John Allison
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badmachinery.com
John Allison
@badmachinery.com
Cartoonist in Leeds, UK. I brought you such comics as Steeple, Bad Machinery, Giant Days, Scary Go Round, Bobbins, Great British Bump-Off and Solver. The nation's favourite.

https://badmachinery.com
Pinned
Someone just asked so it may be worth reiterating, the Giant Days/Batman crossover can be read not just free but ad-free here.

scarygoround.com/giantdays/in...
Reposted by John Allison
"Twelfth Night Till Candlemas"

The story of a forty-year book-quest and of its remarkable ending

My popular seasonal post from last year:
emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...

Now with a couple of footnotes one year on:
emptycity.substack.com/p/twelfth-ni...
"Twelfth Night Till Candlemas"
The story of a forty-year book-quest and of its remarkable ending
emptycity.substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 9:03 AM
It's a rare Tuesday comic from me; to think, once upon a time I commemorated every Tuesday with a new page. A different time, a simpler age.
December 23, 2025 at 5:03 PM
It's all Stanwyck all the time at my house
'Tis the season of the Barbara Stanwyck Christmas Cinematic Universe. 🎄
December 23, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by John Allison
He's m ng ist
He’s check ice
He find ou
naught ice
Norman Collier is comi town
December 23, 2025 at 2:48 PM
I was reminded today of a very specific sort of British shopping bag that precedes free "disposable" plastic bags. It was made out of a sort of mesh, with metal handles. I wonder if anyone still makes them. They seemed near-indestructible.
December 23, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Some recent Steeple drawings
December 21, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Looking forward to spooking up my mind with this
Thanks for all the kind words about TOND, the #BrokenVeil ghost story for Christmas.

We’re really proud of it, and hope to be able to make lots more of these. So, thanks to all our supporters on Patreon.

pod.link/1745494718/e...
December 20, 2025 at 5:41 PM
B. Walsh, A. Hammond, H. Willoughby, A. Carr: no. I have no real interest in Strictly but I have watched it with my mum many times and I feel that the only way to keep the ship up is to employ Amelia Dimoldenberg and Ania Magliano as the new hosts.

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Strictly Come Dancing’s new hosts: who is in the running?
As two beloved presenters stand down, speculation is rife over who may take up the ‘very sparkly baton’
www.theguardian.com
December 20, 2025 at 12:25 PM
New comic: "We never got to do it" badmachinery.com/comic/2025-1...
We never got to do it - Bad Machinery
There she is, Cilla, our songbird queen.
badmachinery.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Last day for Xmas Topatoco orders. I note that there are two (2) copies of NEMS 1968 left in my store (topatoco.com/sgr)
Hello friends, foes, & lovers (👀?), we have our UPDATED Holiday shipping deadlines for you! :) These deadlines will also be available to look at on our website too: topatoco.com/pages/holida...
December 18, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Reposted by John Allison
It's time! Behold the Christmas hedgehog! From Verdun, Bibl. mun., ms. 0107, f. 008. Our thanks as always to @etreharne.bsky.social who found her.
December 18, 2025 at 3:29 PM
I'm reissuing a classic - no bonus tracks
I ate my first Fishermans Friend when I was 10. A friend handed it to me in class and told me it was "heroin". I put it in my mouth then, when he wasn't looking, put it in my pocket wrapped in a tissue. I spent the whole afternoon terrified that I was imminently going to be arrested.
December 17, 2025 at 11:54 AM
If you're a Webtoon user, Solver has now been running there for a couple of months in a phone-friendly format. Please tell your phone-friendly format friends.
www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/so...
Solver - Circus Windows part 2, episode 3
Charlotte Grote is an aged-out teen mystery solver, who glittering future was been derailed by an unfortunate murder accusation. She proved her innocence, but it cost her a university place, a glide p...
www.webtoons.com
December 16, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by John Allison
When I interviewed Spinal Tap and Marty DiBergi this summer, none of them broke character, for the whole hour. Except Rob Reiner, once, losing it when Michael McKean's David St Hubbins talked about minimalism. I didn't use this in the feature and hadn't published any audio, but this is joyful.
December 15, 2025 at 10:24 AM
These are great, very well researched pieces, a bit like Stereogum's "The Number Ones" for old computer games. Excellent reading.
Over the last two months on my blog, I've written about the history of each of the nine computer games to reach #1 in UK sales charts during 1985.

Here is a thread with links to those posts, plus one thing I learned for each of them

www.superchartisland.com
December 15, 2025 at 8:14 AM
I repost purely because it is one of my very favourite things from my time in comic books: Lottie and Claire on the @gurihiru.bsky.social variant cover for the 2020 series Wicked Things.
December 13, 2025 at 12:17 PM
I've found the perfect ad copy. It's so soothing that I think it would cure you without your having to buy the remedy described within. I give you: Blue Jay Corn Plasters
December 13, 2025 at 12:12 PM
"Looks good, tastes good, and it certainly does you good"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8T2...
Whitbread Mackeson - Gran Hardy - CDP 1965
YouTube video by CDPcelebration
www.youtube.com
December 11, 2025 at 10:47 AM