Zombies invade Paragon comic!

Behind this fantastic cover for the latest by edition of indie comic Paragon by El Chivo and Matt Soffe are 32 A4 pages of some the world's most wonderfully weird heroes!

Issue 11 includes:

• El Bigote by Locustsofdeath, El Chivo and Bolt-01 
You’re South of the Border now, the border between Life and the Afterlife. Welcome to Undead Mexico, where El Dia De Los Muertos never ends… Living dead banditos and ghoulish conquistadores, cannibalistic muertoads and spectral sessquatches prowl Mexico’s haunted prairies – and it’s up to Undead Mexican Mustache-Quillslinger El Bigote to put them back in their tequila worm-infested graves!

• Spencer Nero, written by Greg Meldrum with pencils by Mike Kennedy, inks by daveycandlish and letters by John Caliber
There's alchemical athletics, competitive cantrips and transcendental track-and-field in this issue's 'Spencer Nero', as our pulp hero goes for gold at the Berlin Olympics! Can he keep his shorts on and foil a nefarious Nazi plot?

• Ginger Perkins by Jim Cameron 
In which the plucky World War Two Tommy finds himself in the desert looking for the secret of eternal life!

• Icarus Dangerous by Dirk Van Dom, Stephen Prestwood and Dan Bell 
Following his plunge into the murky depths after 'flying too close to the sun', reckless Greek teen Icarus is rescued from his watery grave by Meriope, an alien female who saves his life and bestows his damaged wings with magical properties. When she is subsequently captured and drawn aboard a submersed alien vessel, Icarus gives chase in an attempt to return the favour, soon finding himself millions of light years from home in an alien galaxy.
Freeing Meriope from her captors, the Bonemen, Icarus learns she is an Artist with the ability - via a special brush and a substance called Mythica - to 're-draw' living beings in a form of her choosing, transforming them into Mythicals. Icarus unwittingly frees a number of these creations - also retrieved from Greece by the Bonemen - little realising he, himself, is now one of them.
Confronting Dax, leader of the Bonemen, Meriope learns the reason she has been captured is not to stand trial for a past indiscretion, as she believed, but to save her universe from destruction. And Icarus is going to have to help her?!

• Paragon Issue 11 - only £2.50, print edition available by Paypal payment; and for all you young dudes who like techno-comics you can download an e-version for only 99p at www.lulu.com/spotlight/PARAGONcomic (anyone outside the UK who wants a paper copy can buy one here too) 

Special offer! Anyone who buys a paper copy via the paypal link gets their own cut-out-and-wear El Bigote facial hair!

In Review: Paragon Issue 6

The latest issue of indie comic zine Paragon is out now, an anthology title featuring the work of creators Mark Howard, Dave Candlish, the Emperor and Stephen Prestwood.

There's also a fab 'guest pin up - a gruesome demon by artist Matt Soffe which will feature in the title's 'Jikan' strip in a future issue.

The range of strips has dropped again - just three strips, as opposed to Issue 5 - but once again, 'Battle Ganesh' is my favourite art-wise, a fun modern re-telling of Indian mythology.

Script-wise, I'd argue Mark Howard's 'Jikan' is the best of the title, and Dave Candlish's clean line is rapidly gaining confidence. His storytelling still needs work - key moments could be better served by more energy and action, and but it's a distinctive strip and shows promise, if he develops his limited backgrounds.

All in all, Paragon continues to display an enthused energy and the creators all show promise. Check out the title's blog or track it down at the Smallzone stand at the next big comics event.

• Copies will be available from http://paragoncomic.blogspot.com/ to order any day now. You can also check out the ongoing adventures of 'Jikan' as a three frame web comic there


• Read our review of Paragon #5

• Read our review of Paragon #4

Fractal Friction springs from love of 2000AD

A number of long-time fans of 2000AD have banded together to launch Fractal Friction, an online collaborative storytelling venture, a story that starts when a man turns up for a job interview only for it to lead to something altogether stranger.

Co-ordinated by the mysteriously-monikered Emperor, there are some great artists involved, all regular contributors to many UK indie press titles, including Matt Soffe , James Corcoran, Kevin Levell, Conor Boyle, and Chris Askham, the project given a more uniform feel with lettering by Jim Campbell.

"The common thread is that we all read 2000AD and have been known to frequent the official forum," explains the Emperor of the project, "where a lot of the artistically inclined take part in the competitions (and generally help each other out in the creators forum). A number of us also contribute to the small press: Chris has a long history of work on FutureQuake Press titles and he, Kev and I are all in the latest Zarjaz and Kev, Matt and... me again are in the current Dogbreath.

"Jim is the old, seasoned, pro keeping us all in line, having written the Warhammer 40k story Daemonifuge and the Dredd-world tale The Inspectre... and with his lettering cropping up all over the place. He isn't a shabby artist either, so he could really be doing this as a one-man show if I hadn't wedged a spoon into his cerebellum."

The Emperor says he is "operating in a scripting support role, ready to give as much or as little as is required."

A number of the contributors had been thining about doing a collaborative comic for some time, inspired by the success of such things as Huzzah. "We'd thrown out such an idea on the 2000AD forum," the Emperor continues, "So I was obviously up for the challenge but how to start?

"Matt suggested I dust off an old story idea but that didn't narrow it down as I've got a tonne of them sitting around (even if a reasonable proportion are fit only for the budgie cage). I did have a nose through them though, and found one idea I'd come back to a couple of times but it had never got beyond the introduction. The basic premise was: a young lad turns up for a job interview and ends up being catapulted right off the map. The first iteration of this idea, gave us the name "Fractal Friction," although the story and reason for the name will remain a mystery for now, as there is a possibility we will delve into that further down the line.

"The second shot at the story is pretty much what you see, just with a little back and forth first helping firm up the characters and the larger backstory. So once this was given a provisional thumbs up, I hammered out the 40 panels-worth of introduction (as it was pretty clear in my head by now) which, the way it has been divided up, runs to the first nine pages."

And then beyond that... what?

"Well, that's all up in the air and is where the fun really starts!" says the Emperor. "I'm happy to step back and let the artists take it from there, seeing where the story takes them... Beyond page 9 it is all up to the artists and whatever approach they prefer: I can leave them to it and cheer them on from the sidelines or I can offer advice when required or do some heavy to light plotting Marvel Method-style or I am up for just adding the words to the pictures or I might be called upon to provide more script.

"We'll have to play it by ear, but I'm up for any challenge and it'll be fun seeing where it goes.

• Read Fractal Friction from the start

• If you're a writer or artist interested in getting involved in later developments for the project, email the Fractal Friction team (or drop them a note on the 2000AD forum).

• Art featured above is © respective creators