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 John A posted:This flagrant male shirtlessness lends the comic a homeoerotic aspect not really seen since… Kevin Keegan and Henry Cooper’s Brut advert. But as I said on Monday, that one’s too hot for TV so here’s Henry Cooper in the bath.
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Dec 15, 2023 00:23
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Scary Go Round (September 16-17, 2004) First appearances: Esther de Groot, teenage goth and future protagonist of Giant Days; Big Lindsay, school bully and semi-friend of Esther; and that other girl whose name I can't remember.  Short post today! Tomorrow, we start the Time Teapot arc.
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Dec 15, 2023 02:08
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Kazinsal posted:and that other girl whose name I can't remember. I think that may be Lottie's sister, Sarah.
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Dec 15, 2023 02:10
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Saoshyant posted:I think that may be Lottie's sister, Sarah. I think you're right, yeah. Which is a hell of a character design change over the next couple years of SGR.
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Dec 15, 2023 02:18
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On review, I think the biggest problem I had with Steeple is that the supernatural elements seem to be so real and pervasive that it's weird that the characters aren't taking them more seriously. Like, the Reverend was just sexually assaulted! By witches, who use their genuine Satan-derived magical powers to do evil!* But the people in the comic seem to regard them as "a really intolerable and annoying pair of women" rather than "a serious threat to life and limb that we should really do something about". Like, I feel like this is a matter for the police! And if the police won't arrest you for witchcraft, you should probably consider burning them at the stake! * not to mention "vaguely well-intentioned deeds that are so capricious as to be indistinguishable from evil"
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Dec 15, 2023 04:33
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Rand Brittain posted:On review, I think the biggest problem I had with Steeple is that the supernatural elements seem to be so real and pervasive that it's weird that the characters aren't taking them more seriously. To be fair, having supernatural / paranormal elements and or threats that the general populace ignores is par the course for most of Allison's comics. The characters who are directly involved seem to take it in stride and don't want to involve outsiders, while anyone not involved thinks that the various monsters and such are just urban legends. In Steeple 5 when Maggie sees the Mermen attack the rectory, she says that she always thought they were just fairy stories, even though she had been a trainee priestess in the Church of Satan and had to have seen some preternatural things herself. The whole scenario reminds me of The Venture Bros, where you have a level of super-heroics and villainy that the general public never hears about, and those involved don't think to ask for help from mundane services (as Rusty Venture says in one episode about his arch-nemesis The Monarch "If I knew you call the police on them I would have done it years ago!"). And yes, I do have a Bad Machinery / Venture Bros fan-fiction story, if only in my head. The_Other fucked around with this message at 05:27 on Dec 15, 2023 |
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Dec 15, 2023 05:16
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Rusty being the American version of Tim actually makes a lot of sense in my head.
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Dec 15, 2023 05:23
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Kazinsal posted:First appearances: Esther de Groot, teenage goth and future protagonist of Giant Days; Big Lindsay, school bully and semi-friend of Esther; and that other girl whose name I can't remember. I feel like this is wildly out of character for who Esther and Big Linds become. Also I just remembered an American blogger complaining about Big Lindsay being called that.
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Dec 15, 2023 13:10
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Gravitas Shortfall posted:I feel like this is wildly out of character for who Esther and Big Linds become. Yeah, they definitely have a LOT of character growth over the next five years of SGR. This is one of the best parts about doing daily posts of the strip for me, going back and seeing how all the characters change over the eight or so years it was running. John Allison posted:Time travel is a really stupid thing to write about. After all, history is a mystery. That's why those two words rhyme - it's no coincidence. Scary Go Round (September 20-22, 2004)   
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Dec 15, 2023 21:46
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Oops, almost forgot to post today. Scary Go Round (September 23-27, 2004)   First appearance: Riley Beckwith! Yes, that's Ryan's sister. Yes, she's with Tim. Oh you *bet* that's gonna come up down the road. 
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Dec 17, 2023 06:18
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Lmao the last panel.
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Dec 17, 2023 13:07
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Some more pictures from John Allison's Instagram: "Fishmansplaining"  Claire and a torch.  Concept sketch of Primrose from The Great British Bump Off Allison drew for Max Sarin.  Apparently it's an Isley Brothers song. Also here's a link to my collection of Allison's original Bobbins and Scareodeleria comics. Password is TheOther
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Dec 18, 2023 00:45
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 John A posted:Now, these were the two witches who replaced Brian’s werewolf power with the feral animal spirit of Jeremy Clarkson (seen in flashback in The Silvery Moon). So quite what moneyshines are going on in panel 3, I’m going to leave to you to work out. It’s probably nothing.
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Dec 18, 2023 01:54
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Scary Go Round (September 28-30, 2004)  
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Dec 18, 2023 01:58
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Scary Go Round (October 1-5, 2004)   First appearance: Bob Crowley, occultist beyond time and space, and apparently the wickedest man in all London.
