Boy Finally Shows Up for Battle

When a project is in development for as long as Paul Pope’s Battling Boy, originally announced by First Second Books in 2006 for a 2007 release, the expectations increase with each publication update. While evidence of its existence appeared online via Pope’s website, where sketches and page roughs were occasionally posted, the release date kept getting pushed back to the point where the title became a fabled passion-project that would maybe see the light of day if Pope ever got around to finishing it. Over the past seven years, the book has grown from a single graphic novel to a series (the second volume, The Rise Of Aurora West, will be released in 2014), and now that Battling Boy has finally been published, it’s clear why it took so much time for Pope to create it. Not only does the book meet the lofty expectations attached to any long-gestating, constantly delayed project, it surpasses them for an incredible start to a major new project.