Publisher: Devious Publications
Story: Paradigm
Art: Palermo
Release Date: July 8th 2014

Portal is definitely not something you see every day – a comic consisting entirely of photographs instead of drawn, inked and coloured frames. Not since the days of Jackie magazine when Susan either got her period or found out that her boyfriend was cheating on her with her best friend have I seen such a thing.

Nick is an inventor and he has created a portal which allows him to … travel? It’s not particularly clear, but I think it enables to him travel distances instantly. During the first part of the comic, he seems to be simultaneously presenting his invention to a panel and returning home to his wife and daughter to reveal his invention. Now, I say “simultaneously” because on one side you get the board meeting and on the other, the family at home. But why would he be explaining the invention to his wife now? It’s doesn’t make immediate sense to me.

He then creates a living wall that will grow with them and “live and breathe” as they do. There follows a weird collection of familial vignettes including an utterly bizarre discussion in the garden with his wife about flowers and art – through a soft focus lens no less.

And we’re back to a stern boardroom again.

I’ve got to be honest, at this point I had pretty lost the will to carry on. Portal is too wordy. The novelty of using photographs actually makes it much harder to read and decipher. The creators must have found this to be true because they spend so much time over-explaining that it seems pointless telling this story in comic-book form. And what dialogue there is, is absolute nonsense. It’s the stuff of cliché and Hallmark cards. Prime examples include “All art is a form of pretending…I want you to remember though, just being with you, is enough for me…It’s truly mesmerising.”

Well, I truly don’t know what to say about this comic. It’s quite bizarre. And regretfully, not mesmerising at all.

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Portal is available through the official Portal Website, and more information on the project and its creator can be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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The Writer of this piece was: Hazel Hay

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