That said, considering the long timeframe it took to write and draw the series, my tastes and expectations also changed through the course of writing the story. The premise from the beginning was to shift genres mid-stream, so I wanted to use recognizable story elements to set up expectations, and then knock them down. Were you consciously adopting that structure, and how did it help you (or constrain you) as you wrote?ĭirk: Yes. Then later on the story turns in a different way. Mike's martial arts training and zen outlook borrow much from a couple of friends, and Kate's grumpy side has roots in the real world as well.īrigid: It seems like in the beginning, you use a lot of cop-show tropes-the wisecracks, people out on a walk finding the body, the chewing out by the superior, etc. Dialogue was often gleaned from real conversations. I also brought in elements from people around them to me. Instead of just following a formula, I could let the situations expose new wrinkles on the characters. Though, while using archetypes allowed for quick introductions, the idea was to stretch beyond them as the story progressed. The male/female pairing was also a conscious nod as well, though that's definitely a more common trope these days. fiery-tempered buddy cop stereotypes, too. Of course, this falls perfectly in line with cool-headed vs. Dionysus dichotomy of intellect opposing emotion. Just as most characters are little pieces of the their authors, Kate and Mike embody different parts of my own personality the deliberate, calculating left brain and intuitive, creative right brain intentionally echoing the Apollo vs. I was really into The X-Files when I finally started writing Paradigm Shift, but I also took more than a few cues from movies like Running Scared (the one from the '80's with Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines) for the action/comedy elements.ĭirk: A little of both, of course. Later on I discovered works like Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira and Masamune Shirow's Appleseed, which played a big role in rekindling my interest in drawing comics. And while I was also a big fan of Stephen King's earlier works like Carrie and Firestarter, I also ate up films like Robocop and Lethal Weapon. The characters originally came from a tabletop superhero role-playing game I played at a time when I was reading X-Men and The New Mutants and watched way too much Law & Order. Tiede recently wrapped up the first act with volume 3 of the print edition, so it seemed like a good time to check in and ask some questions.īrigid: What was your initial inspiration for Paradigm Shift?ĭirk: It wasn't so much a single point of inspiration, but a rolling series of them ranging from superheroes, role-playing games, cop shows, '80s action movies, horror novels, and eventually, anime and manga, too. What remains constant is the relationship between the main characters, Kate and Mike, who stay loyal to one another despite the many twists Tiede puts them through. Dirk Tiede’s Paradigm Shift lives up to its name: What starts as a buddy-cop story evolves, in the course of the first act, into a dark tale of werewolves and angst.
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