John Allison’s X-Men fan comic debuts on his website

‘Kit & the Wolf’ features Kitty Pryde looking for a concert buddy — and Wolverine’s the only one home.

It’s a big week for John Allison fans; not only is his new comic from Dark Horse, The Great British Bump-Off, debuting in shops tomorrow, but he has also launched an X-Men fan comic on his website and Patreon. The first comic debuted this week.

“I had to move house recently, there were weeks of stress and upheaval, and I didn’t have anything on the slate that I wanted to work on in tricky circumstances – no scripts for Steeple (which was meant to be next up), no fill-in Solver story, or anything else,” he wrote. “So I made the default comic I might have made as a child – an X-Men comic. If it hadn’t worked, you’d have been reading here that I am currently taking ‘a much needed break.’ It’s not a crossover, and it’s not a joke – I tried really hard! If I make an X-Men comic, it’s not going to be a ‘the guys hang out and have breakfast’ comic. There has to be pulse-pounding† action and mutant danger. The things I couldn’t write or draw when I was 13 years old.”

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Competitive baking goes horribly wrong in ‘The Great British Bump-Off’

John Allison and Max Sarin whip up a fancy murder mystery in April.

Now here’s a competition show I could get behind — Giant Days creators John Allison and Max Sarin will turn a British baking competition into an “Agatha Christie-style mystery” in The Great British Bump-Off. They’re joined by colorist Sammy Borras and letterer Jim Campbell.

The four-issue miniseries kicks off from Dark Horse Comics in April.

“I’ve made a lot of comics, I’ve read a lot of mysteries, and I’ve eaten a lot of cakes. You might say that I’ve been preparing for this series since I tasted my first fondant fancy,” Allison said. “And as I’m working with Max and Sammy again, readers can be assured that the confection will look as good as it tastes.”

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Three Things | Gogor, Steeple love, Mary Marvel’s eyes

Here are three things to support, to buy and to know today.

Three Things spotlights, as the title states, three things from comics today. It’ll be three things with links, no more, no less. No. 5 is alive.

1. To support: The Book of Gogor by Ken Garing

Gogor was a five-issue miniseries written and drawn by Ken Garing and released by Image Comics back in 2019. I was looking through our archives to see if I ever wrote about it beyond the initial release announcement from Image, and it doesn’t look like I did — which is a shame, because I remember enjoying it a whole bunch. So did my son.

Garing created a really interesting fantasy world ruled by a bunch of jerks called the Domus. A student named Armano awakens this mythical champion called Gogor to fight them, and together they go on an adventure across the many islands that make up their world, which float in the sky vs. the water. I remember what I really liked about it was the world-building, as you could tell Garing put a lot of detail and thought into it, even the parts that didn’t make it onto the page.

Image collected the first five issues but the story never continued beyond that — until now. Garing is crowdfunding a follow-up story, The Book of Gogor, which will offer a definitive conclusion to the one he started.

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Sunday Comics | John Allison kicks off ‘Author Unknown’

Check out other recent online comics from Matt Kindt, Frankee White and Kat Baumann, Jason Loo and Dan Schkade.

Here’s a round up of some of the best comics we’ve seen online recently. If we missed something, let us know in the comments below.

John Allison has created several webcomics and comics over the years, from Bad Machinery to Scary-Go-Round to Wicked Things and Steeple. Last week he kicked off a brand-new story on the Steeple site, called Author Unknown. The 44-page comic has been in the works since November of 2019 and will feature Charlotte Grote, his character from Bad Machinery.

“… it’s been through a lot of revisions to make sure it meant something even taken in isolation,” Allison said. “It needed me to make all the comics I did over the last year to give it a bit of weight. There is something for both long-term and newer readers, to the exclusion of no-one.”

You can start reading the new story by going here, or, if you don’t want to wait, you can read the entire story by becoming a supporter of Allison’s on Patreon.

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Sunday Comics | A round-up from Hourly Comics Day

Cartoonists dedicated last Monday to making and posting new comics every hour; check out the results of their hard work.

Here’s a round up of some of the best comics we’ve seen online recently. If we missed something, let us know in the comments below.

Every February comics artists wake up and just start drawing for #HourlyComicsDay, where cartoonists commit to making and posting a comic every hour for a day — or whatever frequency they chose. Most hourly comics typically fall into the “autobiography” category, as participants detail their day in comics form, but some will share fictional stories as well.

The official Hourly Comics Day was last Monday, and I thought I’d dedicate this edition of Sunday Comics to spotlighting some of them (with a big thanks to Brigid Alverson for sharing a long list of the ones she found).

