2000 AD Online Forum

Issue 9 is now available!



PARAGON was nominated as the Best British B&W comic at the Eagle awards this year - buy a copy and you'll see why!

A digital download of the 36 page anthology is only 99p.
Paper copies for orders outside of the UK for only £2.50 plus P&P

Both available from www.lulu.com

UK orders should use the paragoncomic.blogspot link at the bottom of here

Interior preview art to follow!

Just read the download, still cannot really look at my Jikan contribution without cringing though there are still the couple of panels I really rather like.

The real pull for me is the debut of Spencer Nero, a really fun strip in the pulp tradition lots if scope for more adventures the additional one pager was a nice surprise too.

Cannot say the one off strip did much for me but it's nice to see the idea of done in one stories in paragon.

Stand out for me is Icarus dangerous a suitably weird sci fi twist on the original myth romping along at a fair old pace.

Loads of fun and all for ninety nine pee.

Downloaded mine, that is a bumper issue, well worth a squid!

Flicking thru, Spencer Nero looks like fun & the rest all look quality, as usual

James , your Jikan rocks!

Cheers

Chi

Thanks for the kind words chaps!

And for those who haven't seen any Icarus yet...



Icarus Dangerous Part 3 - the boy who fell to earth has to escape the alien spaceship that rescued him... and his Bonemen captors. Written by Dirk Van Dom, art by Stephen Prestwood, lettered by Jim Campbell

This issues' Jikan episode sees the time-travelling demon-hunting Japanese warrior fighting for his life with cave dwelling demon worshippers.
Written by Matthew McLaughlin, art by James Corcoran, lettered by Jim Campbell



(That art looks pretty damned good to me James!)

Quote from: Daveycandlish on 27 November, 2011, 02:24:14 PM

(That art looks pretty damned good to me James!)

......And me. :thumbsup: Great work.

Stew.

This kicked a LOT of arse Corcoran and Prestwood - I NEED YOU IN DR WTF. Cthulouis' strip was gorgeous as well - AND WHO WAS THE LETTERER OF THAT ONE-PAGE SPENCER NERO STRIP?!?! SHOCKINGLY BAD ;)

An artist is probably never happy with his work, James, ha ha.

Weird to see Jikan: Cave of Death in the mag, as it's been ages since I wrote it...Cthulouis' work on Mekkos is very nice - different than James', but packed with great action panels.

Icarus is very cool. Love the work by Prestwood bringing Van Dom's work to life. Overall a fun, adventurous mag...

And here is some of Cthulouis' work





The Mekk-God releases his giant spider robots to seek and destroy our revolutionary hero in Rise of the Mekko-Sapiens
Written by Matthew McLaughlin, art by Louis Carter, lettered by David Withers

I'm going to wait till I get my paper copy before I read this, but I'm certainly looking forward to it!

Brilliant issue Davey. Best one yet, I'd say, very glad to be a part of it.
Well done all involved!

Thanks to the folks earlier in the thread who singled out Spencer Nero for kind words - much appreciated, lads. Though I've got my digital copy, like Cthulouis I'm not going to give this issue a really in-depth read till I have the hard copy - I am old-school. That said, even a quick scan through shows what a remarkably and consistently high standard the art in this issue is at. James's work is deeply evocative and atmospheric, Louis's is mind-bendingly exciting and Stephen's is really muscular and dynamic, whilst Davey turns in some cracking action poses and dramatic storytelling (and David Broughton's one-pager balances action and whimsy well.) Just lovely to look at.

And here are some frames from our cover star's story



the ranting Nazi, Von Nero, in full flow!



Spencer Nero punches a lion!



it all gets a bit squishy when Janus shows his face!

A fantastic script by Greg Meldrum, with art by Davey Candlish and lettered by HdE - it's quite a debut for the 1930s British agent!

In No Compromise by Alan Holloway and Davey Candlish, a man rows into town with only one thing on his mind....

The paper copies are now in so get along to the paragoncomic.blogspot and get your order in!

Reviews to follow. (And if you've got a copy already do let us know what you think)

Davey, that splash is quite, quite brilliant.

Cheers Tordelback!

The last of the pre-orders are going out today so everyone should have their copy VERY soon :)

Be sure to let us know what you think - spread the word!

Wohoo! Mine arrived today. So far I've only read the two Spencer Nero stories, and they were both great! Saving the rest for lunch time at work tomorrow.

I can only order mine in the New Year!!!!

My physical copy turned up today, for me the cover colours don't come out too well they probably looked much better on screen which is a shame as it's a nice pulpy layout.
Louis take on Mekko Sapiens has some well designed layouts with a nice clear lines.

The two Spencer Nero strips are rather different but equally fun rip snorting adventure.
Favourite by far is still Icarus the art is dynamic and gives the story real pace and the story is still suitably mental.
By far the most fully formed issue yet things bode well for next year with the addition of more new strips.

Well done all

QuoteI can only order mine in the New Year!!!

Don't worry I'll keep a copy back for you  :)

Quoteit's a nice pulpy layout

It would have probably helped if we'd printed on newsprint rather than the glossy card covers but weirdly that would have been too expensive :-\

www.lulu.com have a special offer on until the 14th Dec of 25% off any order, so get along there quick to order your copy using COUNTDOWNUK305 as a voucher code

http://paragoncomic.blogspot.com/2011/12/bogof-christmas.html

Christmas is coming and as a special treat, if you order the latest issue of PARAGON you can get a back issue free! That's right - buy one, get one free - it's a BOGOF Christmas!
Just let me know which issue you want in the special instruction section of the paypal payment.
This offer will only be on until Dec 31st so you need to get in quick!

Review of this issue is up on the FP blog

http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2012/paragon-issue-9/

with some nice things to say about cover star Spencer Nero...

but do you agree with the rest? Do let me know your opinions!

Must say I agree with his nice but patchy assessment thinking about having that on business cards.
Other than that he has a fair point about reprinting the Jikan strips my one appeared what eighteen months ago, so asking someone to take a punt on thirty two pages of small press comics when a quarter of it is consistently reprint somewhat lessen the values. Overall though I do think it is a spirited effort that should continue in some way.

Just out of curiosity - is there anyone here that buys PARAGON that hasn't bought a copy of The Jikan collection? Or indeed, bought the collected tales but doesn't buy the regular comic?

Quote from: JAMESCOR on 25 January, 2012, 07:23:19 PM
Other than that he has a fair point about reprinting the Jikan strips my one appeared what eighteen months ago, so asking someone to take a punt on thirty two pages of small press comics when a quarter of it is consistently reprint somewhat lessen the values.

I do agree...perhaps printing a Jikan chronicles after they appear in the mag might be the best route. But I do know you have a backlog of Jikan scripts, both finished and in production, so getting them out there is cool for the writers in artists so that they don't have to wait so long to see their work in print. I personally enjoy the Jikan Chronicles, and quite like reading a comic that's ALL Jikan.

Or perhaps you might...not send out the Jikan Chronicles for review. I suppose it's a double-edge sword - don't send out the Chronicles for review and risk no one knowing about it or sending it out and risk having a review like this, in which the reviewer discourages folk from buying Paragon because of the reprint.

