What They Did to Princess Paragon

What They Did to Princess Paragon is a fun read. It is primarily comedy with a wit somewhere between a Kevin Smith movie, an episode of Fawlty Towers, with perhaps a shade of Seinfeld. Other reviewers have made the criticism that one of the protagonists, Jerome Kornacker, is a cliched stereotype of the hapless geeky comic fanboy, and granted, Rodi walks the fine line between stereotype and caracature here. However, given that nearly all of the remaining cast are caracatures (often, amalgamated characatures of actual people), I think it more likely to assume that caracature is the author's intent. Further, Rodi simply knows too much about the personalities and trends of the comics world that he is satarizing to believe that he has written the character of Jerome "from the outside." For example, his character, comic book author Nigel Cardew, is clearly an amalgamated parody of the primary authors of a movement in comics known as "the British Invasion," with the speaking style of Comic writers Garth Ennis (and/or Grant Morrison), the anti-Thatcher politics of writers Alan Moore and Jamie Delano, the fashion sense of Warren Ellis, the writing style of Frank Miller, and the first name, Nigel, probably derived from Neil Gaiman. Most of the characters are similarly derived. (Hiriam Krapp= Robert Krumb/Harvey Pekar, Jodi Lipmann=Gary Groth,others etc.) In addition, the details of the comic books these characters write are too acurately lampooned, the minutial trivia too cleverly and thoughoughly referenced, to believe that it would have emerged from the casual research of an otherwise uninterested author writing about "guys he knows that are just like that." No, Rodi has a little Jerome Kornacker inside him. Likely he has taken out, exaggerated for comic effect, and dressed up his Jeromeness in a manner reminicient of the stereotypical geek, but true stereotyping implies ignorance; a blanket lable for one who is relegated to being of "a type" that the one doing the stereotyping is only vaguely familiar with fram afar. Rodi's parody is too precise, his mockery too intimate --and is does sting, to those of us that have a dollop of Jeromeness in ourselves-- to accurately term his protagonist either stereotype or cliche. Despite how the above may sound, no special knowledge of comic books, their writers, or their jargon is necessary to enjoy this fine comedy. This is the first book of Rodi's that I have read. It will not be the last.

"The author of Fag Hag and Closet Case is back with a novel about a cartoonist in charge of updating the image of the forgotten superhero Princess Paragon. His solution is to change her hairdo, her clothes and her sexual orientation. But for Jerome Kornacker the only way to save the Princess from scandal is to end the cartoonist's career."--© zebraz

I picked up a copy of this book ... in large part due to the hilarious cover and the recommendation on the back. I had no idea what to expect.It's hilarious.Others will complain that it's full of stereotypes, but walk into any gaming or comic-book store and you'll see a roomfull of the kinds of people that populate this book. Sometimes, the world really IS this way, and this book struck my funny bone in a totally unexpected manner. Highly recommended.

Being a white, heterosexual male, I have often wondered why some people get so insulted over stereotypes of the groups they belong to. Don't they realize that this is just meant to be one person out of a group that is being depicted, and that it is done for laughs? But I had my beliefs challenged when reading this book. You see, I am a 40 year old comic book reader. The people who read comic books in this story are not treated well, and I am not referring to just the main character. The people that Jerome meets in the shop or at the convention are not portrayed in any better light than he is. I have not read any of Mr.Rodi's previous work, so I can not speak to the accusation that this is repetitive. I picked this book up because I thought I would enjoy the subject matter, the creation of comic books. If you are easily insulted by stereotypes, do not get this book. That said, however, I will also add that I enjoyed reading it. Perhaps it is because I do not see myself in Jerome. I do have a mortgage to worry about, and a very good job that I enjoy. I do not live with my mother. Or perhaps it is just because I do not take myself(or comics) too seriously. I also enjoyed, no matter how true-to-life it was(or wasn't), the inside look at the world of comics.