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Peter Kuper

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Peter Kuper
Peter Kuper in 2014
Born(1958-09-22)September 22, 1958(age 65)
Summit, New Jersey
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Artist, writer
Notable works
World War 3 Illustrated
Spy vs. Spy
The System
Give It Up!
The Metamorphosis
AwardsSociety of Illustratorsgold medal, 2004, silver medal 2009, gold medal 2010
peterkuper.com

Peter Kuper(/ˈkuːpər/;[1]born September 22, 1958) is an Americanalternativecomics artistand illustrator, best known for his autobiographical, political, and social observations.

Besides his contributions to the political anthologyWorld War 3 Illustrated,which he co-founded[2]in 1979 withSeth Tobocman,Kuper is best known for taking overSpy vs. SpyforMadmagazine, which he both wrote and drew from 1997 to 2022. Kuper has produced numerousgraphic novelswhich have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Slovenian and Greek, including award-winning adaptations ofFranz Kafka'sGive It Up!andthe Metamorphosis.

Early life

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Peter Kuper was born inSummit, New Jersey,and moved toCleveland,Ohio when he was six years old, where he graduated fromCleveland Heights High Schoolin 1976.[3]He lived inIsraelwith his parents in 1969–70.

In 1970 Kuper and his childhood friendSeth Tobocmanpublished their first fanzine,Phanzine,and in 1971 they publishedG.A.S Lite,the official magazine of the Cleveland Graphic Arts Society. In 1972 Kuper tradedR. Crumbsome old jazz records for the right to publish some artwork from one of Crumb's sketchbooks in a comic titledMelotoonsthat lasted for two issues.[citation needed]

He attendedKent State Universityin 1976–1977, then moved to New York City in 1977, where he studied atArt Students Leagueand thePratt Institute[4](along with Seth Tobocman). For a short period he acted as studio assistant for cartoonistHoward Chaykin[5]at Chaykin's shared studio space,Upstart Associates.[6]

Career

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Comics

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Kuper sketching at theNew York Comic Con,October 10, 2010.
Kuper at Bangalore Comic Con, September 14, 2014

Kuper, Tobocman, and painter Christof Kohlhofer[7]foundedWorld War 3 Illustratedin 1979.

Kuper has travelled extensively through Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, much of which he documented in his 1992 book,ComicsTrips: A Journal of Travels Through Africa and Southeast Asia.

Spy vs. Spyhad passed through various hands after its creatorAntonio Prohíasretired, but Kuper's version has appeared without interruption since 1997, although the last new edition was published in 2022.[2][8]

Kuper'sEye of the Beholderwas the first comic strip to ever regularly appear in theNew York Times,and his quasi-autobiographyStop Forgetting To Remember: The Autobiography of Walter Kurtzcovers the birth of his daughter,9/11,and other vicissitudes in his life from 1995 to 2005.

Though permanently based in New York City, Kuper wife and daughter resided in the Mexican state ofOaxaca2006–2008, where he documented an ongoing teachers' strike and other aspects of Mexico in his sketchbook journalDiario de Oaxaca.[9][10]

Kuper's work in comics and illustration frequently combines techniques from both disciplines and often takes the form of wordless comic strips. Kuper remarked on this, "I initially put comics on one side and my illustration in another compartment, but over the years I found that it was difficult to compartmentalize like that. The two have merged together so that they're really inseparable."[11]

Kuper has taught comics and illustration courses at theParsons School of Design,andThe School of Visual ArtsandHarvard University’s first class dedicated to graphic novels.[12]

In April 2022, Kuper was reported among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed toOperation USA's benefit anthology book,Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds,a project spearheaded byIDW PublishingSpecial Projects EditorScott Dunbier,whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[13][14]Kuper contributed political cartoons to the anthology.[14][15]

Illustration

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As an illustrator, Kuper has produced covers forTime,[11]Newsweek,[11]Businessweek[citation needed]andThe Progressive.[16]He has done hundreds of illustrations for newspapers includingThe New York Times[17]and for magazines such asRolling Stone,Entertainment Weekly,andThe New Yorker.[11]Kuper has been co-art director of the political illustration group INX International Ink Company[18]since 1988.

Awards

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Kuper won a journalism award from The Society of Newspaper Designers in 2001. His wordless picture storySticks and Stoneswas awarded the 2004 gold medal, and his comic "This Is Not A Comic" won a silver medal in 2009 both from theSociety of Illustrators.He won another gold medal in the sequential arts category from theSociety of Illustratorsin 2010.[citation needed]His bookSticks and Stones,The System,Diario de Oaxaca, Ruinswon the 2016Eisner Awardand adaptations of many ofFranz Kafka’s works into comics includingThe Metamorphosis andKafkaesquewon the 2018 NCS award.[19]

Bibliography

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Al Jaffee,Peter Kuper, andSam Viviano,andPaul Levitzat a panel at Columbia University in early 2014

Comics work includes:

