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The flashforward thing sort of worked for Giant Days even if that also ended abruptly but this does feel uniquely unsatisfying from both directions
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Feb 15, 2024 15:32
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Saoshyant posted:She hasn't been for a while. Shelley has previously shown up in Tredregyn in a story where she was kidnapped -- she couldn't stop flirting with the old Rev the moment both of them were together on panel. Then there was a special issue of Steeple (Patreon exclusive) where they actually went for a date and Rev learned about her kid. And now they are together after Rev lost his Church and left Tredregyn. Lmao, thank you.
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Feb 15, 2024 16:03
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Numero6 posted:Lmao, thank you. Forgot to mention, but the implication (as in, it's never shown) is that in spite of being at one point engaged with Tim Jones, Tim Jones likely did a Tim Jones and hosed up the whole thing, and Shelley became single again. Good for our old friend Rev, who likely needed some solace during the months before and likely after BAD END.
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Feb 15, 2024 18:00
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That actually made me do a re-read of their dating issue. It's actually got art from Max Sarin and, as usual, any panel could be awesome isolated, but the whole thing together? Work of art. Just delightful. A couple pages:   Turns out it was made available on the gumroad store for non-Patreons in case you want it.
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Feb 15, 2024 18:34
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The Shelley-Tim dating arc is so deep into the general Allisonverse lore I wouldn't know where to place it in the timeline. So, here's some SGR instead, because that's my role in this poo poo. Scary Go Round (June 16-20, 2005)   
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Feb 15, 2024 18:39
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Kazinsal posted:The Shelley-Tim dating arc is so deep into the general Allisonverse lore I wouldn't know where to place it in the timeline. So, here's some SGR instead, because that's my role in this poo poo. Tim and Shelley didn't really start "dating" (more like Tim moved in with Shelley after his wife kicked him out and he bounced around Tackleford for a while) in New Bobbins, a strip that ran concurrently with Bad Machinery but focused on the adults of Tackleford, such as Ryan and a twenty-something Eustace Boyce (who was working with Mildred's father at the university). At the end of the series, Tim proposed to Shelley and it seemed like she accepted, but after that who knows? Obviously it didn't work out, and I think in various online posts Allison hinted that Tim might have blown himself up somehow. The New Bobbins comics are available on Allison's Gumroad store.
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Feb 15, 2024 19:29
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Man, Steeple kind of came to a screeching halt. And speaking of screwups, I accidentally skipped a day so I've gone back and edited the correct image into my last post. So here's the page from yesterday in its proper place. 
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Feb 15, 2024 20:49
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Scrolling through the comments on that last Steeple page:John Allison posted:I had to stop Steeple, Ivo. I can only draw one comic at a time and the publisher didn’t want any more. I drew 110 pages they didn’t want, for the readers. I could just have done no more and never said anything to the loyal readers, just left them hanging, but how is that better? [...] I did as much Steeple as I could, then when I couldn’t do any more, I told you everything I would have done. Ditocoaf fucked around with this message at 09:53 on Feb 16, 2024 |
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Feb 16, 2024 09:43
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I had a short conversation with Allison on Bluesky where I said that it felt like a cliffhanger that could be returned to, and his reply was "As long as I'm alive, there's always a chance! I love these characters." So I think the best way to think of Steeple that it's stopped for now rather than ended.
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Feb 16, 2024 09:54
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I mean, "throwing all the potential plot threads into their next critical development simultaneously" kind of makes it harder to return, than would just leaving it hanging between chapters. But I now think that was partly the point: he needs to move on to something that pays, and this ending seems like a way for him to get closure with the project (as the author), releasing as much of its potential energy as possible. He's no longer holding on to all of these plans. EDIT: Also yeah, "John Allison might return to characters from an previously-ended series" is the least surprising idea in the world of webcomics. Steeple itself might never come back, but its characters will pop up in other comics and crossovers. Ditocoaf fucked around with this message at 10:15 on Feb 16, 2024 |
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Feb 16, 2024 10:03
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Well I liked it. Every issue of Steeple ended with a tease of what happens next, so it feels appropriate that the last issue consists entirely of them. Yes, I'd prefer to get more, and for everything to play out at length, but that's true of pretty much every Allison project. In general, I find he's less good at endings than he is at middles. That's why I liked Steeple, with its constant forward motion and lack of concluding plot threads, and this fits perfectly with that.
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Feb 16, 2024 14:00
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Ditocoaf posted:I still don't like it, but I guess this is an explanation of "why" that I can understand on some level. Well, I didn't expect that to get quoted here, but I'm glad me venting on the comments section there at least got some more context out of him, which hopefully brought some sort of closure to people reading. I still think this was the wrong way to close this chapter of his life and the story we were following; it could have been done in a more satisfying way. The fact he's going on about how awful the last couple years have been likely influenced where the writing for both Steeple and Solver went. That is understandable. Anyhow, the Conan thing is starting next week, and in my recollection from when it was firstly announced in "secret" (Patreon) it was meant to be a story in two parts, but Allison confirms now that it's three, so that's gonna last a while. Hopefully, it will be a fun one. quote:A new story starts next week, in three parts – CONAN: THE BLOOD EGG. Welcome to my new Hyborian Age, an epoch that lasts 21 weeks, or 22 if I have to have a week off between chapters at some point.
