"I can still smell the musty basement at my grandparents' where, as a boy of
ten, I discovered a box, sealed tight, hidden under the wooden stairs. I
knew, without being told, that I'd find something special inside, and when I
finally got the box open, I saw how right I was.
"Hip was not only bigger, badder, bolder than all the other lurid pulp
heroes of the time, his stories all had a special quality, a sort of
larger-and-yet-lower-than-life power that was both thrilling and
intoxicating to my pre-adolescent brain. Hip strode through tales of mayhem
and intrigue with a swagger that only a two-ton, trenchcoat-wearing,
big-ass, gun-toting, luscious-babe-baiting pachyderm can, and he continues
to have a hold over me today like no other hero before or since.
"It's an honor to be asked again to chronicle Hip's exploits. I only hope I
am still worthy of the challenge."
— Tim Sale
