The Paragon Paradox Part One: Master of Sparks

A homage to... something, not quite sure what. Pencils / inks by Davey Candlish, colours by Jim Cameron

The PARAGON Annual 2016 is out, in more formats than you can shake a rabid badger at. (Not that shaking tends to work - they just tighten their monochromatic grip.) So, if you want to see Spencer Nero, Jikan, Bulldog and Battle Ganesh team up to punch extradimensional evil (and each other) in the face, here's your chance. And here's mine too, to indulge in a multi-part blogging bout, in which I take a self-indulgent look at the genesis and development of 'The Paragon Paradox', my story for the annual. But first - here's how to get hold of the book in the incarnation of your choice.

The hardback:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/paragon-comic/paragon-annual-2016/hardcover/product-22482758.html

The paperback:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/paragon-comic/the-paragon-winter-spectacular-2016/paperback/product-22486883.html

The e-book:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/paragon-comic/the-paragon-annual-2016-ebook/ebook/product-22484146.html

Just 'The Paragon Paradox' itself:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/paragon-comic/the-paragon-paradox/paperback/product-22482820.html

And now, let's turn the clock back to find out how the story came into being. Feel free to wobble productively - this is a flashback after all...

In the worlds before PARAGON, primal chaos reigned...

'The Paragon Paradox' all began with Stephen Prestwood - specifically, this smashing picture that he drew of various PARAGON heroes, standing around looking tough.

Crossover candidates

Davey Candlish stuck it up on the PARAGON blog in March 2015, and I happened to mention we now needed a story where they all teamed-up and fought some interdimensional menace. Of course, saying something like that in front of Dave is like dipping yourself in gravy and dancing naked in front of a man-eating tiger - you can't be surprised when he bites. So it was decided there and then I was to script the multi-hero tale - a tale which the inspirational Mr. Prestwood suggested be titled 'The Paragon Paradox'.

Looking back at my notes, it seems I almost immediately decided to link the whole thing into Spencer Nero continuity by featuring Ekhidna, the extradimensionally-exiled Mother of all Monsters from 'Spencer Nero Goes South' in PARAGON #13. I could have come up with some other interdimensional menace, but since I already had one waiting, why not use her? I'd had plans to write a story called 'Spencer Nero's Army', in which he and various characters from his adventures to-date all teamed up to travel to Ekhidna's realm and rescue his uncle, so I thought I might use this basic framework for the crossover.

Panel from 'Spencer Nero Goes South', art by James Corcoran

I definitely wanted this story to 'count', for Spencer at least - I like crossovers that are very squarely part of a character's continuity, rather than ones that are detached, and never mentioned again. The Judge Dredd / Batman and Judge Dredd / Alien crossovers are perfect examples of the former - both draw on existing continuity, have some impact on Dredd's world, and are obliquely referenced further down the line.

So with that in mind (and deciding also that if I used Spencer's continuity, I had to make damn sure he didn't dominate the story), I had to choose my cast. It wasn't realistic to feature all the characters from Stephen's original drawing in major roles - this wasn't Crisis on Infinite Earths - so I decided to boil it down to a squad of four... a Paragon Patrol.

In the next post, I'll explain, who, why, and what they were originally going to get up to...

Tree's Company: PARAGON #16 Branches Out

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!

I Wanna Be Collected – The Spencer Nero Compendium

Cover by Dave Candlish, colours by Jim Cameron

It’s been two-and-a-half years (!) since Spencer Nero first made his lion-thumping, skull-perforating debut in PARAGON #9. Now, all eleven stories to date have been collected into a single hefty tome (you could club a Nazi to death with it!) documenting Spencer’s two-fisted pulp adventures in the year 1936! What’s more, the collection (subtitled ‘By Jupiter’s Jockstrap!’) also includes my original pitch for the series, as well as bonus sketches by James Corcoran from the ‘White Spider’ story, and a foreword from Spencer himself, in which he reveals his... interesting views on comic-books and their readers.


Here’s the complete contents and the credits:

1: Spencer  Nero and the Island of the Naztecs – (6 pages) – Dave Candlish, lettering by HdE

2: Spencer Nero and the White Spider (7 pages) – James Corcoran, lettering by John Caliber

3: Spencer Nero and the Hidden Olympics (7 pages ) – pencils by Mike Kennedy, inks by Dave Candlish, lettering by John Caliber

4: Spencer Nero Goes South (8 pages) – James Corcoran, lettering by John Caliber

5: Spencer Nero and the Ruthless Rhymer (2 pages) – Neil “Bhuna” Roche, lettering by Nikki Foxrobot

6: Spencer Nero and the Locked Door (9 pages) – James Corcoran, lettering by John Caliber

7: Spencer Nero and the Chairman of the Board (9-page prose story) - spot illustrations by Dave Candlish

8: Spencer Nero and the Hour of the Heron (2 pages) – Dave Candlish, lettering by John Caliber

9: Spencer Nero and the Antechamber (2 pages) – pencils by Tom Newell, inks by Dave Candlish, lettering by John Caliber

10: Spencer Nero and Mrs. Simpson (8 pages) – Stephen Prestwood, lettering by Filippo

11: Spencer Nero and the Last Laugh (1 page) – David Broughton, lettering by Owen Watts

Phew! Quite a murderer's row of small-press talent! What more is there to say, apart from...

