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Delightfully bizarre and fun, John Allison has entertained me with his work since 2009 with Bad Machinery. He's been around longer with Scary Go Round / Bobbins, which I didn't follow, and he's still out there doing web comics and published work every day, with Giant Days (together with Max Sarin and a few other people) possibly being his most popular work to date. There used to be a thread around here ages ago. It's been archived or whatever and no one made a new one since. It's here now. I've been loving Steeple a lot and we just had a story of how Maggie got her bike back after a large altercation between two different Satanic sects:  And from the top of my head, here's some of the more important titles: Scary Go Round / Bobbins  Follow Shelley Winters and her pals in their adventures in the strange British town of Tackleford. It's a very looong series. Bad Machinery  The "sequel" to the above, following a new generation of kids who solve Scooby Doo-like mysteries. Kids grow fast, though, so you will see them all the way from age 10 (some even earlier during Scary Go Round) in school, all the way up to driving cars and holding jobs as young adults. Giant Days  This one is about Esther de Groot (from Scary Go Round) and her days in college, plus her pals. It's delightful and you should check out the collected volumes if you haven't yet. By Night  A new setting for a short, twelve issue story. Two estranged friends get sent accidentally to another world just as they meet again, and decide to make a documentary about it. Steeple  A saintly curate and a priestess of the Church of Satan become best friends to the point of up switching roles eventually. Mermonsters keep invading and the local Reverend battles night after night to keep the town safe, or so he believes. There's also a reformed werewolf. He's the best. Buy John Allison's stuff or sign up for the Patreon (£3 gives you access to every web comic in full before it's made public): Patreon - Comixology Books - Gumroad Books
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Feb 11, 2022 04:29
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A new Giant Days story just started. "I’ve wanted to do one for a while, but I only had one worked-out story that I hadn’t used in my story pile. It takes place in the ladies’ second year of university, when they all live together in Crookes. It was intended for a special, but never got anywhere at the time." It seems to feature some dude who dresses up as a giant bat to beat up thieves and his buttler? Hell if I know how that's not going to be a legal quagmire, but I'm sure he knows what he's doing (hopefully). I'll post the first four pages made available so far and whatever comes after:     
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Feb 11, 2022 04:43
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Da-na-na-na da-na-na-na da-na-na-na da-na-na-na Esther!
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Feb 11, 2022 15:49
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So, JA actually did an interview explaining how we got to this "crossover" and his thoughts on how to deal if a legal situation arises. Basically, it was a story conceived about the time Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy had a crossover, but the call to DC for this one never got through. He figures that nobody will give a poo poo because it's a non-profit webcomic and mentions artists at conventions drawing Batman. In my opinion, the best analogy would have been John Byrne who's spent the last few years drawing and writing X-Men fanfiction (yes, it's a thing, look it up at your own peril) and no lawyer has bothered him yet. Ultimately, it's also drawn in memory of Darwyn Cooke and that's a neat thing to do. Oh, and the solution in case a legal dispute does arise is to redraw the bat guy as a Garfield themed super hero named Whiskers, so picture the below a bit differently and you got it.  Rand Brittain posted:Da-na-na-na da-na-na-na da-na-na-na da-na-na-na Esther! 
Saoshyant fucked around with this message at 14:30 on Feb 13, 2022 |
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Feb 13, 2022 14:25
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Oh dear, someone's into big, rich, bad boys:
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Feb 14, 2022 11:31
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I like John Allison a lot, he's one of the few male writers who actually writes well for female characters. I'm only really familiar with Bad Machinery and the mystery teens, but it's delightful and I'm looking forward to reading more of his work. Thanks, OP!
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Feb 14, 2022 20:34
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Feb 15, 2022 11:36
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Is there any way to still read Scary Go Round? I got on the John Allison Train around volume 4 of Giant Days and I can't figure out where to find the old comic online.
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Feb 15, 2022 16:48
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Strange Cares posted:Is there any way to still read Scary Go Round? I got on the John Allison Train around volume 4 of Giant Days and I can't figure out where to find the old comic online. They have been taken offline a long while ago. You can buy them through the Gumroad store (they are cheap) or in alternative may be available for rental from digital libraries. PS: that Gumroad thing has awful usability and you need to click the Load More button a couple of times to see everything.
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Feb 15, 2022 17:45
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Saoshyant posted:They have been taken offline a long while ago. You can buy them through the Gumroad store (they are cheap) or in alternative may be available for rental from digital libraries. Thanks! And WOW that is a garbage UI on gumroad.
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Feb 15, 2022 18:03
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Feb 16, 2022 11:21
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Something about Allison's conversational style means that his characters slot right into any genre venue, in much the same way that Scooby-Doo can smoothly cross over with basically anything.
Rand Brittain fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Feb 16, 2022 |
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Feb 16, 2022 17:19
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I don't remember Susan being this horny
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Feb 16, 2022 18:35
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Gaz-L posted:I don't remember Susan being this horny I think she had a powerful energy that was usually submerged in the various stages of her obsessive relationship with McGraw.
