Paul Pope's Battling Boy

[Gabe99]

From variety: Paramount gets behind 'Battling Boy'

Paramount Pictures has acquired Paul Pope's upcoming graphic novel "Battling Boy," with Brad Pitt's Plan B shingle to produce the adaptation.
Gritty tale centers on the son of a god or superhero who comes down from the top of a mountain at his father's behest in order to rid a giant city of monsters.

Book will be published in spring 2010 by First Second Books.

Pope, a multiple Eisner Award winner who writes and illustrates his work, is best known for his "Heavy Liquid" and "Batman: Year 100" comicbook series. He worked for years at Kodansha, Japan's best-known manga publisher.

Par-based Plan B is developing a number of high-profile comicbook-based projects, including "Black Hole" and "World War Z."

Studio is looking to attach a writer to adapt "Battling Boy."

Plan B's Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner will serve in some producing capacity.

http://pulphope.blogspot.com/2008/10/battling-boy.html

In Batman Year 100, I had room for a couple of long fight sequences, but I felt cramped even with 200 pages. This fight scene from BATTLING BOY alone is about 50 pages. It's liberating to have no page restrictions. I wish Kirby could've had 50 pages for one fight scene, imagine what he would've done.

The extended cinematic sequence is one of the best gifts we've inherited from manga.

From THR: 'Watchmen' scribe taking on 'Battling Boy'

Alex Tse has been hired to tackle the adaptation of "Battling Boy" for Plan B and Paramount Pictures.

Brad Pitt's production company picked up rights to the forthcoming graphic novel written and illustrated by Paul Pope in November. The story line follows the son of a god who comes down from the top of a mountain at his father's urging to rid the giant, continent-sized city of Monstropolis of a plague of beasts.

First Second Books will publish the comic in the spring. Paramount execs Eben Davidson and Andrew Calof are overseeing Tse's adaptation for the studio.

Tse, who is repped by CAA and Brillstein Entertainment, co-wrote the recent adaptation of "Watchmen," which Paramount distributed internationally. The film has grossed $177 million worldwide.

He also has two projects at Warner Bros. -- a live-action adaptation of "Ninja Scroll" in development with Appian Way and "The Illustrated Man," an adaptation of Ray Bradbury stories, in development for director Zach Snyder. Tse is also working on the screenplay for "Frankie Machine," which Michael Mann will direct for Paramount.

Plan B's overall deal with Paramount includes the in-progress adaptations of "Eat, Pray, Love," with Ryan Murphy directing; graphic novels "The Killer" and "Black Hole," both David Fincher projects; and the zombie-apocalypse thriller "World War Z," which Marc Forster will direct.

From CBR:
What are you excited about for 2010? Part 1

First of all, I am excited about turning in Battling Boy, my next major graphic novel, to be published in 2011 by First Second Books. Battling Boy has been years in the works. I have a lot of faith in this project. There is a bunch of stuff related to the potential film which I would like to discuss--but can't as of now. Same goes for the book. I have spent most of 2009 engaged in the film and book productions of this story. But the book is coming regardless of whether or not a film is made, and I am putting a lot of love into it. I hope the readers really get into it.

THE AICN Q&A: PAUL POPE

Mike Russell Delivers A Must-Read Interview With Paul Pope! BATTLING BOY, BATMAN: YEAR 100 And Much More Discussed!

THE SAGA of 'BATTLING BOY' (Also: BOB BALABAN)

RUSSELL: You're still working on "Battling Boy," correct?

POPE: Oh, yeah. I've got a ways to go on "Battling Boy." At least a year.

RUSSELL: Are you still planning on doing that as two volumes, about 400 pages total?

POPE: Yeah, two books -- Part 1 and Part 2. It's different from how the film breaks down; the film has a three-act structure.

RUSSELL: You've said you're throwing three-act structure out the window on this and drawing 40-page fight scenes.

POPE: Yeah. There are a few of them. They go on forever. That's from manga. One of my favorite books is Egawa Tatsuya's "Tokyo University Story" -- and he would have long sequences where basically nothing would be happening except a guy in a bicycle riding along, or two guys playing Ping-Pong. And that's just so cool to me -- not because it's jerking off on paper, but because it feels real. It's that fugue state you get into when you're doing something -- when you're playing chess or drinking coffee in the morning trying to wake up.... To me, the magic of comics -- and art -- is trying to say something real about life in an artificial medium. To re-create life, or to sub-create it, to use Tolkien's term.

I don't think much of Egawa's stuff has appeared in English, really. He's like the Frank Miller of Japan. He's huge. You'd be over there watching some game show and he'd be a guest contestant. But the subject matter is a bit Japanese-centric -- young people falling in and out of love at Tokyo University might not be the most mainstream story for the West. [laughs]

RUSSELL: "Battling Boy" was optioned by Plan B, Brad Pitt's production company. How was the collaboration with screenwriter Alex Tse on that adaptation? Was it weird to be working with him on the adaptation of your comic when you aren't actually finished drawing the book?

POPE: It was pretty neat. He was able to come and stay here last summer. We'd meet up and have dinner and he'd come over to my place and work for a while.

I feel very excited for Millar and Romita Jr. on "Kick-Ass." I'm really happy for them. There aren't many models we can look at for "Battling Boy." There was a moment working with Alex last summer where we'd gone through numerous scripts -- and we've got more to go -- and I felt weird. I wrote this big treatment for the story, which is the basis for both the graphic novel and the film. And it's like a novella -- 50 pages, and it's got dialogue, but it's not a script; it's an extremely detailed story breakdown. And Alex said, "I'm adapting your story for film. I'm not doing anything new to this -- I'm making sense of it for Hollywood." And that made me feel much better.