That said, I felt the last paragraph of this review was unnecessarily mean-spirited. The guy can dislike the product, sure, but he ought to respect the effort that went into it. You (and the writers and artists) don't do this for money, they do it out of love of comics. The effort put into each and every mag ought to at least afford a bit of constructive criticism. Methinks that fellow woke up on the wrong side of bed when he wrote this review.

Aw... I got a bad review  :(

Ah well - I still like it.  :D

Quote from: Alski on 25 January, 2012, 11:27:14 PM
Aw... I got a bad review  :(

Yours was the Western? Now I know who you are, Alan H., ha ha

but did you like it?

Not read the mag yet - I've been waiting for my hardcopy to arrive. I hate reading comics on a screen.

Quote from: locustsofdeath! on 25 January, 2012, 09:29:02 PM

Or perhaps you might...not send out the Jikan Chronicles for review.

Or don't send that guy one, he seems to be the only reviewer with a problem about it. I imagine people who've bought the collection would still be interested in the other stories, & those who don't wanna splash out for the collection can still follow Jikan's adventures in the mag (& get the collection after they're hooked  :)) . I,for one, want my collected edition, it looks more impressive!
Speaking of which... should have my stuff ready for part 2 this wkend , Davey, cheers for yr patience!

Chi

Quote from: El Chivo on 26 January, 2012, 06:40:55 AM
Or don't send that guy one, he seems to be the only reviewer with a problem about it.

Richard at the FPB was spectacularly critical of Van Dom's Vanguard something similarly "if the next part is half a year away I can't be bothered" - and I wonder if he thinks we get paid? I remember coming away from the review feeling quite crestfallen like "...but I did this... in my spare time, for fun and this is THE BIGGEST WEBSITE I've ever been featured on and it's really bad press for me". Why did I deserve that? I did that over like, two months for a laugh! Someone commented at the time "wow, this guy really doesn't get small press".

I'm glad he wrote a critical review, it shows he paid attention (although he did think Mammoth Jack was a horse) - I'm glad he even wrote a review at all he could've ignored the comp copy. But he has to ask himself - is he actually HELPING the small press comics he's reviewing like this? I mean, will this review encourage people to buy Paragon or Vanguard? How MANY people read the FPB?! I think - I do really appreciate critical reviews - but when this is the most read one the most searchable one (type Dirk van Dom Vanguard into Google)...it's just harmful to be such a dick about it.

I mean....we're doing this whole thing for fun right?

Also he refused to review Dr WTF. Which can only be a good thing.

Paragon guys, I totally respect your efforts but I had similar thoughts to the FP blog review of the recent issue when reading Issue 6 (I was sent this back issue for free a couple of weeks ag - giveaway competition).  I requested the back issue after enjoying the Jikan web strip - but was disapointed with the comic.  Found it difficult to read and follow in places - there were some nices bits but overall it did not inspire me to buy any more product.

I am not from the small press community so maybe I dont understand the culture/approach in comparison to regular publishers of comics?  Maybe your comic is more for comic creators to read/appreciate?

Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 26 January, 2012, 07:05:42 AM

Quote from: El Chivo on 26 January, 2012, 06:40:55 AM
Or don't send that guy one, he seems to be the only reviewer with a problem about it.

Richard at the FPB was spectacularly critical of Van Dom's Vanguard something similarly "if the next part is half a year away I can't be bothered" - and I wonder if he thinks we get paid? I remember coming away from the review feeling quite crestfallen like "...but I did this... in my spare time, for fun and this is THE BIGGEST WEBSITE I've ever been featured on and it's really bad press for me". Why did I deserve that? I did that over like, two months for a laugh! Someone commented at the time "wow, this guy really doesn't get small press".

I'm glad he wrote a critical review, it shows he paid attention (although he did think Mammoth Jack was a horse) - I'm glad he even wrote a review at all he could've ignored the comp copy. But he has to ask himself - is he actually HELPING the small press comics he's reviewing like this? I mean, will this review encourage people to buy Paragon or Vanguard? How MANY people read the FPB?! I think - I do really appreciate critical reviews - but when this is the most read one the most searchable one (type Dirk van Dom Vanguard into Google)...it's just harmful to be such a dick about it.

I mean....we're doing this whole thing for fun right?

Also he refused to review Dr WTF. Which can only be a good thing.

This is an interesting argument, if you send out a review copy you are probably looking to raise awareness of your comic and hopefully shift a few more issues. You are also submitting your creative baby for review. The reviewer's obligation is simply to give their honest opinion, if they don't then every review they write is worthless. Small press comics like any other comic, book, TV show or film should be reviewed on the content.

Quote from: Steven Denton on 26 January, 2012, 10:55:42 AMSmall press comics like any other comic, book, TV show or film should be reviewed on the content.

You're right, but I do think reviews could take account of the different environment as regards creators' time and scheduling of books - complaining about there being 6 months between episodes of Icarus Dangerous rather misses the point. 

I'm with Stevie Denton block on this I think - being critical of the content is fine and surely what we all want. Obviously, what we really want is for all reviewers to love our stuff, but yeah, failing that, we've got to be able to weather honest criticism. That just goes for the quality of the strips though - as far as the wait between issues, well, that's just not something small press comic creators can really do much about, so I'd forget that bit.

I had a good long think about this and yes the wait between issues of small press comics is inevitable and definitely not worth criticising in the same way you would a comic from say Image with a 6 month gap between issues. But on the other hand if it's detrimental to the reviewer's enjoyment of a story can they really not mention it? I can see the logic for instance in questioning whether a 2000ad style anthology small press magazine could ever work with 6 months between issues. But the place for that in a review, in my opinion, is not as a criticism of an individual story but a comment about the editorial policy.

Some reviews definitely can be mean spirited and sometimes they can dance around the points they are trying to make. When you do get negative points in a review it can be hard to work out what the problem actually is with and if there is anything you can reasonably do about it (if you don't just disagree with it all together)

Although I was trashed, I am able to take the review at face value. It's his honest opinion and we can't ask for much more.

I review albums every week for the internet, an independant mag plus a big ass well known mag. I have slagged off people in my time, but nevertry to hurt anyone's feelings and make sure that the reasons for my criticisms are clear.

You can't like everything. I wonder why he din't want to do Dr WTF - that really is a super little mag.

I used to write reviews for 2000ad review .com (got rest its binary soul) and the very first review I wrote I was pulled up on an assertion I made about a strip by its writer! It was a steep learning curve.

Yowch. Tough review. I guess the frequency of publication does hurt it. I do wonder how different the reviews would be if it was on a regular monthly publication schedule. Of course, this is not at all possible, but still, I have no doubt it would make a huge difference to the assessment of each strip. For example, what he says about chapter 3 of my story setting up future chapters. Well, yes, that's true. It's chapter 3 of a finite story, and while the first 2 chapters introduced a lot of mysteries and questions designed to capture a reader's attention, I needed to use this chapter to answer a lot of them so that we can get into the second act of the story without any of that baggage. It's a fairly common story structure I would imagine, and were the installments appearing monthly I don't think it would be an issue. As it is, however, it becomes a huge issue due to the infrequency of publication and has a detrimental effect on the way the story is perceived as a whole.

