Paragon #6

[Mardroid]

That means you'll have to wait for the book if you want to read the first episode of Undertow now..

Ooh, you might want to put that episode on MyEbooks or something, Davey, or Undertow will be nigh indecipherable to anyone picking it up later on...

My fault! Being new to this comic I thought it best to start at the beginning.

Thanks to everybody who ordered - all comics have now posted so you should get them very soon!

Cool!

[chilipenguin]

Damn, was going to pick up the back orders. I will be ordering the Jikan collection in the next few days I think so that'll have to tide me over.

[Cthulouis]

Mine arrived today. All 6 of them. Bwah ha ha ha etc...

[Greg M.]

My great big package (ooer, missus!) arrived today, also all 6 of 'em. What a bloody bargain!

[Daveycandlish]

Hope you enjoy them chaps!

Although I've no copies of issue 1 left, I believe Shane over at Smallzone may have  few left (although they'll at full price)

[Mardroid]

My copy of episode 1 arrived today. I've yet to read it yet although I've had a quick glance through. I'll write more when I've read it properly.

[Mardroid]

Okay, I've read issue one now.

Here are my thoughts and a brief review. (I know this thread really concerns #6, but I'm not sure I should start another.)

Please take any criticism here with a pinch of salt. I know this is the first issue so a lot could have changed since then. (I don't mean that to sound overly negative.)


Cover- This was decent. I assume Jikan is set up to be the title main ongoing character, much like Dredd is for 2000 AD?

Jikan- Not a bad set up but not a lot happens. I think I'd have preferred a twist apart from, [spoiler]he waits, and the demons turn up[/spoiler] but I understand this is an ongoing tale. I'd have preferred more story than the 1 and 1/3rd pages but I understand they ran out of space, probably due to the Scars of Dracula adaptation.

I like the oriental feel to the artwork. Actually that's one thing I've noticed- all strips are drawn by the same Artist, but they each have a slightly different style.

Scars of Dracula-  I'd have preferred an original work to be blunt. On the other hand, it tells the story well enough and the art really captures the actors likenesses in a minimalistic way. [spoiler]I dislike the ending, but that's the fault of the film not the strip. I know Dracula is an enemy of God but that...[/spoiler]

As I said the story is told well, but I'm not really a fan of the over captiony storytelling. To be honest I'd have preferred Jikan to be expanded rather than this but, the art itself is probably the best of the strips in terms of detail.

Undertow: Now this I really liked! It showed rather than told everything (unlike Scars, but I'm aware you have more ground to cover there) and was rather creepy. I thought it was going to basically be a slightly longer 2000 AD type Terror Tale, but then we had that intriguing ending and more to follow. Very good.

From an art point of view the simplest of the lot, not that I'm saying that's a bad thing. It tells the story well. I don't know how it ends, but this was my favourite strip so far by quite a bit.

Back cover: A cool poster type art-piece that captures the film imagery of Salem's Lot well. I really liked the creepy looking Marsten House in the foreground. The original novel is one of my favourite Stephen King horror books.

[Daveycandlish]

Thanks for the review there Mardroid, and I agree with everything you've said.

Jikan was set up as a main ongoing character; the first story appears in full in issue 2 and the character returns with a bang in issue 6. The first twelve episodes can be seen in The Jikan Chronicles (details on a different thread) and I've scripts for another fourteen, so he'll be here for a long time yet!

More artists do come on board as the word spread on the comic, but I like to change my style to suit the strip so hopefully they don't look too samey in the early issues. The idea on the Scars script was to go for a 1970's House of Hammer style comic and as such works quite well I think.

Undertow finishes in issue 7 with a shocking ending so you'll have to read the back issues 4-6 to catch up with the twists and turns of that tale

Back cover posters are something I love and I hope will be an ongoing thing for some time - there's a great one coming up (ssshhh, say no more....)

[Daveycandlish]

Just a reminder - last chance for the PARAGONcomic sale chaps as I'll be taking down the link for the cheap issues tomorrow!

Get 'em while you can - I've only one copy of issue 5 left!

[Mardroid]

Just saw this! Okay order submitted. Thanks.

[Mardroid]

Arrived today! And an extra surprise to boot, much appreciated! Thanks Dave.