POP caught my eye with its description, and I’m glad I checked it out. The art is done in a more classic style (I was reminded of V for Vendetta and even the Weird Fantasy book I reviewed a few months ago), and was a bit surprising when compared with the cover, but I enjoyed it and think it works well. As a result of this art style, along with the number of panels involved, there’s a lot more reading than some of the comics I’ve been reviewing the past few days. The tone is quite cynical, but there’s some dry humor I appreciated as well.

Unfortunately, our heroine Elle spends the first third of the comic in her underwear. The comic is commentating on how society views celebrities as dolls, however, so it’s at least thematically relevant. She’s also not sexualized by the main man, Coop, and he provides her with clothes as soon as he can. Other women in the comic are only present for decoration/sexualization, which on one hand enforces the theme but on the other hand continues to perpetuate unfortunate tropes.

I’ll continue reading POP for a bit; I like dark science-fiction, and this has an interesting angle on celebrity culture (jabs at Justin Beiber and all!) with heavy shades of The Matrix.

Plot

“What if the world’s pop stars and celebrities were literally products, grown by the world’s wealthiest (and most depraved) minds—and one of them escaped? As unique as it is entertaining, POP is a white-knuckled thrill ride through the marketing-mastered, technologically tethered tragicomedy we call life.”

Writer: Curt Pires
Artist: Jason Copland
Colorist: Pete Toms
Cover Artist: Dylan Todd

Get it at Dark Horse Comics for $2.99. Full-color, 32 pages. Not for young readers due to sexuality and violence.

[Disclaimer: A review copy was provided for me to review this comic.]