There's nothing we can do about it though. It takes the creators a lot of time to put these strips together, as it is not their full-time job and is only something they can work on in their spare time. And it takes the editor time to raise the necessary funds to get each issue printed, since it is coming out of his own personal pocket and he is more than likely barely breaking even on each issue. I guess the idea of ongoing stories in small press self-published anthologies is simply a flawed concept. I was advised of this by Richmond Clements when putting together Vanguard. I guess I knew it anyway, but I still wanted to go ahead and do it. Maybe it's being overly ambitious..? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......

I hesitate to weigh in on this because my efforts weren't in this issue but I thought I'd share a few thoughts, if you'll indulge me.

To my mind, a reviewer has two main purposes; to inform potential readers and to assist creators. In reviewing professional publications, I think that the reviewer must lean towards the former whilst in the case of amateur publications he or she should lean more towards the latter. When reading reviews of my own work I want to be helped towards an understanding of what I've done that works and what doesn't so that I can improve my craft. The review under discussion here, whilst harsh, does at least point to some of (the reviewer's) percieved problems so that the creators involved can have a think about what they're doing and adjust, or not, accordingly.

I'm quite jealous of that review, actually.

This is because nothing I've written has evinced anything like a similar response. Sure, my work's been mentioned in passing, but to me that feels like a 'meh' response - and 'meh' is no good to me at all. Take, for instance, the strip Flesh: Extinction I wrote for Zarjaz. There are no reviews of that anywhere online that I can find. There's one brief mention in an extremely short piece somewhere but, apart from that, nothing. I found this extremely disappointing and disheartening. It's as if all the work (and love) that Chris Geary, the editorial boys and myself put into this strip counted for nothing. There was nary a ripple on the nerdy-gurdy so I don't know what I'm doing right and, more to the point, what I'm doing wrong. Silence really can be deafening.

Of course, I don't write with reviewers in mind and, shocking though this might be, I don't write with an audience in mind, either. That is to say, I do write to the specific genre or world demanded by Zarjaz or Paragon but beyond that I write primarily for myself. I write the stories that I want to read - because if I want to read them then hopefully others will as well. I think that if I write what I think an audience wants to see I'll inevitably churn out generic dross with no character or voice of its own. Of course, this means that I sometimes write stuff that nobody else wants to read (especially not Quaxxanlets...) but that's okay by me. A rejection or criticism doesn't necessarily mean that my story is bad (although sometimes I have to admit that this is indeed the case) but, more likely, that I haven't done my job properly in telling the story - which is generally just a case of a failure of mechanics rather than imagination. I don't think I can call myself talented until my mechanics are equal to my imagination, if that makes sense!

I have a friend who wants to be a novelist and he's constantly trawling the best seller lists looking for the stories and genres that are popular and then trying to bend his own ideas to fit. As a result, he loses his own voice somewhere along the line and a story that was perfectly good in its own right becomes a mediocre mash-up of other writers' approaches liberally sprinkled with chunks of whatever's in fashion at the moment. I keep asking him if he thinks Tolkein, Orwell or Douglas Adams used this approach but somehow he can't see it that way. "Write what you love," I keep telling him, and "do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail", (I'm full of crap aphorisms like that!) but I think that he's not got enough faith in his own talent to do that. He has a great idea for a fantasy novel, for example, and I read some of the original chapters as he wrote them. Then Harry Potter came on the scene and he trashed it - rewriting the thing as a childrens' book. He doesn't even have children, so what's the point of that? Inevitably, all the imagination and work he put into building his world and characters has been wasted as he chases popularity. It's very sad.

A wise man once told me, "listen to everyone, take what you need and discard the rest" and I think that this is good advice for life in general and also for reading reviews. Take the criticism and fold it in to what you do would be my advice.

Anything is better than 'meh.'

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 26 January, 2012, 03:48:15 PMTake, for instance, the strip Flesh: Extinction I wrote for Zarjaz.

Didn't realise it was you, but I thought it was great!  Not the most thoughtful of reviews, but there you go.  Loved the cover too.

Quote from: TordelBack on 26 January, 2012, 03:51:38 PM

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 26 January, 2012, 03:48:15 PMTake, for instance, the strip Flesh: Extinction I wrote for Zarjaz.

Didn't realise it was you, but I thought it was great! 

Woo hoo! Thanks for that, Tordels!

(Uh-oh, did I just completely trash my last post with that outburst??)

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 26 January, 2012, 03:48:15 PM
I hesitate to weigh in on this because my efforts weren't in this issue but I thought I'd share a few thoughts, if you'll indulge me.


Anything is better than 'meh.'

I agree it is disheartening to see your work seemingly make no impression at all. Pretty much everything I have ever written drawn or coloured has failed to make any kind of impact as far as I can tell (this is in relation to small press comics and in the context of reviews, the internet in general is very positive about my art work). But I have never taken a creative kicking so I'm not sure if that's worse, I would imagine I would find it hard not to take it a little bit personally.

Quote from: Steven Denton on 26 January, 2012, 04:22:41 PM
But I have never taken a creative kicking so I'm not sure if that's worse, I would imagine I would find it hard not to take it a little bit personally.

This same reviewer once thoroughly and utterly took one of my scripts apart and I felt completely empty inside for days - I even questioned whether or not I should keep writing comics!

I didn't take it personally, and even took a lot from it (that review actually offered constructive criticism) and I think got better because of it. Sometimes he adopts a tone that seems to say "give it up, you've got nothing to offer, you're terrible" that's tough not to take personally...but looking back I do feel it was good that he pointed out what the problem was so I didn't make the same mistake twice.

Quote from: Davek on 26 January, 2012, 08:28:58 AM
I requested the back issue after enjoying the Jikan web strip -

I'm glad you liked it! I'm writing another one for Paragon right now; I hope you'll keep reading.

By contrast to Sharky, I hesitate to weigh in because I *was* involved with this issue, but I have been following these reviews for a while now, and so I'll try to make my thoughts more general.

What has always annoyed me most about his reviews is that he seems to believe his opinions are facts. He doesn't like certain strips, therefore apparently the comic is only half good.

But those other strips may well appeal to people who don't like the ones that he does. I don't know if it's just because 2000ad is the only comic I read, but for me, only thinking some of the strips are good and thinking the others are a bit meh, is par for the course for *professional* comics, let alone small press comics.

I understand his problems with reprint. I personally haven't bought the collections, so I enjoy reading those strips in Paragon. If I had already read them, Paragon probably would feel slightly less value for money.

I also understand (though do not share) his frustration over the time between issues. I don't know if timings could be reorganised such that there are bigger chunks of fewer stories in each Paragon. Would that help even if it was possible? If he didn't like the particular stories showcased in such an issue, probably not.

I also greatly appreciate any crit given to a piece of work, so long as it is well written and thoughtfully constructed. Too Busy Thinking About Comics is an exemplary example of what I mean by this, I would dread having my work torn apart by that guy, but would probably agree with everything he says. The guy who writes these FP reviews simply doesn't seem to have anything else to say other than I liked it, therefore it is good, or I didn't like it therefore it is shit.

I don't want this to sound like sour grapes for a bad review, indeed this review for me is better than I thought it would be; I can live with a 'meh' far more than I could if he got his claws out all over google. As I say, I'm basing this on his earlier reviews more than this one.