By Jupiter’s jockstrap - buy Jupiter’s Jockstrap! (Or buy Jupiter’s digital jockstrap here.)

Vale!

Goodbye 1936: PARAGON #15 and PARAGON Annual 2014

Within the space of a fortnight, TWO (yes, TWO!) mighty PARAGON publications, masterminded by small-press guru Dave Candlish, have been published. As is customary, here’s a few words on this festive coupling, since I’ve had a hand in both.

Part 1: The King and I

PARAGON #15 features Spencer Nero (in what will be, if you include the one and two-page stories, his 10^th outing!) taking on that historical threat to traditional British values, Mrs. Wallis Simpson, lover of the King! Yep, the 1936 setting proves fertile once more, as Spencer finds himself embroiled in the abdication crisis. The story is a sort-of sequel to ‘Spencer Nero and the White Spider’, in that it features the return and secret origin of Nazi soul-eater, Saturn Reisen, but it also nods its head in the direction of several past stories. I am pleased that the strip has now reached the point where I can start referencing and building on elements of continuity, whilst still hopefully delivering an accessible done-in-one story. I’m particularly happy this story ended up in the winter issue of PARAGON, as it is set in December ’36 (yep, Spencer’s moving into 1937 next year!) and has snow in it for at least three panels. Of course, the real king of the story is artist Stephen Prestwood, who puts his stamp firmly on Spencer, and delivers some striking two-fisted, square-jawed action. He even draws good giant maggots – which is just as well, since Spencer seems to have adopted one, and intends to name it Iapetus, after one of Saturn’s moons.

Of course, #15 also features some stellar work from my fellow small-pressers. On the artistic front alone, this must be one of the most varied and yet accomplished issues so far, featuring wildly contrasting but no less aesthetically stunning pages. It’d be hard to name a favourite – Chris Askham’s brilliantly atmospheric work on Mark Howard's ‘Jikan: Demeter’ is a definite highlight, well-suited to a  script that features a great central conceit, a great final page, and an excess of vampiric hissing. Elsewhere in the issue, the wonderful El Chivo turns in some superb, energetic, characterful work, every figure chock-full of vigor and personality, whilst the Davey Candlish / Tom  Newell combo works together to stylish and elegant effect, illustrating the intriguing ‘Bludd & Xandi’ (with Icarus Dangerous now finished, PARAGON is honour-bound to feature a winged protagonist in at least one of its stories!) And of course, there’s Jim Cameron’s cute-but-sometimes-sinister work in ‘The Biggest Stick’, with an HdE script that, were it squished down to four pages, would be more than worthy of appearing in 2000AD as a Future Shock. It’s not hard to see why no less an authority than John Freeman reckoned this was the finest issue to date.

 

 

Part 2: Annual General Beating

 

Meanwhile, over in the PARAGON Annual 2014, Spencer enters a new and unexplored medium – prose! Based around the theme of board games (though I wrote it without realising Davey would be including a Jikan board game in the annual!) ‘Spencer Nero and the Chairman of the Board’ introduces a new foe for the Civil Centurion – Sors, God of Luck. It also reintroduces Oswald Gypsum, Mr. Alabaster’s nephew, from the ‘Ruthless Rhymer’ story. The story sees Spencer playing live-action Monopoly – the game was, of course, launched in Britain in 1936 (there’s that year again!)

I must admit, I found it really hard to settle on a story for the prose tale. My first thoughts involved a tale called ‘Spencer Nero and the Purple Prose’, in which form and content would match, and in which Spencer would find an ancient tome that encouraged ever more flowery and pretentious speech. However, I shelved that idea and decided instead to write a prose adaptation of a comic script I was working on, ‘Spencer Nero and the Pack’ - until I decided that one really did work better as a script after all. The same thing happened with another half-finished script, in which Spencer falls in love (!) – though I’m not telling you with whom or with what! Finally, I settled on the ‘board game’ idea, because it seemed well-suited to appearing in an annual published at a time of year when so many of such games get an airing.

Unlike with #15, I’m not going to discuss the rest of the annual, ‘cos I reckon it’s best approached like a treasure trove or a well-wrapped Christmas present – half the fun is ripping off the layers of shiny paper and discovering for yourself what joys lie within! Davey Candlish is pursuing a very specific aesthetic with this one, paying loving homage to the annuals of his youth, and I feel he’s succeeded very well in recreating the vibe he’s after. All I will say is that the annual also features familiar dose of Spanish nonsense – much as no nativity scene is complete without a caganer! And with that, I shall see you in 1937 – or 2014, if you prefer.

Sors bless us, every one!

