Tina's motives in working for Martin are slowly turned upside-down as well, leading towards the book's inevitable, explosive ending.

Martin's initial repulsion for Tina slowly turns to attraction, causing him to re-evaluate his own notions of beauty and sexuality. Over time, their relationship evolves from a tenuous working relationship to a confused sexual entanglement. He hires a homely model, Tina, to pose for a series of 'erotic' paintings that he hopes will be his breakthrough into the gallery world. Martin is a floundering painter desperately attempting to pursue his fine-art inclinations rather than toiling in the world of commercial art. Unlike those works, Ripple is a highly realistic story in both subject matter and drawing style. The book is titled Bagel's Lucky Hat.This is a breakthrough graphic novel for Cooper, creator of the wildly surreal and critically-acclaimed books Crumple and Suckle. In September 2007, Cooper released his debut in the children's book world under the pseudonym Hector Mumbly. He also created a line of deluxe toys with the firm Critterbox Toys. During this time, Cooper also contributed to Nickelodeon's children's magazine along with other anthologies. With each book, Cooper's work grew darker in subject matter, while more accomplished visually. He followed this up with the even darker book Crumple (first serialized in the pages of Zero Zero), about a square-headed little man in a world ultimately overrun by militant feminists, and the multi-issue series Weasel, which featured the ongoing story Ripple, about a frustrated illustrator who enters an obsessive relationship with one of his models. With Suckle, his graphic novel published in 1997, Cooper broke through to a new level of critical acclaim with the story of an innocent, childlike fellow, Basil, who is confronted by strange, sexualized horrors in a futuristic world. Robert himself remarks, 'God, these kids today.') Cooper also contributed to Fantagraphics' Duplex Planet Illustrated. Crumb and former Zap Comix comix publisher Don Donahue briefly examine the cover in a comics store and then Robert rather disdainfully pass it by. ( Puke and Explode has a cameo in the 1995 film Crumb, when R. In his 20s he created books such as Puke and Explode and Cynthia Petal's Really Fantastic Alien Sex Frenzy, lavishly illustrated stories that featured dark subject matter with incongruous 'cute' touches such as letter i's dotted with little circles. After gradually giving up working for Aircel, Cooper spent a few years in a band before eventually returning to comics. Cooper became a published cartoonist in his teens, creating science fiction comics stories for Barry Blair's Aircel Comics.

Ripple by Dave Cooper