The Paul Pope Cover To Bad Idea's Lancer #1, Just A Photo Of Paul Pope

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The Paul Pope Cover To Bad Idea's Lancer #1, Just A Photo Of Paul Pope

The Paul Pope Cover to Bad Idea Comics' Lancer #1 by Mike Costa and Jay Baker is just a photo of Paul Pope

Published Tue, 15 Sep 2026 09:57:08 -0500
by Rich Johnston
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Article Summary

• Bad Idea’s Lancer #1 reveals its Paul Pope cover is literally a photo of Paul Pope, not new interior-style artwork.
• The gag cover riffs on Paul Pope’s rarity, promising more actual Paul Pope per square inch than any cover before.
• Paul Pope jokes this is the first cover he has had to stand still for, as Bad Idea leans hard into the bit.
• The Paul Pope photo cover is a 1:100 Lancer #1 variant, alongside a 1:50 virgin cover and other gimmick editions.

Lancer is a new comic book series by Mike Costa, Jake Baker and Lee Loughridge from Bad Idea Comics, out on the 21st of October, a brutal near-future action thriller described as Aliens meets the gig economy, as "military veterans use an app to hunt dangerous species for cash, until one job beneath New York City hunts them back." When it was first solicited, Bad Idea Comics said it would have a Paul Pope cover. And it has, just not the Paul Pope cover people were expecting. As they say "A Paul Pope cover is a rare thing. Each one requires an extraordinary amount of time, craft, and painstaking work from one of the most singular artists in comics. And yet, despite all that effort, a conventional Paul Pope cover contains almost no actual Paul Pope. No esoteric, Picasso-esque interpretation of Paul Pope. No impressionistic meditation on the idea of Paul Pope. No abstract arrangement of shapes purported to evoke Paul Pope. Not even a small Paul Pope somewhere in the background. Just his art. Paul and BAD IDEA agreed: comics readers deserve more. Today, we proudly reveal the LANCER #1 "Paul Pope" Cover: the first Paul Pope cover in history to feature Paul Pope himself."

"It is a photograph of Paul Pope. To be absolutely clear: the LANCER #1 "Paul Pope" Cover does not merely feature artwork created by Paul Pope. It features Paul Pope. His face. His hair. His denim jacket. On the cover. Of LANCER #1. "I've drawn a lot of covers," said Pope. "This is the first one I've had to stand still for." We said there would be a Paul Pope Cover. We have now delivered more Paul Pope per square inch than any Paul Pope cover in history. There is now no reasonable way to argue otherwise." The Lancer #1 "Paul Pope" Cover is available exclusively as a 1:100 limited ratio variant with a Final Order Cut-Off of this coming weekend. "Stay tuned. Next: BAD IDEA announces a "Jim Lee" cover. The "Paul Pope" Cover joins a playable augmented-reality cover, and the world's first comic book printed on an actual knife." Yes, they are doing that too, as a 1:250 variant. Oh, and Lancer #1 has a 1:50 Virgin Paul Pope cover. What are they trying to say?

LANCER #1
Written by MIKE COSTA
Art by JAKE BAKER
Colors by LEE LOUGHRIDGE
Covers by JEROME OPEÑA, CHRIS BURNHAM, DON AGUILLO & more!
"Paul Pope" Cover Photograph by Kendall Whitehouse
$5.99 | 32 PGS. | FULL COLOR
LUNAR CODE: 0626BD0573
FINAL ORDER CUTOFF SEPTEMBER 21, 2026 | IN STORES OCTOBER 21, 2026
In the near future, if you need extra cash, you open an app. Accept a hunt. Get paid to exterminate whatever dangerous species is overrunning your part of the world. Coyotes in California. King cobras in Mumbai. Feral camels in Australia. Vampire bats in Brazil. If it threatens people, property, or profit, LANCER puts a bounty on its head. For military vets like Pete Sanborn, it offers something modern life rarely does anymore: a mission, a paycheck, and the hope that one more job might finally be enough. Two years after a wild hog hunt in Texas went catastrophically wrong, Sanborn has sworn he is done with the app. Then an old military buddy shows up with an offer he can't refuse. Something enormous is living beneath New York City. The payout is life-changing. But the creatures below are not what anyone thinks they are, and by the time Sanborn understands what they are really hunting, it may already be too late. Think Aliens, Predator, Jurassic Park, and RoboCop. The Colonial Marines meet DoorDash. Clock in. Hunt. Survive. Get paid. It's a living.

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