Spring has sprung, flowers are in bloom and the latest
PARAGON has hit the proverbial stands, chockfull of nature’s bounty. Not that I’m
suggesting great comics grow on trees, but my small contribution, a somewhat experimental
‘Spencer Nero’ two-pager, certainly features plenty of bark, and hopefully a
little bite. The story is based around my strange fascination with metal-eating
trees, focusing specifically on The Bicycle Tree of Brig O’ Turk in the
Trossachs, albeit suitably embellished. Not that such things are unique to the
Loch Lomond neck of the woods – here’s a photo I took of a hungry tree near the village of Strichen.
Art on ‘The Bicycle Tree’ is by small-press star James
Corcoran, with a particularly pivotal lettering job by John Caliber. The original plan was to do the story as two nine-panel grids, but it’s
ended up as two splash pages instead – probably for the best, particularly when
it comes to showcasing James’s sublime art. And indeed, corking art is the
order of the day in #16, with a lovely double dose of the fantastic El Chivo,
the Newell / Candlish combo breathing life into Mark Howard’s ‘Bludd and Xandi’
(haven’t read that one yet, looking forward to it!) and, of course, the PARAGON
debut of Jason Cobley’s legendary Bulldog, ably handled by Stephen Prestwood
(see, Prestwood – another tree connection!) By sheer coincidence, I happened to
pick up two ‘Bulldog’ collections in Aberdeen’s Oxfam Books quite recently – they’re the work of a man who clearly has
comics flowing through his very veins. Cracking stuff – the new story is a real
highlight of the issue.
And so it only remains to suggest you pick up a copy – c'mon, don’t be a sap!