One review that sticks in my mind is the one for the first part of Rise of the Mekkosapiens. He said it reminded him of the Matrix. Really? Was that the best he could think of? There are robots and they have enslaved humanity, but apart from this widely used concept, the stories are entirely different, and the comment smacked of lazy writing. Rise of the Mekkosapiens is closer to Sonic the Hedgehog than the Matrix (I mean that in a good way Matt!)

In summary, there are problems intrinsic to the format which you either settle with and continue with, knowing that you can't please everyone, or you experiment until you find something that works better. But these past 3 issues have been slightly different to those before, so you are obviously open to change and improvement, and that is all good and we'll see where it goes from here. 

But when it comes to reviewing the story content rather than the way it is packaged, this guy has very little to say and says it with crude inelegance and complete disrespect for the idea that he could actually be using his writing to help make the world a better place by being at all insightful or constructive.

Quote from: Cthulouis on 26 January, 2012, 05:16:21 PM
But when it comes to reviewing the story content rather than the way it is packaged, this guy has very little to say and says it with crude inelegance and complete disrespect for the idea that he could actually be using his writing to help make the world a better place by being at all insightful or constructive.

I must agree with this. It's the main reason why I never write reviews, because I'm not confident that my criticisms would be insightful or constructive enough to help anyone - least of all the creators.

Furthermore, my insouciant attitude towards reviews will most likely shift when I get a strip torn off me!

I'm glad my comments seem to have shaken a tree - although it wasn't my intent to insist on "positive" reviews. Merely that if he had nothing constructive or insightful to say the stature of the blog makes a negative review more hurtful than helpful.

And yes, all you have to build on when you get savage criticism is what it can teach you. But because he wasn't specific. AT ALL. He just said he didn't like it, I'm still (clearly) struggling to come to terms with what I should take away from it apart from the fact that the guy that gets paid by Forbidden Planet to write comic reviews doesn't like it. Which isn't helpful.

Maybe some form of "Review of the Review" blog is in order?

I didnt know that was you that wrote the Flesh story either, its good stuff, I wrote to Bolt a while back asking when it was returning.

David

Some interesting points made here.

I sent Richard a copy asking him to review it on the FP blog, on which he gave his honest opinion - I don't intend to criticise his criticisms of it.

The comment that has really piqued my interest here is Daveks;

QuoteFound it difficult to read and follow in places - there were some nice bits but overall it did not inspire me to buy any more product.

I am not from the small press community so maybe I dont understand the culture/approach in comparison to regular publishers of comics?  Maybe your comic is more for comic creators to read/appreciate

In what way was it difficult to read or follow? Was it the fact the comic is episodic and you didn't know what had gone before? Or was it badly written or illustrated? Or something else?

(This isn't a witch-hunt - I'm genuinely interested in what didn't work for you. Any constructive criticism helps make future issues better)

I think everyone who dabbles in the small press does so because they love comics - I publish PARAGON because it's the kind of comic I want to read, and I'd love it if other people want to read it too, so any feedback from every reader is gratefully received.

Hey, I know this feeling. The FPI blog once posted a distinctly lukewarm review of Walking Wounded (http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2009/propaganda-gets-massacred/).

Still, Richard is an honest critic, and a great supporter of British independent comics. When he likes something, he really pushes it (I lost count of how many glowing Harker eulogies he's posted) and he definitely knows his stuff. Of course, that doesn't mean he's always right!

I do think the point he makes about Jikan reprints is worth considering though. You don't want readers accidentally buying the same content twice, they won't feel very happy about it.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger... I don't think it too harsh a review, if he had went into detail would he be accused of ripping it apart piece by piece?
The odd thing I've written has never been reviewed and there hasn't been feedback of any kind, (except it not being mentioned when everything else was!) so if it was me I'd be happy someone gave it the time and thought to review it, I'd welcome some crit, constructive if poss!

Quote from: maryanddavid on 26 January, 2012, 09:18:11 PM
I didnt know that was you that wrote the Flesh story either, its good stuff, I wrote to Bolt a while back asking when it was returning.

David

Cool, thanks :)  (What did he say?)

Ye're all a bunch o' huffy-pantses!

Seriously, though - I'd say the main point of a review is to give a potential audience an indication of whether something is worth looking at, (in a specific reviewer's opinion), with analysis of why something does or doesn't work being secondary to that.

Quote from: CrazyFoxMachine on 26 January, 2012, 06:41:38 PM
the guy that gets paid by Forbidden Planet to write comic reviews doesn't like it.

Does he actually get paid for it?

Quote from: Proudhuff on 26 January, 2012, 10:23:48 PM
The odd thing I've written has never been reviewed and there hasn't been feedback of any kind, (except it not being mentioned when everything else was!)

Quote from: M.I.K. on 26 January, 2012, 10:30:56 PM
Ye're all a bunch o' huffy-pantses!

That'll teach Proudhuff to open his mouth.

Whoops.

Quote from: Daveycandlish on 26 January, 2012, 09:23:39 PM
The comment that has really piqued my interest here is Daveks;

QuoteFound it difficult to read and follow in places - there were some nice bits but overall it did not inspire me to buy any more product.

I am not from the small press community so maybe I dont understand the culture/approach in comparison to regular publishers of comics?  Maybe your comic is more for comic creators to read/appreciate

In what way was it difficult to read or follow? Was it the fact the comic is episodic and you didn't know what had gone before? Or was it badly written or illustrated? Or something else?

(This isn't a witch-hunt - I'm genuinely interested in what didn't work for you. Any constructive criticism helps make future issues better)

I will get back to you with a decent response either tonight or at the weekend - I owe you that as you sent me a free copy.  I cant remember the exact reasons why I didnt dig it - can just remember the overall impression I had.  I will revisit the comic to give you more detailed feedback.  Like I said above, I totally appreciate your efforts.  Its just that I felt the comic wasnt for me.

Quote from: locustsofdeath! on 26 January, 2012, 10:47:09 PM

Quote from: Proudhuff on 26 January, 2012, 10:23:48 PM
The odd thing I've written has never been reviewed and there hasn't been feedback of any kind, (except it not being mentioned when everything else was!)

Quote from: M.I.K. on 26 January, 2012, 10:30:56 PM
Ye're all a bunch o' huffy-pantses!

That'll teach Proudhuff to open his mouth.

:-X

Quotethe guy that gets paid by Forbidden Planet to write comic reviews doesn't like it.

Does he actually get paid for it?

I don't think he does get paid for posting his opinions you know. Like us, he does it because he loves comics


Just spotted over at
http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?fSearchData[author]=PARAGON+comic&fSearchData[lang_code]=all&fSort=salesRankEver_asc&showingSubPanels=advancedSearchPanel_title_creator
that it's free P&P this weekend (until the 31st) so if you want to see what all the fuss is about, pop along and get a copy for only £2.50! That's cheap! (And the PDF version only costs 99p)

Quote from: Daveycandlish on 28 January, 2012, 08:18:14 AM

Quotethe guy that gets paid by Forbidden Planet to write comic reviews doesn't like it.

Does he actually get paid for it?