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Feb 16, 2024 14:36
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Scary Go Round (June 21-23, 2005)  
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Feb 16, 2024 18:40
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Kazinsal posted:Scary Go Round (June 21-23, 2005) This is it. The perfect Amy strip.  As great as it was 20 years ago.
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Feb 16, 2024 18:50
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amigolupus posted:Gonna be honest, I don't have much high hopes of Steeple ending all of its dangling plot hooks in a satisfactory manner. There's Maggie's Dad planning some poo poo, Magus Tom trapping Rev's merfold-fied friend in a dungeon for something, Brian being back to a regular werewolf, the Church apparently being shut down because of the old woman snitching on what Billie did, whoever these Extreme Freaks are, and now this murder mystery with Mrs. Clovis. I already had a feeling Steeple wouldn't resolve in a satisfying manner, but what we got is somehow worse. The post from Allison does explain why he ended it the way he did, but firing all the plot hooks he had like that had the side effect of Steeple ending with everyone in a miserable state.
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Feb 16, 2024 21:27
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Bad Machinery 
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Feb 16, 2024 22:24
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  John A posted:Conan! Who is this musclebound Cimmerian warrior? And more importantly, why is the nation’s favourite doing a Conan story? The answer: because he had to. It is possible that he could not face drawing any more cars, domestic interiors, or city streets. But also, he had come up with the idea for this story at a comic convention in early 2022, known it to be good, and it had finally burned a hole in his sketchbook. O alas!
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Feb 19, 2024 01:02
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...looking at the Patreon preview, I think people are going to enjoy this one.
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Feb 19, 2024 01:10
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Scary Go Round (June 24-28, 2005)  
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Feb 19, 2024 07:02
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Bad Machinery
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Feb 19, 2024 22:17
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Scary Go Round (June 29-July 1, 2005)  
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Feb 20, 2024 08:41
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Scary Go Round (July 4-6, 2005)  
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Feb 20, 2024 18:44
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Bad Machinery
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Feb 20, 2024 19:03
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Conan John A posted:SHAILEY! Who is this lisson chieftain? I suppose we will have to find out. If she seems even to slightly arouse a memory, I have to warn you, even the old faces you know reveal new sides in the savage New Hyborian Age, which demands less in the way of children’s book authorship and more in the way of surviving quasi-Celtic tribal society.
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Feb 21, 2024 01:03
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From Allison's Instagram
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Feb 21, 2024 04:39
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I don't think Conan is capable of defeating Su-San.
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Feb 21, 2024 04:43
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Saoshyant posted:Conan Alright, this is promising. edit: Cromising
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Feb 21, 2024 07:14
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Feb 21, 2024 08:29
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Bad Machinery It feels like this Conan plotline might be a nod to that Marvel Team-Up plot where Kulan Gath turned New York into the Hyborean Age. Or was it X-men?
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Feb 21, 2024 21:24
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Scary Go Round (July 7-11, 2005) First appearance: Gibbous Moon, evil intern! She's a fun character who we'll see a lot of in the future.  
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Feb 21, 2024 21:26
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As crude as the art is in these strips I love the monkeys.
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Feb 21, 2024 23:02
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Scary Go Round (July 12-14, 2005)  
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Feb 22, 2024 19:44
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Conan John A posted:The Blood Egg! You had better get used to thinking about this mystic ovoid because poor old Conan is going to have to worry about it for quite some pages to come. Not that anything worries Conan as he lets out yet another “terrible laugh” &c.
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Feb 23, 2024 01:07
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Scary Go Round (July 15-19, 2005) Oops.   
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Feb 23, 2024 21:11
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Scary Go Round (July 20-22, 2005)   oooooohhh shiiiiiiiit
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Feb 24, 2024 23:24
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Scary Go Round (July 25-27, 2005)  
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Feb 25, 2024 22:08
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I have often thought back to the folder named "Problems I invariably got to fix", but I only just noticed that the PowerPoint is named "ItsNumberFour.ppt".
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Feb 25, 2024 23:59
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Conan John A posted:Who is this EMISSARY? And who are these Serpent Men? Every Conan story I read seemed to involve the manifestation of something snakey. I think Robert E. Howard was dogged by scaly notions.
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Feb 26, 2024 01:19
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oh no!
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Feb 26, 2024 02:09
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I already thought there was something eggy about that emissary... 
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Feb 26, 2024 07:24
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