So here we go:

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Sunday Comics | New Year’s groove

Check out webcomics from Faith Erin Hicks, Karl Kerschl, John Allison and more.

Here’s a round up of some of the best comics we’ve seen online recently. If we missed something, let us know in the comments below.

MF DOOM, aka Daniel Dumile, was a very creative British-American rapper and record producer who wore a mask and named himself after Marvel villain Doctor Doom. He passed away on Oct. 31 of last year, though his death wasn’t reported until the end of December.

Gabe Soria and Dean Haspiel collaborated on a short story some years back that Soria shared on Twitter:

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Binge-worthy Backlist Bonanza: The extended John Allison library

Looking for something to read while stuck at home? The Smash Pages crew offers some helpful suggestions, starting with the many selections available from the John Allison universe.

In the current climate, many industries are in a standstill as people isolate and wait out the coronavirus. The comics industry is no different, as Diamond Comic Distributors shut down, leaving comic shops without a supply of new weekly comics.

With that in mind, we’re introducing a new feature, Backlist Bonzana. While new comics might not be arriving for a while, your local retailer, favorite online site, digital comics provider or even favorite creator can still supply older comics that you might not have read yet. Today Tom Bondurant shares the joy that comes from reading John Allison’s comics. Watch for more from the Smash Pages crew over the next few days and weeks.

Because John Allison’s Scary Go Round universe spans 20-plus years and a few different webcomics series, I feel pretty secure in describing it as “sprawling.” The main portal at www.scarygoround.com is organized helpfully by comic, with links to print versions where available.

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‘Giant Days: As Time Goes By’ wraps up the series

John Allison and Max Sarin will wrap up the long-running ‘Giant Days’ story with a double-sized special.

Graduation approaches for John Allison‘s long-running Giant Days series, and today BOOM! Studios announced Giant Days: As Time Goes By #1, which will conclude the series.

As announced back in April, Giant Days #55 will end the ongoing series, as the three main characters, Esther, Daisy and Susan, graduate from college. As Time Goes By will pick up 14 months later, as the three friends agree to reunite and catch up. Max Sarin will draw the special.

“This comic has always been about small moments and big catastrophes, so going out with a double-sized special gives me a chance to do plenty of both. It’s impossible to please everybody when you’re saying goodbye, but heaven knows, the Giant Days team are going to try,” said Allison.

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John Allison creates a ‘morally grey world’ in ‘Steeple’

New five-issue miniseries debuts from Dark Horse in September.

Giant Days and Bad Machinery creator John Allison has a new project coming from Dark Horse this fall. Titled Steeple, the five-issue miniseries is set in a “sleepy Cornish coastal town” caught in the battle between good and evil.

“At a time where we align ourselves along ever more partisan lines and refuse to believe that the other side might have anything useful to say, Steeple is my attempt to show just how wide and deep the grey area actually is. I’m uniquely placed to tell this story, as personally, my carefully held beliefs fold like a card table in the face of anyone who sounds like they know what they’re talking about,” Allison said about the project.

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‘Monstress,’ ‘My Favorite Thing is Monsters’ win NCS Divisional Awards

Glen Keane honored with the Reuben as 2017’s ‘Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year,’ while John Allison and Gemma Correll win in the webcomics categories.

My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris and Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda continued their winning streaks this weekend, as the National Cartoonists Society honored both with divisional awards. Ferris’ work won for “Best Graphic Novel” while Monstress won for “Best Comic Book.”

In addition, John Allison was honored for his work on Bad Machinery in the “Online Comics – Long Form” category, while Gemma Correll won in the “Online Comics – Short Form” category.

The Daily Cartoonist reports that Academy Award-winning animator and Disney Legend Glen Keane won the 2017 Reuben Award, presented to the NCS’s pick for “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.”

The Reuben Awards ceremony took place Saturday at the National Cartoonists Society’s annual get-together in Philadelphia. The complete list of nominees, with the winners in bold, can be found below:

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National Cartoonists Society honors Lynda Barry, Ann Telnaes and more

Telnaes takes home the Reuben and Barry receives the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual award presentation.

The Reuben Awards ceremony took place this past weekend at the National Cartoonists Society’s annual get-together.

Lynda Barry was presented with the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award by her old friend, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Ann Telnaes received the Cartoonist of the Year award. Ngozi Ukazu took top honors in the Online Comic: Long Form category for OMG Check Please, and Ruben Bolling’s Donald & John won the prize for Best Online Comic: Short Form. John Allison, Max Sarin, and Liz Fleming’s Giant Days was named Best Comic, and Rick Geary’s Black Dahlia won the Best Graphic Novel award.

The complete list of winners can be found below.

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