Paradigm: Segue to an Interlude

Rating:
Summary: brilliant, dense and a little bit mad
Review: People often value Grant Morrison's writing for the brilliantly strange concepts he infuses into his work. His work on The Filth and Invisibles has been noted by fans of Morrison's for its delightful complexity, how incredibly thought-provoking and subtle his storytelling can be in the midst of all these weird events that happen. A Grant Morrison story might seem odd or "weird for weird's sake" at first but it hints at so much more meaning beneath the surface. Similarly creators Matt Cashel and Jeremy Haun explore some bizarre ideas of their own in Paradigm, an Image book currently on its tenth issue (with the eleventh due any day now) that surely would appeal to fans of Morrison's work.

If I had to describe this series, I would refer to it as "David Lynch meets X-Files" but even that doesn't do justice to the mad and complex stories found in Paradigm. This book defies definition and cannot be easily summarized. It is not the kind of book you can read in ten minutes and be done with. Those looking for something light and fun should go elsewhere, because this book requires an in-depth read. You have to read each issue over and over to get every subtle nuance of the storytelling. Yet like the most intriguing of puzzles, once you start to get a glimpse of the bigger picture, you can't get enough of this world and are driven to seek out more answers in the book until it all finally comes into focus.

Paradigm's first collection, Segue to an Interlude, contains the first four issues of the series and introduces readers to many of the concepts that spring from the twisted mind of Cashel and run throughout the book. In this collection we meet Chris Howells. He is an ordinary man with an ordinary life and an ordinary girlfriend Emma who he doesn't really like all that much any more but whom he stays with because she's comfortable. But after they are almost mugged one night, Chris finds himself mixed up in a war for the fate of the world.

In this war, there are two factions: those who would fight to keep the status quo as it is now, to maintain the humdrum yet safe lives we have built up, and those who want to tear down all of that banality and who are trying to bring about an evolution of sorts. Chris quickly gets sucked into this world in which cats can suddenly talk, strange men and pubs appear as if from nowhere, and strange women pull back a shower curtain to reveal a portal into another world.

The unreality of the situation is contrasted with the people and their real-life, everyday situations. The characters could be people we know, that we might run into on the street of any average town in America. They talk about their favorite movies, drink and hook up at bars, and get into arguments with their pot-smoking neighbors. Life in Bogsdale would seem mundane if not for the weirdness surrounding them at all times, permeating the atmosphere.

The touch of realism in Paradigm is built upon through the photo-realistic artwork of Jeremy Haun. Heavily photo-referenced, Haun's style brings to mind the early works of Bendis or some of Tony Harris's art. At the same time, the heavy black lines he uses bring that sense of the strange and bizarre to the surface, leaving us with the feeling that at any moments some bestial creature might spring out at us. His artwork is both very human and at the same time very haunting. It is a fine line to walk, but Haun manages it with ease.

The book can be extraordinarily dense at times and it is obviously not for those looking for an easy read (a fact that has led the creators to take a hiatus after issue twelve to figure out how to make the book more accessible). But Paradigm is worth digging into to find the hidden meanings, and reading it in one lump sum, as you can with this new trade paperback Segue to an Interlude, makes finding that meaning all the easier.

Rating:
Summary: Re-writing one mind at a time
Review: These guys are friends, and I've worked with them, but I can honestly give this review without guilt of bias:

With the moody, shadow-filled artwork and crisp dialogue of Bendis during his finest indy work, it's easy to glance inside the pages of Image's PARADIGM and dismiss it as a carbon copy work. However, after one read through of any issue out on shelves today, it's easy to see why creators and fans alike are talking about this book.

The plot of PARADIGM is an intricate mystery that has been slowly revealing itself over the book's first year. The world is changing, and two factions are trying to decide what path. One side is telling us to "Join the Evolution," to strive for upheaval and chaos to remake the world. The other, to "Fight for the Sitcom," to remain complacent and to keep things as they are--for better or worse.

Enter Christopher Howells, a young man whose life turned upside-down in twenty-four hours. His girlfriend guns down a man in a movie theater parking lot over a stray dog, and suddenly nothing makes sense anymore. By the time he's stepped through his shower curtain into another world, Chris is being forced to make a choice that he barely even understands--and the choice he makes determines the fate of the Earth.

Shadowy creatures that look like Woody Allen, arrogant dwarves, bars that appear out of nowhere, meetings in dusty alleyways and the horrifying "Beastials" - PARADIGM is a world where absolutely anything can take place on the next page. But the book's true strength is its utterly human characters, presented in lovingly detailed artwork drawn from photo-reference, and given personalities so familiar, you'd swear the book was happening around you.

The casual reader will enjoy following these characters through their trials and tribulations, their bar visits and Chinese take-out, cleaning their rooms and struggling with their art -- but once you're in, you'll be re-reading every issue, looking for clues as to why the world is the way it is, and what these people can do before it's too late.

For fans of: Strangehaven, The Invisibles, Jinx, Twin Peaks, Carnivale, Cerebus, the novel "House of Leaves," 80's pop culture, and the original "V" miniseries.

Rating:
Summary: Confusing, yet entertaining read
Review: This is a title that is a bit of a throwback to more classic storytelling, in that it takes you at least the first year to have any sort of sense about what's going on. It differs from classic storytelling in that the dialogue sounds like something a real person would say, and the art is simple, realistic, and fantastic.

A series that should be given much more praise and critical examination, and is my pick for break-out series of this last year.

Rating:
Summary: Confusing, yet entertaining read
Review: This is a title that is a bit of a throwback to more classic storytelling, in that it takes you at least the first year to have any sort of sense about what's going on. It differs from classic storytelling in that the dialogue sounds like something a real person would say, and the art is simple, realistic, and fantastic.

A series that should be given much more praise and critical examination, and is my pick for break-out series of this last year.