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So I've been posting Solver by John Allison which, as Pancho Jueves said in the intro follows Lottie from Bad Machinery. Now 18 or 19 years old Lottie, after having been framed for murder in Allison's unfinished print series Wicked Things, has formed a business, Steel City Solvers, dedicated to solving problems people bring to them. Lottie is joined by her friend and Bad Machinery semi-regular Claire Little and new character Glenn Durgan. The series mostly takes place around Sheffield, the setting of Allison Giant Days comic and home of his own Alma Mater. Solver runs M-W-F and Allison usually posts in groups of 22 page “issues”. Also while the badmachinery.com website is mainly used for the Solver series Allison uses it to post any of his side comics, like last years Giant Days x Batman crossover. Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1   John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Welcome back for a whole new year of comics! What will they be? Beyond the first week of April, I can’t tell you (because I don’t know) but until then, a two-part Solver story. It’s got a small amount of Dean Thompson – I would say, just enough.
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Jan 2, 2023 15:02
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:We’ve yet to see the guardianship building come “under attack”. I’m not sure where the forces massed against it are hiding, When it all kicks off, I’m sure it’ll be like Attack On Titan. Carnage.
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Jan 4, 2023 17:30
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 featuring the return of what I call the “Multi-Grote” John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:The owners of Bean There are a mysterious pair, and I’m not sure that we’ll discover their inner lives any time soon. Zabaglione Long Black
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Jan 6, 2023 16:25
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:No one can idle with Claire on their case. She has a hummingbird’s metabolism and sees the world at twice the speed we do.
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Jan 9, 2023 13:21
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Re: this Dustin storyline, here's The Comics Curmudgeon take on it;Josh Fruhlinger posted:Dustin is still doing the “Dustin’s dad wants to do pole vaulting” “plot,” for a second week, which I’m reasonably sure is the longest I’ve ever seen it do a “plot,” and I feel like the way Dustin’s mom is reacting is kind of the key to why I hate this strip so much. Ever since she found out that Dustin’s dad wants do this, she’s been in a simmering fury, which I assume we’re supposed to understand is because, deep down, she loves her husband and is scared of him acting self-destructively, but we (and, presumably, her husband) never hear the “she loves her husband” part and instead she’s just immediately gone from zero to “HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD TIME IN HELL THINKING ABOUT ME loving HOT YOUNG DUDES.” Which, I realize these are “jokes” and exaggerated versions of real-life behaviors and whatnot but it feels of a piece with the vibe where Dustin’s dad gives Dustin constant poo poo for being a loser, and maybe if asked he’d say (or the creators of the strip would say) it’s because he loves his son and wants him to succeed but if the “love” part is never expressed it’s just people being mean to each other, you know? Sorry to not be making any jokes here but it’s wild that there’s this family comic strip about a family incapable of expressing affection towards one another, maybe because they don’t actually feel affection, and we’re supposed to like or root for these people. Like at least when the Lockhorns do it, it’s explicitly the entire bit of the strip, plus they’re weird little gnome people so it’s funnier to see them fight.
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Jan 9, 2023 22:08
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From the Breaking Cat News InstagramGeorgia Dunn posted:Today makes one year since Lupin passed away. It still feels like it happened only a few weeks ago, and will likely stay fresh in the heart for a long while. I miss him every day, I still look for him sometimes. Occasionally I see a flash of white out of the corner of my eye, and always hope it is him.  More pictures at the site.
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Jan 11, 2023 02:42
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:I don’t want you to take the astral projection in this comic literally. We’d all like to astral project, come on, but Claire only pretends that she can.
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Jan 11, 2023 11:52
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Meadowhall is an iconic shopping centre in Sheffield. It is one of the UK’s first huge American-style shopping malls and needless to say it closed a lot of shops in the city centre just like every other one of them. Thanks a lot, the 1990s! Edit: The New Zealand reference is in the second panel. The store names are a reference to New Zealand musician Tim Finn and his song 'Funny Way' The_Other fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Jan 13, 2023 |
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Jan 13, 2023 17:24
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Do dogs still say “sausages”? WALLS, NOW YOU’RE TALKING SAUSAGES. Vargo posted:Breaking Cat News From the Instagram  quote:The “Fruit box cat bed tower” from today’s strip is very real! Here are some pictures. You have likely already seen it in my other photos, shot from above. A maroon cat bed is on the top layer in real life.