I don't think he does get paid for posting his opinions you know. Like us, he does it because he loves comics


Just spotted over at
http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?fSearchData[author]=PARAGON+comic&fSearchData[lang_code]=all&fSort=salesRankEver_asc&showingSubPanels=advancedSearchPanel_title_creator

It seems this website doesn't like those long URLs as it only allows the first part before [author] to be linkable. This means you end up in LULU but not with the correct selection. I tried to fix it by putting it within a URL tag but that didn't work either.

If you manually copy the entire thing to your browsers address bar you'll get to the Paragon products though.

This works... http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/PARAGONcomic (http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/PARAGONcomic)

Dave was nice enough to send me a digital copy of Paragon 9 to read.

First of all, congratulations to everyone involved.  It's a good comic.  I may pick up a digital copy of the next issue to see where some of these are going.
I'll try to give some constructive criticism. I'm looking at the storytelling here, as opposed to the stories in general. Little things that annoyed me or took me out of the story. Maybe that's a bit odd in comparison to a standard review that the likes of FP would give. I hope this doesn't come across as nitpicking - that's not my intention. Some of the following are storytelling choices I would have made differently and which the creators might disagree with entirely.

Spencer Nero and the Island of the Naztecs

I like the art - it has its own unique style... but the anatomy is irregular between panels and the foreshortening is way off at times.

I understand that the dialogue and captions are a pastiche, but I found this too much.  It became a labour to read.  I think the same pastiche effect could be achieved without so much infodump and characters signposting their movements and motivations.

That said, if it was edited down a bit, I have no problem with the quality of the writing itself.

The humour was good. I chuckled at some of the jokes, and humour is hard to get right in comics.

Page1 Panel 1... I read the first word balloon before noticing the phone-ringing sound effect, so the reading flow is off there.

Why did the Aztecs call Nero symmetrical? By this did they mean handsome? Or are they not normal Aztecs and are somehow malformed?

Von Zero did not get a good enough establishing shot.

I think it would be good if the mask was more visually interesting.  The main thing about it is that it's gold (I think) but this obviously doesn't come across in B&W.

It's not clearly established what the mirror stone is.  In Nero's briefing, yerman says that Zero is after something but doesn't say what.  I know it's serving as a McGuffin, but naming the thing in the same frame as it is destroyed seems a bit much.

I think it should be made clear how the Janus Mask works. He seems to be taken over by some spirit when he wears it, but he is not shown taking it off.  I found myself wondering how much control he has when he is wearing it and what consciousness decided to remove the mask.


Jikan - Cave of Death

A straight forward story with good art.  I found the narration very dry. Maybe it would work better in first person.  Also, the narration was completely redundant in some panels, describing exactly what we can clearly see from the art.

On page 1 we don't see how Jikan got off the pedestal type rock. It's not clear if he jumped down into the middle of them. Not that big a deal but the storytelling just seemed slightly off to me.

At the bottom of page 1 it doesn't look like Jikan has swung his blade. I'm not sure if it's the pose, the distance between him and the beheaded figure or just the lack of a few motion lines, but it took me a second to register the beheading.

Page 2, last panel- similar to the sword thing, the orc(?) doesn't look like he's about to swing, he looks like he's resting the club behind his head.

Page5 Panel2 It should be shown in this panel that Jikan is being pushed towards the pit so that the next panel is clearer.

What hit me most about Jikan is - isn't this just Samurai Jack? Ok, maybe Samurai Jack is based on the same legend that this is (I dunno)... but Samurai Jack did a fucking amazing job of it, so if you are going to do something based on the same material I think you need to come at it from a fresh angle, which Jikan doesn't seem to be doing.
I hope that isn't too harsh.

No Compromise

The art is nice and the opening is good.  I think the strangeness of someone arriving on the island could have been emphasized a bit more to add to the intrigue.
The more severe anatomy problems that were recurrent in Spencer Nero don't seem to be cropping up in Dave's art here at all.

Page3 Panel1 - it's not clear what's happening here. I know from Panel2 that it is a hand stopping him, but you cant make out the contact in P1... it could just as easily be a zombie-esque hand clawing towards him.

I think the composition of Page3 is unbalanced. Squint your eyes and look at the dispersal of the main black and white areas on the page.

Page 4, panels 1&2 - what the hell happened here? are the guys in the hats the same guy, the main character? It's not clear whether this is a time lapse, a different part of the bar or just a mistake when it was meant to show someone at the other side of him. A distinguishing feature on the bar, and maybe breaking it to 3 beats/panels with three different people sitting beside him would help to fix this.

Nice splash page! It's good that the first shot figure you see is the opposite angle to the shooter image. Good planning.

I think the villain needs more characterisation. He's a cliché bad guy. The good guy has some nice characterisation at the start, but your villain makes your hero!  The conflict is one sided so the overall story seems a little empty.



Rise of the MekkoSapiens

Nice story but I found myself a little confused by it and had to go back and read it again more slowly.  I think if it had started with Timmons reaching consciousness and then straight into the action, with the backstory revealed more slowly it would have worked better. Not everything that was revealed in this first instalment was needed to set up the motivations and get the ball rolling.  If some of these things were left unanswered I think the story might be more intriguing.

ending a caption box with a dash makes it seem as though it's going to be continued.  This happens in a few captions but confused the shit out of me with the last caption box of page4. When I turned the page the next caption didn't make sense because I was waiting for the end of the previous sentence. Page5 Panel1 is confusing anyway (who's who, why is one kneeling?) which didn't help.

Spencer Nero and the Last Laugh

Same issues as before with the dialogue, but again, this was funny. In fact, this one was much funnier, great gag.
Panel 1 should show his eyes looking back in response to the sound.

Icarus Dangerous

Love the name :)

Page1 Panel4 caption box. Bad sentence structure, it's unclear who did something to his wings - the girl or the skels.
Also, I don't think you should refer to her as blue-skinned in the text in a B&W comic. I'm not sure if anyone would agree with me on that though.

Page2 - last 3 panels. This is a bit of a waste of storytelling space.  He's just finding his way around for one third of a page. Might not sound like alot but it is when you consider the short format that the writer is working in.

Same sort of thing comes up again... page 4 does everything needed to show Icarus can fly.  The majority of page 5 is devoted to the exact same thing, showing he can fly. Ok, so it deals with some of the characters confidence issues, but I still think too much time/space was devoted to this.

I don't really know what's happening in Page5 Panels 1&2... is he damaging his right wings or has someone shot it?

Page 6, some tangent issues with the control panel - It blends with the perspective of the corridor. I didn't know it was there and presumed he went to another room to get to the controls. Seeing the control panel in the middle of the hall on the splash page at the end confused me and I had to flick back to see that it was in fact show on page6.

Great cliffhanger ending.



I hope that was constructive... it took ages!  :|
Again, thanks to Dave for the copy and fair play to everyone involved.

As the writer of Spencer Nero, thank you very much for taking the time to do such an in-depth critique. As others have suggested, you don't always get too much feedback for small-press projects, so it's great seeing someone taking the time to go into real detail about their thoughts and reactions to the strips. To answer your points:

Quote from: briantm on 28 January, 2012, 07:56:45 PM
Spencer Nero and the Island of the Naztecs

I understand that the dialogue and captions are a pastiche, but I found this too much.  It became a labour to read.  I think the same pastiche effect could be achieved without so much infodump and characters signposting their movements and motivations.

