corruptor is an interesting artifact pre-dating nearly [Pope’s] entire body of work that contains seeds of some of his future themes and influences. Pope explains in the back matter that he was fascinated with didactic strips that illustrate singular notions which wouldn’t be perceived as artistically ‘wishy-washy.’ This brief story combines two of his influences, the kind of romantic European comics he grew up reading, and hard-boiled crime stories. The 28-pager has a vaguely Eastern European aesthetic, and resembles the type of pamphlet that Thomas Paine would have circulated. The titular ‘corruptor’ is … a man conspicuously disrupting authoritarian rule. It’s an odd corollary to think of this dynamic vis-à-vis the marketing exercise this was for Pope. He printed up 1,000 copies of this book, used these incredibly big letters to form PAUL POPE on the cover and overshadow the title, marketing himself when nobody knew who he was, and subversively gave them all away by hand. Thematically, the story itself is a direct example of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly. The story is told in very direct full page visuals with no text. It’s a pure message about breaking forth from the bonds of oppression suffocating the human spirit. It’s about a man wanting to find the freedom to live, love, laugh, and specifically explore art.”