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Jan 16, 2023 20:13
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics Nero was first mentioned in Solver 7: Green Door...  and first "appeared" in Solver 8: The Urn 
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Jan 18, 2023 14:53
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So John Allison announced this on his Twitter https://twitter.com/badmachinery/status/1616129213668392961 According to his Patreon, it will be a four issue series with the first issues in April. As mentioned Allison is only doing the writing, the art will be done by longtime collaborator Max Sarin. I know not everyone likes Sarin's style.
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Jan 19, 2023 23:56
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:This page gave me a few things to think about. A rare one where it was almost all worked out in the rough, thank goodness.
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Jan 20, 2023 14:03
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:I think Claire and Glenn bought themselves those trophies. Or maybe bought them for each other. Note the Chibi-Lottie in panel four.
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Jan 23, 2023 01:37
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Doomykins posted:Heavy is the crown.  From Robbie and Bobby a thread favorite. For a serious answer to why Jughead looks the way he does, I think it's to contrast his character to Archie. Archie is usually depicted with a bright, energetic expression, while Jughead is more lethargic. This is also why Jughead is uninterested in romance, to further contrast him with Archie who's life seems to revolve around his romantic problems. Speaking of romance here's today's Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1, were things get steamy in more ways than one.  John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Cupping World (one for sharp-eyed readers) refers to coffee cuppings, which are… like wine tasting? Not the thing where you get a lot of round bruises after paying someone £70. I don’t believe in the miracle powers of that sort of cupping.
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Jan 25, 2023 03:12
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:She’s too busy thinking… about her baby?
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Jan 27, 2023 01:24
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Claire and Glenn do quite a good impression of the classic parental inquisition. Claire’s “vibe” took a little picture research from the 1990s.
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Jan 30, 2023 14:23
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So Will Henry is doing a thing;GoComics posted:“Wallace the Brave” Cartoonist Launches Scavenger Hunt Here's the images mentioned:  I was tempted to entry this contest as I was pretty sure I could find all the images, if only by searching through last years thread, but I felt that I'm on the wrong side of 30 to enter and it would be best to leave it to kids and/or their parents. Speaking of Wallace, it looks like Vargo hasn't posted in a few days.
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Jan 31, 2023 04:42
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1   John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Both Shelley Winters and Esther de Groot occasionally fell for himbos. I don’t think either of those women walked the length of the counter when making most of their romantic selections. We’ll have to trust that Lottie is a better judge of character.
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Feb 1, 2023 02:39
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Vargo posted:Hi hello, I'm alive, I had a bout of food poisoning and then a bout of work poisoning. Glad to hear you're feeling better! From the Breaking Cat News Instagram Georgia Dunn posted:
Also Georgia Dunn participated in "Hour Comic Day" on February 1st, were comic artists attempt to draw one comic an hour for a day. I liked her comic for 11:00 AM;  Ghost Lupin Finally here's Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 in which Glenn hears about Nero's "side hustle"  John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:That’s the flag of Norfolk. Norfolk is a county in England. It’s very flat. It doesn’t contain any motorways. Annoying, because you could really burn it up on that good flat track. Can you start a K-Pop band if your not from South Korea? I'm seriously asking.
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Feb 3, 2023 02:35
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Romance has entered Lottie’s life and we are just going to have to get used to it. The Swamp King resembles the "mermen" from Allison's Steeple Hwurmp posted:show us the gourds John  gourds
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Feb 6, 2023 01:40
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Vargo posted:Breaking Cat News   Georgia Dunn posted:Many folks have asked this week if Lupin was ever really pink. Yes and no… Was he ever specifically pink? No. Was he sometimes other colors? Yes. Back in 2013, Lupin was yellow for a few weeks after getting into some daffodils. (We were lucky he did not try to eat them, only rubbed his face into them and batted them with his paws. We’ve been careful of what followers come in since.) He was also sometimes gray, because he loved to get into the fireplace and try to sleep in the ashes. 🙄😂 Longtime readers may remember the second photo. My sister The Intruder sent it while she was babysitting the kids and the cats, after turning around and unexpectedly finding Lupin in the fireplace. 😅 Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1  John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:The pressure is building. Mostly inside Glenn’s skull.