If Only Man Could Moult

PARAGON #14 is out, roaming the streets like a lunatic, and telling wild and improbable tales of action-packed goodness! There are many great things therein, chief amongst which is the jumbo-sized conclusion to Dirk Van Dom and Stephen Prestwood’s wonderful ‘Icarus Dangerous’, which for my money has been the comic’s biggest draw since #7. (Appropriately, its run is bookended by remarkable covers, both courtesy of Matt Soffe.) We also have the start of Tom Proudfoot and George Coleman’s ‘The Major’, which looks gorgeous (in a deeply evil sort of way) and which gets a big thumbs up from me for its Edinburgh setting – as a patriotic Scotsman, I love anything that delves into the myths and legends and indeed entrails of our blood-soaked nation. We also have a dose of laser-whip-fuelled crocodilian lunacy in ‘Jikan’, courtesy of Mr. Van Dom and editor/artist/mastermind Davey Candlish, whose chameleonic art-skills have rendered this one in a Mignola-esque stylee.

For my part, I have contributed two tales, both of which, bizarrely enough, centre around our feathered friends. There’s a Spencer Nero short, ‘Spencer Nero and the Hour of the Heron’, in which our smug hero finds himself dealing with Dartmoor druids and their pagan Heron god, the eyeball-eating Old Nog. Davey Candlish draws this one in a style inspired by ‘Chew’ artist Rob Guillory. The main feature, however, is ‘Spencer Nero and the Locked Door’, in which Spencer’s curator chum William Kitt takes centre stage. Kitt has to deal with a rampaging threat connected with the appearance of a caladrius, the healing bird of ancient Rome. But where is Spencer while all this is going on? Art here is by James Corcoran, and 'tis a dark treat indeed.

At the time of writing, #14 is FREE for download here, so grab a copy – the early bird catches the worm, after all. It is a comic with many feathers in its cap, and we’re as proud as peacocks of it.

Falling Towards Apotheosis

So for all my banging on about Spencer Nero like he’s the second coming, it’d be remiss of me not to mention what else appears in Paragon #9. Matthew McLaughlin and James Corcoran contribute a prehistoric Jikan tale with a delightfully Hammer / Amicus sensibility, the art for which is truly lovely, Corcoran’s atmospheric swathes of black being a particular highlight. The same writer also teams up with the mad, bad and dangerous to know Louis Carter (that’s bad in the sense of Byronically wicked, not a critique of the art!) who illuminates this month’s outing with some wonderfully stylised robo-philosophical musings. And explosions. Carter’s art is lovely stuff – I could absolutely see his robots as animated figures in some peculiar cartoon. Meanwhile, Davey Candlish couples (ooer, missus) with Alan Holloway for a violent western outing, ‘No Compromise’. There’s something about the western genre that Davey just seems to excel at – crumpled gunslingers must be one of his favourite subjects. And the strip’s first line, about how a stranger ‘rowed into town’, is a very witty conceit.

And finally, there’s Dirk Van Dom and Stephen Prestwood’s ‘Icarus Dangerous’. There’s a lot to like here, not least the muscular,action-packed art, which plays around with perspective (as is suitable for a flying hero) and which has a real weight and power to it. Gorgeous stuff. Of course, I’m a sucker for mythology too, and the whole ‘Greek myths in space’ thing makes me think of 'Ulysses 31', the best cartoon ever. Meanwhile, little references like Icarus suggesting his dad would enjoy the local architecture give the science-fantastical fusion a charming grounding. And despite the fact that several months pass between issues of Paragon, somehow ‘Icarus Dangerous’ manages to keep up a breackneck pace, rattling along with all the vip and vigour of a weekly-scheduled strip, full of energy, pressure always piling onto the hero.

The strip also made me muse on the likeability of the lead character. One of things I enjoy about this series is that Icarus is a bit hapless. I love characters that screw up or aren’t entirely sure what they’re doing, particularly if it’s their own fault. I find it a trait that’s extremely easy to identify with: indeed, one of my all-time 2000AD favourites is Ace Garp, a past-master in the field of creative balls-ups. In the case of Icarus, he seems, to paraphrase Theodore Roosevelt, to be doing the best he can with what he has where he is, but that clearly comes with a few bumps along the way. So much the better – in my experience, readers love seeing characters on a learning curve. Look at how popular the teenage New Mutants were with Marvel fandom when they debuted in the 80s. For a character so strongly associated with the concept of ‘the fall’, it’s a sharp move by Dirk Van Dom to give Icarus this slightly blundering quality, whilst at the same time reminding us that we fall to rise.

Indeed, the whole notion of haplessness is one that’s going to become more apparent in my own character, Spencer Nero, in forthcoming stories. In his first outing, he’s uber-confident and doesn’t make many mistakes, but as I tease out the darker aspects of his character, you’ll see how his arrogance increasingly makes him put his foot in it. In a script I’m writing at the moment, set in India in the time of the British Raj, I take this to an extreme, and Spencer becomes pretty much sole architect of his own problems.

Anyway - Paragon #9. Go buy. Bye.