That said, if it was edited down a bit, I have no problem with the quality of the writing itself.

Fair point, and hard to argue with. In my opinion, one of my biggest of many vices as a fledgling small-press writer is an excess of verbosity, particularly when it comes to writing things that could be indicated visually. I hope you'll find that successive Nero strips tone this down somewhat (though I can't say the pastiche effect vanishes.)

Quote from: briantm on 28 January, 2012, 07:56:45 PM

Why did the Aztecs call Nero symmetrical? By this did they mean handsome? Or are they not normal Aztecs and are somehow malformed?

They are malformed and inbred after 400 years of inbreeding on their little island colony.

Quote from: briantm on 28 January, 2012, 07:56:45 PM
I think it would be good if the mask was more visually interesting.  The main thing about it is that it's gold (I think) but this obviously doesn't come across in B&W.

This is down to me as the writer - I indicated in the script it should be quite blank-faced. I didn't want it to be ornate - I find its plain nature makes it (to me) quite frightening-looking, because it is so lacking in human features. (In my head, it had a nose, but I prefer it without.)

Quote from: briantm on 28 January, 2012, 07:56:45 PM

It's not clearly established what the mirror stone is.  In Nero's briefing, yerman says that Zero is after something but doesn't say what.  I know it's serving as a McGuffin, but naming the thing in the same frame as it is destroyed seems a bit much.

The stone is the same thing Von Zero bangs on about on the previous page - the fragment of the foot of Tezcatlipoca, which renders things invisible around it in a set radius. I obviously don't make this clear, or my verbosity obscures it. My mistake.

Quote from: briantm on 28 January, 2012, 07:56:45 PM
I think it should be made clear how the Janus Mask works. He seems to be taken over by some spirit when he wears it, but he is not shown taking it off.  I found myself wondering how much control he has when he is wearing it and what consciousness decided to remove the mask.

Keep reading! ;) I am glad you are asking these questions... you will get some answers to precisely these things eventually. It's an ongoing thread in the story. I agree there was certainly room to clarify the logistics without giving away the mystery though.

Anyway, glad you liked the humour of my two strips: hopefully future instalments should deal with some of your points. The two stories were written quite a distance apart ('The Last Laugh' is very recent, '...Naztecs' was written some time ago) and the humour in 'The Last Laugh' is probably closer to the way my scripts for the strip seem to be evolving.

Thanks again.

>>(though I can't say the pastiche effect vanishes.)

Of course not. That's the point of the character. If I came across as saying that the pastiche doesn't work that's not what I meant.

Glad you found my comments of some use.

Brian

>>The stone is the same thing Von Zero bangs on about on the previous page - the fragment of the foot of Tezcatlipoca, which renders things invisible around it in a set radius. I obviously don't make this clear, or my verbosity obscures it. My mistake.

Nope, not your mistake.  I just reread and I must have entirely glossed over that wordballoon as it mentions the inbreeding thing too.

So my shitty attention span is to blame :)

Quote from: briantm on 28 January, 2012, 09:01:47 PM
Nope, not your mistake.  I just reread and I must have entirely glossed over that wordballoon as it mentions the inbreeding thing too.

So my shitty attention span is to blame :)

In fairness, you probably saw the size of the wordballoon and thought "Oh, sod it, does he expect me to read all that? It's probably just the usual bad guy monologuing." and skipped it. ;)

Rise of the Mekkos: I guess I can see now the major major downfalls of anthology comic reading - and it should have been more apparent to me, because the couple of times I've fallen off 2000AD and come back I've suffered this same way. This is part three - so there's no way (or maybe there is) you could know that there are no true "caption" boxes; there are actually two G127's, the robot and the man. That bit on the first page had been led up to. There's more to find out. Of course if you came away uninterested in that 'more', that's my fault. And if there's no way for a new reader to penetrate what's going on, that's my fault too. Or maybe I've written a stinker, which is my fault most of all. This certainly isn't the first bad review the strip has gotten - and reception has been so bad that I've really felt like I've let Davey and Paragon down. Several times I've told him I'd write a quick ending so he can be rid of it (or even told him I wouldn't be offended if it just disappeared).

Jikan: I've honestly never read Samurai Jack, so I can't really comment on that. As for my captioning being dry, there's nothing I can really say to that. I attempted to echo Roy Thomas' Conan stories, so I guess I blew that! Ironically, the original script had zero dialogue or captions...

Anyway, nice in-depth review. Thanks for reading.

I find it mind-boggling that twice my work elsewhere has come away with dazzling reviews from Colin at Too Busy Thinking About My Comics yet my Paragon stuff is derided (though I went back to the FPB review of the Jikan chronicles and the fellow who constantly rips Mekkos gave this Jikan nice marks, so...I guess just mostly bad, not ALL bad, ha).

Hi Locustsofdeath,

I did know that the caption boxes were the inner dialogue of the man/machine. That was completely clear and I very much like how you showed this on the second page - nice visuals.

I didn't know that this was part three... it doesn't say so anywhere in the comic. That changes quite a lot... I read it as if it was the opening chapter and thought it not the best way to introduce the story.

Also, forgot to mention in my original post... I do quite like the art in Mekko. It can bet a bit busy in some panels, but I think seeing this artwork in colour would help differentiate things an awful lot. (I know that's not possible for Paragon, but maybe in a digital collection?)

>>This certainly isn't the first bad review the strip has gotten - and reception has been so bad that I've really felt like I've let Davey and Paragon down. Several times I've told him I'd write a quick ending so he can be rid of it (or even told him I wouldn't be offended if it just disappeared).

I didn't mean for it to read like a bad review. Also, as I didn't know it was part three, it was a misinformed review. Don't be disheartened man, I liked the strip.  That I felt a bit out of my depth is explained by missing the first 2 instalments.


Re Jikan - Samurai Jack is a cartoon, not another comic.  It's about a samurai who is thrown through time into the far future by a demon. Jack is forever pursuing the demon who flees at the end of most episodes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Jack
(I'm not in the slightest suggesting any copying. They are just extremely similar stories.)

Hey Brian - no worries at all. I'd rather someone tell it like it is so I can learn from it. In that respect, I really really appreciate it. No worries.

Gads! You've pointed out probably the stupidest mistake I could have made: not letting the reader know that this is part three. You know, I had a blurb at the beginning of part 2 but for some reason didn't include it this go round. I can't for the life of me remember why, though it's now obvious I should have...these are the little things I definitely appreciate being pointed out to me. Thanks!

As far as Jikan goes, I'm not really sure what the inspiration for the character is/was. I'm just a "hired" gun; Davey, the editor, asked me to write a few 8-page stand-alone episodes between the larger story arcs which are developed by him and Mark Howard (I think that's how it works).

But yeah, I'd like to continue chatting with you privately if that's cool. Pick your brain a bit.

Dave created the character and his world and kindly invited me (after I took my foot of his throat... ) to have a go at an origins arc. There are two scripts (comprising four eight page episodes) of mine still to be published in 'my run'. I've seen the art for the first of these, and it's bloody stunning. Hopefully my efforts will be okay but, even if they're not, Jikan fans are in for an eyegasm!