  • 2019 –Heart of Darkness,graphic adaptation ofJoseph Conrad's classic novella (W. W. Norton)
  • 2018 –Kafkaesque,graphic adaptations of fourteen ofFranz Kafka's short stories (W. W. Norton)
  • 2015 –Ruins,a graphic novel (SelfMadeHero)
  • 2013 –Tercer ojo,collected Spanish edition ofMind's Eye(Editorial Robot)
  • 2010 –Alicia en el País de las Maravillas,Illustrated Spanish edition ofAlice in Wonderland(Sexto Piso)
  • 2009 –Diario De Oaxaca: A Sketchbook Journal of Two Years in Mexico(PM Press/Sexto Piso)
  • 2007 –Stop Forgetting To Remember: The Autobiography of Walter Kurtz,[20]hardcover (Crown)
  • 2007 —Le Sketch#04 (Le Sketch) –minicomicwith sketches
  • 2006 –Theo and the Blue Note,children's book (Viking)
  • 2004 –Sticks and Stones,a novel in pictures (Three Rivers Press)
  • 2003 –The Metamorphosis,an adaptation of Franz Kafka's short story (Crown)
  • 2001 –Speechless,a retrospective collection, hardcover (Top Shelf Productions)
  • 2000 –Mind's Eye,a collection of syndicated strips, hardcover, (NBM)
  • 2000 –Topsy Turvy,a collection of political comic strips, trade paperback (Eye Press)
  • 1997 –The System,(collected as a single book) softbound, (DC/Vertigo)
  • 1996 –Eye of the Beholder,a collection of syndicated strips, softbound (NBM)
  • 1995 –World War 3: Confrontational Comics,co-editor of anthology (Four Walls Eight Windows)
  • 1995 –Give It Up!,graphic adaptations of nine of Franz Kafka's short stories (NBM)
  • 1995 –Stripped, An Unauthorized Autobiography,softbound (Fantagraphics)
  • 1993–1994 –Wild Life,comics by the author, comic format, two issues (Fantagraphics)
  • 1992 –ComicsTrips: A Journal of Travels Through Africa and Southeast Asia,travel-related comics by the author (Tundra and then re-issued by NBM)
  • 1991–1993 –Bleeding Heart,comics by the author, comic format, five issues (Fantagraphics)
  • 1991 –The Jungle,comics adaptation ofUpton Sinclair's novel (First Comics'Classics Illustrated;reissues in hardcover by NBM in 2004 and again in 2010)
  • 1989 –World War 3 Illustrated,co-editor of anthology (Fantagraphics)
  • 1988 –Life and Death,collection of author's comics, magazine format (Fantagraphics)
  • 1987 –New York City,collection of author's comics, soft-bound (Fantagraphics)
  • 1984 –The Last Cat Book,illustrating an essay by Robert E.Howard, soft-bound (Dodd Mead)

References

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  1. ^"Interview with Peter Kuper - The Comics Alternative"
  2. ^abNeil Gaiman, ed., The Best American Comics 2010 (Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010), 321
  3. ^Kaltenbach, Chris."MICA exhibit, symposium leaping from comics pages",The Baltimore Sun,January 29, 2004. Accessed February 20, 2011. "Peter Kuper. Birthplace Summit N.J. moved to Cleveland at age 6."
  4. ^Biography in HeightsArts: A Nonprofit Arts Organization.ArchivedMay 14, 2008, at theWayback MachineRetrieved August 4, 2008.
  5. ^Worcester, Kenton."Waxing Politick,"(an interview with Seth Tobocman)The Comics Journal#233 (May 11, 2001). Retrieved August 4, 2008.
  6. ^Irving, Christopher. "Diario de Peter Kuper":Peter Kuper interview from 2009,inPeter Kuper: Conversations,edited by Kent Worcester (Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2016).
  7. ^""A Magazine Rooted In The East Village" A New York Times Article by Colin Moynihan reviewing the New York City EXIT ART show "Graphical Radicals"".The New York Times.January 28, 2011.
  8. ^Kuper, Peter."Tweet by Peter Kuper".X (formerly Twitter).RetrievedJuly 1,2024.
  9. ^"The Virginia Quarterly Review".Archived fromthe originalon November 22, 2007.RetrievedSeptember 26,2007.
  10. ^Lorah, Michael C."Peter Kuper onStop Forgetting to Rememberand More "ArchivedJuly 2, 2007, at theWayback Machine,Newsarama(April 7, 2007). Retrieved August 4, 2008.
  11. ^abcdPalmer, Tom Jr. (August 1997). "Kuper's Comics".Wizard.No. 72. pp. 104–5.
  12. ^"About & Contact".Peter Kuper | Peter Kuper Art.RetrievedMarch 23,2022.
  13. ^Kaplan, Rebecca O. (April 18, 2022)."ZOOP launches benefit anthology COMICS FOR UKRAINE: SUNFLOWER SEEDS".The Beat.Archivedfrom the original on April 18, 2022.RetrievedApril 26,2022.
  14. ^abBrooke, David (April 18, 2022)."'Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds' to benefit Ukrainian refugees ".AIPT.Archivedfrom the original on April 26, 2022.RetrievedApril 26,2022.
  15. ^Kit, Borys (April 20, 2022)."Comic Book Creators Team for Ukraine Relief Effort Anthology 'Sunflower Seed'".The Hollywood Reporter.Archivedfrom the original on April 20, 2022.RetrievedApril 30,2022.
  16. ^"Faculty: Peter Kuper,"ArchivedOctober 3, 2017, at theWayback MachineSchool of Visual Arts website. Accessed Oct. 2, 2017.
  17. ^Worcester, Kent, editor.Peter Kuper: Conversations(Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2016).
  18. ^INXart official website. Accessed Oct. 2, 2017.
  19. ^"National Cartoonists Society".www.nationalcartoonists.com.RetrievedMarch 23,2022.
  20. ^Stop Forgetting to Rememberofficial site, RandomHouse.com. Accessed Nov. 6, 2019.
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Interviews

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