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Feb 8, 2023 03:31
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1  John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:A crime! A crime against decorative gourds! Four pages next week as Boys Like Fun Part 1 concludes. Also, Georgia Dunn is doing a thing; Georgia Dunn posted:It’s that time of year! I’m getting ready to humbly submit ‘Breaking Cat News’ to the Reuben Awards! ✨🤞🏻✨ What was your favorite strip (or strips!) of 2022?
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Feb 10, 2023 01:12
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Speaking of Breaking Cat News...  Georgia Dunn posted:This beautiful pair of little young adults got their collars this week! Don’t they look so grown up? 😭💖 More pics at the instagram
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Feb 13, 2023 00:16
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 In which we finally see Nero's  John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Nether Edge is a suburb of Sheffield. It’s a great place to live, work, and start a boy band.
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Feb 13, 2023 01:06
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Go-Kart Conspiracy was Lottie’s high school band with Claire, Blossom Cooper and Shauna Wickle. If you want to imagine what they were like, think “chaotic but catchy”. Note the Chibi-Lottie by the bikes. Selachian posted:Lake Winnipesaukee is a real place -- I went there for vacation last summer, as it happens. Camp Winnabanana, not so much. Lake Winnipesaukee? How do you spell that?
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Feb 14, 2023 01:38
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 maybe I should timg this? John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:You will see that Lottie’s markers of success are not exactly the same as those of, say, Q Prime Management. Selachian posted:Archie 7/11-13/46 By my math, Betty should get 36 chances.
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Feb 15, 2023 01:06
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Solver 9: Boys Like Fun Part 1 Concludes! John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Feeling a bit low? Look up ice cream vans on eBay. You’ll feel better. New story starts here Monday, with the whole thing going up on my Patreon then too.
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Feb 16, 2023 01:36
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Solver 10: Boys Like Fun Part 2  John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Here it is, “Boys Like Fun” part 2, it really doesn’t seem so long since we were enjoying part one together, does it? You didn’t expect it to start with Flukeman, did you? So many questions! See, I can still surprise you. Also I've been meaning to post the various covers previewed for the first two issues of Allison's upcoming 4 issue series The Great British Bump-Off. Issue one has three covers, the standard one by Max Sarin and two alt covers by Dan Hipp and Jill Thompson, although Thompson's cover has yet to be posted online anywhere.   Here are the covers for issue two, again one by Sarin and an alt cover by Lissa Treiman, who also worked on Giant Days  
The_Other fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Apr 5, 2023 |
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Feb 20, 2023 01:18
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Solver 10: Boys Like Fun Part 2 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Glenn has entered an abstract philosophical world that only he understands. I barely understand it and I’m responsible for writing it. The_Other fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Apr 5, 2023 |
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Feb 22, 2023 01:12
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Solver 10: Boys Like Fun Part 2 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Jackie Collins, the sister of Joan Collins off of “Dynasty”, was the writer of some incredible books, all of which were about powerful ladies who were real “goers”. I read “Lady Boss” on holiday when I was much too young and it changed the course of my life. Made me the man I am today, I reckon. There was a great doc about her, still on iPlayer in the UK and Netflix in the US, I believe. An excellent watch. The_Other fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Apr 5, 2023 |
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Feb 24, 2023 01:06
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Hempuli posted:What are the scissors identifying?? Which rock beat it.