But the thing's so protean -- we're not exactly sure what the final version's gonna look like at this point. But we're movin' along. Did you ever read Bob Balaban's book about the making of "Close Encounters"?

 

[Octoberist]

i love 100%

 

[Gabe99]

From Splash Page:
'Pineapple Express' Director Explains The Appeal Of 'Battling Boy' Adaptation

"I'm working right now on an adaptation of a Paul Pope graphic novel called 'Battling Boy,' which to me is fun, because the world hasn't necessarily discovered this character and these environments and these stories," he said.

When "Battling Boy" was first announced, Pope described the book as "the story of a god or a super hero—it is left unspecified—who comes down from the top of a mountain (or rather, from inside a cloud/UFO contraption/contrivance from above a mountain top) at this father's behest, in order to rid a giant city from it's plague of monsters. Hercules had his labors, Batman has his Gotham, Battling Boy has his Monstropolis."

In November 2008, "Battling Boy" was optioned by Brad Pitt's production company Plan B, with "Watchmen" screenwriter Alex Tse penning the screenplay. Green and screenwriter Josh Parkinson were attached to the project earlier this year, with Parkinson reworking the existing script.

"The idea of taking something that's fresh and being able to put my own fingerprints on it, but without the sacred rules of things that are going to offend and frustrate their fanbase... I think it's something that you can take the seeds of the ideas and the inspiration and make your own movie version of it," said Green.

 

[Gabe99]

Paul Pope's 21st Century Superhero Epic 'Battling Boy' Finally Scheduled For October Release

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[Gabe99]

CA:
Paul Pope’s ‘Battling Boy’ Makes A Joyous Noise [Video + Preview]

 

[KevanG]

Am I the only one who first saw the words Battle Pope and get excited?

 

[Gabe99]

SPOILERS

Two Books For Battling Boy Prequel And Being Dropped By Legendary – Paul Pope Talks The Future And The Past

First Second Announces Paul Pope’s ‘Battling Boy’ Prequel, ‘The Rise of Aurora West’

 

[Gabe99]

Image Comics unveils Paul Pope Battling Boy art book
Image Comics has announced an art book for Paul Pope's Battling Boy.

Monsters & Titans: Battling Boy on Tour focuses on the original artwork from the long-awaited 2013 hit graphic novel.

 

[Gabe99]

Winners of the 26th Annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Announced

On Friday, July 25, the 2014 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were held at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront in the Indigo Ballroom during the San Diego Comic-Con. Named after artist Will Eisner (1917 – 2005), best known for creating The Spirit, The Eisners have been honoring achievement in American comics since 1988. The nominations are determined by a five-member panel, and are the winners are selected by comic-book professionals.
This year’s winners are:

Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17)
Battling Boy by Paul Pope (First Second)

 

[Gabe99]

ComicsAlliance:
Battles, Ballads, And Comics As Music: A Conversation With Paul Pope [Interview]

 

[Gabe99]

CBR:
PAUL POPE TALKS "THE RISE OF AURORA WEST"

Last fall, Paul Pope released his all-ages graphic novel "Battling Boy" through First Second, following the adventures of a kid savior traveling to a distant planet to grow into the hero he's destined to be. With Acropolis in the wake of losing their former hero, Haggard West, giant monsters are overrunning the town and it's up to Battling Boy to stop them -- except he's not really the next in line for the job. Aurora West, daughter of Haggard, has spent her entire life preparing to protect her city. With her father's passing, the mantle should rightly be passed to her. Aurora is disciplined, skilled and brilliant -- but how can she compete with a god?

Pope was so taken with the character of Aurora West that he planned to revisit her origins in two companion pieces, the first of which is set for a September release. "The Rise of Aurora West" sees the young hero from childhood through the loss of her parents, diving deeper into the world of a developing heroine. Pope partnered with co-writer J.T. Petty and artist David Rubin to continue Aurora's story, hoping to make the world of Battling Boy a place for other creators to tell stories and explore.

Fresh off his Eisner win for "Battling Boy" as the Best Publication for Teens, Pope spoke with CBR News about his shift into all-ages comics, his hopes for the expanding world of the series and what kept him coming back to Aurora West.

 

[WBwins]

Would makean awesome movie series

 

[Gabe99]

Patrick Osborne to Direct ‘Battling Boy’ for Paramount

Paramount has tapped Patrick Osborne to direct its movie adaptation of Paul Pope’s graphic novel “Battling Boy” through Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment.

Producers on the project are Plan B’s Jeremy Kleiner and Sarah Esberg.

Osborne won the best animated short film earlier this year for Disney’s “Feast,” a six-minute film which follows a man’s love life as seen through the eyes of his dog. His animation credits include “Big Hero 6,” “Wreck-It Ralph” and “Tangled.”

“Battling Boy” centers on a 12-year-old demigod who must rid the dystopian sprawl of Acropolis of monsters and demons following the death of its protector. The book debuted in 2013 and led to the publication of prequels “The Death of Haggard West (The Invincible Haggard West)” and “The Rise of Aurora West.”

Paramount has been developing “Battling Boy” since 2008, when it acquired the rights and set the project at Plan B.

News of Osborne’s attachment was first reported by The Tracking Board.