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Feb 17, 2022 01:00
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 John A. posted:I was very very excited about designing the British Batmobile. It’s a carbon fibre Vauxhall Astra. Practical and fuel efficient. Fits in a standard parking space unlike a bloody Chelsea tractor.
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Feb 17, 2022 11:51
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Roundabout Compensation AND a Caravan Proximity Alarm?
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Feb 18, 2022 10:11
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I was gonna argue Bruce should have a posher motor but then remembered the Astra is the standard police vehicle here.
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Feb 18, 2022 18:08
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Feb 21, 2022 11:01
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Has any fan ever drawn up a chart of the gigantic list of characters and how they all relate to each other? I feel something like that belongs in this thread.
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Feb 21, 2022 21:33
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Pistol_Pete posted:Has any fan ever drawn up a chart of the gigantic list of characters and how they all relate to each other? I feel something like that belongs in this thread. Likely not, but funny enough this post reminded me of John A. years ago claiming he would never write other Scary Go Round/Bobbin's stories set in the past because he couldn't recall every character, their history, relationships, etc. Things got messy to say the least. quote:I don't have an editor to straighten things out. I have a fallible human memory of nearly 5000 pages of comics, with no master document detailing the relationships between various characters. There's no wiki to keep things straight. Frequently, I can't remember minor characters' names at all. (...) Bringing back Bobbins was one of the most fundamentally idiotic things I have ever done and worst of all, I did it because the idea was funny to me.
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Feb 21, 2022 23:35
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Feb 22, 2022 11:19
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I see your clever trademark dodgery Allison
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Feb 22, 2022 15:00
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 How many villains can you identify from Esther's imagination?
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Feb 23, 2022 11:46
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Saoshyant posted:
poison ivy the riddler the joker catwoman i can't tell but i think it's two face somehow by elimination scarecrow harley quinn
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Feb 23, 2022 12:27
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Man, John A is on form with this story.
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Feb 23, 2022 14:19
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Would spatula-face be Bane?
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Feb 23, 2022 14:23
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Vulpes Vulpes posted:Would spatula-face be Bane? Cheese grater(?) fellow is potentially Movie Bane, yeah.
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Feb 23, 2022 14:40
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The really confusingly meta part is I think this is when Esther worked at the comic shop in continuity. Also, apparently it is canon that Gotham is in Jersey!
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Feb 23, 2022 14:45
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Saoshyant posted:
I see the Riddler has become the Wriggler Digging the little red Snufkin lulling Susan to sleep Edit: the little details are so great in Allison's work, like the box of Egg Puffs, and that the Penguin is a literal penguin with a hand gun Powerful Katrinka fucked around with this message at 15:11 on Feb 23, 2022 |
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Feb 23, 2022 15:09
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Gaz-L posted:The really confusingly meta part is I think this is when Esther worked at the comic shop in continuity. Actually, that was a later development when these three weren't living in the same house anymore. Esther was in that shared house with Ed, Dean, and a few other people. Either way, it's not like she was paying attention to anything going on in that comic shop. Gaz-L posted:Also, apparently it is canon that Gotham is in Jersey! Can you think of anywhere else as "embarrassingly lawless"?
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Feb 23, 2022 15:14
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re-reading the archives is a trip. I recall this guest comic in 2008 by Rene Engström of Anders Loves Maria: kicking up a storm of commentary it all seems so quaint now. Also J. A. has really been doing this for a terrifyingly long time, hasn't he? Criminally unknown for that consistency in great work, especially with the Bad Machinery run. All that changing URLs can't have helped though.
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Feb 23, 2022 18:36
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i'm a big fan of John Allison, I've been following his work since Bad Machinery started and in 2020, he drew a very intentionally terrible political cartoon he was willing to send it to me for a charitable donation and he threw in some roughs  
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Feb 23, 2022 19:05
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Powerful Katrinka posted:I see the Riddler has become the Wriggler Oh, you're right; that is why he's a caterpillar.
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Feb 24, 2022 01:48
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 John A posted:I spent a long time designing that WPBSA logo. The real one looked like clip art. My new one is almost pagan in its power.
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Feb 24, 2022 11:34
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ahaha, the talking heads from TDKR
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Feb 24, 2022 13:33
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Feb 28, 2022 10:57
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It's weird that Giant Days has never been optioned for TV, it really feels like something a British production company could do on the cheap (and probably completely gently caress up in the process).
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Feb 28, 2022 17:33
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 John A posted:Daisy, as regular Giant Days readers may know, is a master of the game of pool. This may have been a “sop” on my part to US audiences but then again it may not. In any case, here, undiluted by regional marketing concerns, is her snooker prowess.
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Mar 1, 2022 12:15
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The two games basically require the same skills. It's basically like playing 5-a-side vs proper football. No reason Daisy can't do both. Heh, I only just realised Daisy's the sporty one of the group, but 100% doesn't fall into the 'sporty lesbian' stereotype.
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Mar 1, 2022 13:43
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Mar 2, 2022 10:24
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