Carvd N Stone Creative Scholarship Winner Tyree Pope III Debuts First Comic: “Fair Fight Vol. 1.”
Tyree Pope III. (Picture by Samer Ghani/Carvd N Stone)
In September of 2020, Carvd N Stone awarded three scholarships through the CNS 2020 Scholarship Fund. After a month long application process, 25-year-old creative Tyree Pope III won the Creative Scholarship in anticipation of his first comic. The artwork from his illustrator brought back the nostalgia from reading comic books as a kid, with a modern script made for adults. Pope used his $1,500 scholarship money to finish the comic and start the animation for video content.
Cover art for “Fair Fight Vol. 1”. (Illustration by Chandra Kelly)
“It was was amazing, mostly because I just really didn't think I was going to win,” Pope said. “I've applied to her scholarship before, and other people have gotten it...I was just like, ‘I'm just going to do it again, who knows what's gonna happen?’ And when I got the email saying that I got it…that kind of gave me that confidence that I was onto something and that I should keep going.”
On March 25, 2021, Pope celebrated his 25th birthday by launching that comic book, “Fair Fight Vol. 1.” The idea came to him at 19 while he was a sophomore in college. He was inspired by shows and movies with mutant components like “Rick and Morty” and “X-Men.” But when the pandemic hit, and there was nothing but time on his hands, that’s when Pope took the leap from writing scripts five years ago to getting the final product in his hands. He found the illustrator Chandra Kelly on a Facebook page, and slowly started paying for pages.
“Writing is my number one...passion, other than film. And I'm like, ‘I should give this a try. This is something I left behind. I don’t want this to go unseen,’” Pope said. “You know when so many years go by, it just becomes something that's scrapped… that thing you talked about forever, and no one ever sees it…but then I just started.”
Fair Fight Vol. 1 follows three main characters: Ultra, Lennox, and Human through a universe completely designed by Pope. One of the reasons Fair Fight Vol. 1 is so unique is because of the Black representation in the comic. Pope wanted to create something that reflected himself.
“I wanted to see myself in these characters, and I want other people who look like me to be able to see themselves within these characters too,” Pope said. “Maybe they know someone just like that or they just see themselves…that's what I wanted. I wanted people who talk [and] walk like we do as Black people.”
Pope’s first run of Fair Fight sold out within a week. Most recently, he’s selling versions of the comic with limited edition covers you can purchase on his website. He’s continuing the work on the animation and said we can expect to see a whole Fair Fight universe and other comics with completely different storylines, and maybe even some films.
“I’m glad that I stuck with it. I can't wait for the animation [because] that was the original vision for everything,” Pope said. “I'm glad to see that it's all going to come together one day.”
To purchase a copy of “Fair Fight Vol. 1,” click here.
Follow Tyree and “Fair Fight” on Instagram.