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Dec 19, 2023 01:34
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 John A posted:Does the sofa in the rectory living room usually have antimacassars? Or did I draw them just for this one comic because I wanted to use the word “antimacassar”? Unlike the unimpeachably great smell of Brut, some things are not so straightforward.
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Dec 19, 2023 02:05
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Scary Go Round (October 6-8, 2004)  
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Dec 19, 2023 22:11
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Is there a reason they went with the Beckwith Sisters?
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Dec 20, 2023 00:07
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CannonFodder posted:Is there a reason they went with the Beckwith Sisters? They actually don't know many people to use as a basis for a fake name. Also, uh oh:  John A posted:Brian neglected to let Lorraine Lumsford out and now look what has happened. The woman’s high on lewd tittle tattle, not a single cat remains in the bag.
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Dec 20, 2023 00:12
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Nice detail of having Lorraine hiding behind a chair in the last panel there.
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Dec 20, 2023 03:07
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Honestly I feel like this isn't really something Billie should be trying to keep secret.
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Dec 20, 2023 03:16
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Lorraine is a moron. Billie going to the church of Satan, making it a friendlier and better space for its worshippers, realizing she wants to go back to God's path after all, and then coming back to the church to atone would be the kind of redemption story that the Cardinal would eat up.
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Dec 20, 2023 03:18
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I mean, ultimately, "I got hexed into doing something against my nature" is either a real excuse or it isn't. If it is, she shouldn't have a problem, and if it isn't, she probably shouldn't be working here.
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Dec 20, 2023 03:22
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Scary Go Round (October 11-13, 2004)  
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Dec 21, 2023 01:39
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 John A posted:It’s the end of Steeple issue 19, Maggie’s Party, and the last comic of 2023. I will be taking next week off, but Steeple will be back for the final chapter on Monday January 1st. Thank you for reading this year.
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Dec 21, 2023 03:04
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So at first glance I thought they were just patterns in the bushes, but comments on the Steeple website suggest that there might be mermen hiding in the third panel.
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Dec 21, 2023 14:07
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It does look like one of them at least on the right, potentially more.
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Dec 21, 2023 14:29
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John A posted:I talked to Mark Tweedale about the Great British Bump Off and my process working with Max Sarin. It’s a light read, ideal for coffee time.  Now that's a sketch!
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Dec 21, 2023 22:20
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Scary Go Round (October 14-18, 2004)  
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Dec 22, 2023 03:20
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Scary Go Round (October 19-21, 2004)  
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Dec 23, 2023 02:55
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Scary Go Round (October 22-November 2, 2004)  
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Dec 24, 2023 02:22
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This storyline is interesting when you consider what happens to Tim in that one arc of Bad Machinery. Riley had basically suppressed Tim from inventing for years, until Tim gets an urge to make something for his family, and how that huge mess led to Tim and Riley splitting apart. IIRC, Riley kinda gets away with doing a lot of lovely stuff like that, including trying to poison her own kid's mind to be against Shelley, to the point Scout had to pretend to hate Shelley just so Riley will let her spend time with her dad.
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Dec 24, 2023 11:00
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There's also the invent-off leading into the Wales arc which, at the rate I've been posting, I think we'll get to sometime in summer. Scary Go Round (November 3-5, 2004)    Poor Ames, jobless once again. We pick up tomorrow with the lovely Fallon Young and her hunt for the mythical Man-O-War!
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Dec 25, 2023 02:31
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John Allison posted:A note for readers new to the Scary Go Round game. Fallon was Shelley's best friend and housemate from 2001 to 2004, when a ninja infestation drove Shelley out of their luxury maisonette. Scary Go Round (November 8-10, 2004)   
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Dec 26, 2023 00:12
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Scary Go Round (November 11-15, 2004)  
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Dec 27, 2023 01:59
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Scary Go Round (November 16-18, 2004)   
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Dec 28, 2023 02:17
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Kazinsal posted:Scary Go Round (November 16-18, 2004) Fallon in that middle panel is some prime SGR girl posing. What the hell is she even doing?
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Dec 28, 2023 16:01
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Legs over the arm of the couch, butt on the seat, torso pressed against the back of the thighs and left arm reaching forward so she can... massage her foot? Body facing Ryan because she's in the middle of this conversation with him but twisting back to Shelley as she mentions the van. Pretty ballsy choice of pose for Allison, lol.
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Dec 29, 2023 00:20
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It's pretty much the peak of weird-era Allison. I feel like the ridiculous poses start to fade away when he goes back to hand-drawn strips. Scary Go Round (November 19-23, 2004)   
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Dec 29, 2023 02:56
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| # ? May 23, 2024 09:47 |
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Scary Go Round (November 24-26, 2004)   In retrospect, I should have timed the next set of strips better, as starting tomorrow we're into a heartfelt Christmas tale. Oops! Just pretend I'm good at posting.
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Dec 30, 2023 02:46
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