Paradigm Shift

By: Dirk Tiede Publisher: Self Published Price: $9.95 (USD) Purchase Here.

So here, slightly late, is the third Shoegazing column. This week's column focuses on Paradigm Shift, a webcomic that is already hugely successful and is now available in print form - currently there are two volumes of the three volume story available. As always, if you would like to send me anything to review, please send me an e-mail with the subject line 'Panel2Panel Reviews' and I shall get back to you as soon as possible. I do have a shiny new e-mail address for you to send submissions to now: jason(dot)shoegazer(at)gmail(dot)com.

So there we are, boring introduction pretty much out of the way. And now, on with the review of Paradigm Shift Parts I & II - the first and second act of a Manga-esque cop story with supernatural overtones.

Paradigm Shift, by Dirk I. Tiede, is one of those comics that just kicks you in the gut. It looks up at you with oversized Manga eyes and says "Why don't you read stuff like this?", to which I can only shrug my shoulders and say nothing. Then the kick comes. It says, "See? Why don't you read Manga? What about webcomics, you limey idiot?". Again, I can only shrug.

See, Paradigm Shift is a rare beast. It has lots going on, bubbling under the surface, but at first it seems like nothing more than a tale of two cops doing what it is they do best (not that there's anything wrong with that of course!). It's a comic that has an excellent pre-credits-style tease that draws you in and then, moments later, we're thrown off guard and off course into the middle of a cop/buddy/action movie, with two cops who, at first, seem content to just go around doing their thing. Detective Kate McAllister is always hungry, sometimes cranky, and this plays off nicely against her partner, Mike Stuart, who appears (initially, anyway) to be the epitome of Zen cool. Slowly, things start to build - and before you know it, the odd case of lycanthropy is rearing its hungry head.



Going in blind, I was floored with how quickly I was sucked in - and I don't want to spoil anything for those readers out there whose first exposure to Paradigm Shift is this review.

Tiede has a remarkable knack for showing character through action, and for dropping hints of what is to come through things as innocuous as a fast food dinner. His writing is detailed, deeply researched (to see exactly how detailed it is, just check out the DVD-style commentary in the back of the book) and full of snappy one-liners - the interplay between the two leads is brilliantly pulled off and they become very endearing characters very swiftly indeed.

The art is (as is to be expected with its Manga-filtered-through-an-American-lens stylings) full of improbable hair, big eyes and speed lines. And it is absolutely fantastic. There are several action scenes over the course of both books; the major shootouts, fights and dream sequences are absolutely jaw-dropping in their intensity and choreography. Frantic, fast-paced and ridiculously compelling, they are an awesome showcase of Tiede's rather sizable talent.



Paradigm Shift comes with the highest of recommendations from this particular Shoegazer, and I really can't lavish enough praise on it. If you haven't already read any Paradigm Shift, don't waste any time - go check it out now, or I'll send Kate to find you - before she's had any dinner.

Jason Brown

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