As for for Gunsmith Cats:

Definitely. I’ve loved Kenichi Sonada’s character design since the original Bubblegum Crisis. You’re dead on about Appleseed and Akira, too. Both played a big role in my early inspiration along with Ghost in the Shell and Dominion.

However, my reaction to Gunsmith Cats played as much a role in inspiring PS as did my enjoyment of the series. There was more than a bit of “I can do this — AND I actually LIVE HERE” in my original thinking during the conception of the series. It must be said that GC was more of one of the final straws that convinced me to start drawing PS as a comic, but the roots of the story stretch back years before I read any manga.

And I do feel I need to say in defense of Kate’s ridiculous hair — I can’t help it. It just evolved that way. They just kept getting bigger and more stylized in the first 15 pages of the story, and got stuck. If I were drawing her more realistically, those bangs would be much more natural, but now they’re too much of part of the character to change.

I hope you didn’t take these comments the wrong way: I actually thought the cityscapes were some of the best rendered illustrations I have ever seen! I doubt I’d ever have the patience to actually draw the entire Chicago skyline.

My reply above was more or less a clarification on the opinion I gave in my review, not added emphasis on a perceived shortfalling. (Yeah, I admit I can be a little nitpicky.) It certainly didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the Paradigm Shift comic overall, which is why I decided to give the comic a very high rating.

EDIT - By the way, Dirk, since you’re around and all, I do have a question for you: did Gunsmith Cats have any influence in the creation of Paradigm Shift? I’m just curious. On the one hand, there’s the police gals in Chicago thing. On the other hand, you actually hail from there, so it might, in the end, but a freaky coincidence.

However, I must let it be known the backgrounds are based directly on my experience living in Chicago for ten years. I lived on the North Side (North Center/Ravenswood) for most of that time, and Pilsen for the last two years (my wife and I moved to Boston just a couple of months ago). I have taken photos of nearly every location in the story by walking through (or living in) the neighborhoods depicted, and have tried to be true to the city as I saw it. Perhaps my perception of the city as being a much cleaner, more livable place than I had originally imagined influenced my artwork in unconscious ways, or maybe I’m just too lazy to draw crowds. It was the architecture of the city that captured and held my imagination, so I guess there’s no surprise that it gets emphasized in the artwork. Perhaps it is a failing that my art style tends towards a more clean style that doesn’t convey the gritty aspects as much you may have expected. In short, I wanted to let you know that if I didn’t convey the feeling of the city to you, it is because of my own artistic limitations, but not because of a lack of intent, or because I merely drew the city from postcards.

Thanks again for your comments. They’re greatly appreciated.

best,

dirk

And bear in mind, Chicago is the third largest city in the US, filled with people from all walks of life, and it should feel appropriately. It isn’t some sleepy midwestern town like some people on the coasts might mistake it for. While the architecture is incredibly accurate, I couldn’t shake off the feeling he was actually illustrating a smaller, slower paced city like Nashville or Omaha.

But then we’d have to come get them after the BS detectors went off, and torches/pitchforks cost money!

Dirk is a really nice guy with really expensive pens that he’s way too good at using. But this is not the place to exhibit jealousy. >.>