Quote from: briantm on 29 January, 2012, 01:33:33 AM
Re Jikan - Samurai Jack is a cartoon, not another comic.  It's about a samurai who is thrown through time into the far future by a demon. Jack is forever pursuing the demon who flees at the end of most episodes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Jack
(I'm not in the slightest suggesting any copying. They are just extremely similar stories.)

Ah, you're right.

Quote from: locustsofdeath! on 29 January, 2012, 03:28:15 AM

Quote from: briantm on 29 January, 2012, 01:33:33 AM
Re Jikan - Samurai Jack is a cartoon, not another comic.  It's about a samurai who is thrown through time into the far future by a demon. Jack is forever pursuing the demon who flees at the end of most episodes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Jack
(I'm not in the slightest suggesting any copying. They are just extremely similar stories.)

Ah, you're right.

Just want to make sure it doesn't sound like I'm implying anyone stole anything from Samurai Jack. I didn't mean that at all.

Thanks for taking the time to give such detailed feedback brian - very much appreciated!

As the writers have already left their comments I'll just blether on about my bits;

I was kinda going for a 70s Marvel Doc Savage vibe for my Spencer Nero art, so any criticisms of the pictures is completely down to me - I had hoped that the Naztecs came across as inbred and deformed so any foreshortening issues on them are deliberate - some are meant to have big arms, squat legs, whatever. If that wasn't obvious then I've failed (note to self; must try harder)
As Greg said, one of the mysteries of this story is the mask and how it works and that is slowly revealed over the coming episodes (I already have the next four scripts in, with a couple of smaller episodes to drop in as and when)

Jikan is my creation and I have to confess I have never seen Samurai Jack - it was only on looking it up on Wiki just now and reading the first sentence that I can see how similar the premises are.
Confession time; if any thing, he's based on the Hammer film Captain Kronos. I loved the idea of a time travelling do-gooder and wanted something similar. Kronos is based on the Greek word for time - can you guess what the Japanese word jikan means? ;)

Any issues on the art on No Compromise are again down to poor choices by me

The thing I take away from the reviews for Mekkos and Icarus is that both would benefit from a story so far caption at the beginning of each episode. The story is explained on the contents page but this is obviously not enough for the casual reader. As editor I'll do something about that for future issues.

Huge thanks for taking the time to give such detailed feedback - it's been very instructive. I hope you'll stick around for issue 10 to see if the comic improves!

Hi Brian,
as the others have said, thanks for taking the time to write up such an in-depth review.  Good comments will made about Icarus, I can see what you mean about taking too long to tell something and this helps clarify what the FPI review was saying about this chapter 'dragging' a bit. The 'finding his way around' bit could definately have been streamlined and could probably have tightened up the 'learning to fly' part too - although I wanted to devote a bit of time to that as it's kind of crucial to the character's development, since the flying thing is the BIG thing about the Icarus legend. He failed miserably in the first part (and in the legend obviously) and so I wanted to show his nervousness, trepidation, lack of confidence and subsequent exhiliration as he realises his wings are now 'magical' and he can do it by thought alone. What was happening in those two panels you couldnt figure out was some feathers from the wings were wrapping around his wrists to secure themselves to his arms as he flies. But yeah I can see how that would be hard to figure out.

Yep, thanks again for writing that, this is the kind of review/commentary I need!

Hi Dave,

It wasn't the Naztecs I was referring to when I mentioned anatomy/foreshortening problems, it was Spencer himself.

The ones that stood out were
Page1 p1 - his forearm seems far too long
Page2 p3 - his legs are twisted at an awkward angle
Page3 p4 - his shoulders/biceps are too big (at least in comparison to what's come before) and the torso doesn't quite match the legs.

Again, not trying to nitpick. I do like your artwork.


Also, I had a look at James Corcoran's blog http://james-corcoran.blogspot.com/
His art seems to have matured alot in the last year (since the Jikan strip was drawn)
Looking forward to seeing his take on Nero in a future issue.

One problem with No Compromise is I had to wedge the story into six pages, when 7 or 8 would have suited it a lot better. This is because it was an entry to the STRIP competition.

Just got my copy in the post - and at first glance the art sits on each and every page gloriously. Will have a proper read tonight.

Quote from: briantm on 28 January, 2012, 07:56:45 PM
Page1 Panel 1... I read the first word balloon before noticing the phone-ringing sound effect, so the reading flow is off there.

As the letterer on that piece (and somebody who earns regular money at it as well) gotta say I don't see the issue there. I've looked back at it to check, and it seems to read pretty clearly to me. I'd be interested to hear any ideas you've got as to how it could be improved, though. Sling me a PM!

Quote from: Davek on 27 January, 2012, 10:44:18 AM

Quote from: Daveycandlish on 26 January, 2012, 09:23:39 PM
The comment that has really piqued my interest here is Daveks;

QuoteFound it difficult to read and follow in places - there were some nice bits but overall it did not inspire me to buy any more product.

I am not from the small press community so maybe I dont understand the culture/approach in comparison to regular publishers of comics?  Maybe your comic is more for comic creators to read/appreciate

In what way was it difficult to read or follow? Was it the fact the comic is episodic and you didn't know what had gone before? Or was it badly written or illustrated? Or something else?

(This isn't a witch-hunt - I'm genuinely interested in what didn't work for you. Any constructive criticism helps make future issues better)

I will get back to you with a decent response either tonight or at the weekend - I owe you that as you sent me a free copy.  I cant remember the exact reasons why I didnt dig it - can just remember the overall impression I had.  I will revisit the comic to give you more detailed feedback.  Like I said above, I totally appreciate your efforts.  Its just that I felt the comic wasnt for me.

Not as detailed feedback as others provided, but my views regarding Issue 6:

- Overall presentation good, front and rear covers intersting and good quality paper inside

- Found the Jikan story OK, but art was a let down.  Too plain and very basic looking in places.  Also found a few parts of the story difficult to follow/understand e.g. is the old man possessed by demons at the end?, does Jikan put him out of his misery?,why does the demon take the man?, why did Yoshi' wife ask for help, walk away and then realise Jikan had her husband's body?

- Found the Battle Ganesh strip impenetrable.  Dialogue too elaborate and the main story line a little in poor taste (IMO).  An action strip about HIndu god? I dont profess to know a lot about Hinduism but do have friends who display oraments of Ganesh and I'm sure they would find the strip a little in bad taste.

- Didnt enjoy Undertow - didnt really know what was going on or why and didnt feel I wanted to get to know as the art was unappealing.

Please bear in mind that this is the only time I have read Paragon - my only prior experience of any of the strips was the Jikan web comic.  I would probably be interested in more Jikan if the art was more to my taste.

Quote from: Davek on 05 February, 2012, 03:57:14 PM
I would probably be interested in more Jikan if the art was more to my taste.

How's this?


From the impending Jikan Chronicles Book Two; Demeter by myself and Chris Askham. (Writing is so cool - Chris gets to do all that work and all I wrote was "HNF..."  :D  )

Thanks for the feedback Davek - much appreciated!

