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Paragon Annual mixes old and new in great new collection

By John Freeman on January 6, 2014

Not content with putting out the regular independent Paragon comic anthology, the ever-busy Davey Candlish has also published a Paragon Annual, featuring work by writers Greg Meldrum, Locust, Peter Salmond, The Emperor, Sean Brink and Davey himself; and artists Archie Mcc, Archie, Jim Cameron, Dave, Nigel Lowrie, SKD, Filip Roncone, David Metcalfe-Carr, David Broughton, and Stephen Prestwood.

“Astonishingly, this is the seventh comic I produced in 2013,” enthuses Davey. “Four issues of Paragon and the Cushing & Sons special in the summer, plus the collected Icarus Dangerous.

“I always loved getting a hardback annual at Christmas back in the 1970s so this is my attempt to replicate that. As Colin Wyatt (one time art editor of 2000AD) said recently in the Beyond 2000AD magazine: “the annuals had a low budget and consisted of reprint and lesser known artists”, and yet we loved them. It’s that vibe I’m going for here, with a touch of reprint, new contributors and regulars with some of the regular characters, new one off stories, a text story and even a board game!”

The Annual includes Lil Ganesh, a daft and funny homage to the Rupert the Bear style of comic storytelling by Davey and Jim Cameron starring ancient Indian gods; a fantastic-looking new episode of Jikan, written by Locustofdeath (writer of El Bigote in #15 of Paragon), beautifully drawn by Archie Mcc and lettered by Filip Roncone; a 27 page Undertow story (underground goblins, a reluctant Messiah and Vatican hitmen!) written by Peter Salmond and The Emperor, drawn by Davey; 4D by Sean Brink and Jim Cameron; Martillo, Devil-Smiter by Greg Meldrum and David Broughton; a Spider Nero text story by Greg Meldrum; and Legacy of the Gods by Stephen Prestwood.

• Buy the PARAGON Annual 2014- free P&P if you quote SHIPSHAPE14 when ordering from http://www.lulu.com/shop/paragon-comic/paragon-annual-2014/hardcover/product-21363552.html

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.