Paul Pope's graphic novel, Battling Boy, is about the rough coming-of-age of Battling Boy, the pampered 13-year-old son of an ancient war god dispatched to protect the city of Arcopolis from a wave of monster attacks. His weapons? T-shirts. We caught up with Pope at BookExpo America 2013 and talked about the book, his self-publishing roots, and how the comics world has come from being a fringe culture to being a hugely influential piece of the mainstream.