During the years 1974 to 1986, after working as an assistant to Wally Wood, Paul Kirchner created several comic strips such as Dope Rider for High Times magazine and the bus for Heavy Metal. In 2012, Tanibis published an anthology of the bus strips that was nominated at the Angoulême International comics festival, proving that even a 30-year old public transportation vehicle can take part in a Grand Prix.

In 2013, Paul Kirchner surprised commuters when he decided to start working again on the bus. He fixed the old vehicle up, took it out of the garage and called its iconic passenger in the white overcoat back on duty, waiting to be taken on new, exotic adventures. The bus' unpredictable personality causes him to mimic classic pop culture icons such as King-Kong or Steve Martin while in turn analyzing or teleporting his passenger. And that's only when it's not cheating on him with other commuters.

Kirchner's new ideas are on par with the original strips, proving that his creativity didn't end with the 80's. The crazy cartoon logic of the original strips is still present, and wackiness is the norm. Some details, such as the so-called « smart » phones or the passengers' looks, root the stories in the 21st century, but Paul Kirchner's universe retains a timeless vintage aesthetic that blends eras, lending these new stories a hint of nostalgia.

« (…) The Bus 2, like its predecessor, is a remarkably and perhaps unexpectedly human strip. We may often identify with its passive protagonist, thrust into a world that is so often beyond our control--let alone our comprehension--but we can nevertheless dream awake. Are our visions just imaginative consolations in an otherwise mundane life? And if they are, does it matter? » -- Edwin Turner, Biblioklept

« (…) Kirchner still draws ludicrous and hallucinogenic phenomena with staid precision, so that even the most absurd happening seems to immediately ‘belong' to the same deadpan world as common carrier commuters, and thus is the engine of his comedy. » -- Joe McCulloch, The Comics Journal