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Feb 25, 2023 21:11
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Solver 10: Boys Like Fun Part 2 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Dean Thompson isn’t just a man of letters, he’s a man of combat, as we see here. Not an effective one, but spirited nontheless. The_Other fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Apr 5, 2023 |
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Feb 27, 2023 01:08
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Solver 10: Boys Like Fun Part 2 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Does the bootleg merch stand still manifest outside music gigs? A good place to get a hoodie or tshirt where the sleeves fall off and the motif disintegrates on first wash. I’ve not been to a show at a university venue for years and those are where they seemed to have the most “purchase”. Note that Alfie first appeared in Solver: Green Door 
The_Other fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Apr 5, 2023 |
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Mar 1, 2023 02:52
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Yvonmukluk posted:Bad Machinery Good as time as any to post this old picture from Allison's Flickr of the Bad Machinery girls dressed as their favorite queens 
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Mar 2, 2023 06:07
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Solver 10: Boys Like Fun Part 2 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Now we will see D-Slide in full effect, the band you love just doing what comes naturally. How did I end up here? I don’t know. It just happened. The_Other fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Apr 5, 2023 |
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Mar 3, 2023 01:07
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Solver 10: Boys Like Fun Part 2 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Not a 100% flawless performance but look at it this way: no one died. The_Other fucked around with this message at 22:14 on Apr 5, 2023 |
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Mar 6, 2023 01:13
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Solver 10: Boys Like Fun Part 2 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Porcupine Tree are two Irish brothers who make up for their limited musical ability with pots of enthusiasm. Jedward are a respected prog rock act of long standing. Wait, did I get that the right way round? Only one of these acts is great mates with Enya. Whichever one you think it is… it’s the other one. Also, I was browsing the web for articles re: Dilbert/Scott Adams, when I came across this from the Cleveland Plain Dealer quote:We’ve selected a comic strip to replace Dilbert, and one reason we chose it is the number of you who said we should have looked for a new voice when we replaced Funky Winkerbean with Beetle Bailey. The_Other fucked around with this message at 22:14 on Apr 5, 2023 |
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Mar 8, 2023 03:01
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Solver 10: Boys Like Fun Part 2 John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:Disposable vapes. There’s a thing it doesn’t make sense that “they” haven’t banned in the UK yet. Smoking devices marketed to children, made of plastic, which now litter the hedgerows of this island nation alongside torn up Lotto scratchcards and the last Lilt cans. Kennel posted:Dustin Everybody mark "Women be shopping!" on your Dustin bingo cards The_Other fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Apr 5, 2023 |
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Mar 10, 2023 01:29
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readingatwork posted:Crabgrass Since we've finished this Crabgrass storyline, here's what Tauhid Bondia posted on his instagram regarding it. Tauhid Bondia posted:But, Mr. Bondia, was it all REAL?! Also, in Breaking Cat News...    Georgia Dunn posted:The ‘Breaking Cat News’ strip that ran in newspapers on Charles Schulz’s 100th birthday this year will now be a part of the Charles Schulz Museum collection!! They reached out to cartoonists who created tribute strips this past November, asking if we would consider donating them. I jumped at the chance, (of course!) and am so honored that my strip was accepted.
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Mar 10, 2023 05:40
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Solver 10: Boys Like Fun Part 2 I like Lottie's face in that first inset panel... John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics John Allison posted:I’m sure you’re familiar with Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies. One for the teenagers, eh? Wikipedia posted:Oblique Strategies (subtitled Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas) is a card-based method for promoting creativity jointly created by musician/artist Brian Eno and multimedia artist Peter Schmidt, first published in 1975. Physically, it takes the form of a deck of 7-by-9-centimetre (2.8 in × 3.5 in) printed cards in a black box. Each card offers a challenging constraint intended to help artists (particularly musicians) break creative blocks by encouraging lateral thinking. Also in Breaking Cat News.  Georgia Dunn posted:9 years ago today Lupin knocked everything off a shelf and I scribbled out a quick little funny comic about it for friends on Facebook. Within days I’d check to see if the domain “breakingcatnews” was available, letting that make my decision for me. Thank goodness it was. Soon the comic would be catching on—momentarily stuck with the quick, thrown together artwork at first. (My art degree still winces. 😬🤣) The_Other fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Apr 5, 2023 |
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Mar 13, 2023 06:06
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