Concluding my commentary on stories from 2019, and providing previews of things to come this year in 2020.
Right – the leprechaun story in PARAGON #24 was mostly
editor Davey Candlish’s fault (though I blame Jim Cameron too, for encouraging
/ provoking it, and coming up with the title, ‘Spencer Nero and the Leprechauns
of Doom’!) Davey had posted the front cover of the novel 'The Little People' on Facebook –
yep, it’s same John Christopher that wrote The Tripods - and immediately, it
seemed a major omission that Spencer Nero had never gone up against Nazi
leprechauns. Within minutes of realising this, I’d come up with the plot –
frankly, the story pretty much wrote itself. In many ways, it is the archetypal
Nero story – it features folklore, Roman mythology, Nazis, and a hefty dose of
silliness and satire. All in five pages!
Sors – Roman luck god and instigator of the plot – was very
much on my mind, as I’d been trying to write a 20-page Nero prequel comic, set
prior to Spencer joining the Department of Contingency. The chief antagonist
was going to be the aforementioned deity, who had cruelly inflicted good luck
on Britain – something that turned out to be less fortunate than it appeared. I
eventually shelved the idea, but still wanted to see Sors in print. Luck and
leprechauns go together like bishops and being kicked up the arse, so he was a
natural fit. The first Nero text tale left Sors washing dishes in the
Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane – he’s finally finished!
Meanwhile, Sister Von Zero was last seen in County Kerry,
facing a beating from the similarly gender-swapped Veleda the druid(ess). I
thought about reverting Sister Von Zero back to a man after “…the Trouble with
Girls” but I realised that visually, she was much more interesting as a Nazi
nun (and probably a lot easier for Scott to draw too.) (Veleda, on the other
hand, probably will revert to her original female gender, as I think she worked
better as a woman – maybe, like Patsy from AbFab, it’ll fall off after a few
months.)
Art on this was by Scott Twells - I'm running out of superlatives for this chap's work, but as ever, he pulled off a blinder. So much character in his... characters! Lettering was by consummate pro, Jim Campbell, a real friend to the small press - it's always a pleasure to have his touch on my Nero. As it were.
A few brief notes:
Spencer’s bath-time rendition of ‘When I’m Cleaning Windows’
continues the strip’s ongoing flirtation with George Formby. We’ve seen Oswald
with one of Formby’s ukuleles (more of that this year) and a newspaper headline
pertaining to a Nero / Formby team-up (a reference to a hitherto unpublished musical
story, which needs a bit of revision before it appears.) More tangential Formby
to follow…
Leprechauns aren’t the only supernatural beings compelled to
count grains – vampires seem to have a similar affliction. It seems Spencer
habitually carries granular items on his person to deal with said foes – but what else does he have in
his jacket? All will be revealed in his next outing.
And speaking of which, it wasn’t planned at the time, but
Sors’s mention of British Bulldogs oddly foreshadows the guest star of the very
next Spencer Nero…
Yep, coming later this year in PARAGON – Spencer Nero Versus Britain,
in which our hero teams up with Jason Cobley’s storied creation, Captain Winston
Bulldog, for a 15-page fight against a nation gone bad! (Many thanks to Jason for his permission to bring Bulldog back to the series, after the pair first teamed up in The Paragon Paradox.)
But before that…
The Spencer Nero Club #1: Folklore and Fire! 28 pages of all-new
1930s fanboy antics, starring Oswald Gypsum and chums! Art by Scott Twells, cover colours, lettering and design by Filippo.
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