''THB'' is a creator-owned

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series by

Paul Pope Paul Pope (born September 25, 1970, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American alternative cartoonist. Pope's work combines the precision and romance of European comics artists with the energy and page design of the manga tradition. Pope's tw ...

Publication history

Pope self-published issue #1 of ''THB'' in 1994 through his own Horse Press — during a new wave of black-and-white independent comic books that included ''

Bone A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provid ...

'', ''

Hepcats ''Hepcats'' is a comic book series self-published in the 1990s by cartoonist Martin Wagner. It deals with the lives of four college students, rendered as anthropomorphic animals (humanoid bodies, but animal heads), and is inspired by Wagner's o ...

'', and '' Starchild''. Pope has sporadically published ''THB'' issues and short stories since its 1994 debut. The comics can be divided into two general categories: # The main ''THB'' storyline (currently standing at 11 issues) # Multiple short stories and short-story collections

''THB'' main storyline to date

Pope has said he plans to conclude the series' main storyline. In 2007, it was announced that the complete series would be published as ''Total THB''—a multi-volume, full-color collection—by

First Second Books First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual essays, and comics journalism. It als ...

''THB'' short stories and short-story collections

Plot

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

story set on a future colonized

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

, ''THB'' chronicles the adventures of teenage girl HR Watson and THB, her super-powered bodyguard. THB is a "Super-Mek" whose name stands for "Tri-Hydro Bi-oxygenate," a fictional

molecule A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioch ...

created by Pope. When un-activated, THB resembles a small rubber ball carried around by HR Watson; when activated with water, THB expands to take the form of a purple, seven-foot (215 cm) tall, super-powered humanoid resembling a

genie Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...

. HR is the daughter of wealthy

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

manufacturer Clovis Watson, and lives with him in Velo City while attending classes at the Academy of Advanced Disciplines. In the series' main storyline, HR's father makes plans to move his business outside the taxable boundaries of V-City and mine the asteroid belt, assisted by his bodyguard and right-hand man Mister McHaine. This attracts the attention of the ruling Buranchist Party, or "Bugfaces." The Bugfaces attempt to take HR in for questioning by sending a series of robot agents to capture her; one robot agent is delivered to her home disguised as a

Steinway piano Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...

. Following a series of wild chases, HR flees with THB across the desert to Plutonium City — hiding out with her older step-brother Percy and members of a popular musical group, the Complex Passions. She continues to evade capture while falling for the band's lead clarinetist, The Jiggler. She is assisted from afar by her best friend Lollie Perducci, daughter of a famous opera singer, and Lollie's intelligent pet Mister Pig-Dog. Pope has also written and drawn numerous ''THB'' short stories, many of them chronicling the comic misadventures of HR and Lollie, as well as stand-alone tales featuring one-off characters set in other parts of the ''THB'' universe.

Awards

* 1995: Nominated for "Best New Series"

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

1995 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees and Winners
the Comic Book Awards Almanac

Notes

References

* * * * * * * {{Refend

External links

Official ''THB'' websiteTHB page at PaulPope.com

2010 interview with Paul Pope featuring discussion of ''THB''Comics Kayfabe video breakdown of THB 1.v.2