Yup, PARAGON comic reaches its teens – a bloody impressive
tally for a small-press publication, so major kudos to editorial mastermind
Davey Candlish for reaching this milestone! As for whether the comic’ll start
getting moody and moping about, angsting over girls, remains to be seen. But
what is on display, appropriately enough, is a flashback tale featuring a
teenaged Spencer Nero, in what amounts to an 8-page ’secret origin’, set at the
South Pole. And yes, there’s a spot of girl trouble too, as an... err... older
woman comes between Spencer and his uncle. An older woman of mythological
proportions... with some rather angry offspring. If you want a better look at
her, just check out James Corcoran’s remarkable full frontal reveal or Bhuna’s brilliant,
sanity-blasting cover!
And speaking of the talented Bhuna, he also lends his artistic
might to another 2-pager, ‘Spencer Nero and the Ruthless Rhymer’. Written, as
the name suggests, in verse, this odd little tale celebrates my love of both
Rupert the Bear and the utterly black-humoured poet Harry Graham. In it, Spencer
takes on a very cross man whose violent means of dealing with pet peeves should
in no way be interpreted as wish-fulfilment on the part of the equally grumpy
author. Ahem.
I’ll do my usual self-indulgent digging into the entrails of
both stories in due course, but first, grab yourself a copy of PARAGON #13 and
hold it: hold it tight. At twenty-eight
pages, it’s five-fourteenths me, but don’t let that put you off. It has proper
writers too, and all the artists are playing a blinder. If you need excitement
and need it bad, PARAGON is here for you.
