Pop Art was kind of like the pilot episode of a TV show back when pilot episodes of TV shows were still a thing. It’s the first Reckless Life story and technically cannon but far from fully formed. It was also the only Reckless Life story intended primarily for print.
The first version was as an ashcan mini-comic that I made it using the art department printer at the University of Wisconsin where I was a graduating senior. (That was not really allowed but that’s what being a young artist is all about.) I gave the copies away at the first-ever Free Comic Book day in 2002. The Comics Journal even showed up to my appearance at Capital City Comics and took my picture.
The second printing of Pop Art was my very first published work. It was an indie anthology called Untitled Tales. (Before webcomics made that sort of thing obsolete.)
I honestly don’t recall how this story came to me. I’d been writing crime fiction for years and it kept getting goofier and goofier. At some point, I decided, “Wouldn’t it be funny to have this super-serious heist premise but then he’s just stealing something stupid like a chia pet?” I felt like it worked as a quick gag and it really ended up informing a LOT of the rest of RL.
The creativity pretty much stops there. These four pages are jam-packed with lifted pop culture. The museum is obviously an ode to Kevin Smith, the museum curator is loosely based on the toy collector from the Gray Ghost episode of Batman: The Animated Series (who is, himself, based on Bruce Timm) and the security guard is clearly the comic book guy from The Simpsons.
It’s still a fun little story and it sets the stage for much more.