Sorry you didn't like Battle Ganesh - he was one of the most popular strips during his tenure (although I seemed to be the only one who liked Undertow! :))

There's a different combination of writer and artist on Jikan each issue, so if this one didn't appeal maybe another one will - there are plenty to choose from in the 100 page Jikan Chronicle collection, including the webcomic from 2010; Jikan & The Kappa King which can still be read online here
http://paragoncomic.blogspot.com/2010/05/jikan-and-kappa-king_8995.html
If you like your comics onscreen rather than paper - try downloading another issue via lulu; you may find the new strips more to your taste (and it'll only be 99p)

Or keep an eye on the blog for the new Jikan previews that have been loaded - and there'll be a new web strip in the summer for free!

And this is what the latest issue of Comic Heroes had to say about PARAGON#9, giving it 4.5 out of 5.

That'll do :)

Hell yeah! What a great boost for Paragon after that FP review. Hope you're suitable buoyed by that one, Davey!

nice review, well done chaps! carry on.

Jikan: Cave of Death 'held together by sheer audacity'. You know what? I like that, I like that a lot.

Is Jikan a psychopath? I'll admit, I've only read a bit of his stuff, mainly the stuff in the first issues, and the odd bits posted on this board, but I never really interpreted him that way. He gets a bit choppy with his sword, true, but, well, it's him or the demons...

Cool review, guys!

Chi

QuoteHe gets a bit choppy with his sword, true, but, well, it's him or the demons...

Can I use this as a quote on the back of the collected edition? :lol:

The review was illustrated with frames from Mekkosapiens and Jikan, so Locust should be chuffed to see his work get a bigger readership :)

Right, now onto #10. Have you seen mygrimmbrother's cover for it? It's a doozy!

Now THAT review was more like it!

QuoteThe review was illustrated with frames from Mekkosapiens

Dare I ask which ones?

Cool, great review there. 4.5 out of 5?? Score!
" A demented energy " yep, that about sums up the lot of us!!! :)

Quote from: Daveycandlish on 24 February, 2012, 06:52:40 PM
And this is what the latest issue of Comic Heroes had to say about PARAGON#9, giving it 4.5 out of 5.

That'll do :)

Just seen this in the latest edition of Comicbook heroes (oh if only this wasn't £7.99 as its a great read) and thought I'd just say well done. That's a great write up (hands up only have one issue to date...)

Quote from: Daveycandlish on 25 February, 2012, 11:01:59 AM

The review was illustrated with frames from Mekkosapiens and Jikan, so Locust should be chuffed to see his work get a bigger readership :)

WOW!!! That really brightens my otherwise dreary life right now.

Is there anyone out there who would go through the trouble to pick me up a copy and send it across the pond? I will paypal you the cash before you spend a red pence.

Quote from: Davek on 05 February, 2012, 03:57:14 PM- Found the Battle Ganesh strip impenetrable.  Dialogue too elaborate

That was a deliberate decision. As well as being inspired by things like Ulysses 31 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_31), I was also influenced by Jack Kirby's more mythological-inspired works, especially Kirby and Lee's Thor, and some of that may have leaked out in the dialogue,  just not quite as full-on as Thor ;)

Quote from: Davek on 05 February, 2012, 03:57:14 PMthe main story line a little in poor taste (IMO).  An action strip about HIndu god? I dont profess to know a lot about Hinduism but do have friends who display oraments of Ganesh and I'm sure they would find the strip a little in bad taste.

The story is a science-fictional reworking of the Rayamana, which is a widescreen adventure, so it isn't exactly a big leap. However, in my research I found at least one Hindu group that campaigned against anything that wasn't basically a strict retelling of Hindu epics (and representation of their Gods), some of the examples are pretty blasphemous to most people but they go after pretty much everything. In some ways this was a bit of a weight off - pretty much anything I do is going to offend someone, so that isn't going to come out of the blue and there is little I can do about it. This is a respectful . There are also many different versions of the Ramayana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versions_of_Ramayana), ancient and modern, so it is far from clear how you could even give a strict retelling. Equally there have been less faithful retellings, a few in comics, and they haven't met with a storm of protest, so I'm fairly confident I'll not get hunted down by a lynchmob at some point.

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 26 January, 2012, 08:03:59 PM
Maybe some form of "Review of the Review" blog is in order?

You do need to deconstruct reviews - does the reviewer know what they're talking about? Do they get it? If they don't get it can they still enjoy it? Is what they're saying chiming with your gut feelings? Is there anything you should change?

The bottom line though, is that you can't make everyone happy, so even if you can't get anything useful, you can, hopefully, shrug and move on without it wrecking your week ;)

This was the review page with art, chaps - and Locust, I'll pick a copy up for you tomorrow and send it off ASAP.

Quote from: Emperor on 25 February, 2012, 09:28:29 PM

Quote from: Davek on 05 February, 2012, 03:57:14 PM- Found the Battle Ganesh strip impenetrable.  Dialogue too elaborate

That was a deliberate decision. As well as being inspired by things like Ulysses 31 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_31), I was also influenced by Jack Kirby's more mythological-inspired works, especially Kirby and Lee's Thor, and some of that may have leaked out in the dialogue,  just not quite as full-on as Thor ;)

Quote from: Davek on 05 February, 2012, 03:57:14 PMthe main story line a little in poor taste (IMO).  An action strip about HIndu god? I dont profess to know a lot about Hinduism but do have friends who display oraments of Ganesh and I'm sure they would find the strip a little in bad taste.

The story is a science-fictional reworking of the Rayamana, which is a widescreen adventure, so it isn't exactly a big leap. However, in my research I found at least one Hindu group that campaigned against anything that wasn't basically a strict retelling of Hindu epics (and representation of their Gods), some of the examples are pretty blasphemous to most people but they go after pretty much everything. In some ways this was a bit of a weight off - pretty much anything I do is going to offend someone, so that isn't going to come out of the blue and there is little I can do about it. This is a respectful . There are also many different versions of the Ramayana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versions_of_Ramayana), ancient and modern, so it is far from clear how you could even give a strict retelling. Equally there have been less faithful retellings, a few in comics, and they haven't met with a storm of protest, so I'm fairly confident I'll not get hunted down by a lynchmob at some point.

Thanks Emporer - always interesting to understand where the ideas are coming from  :)

I love Ganesh and miss it from the pages of Paragon.
Please Mr. Emperor sir, can we have some more???

http://paragoncomic.blogspot.com/

This issue, and indeed every back issue, is now only a quid.

That's right - one single pound. That's only a penny more than the download versions!!

You can click the link for details  :)

Let's revive this thread!  :wave:

(well, it saves starting a new one every time don't it?)

(http://s56.photobucket.com/user/daveycandlish/media/Paragon13final_zps2924fe22.jpg.html)

Issue #13 is available for FREE to download from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/PARAGONcomic (and paper copies cost £2.50)

Meanwhile...

Someone asked, so here we have a link to a subscription deal!

http://paragoncomic.blogspot.com/

I publish three issues a year of this anthology comic and by my reckoning I have enough strips being worked on by the talented contributors for the next three issues, so if anyone would like a years subscription for only £10 just click the link to the blogspot for details!