He’s clean
Good to see that Dean still has his rainbow door. And good to see that Essen Verboten are still making those iconic white hoodies.
Bad Machinery
New comics by John Allison
Good to see that Dean still has his rainbow door. And good to see that Essen Verboten are still making those iconic white hoodies.
“Dean is the perfect patsy – er, bait – or rather, uninformed helper.”
What’s so bad about Essen? I understand that their annual board game convention is quite well thought-of.
But remember, don’t eat the board games.
Now I wonder what kind of weird things Dean post on Amstragram. Probably only strong mind, like Claire’s (and maybe Esther’s too), are able to follow him staying sane. Maybe he’s too much even for Skelelottie.
I expect it’s little more than a collection of his favorite chess stale-mate endgames. You know, interesting in an off-brand mathematical way, but not something normal people would spend an afternoon contemplating.
(Unless you’re my Dad, who was a chess nut and spent his afternoons reading chess books and working out chess problems. He was a bit obsessive about it.)
A fantastic callback. Though even Dean Thompson doesn’t deserve this. Maybe. I mean he’s trying. Glenn his first real friend. It’s new to him.
I had completely forgotten about Dean’s rainbow door! I wonder whatever became of the Complaining Lady on the bus.
She was in the audience at the talent show at the end of “Boys Like Fun”, which I think was just a few days ago in-comic.
Is that the Bad Lot in the background over Glens left shoulder?
No, that’s MiniChibiLottie, who John has assured us is benign.
Also, I just realized clicking your name brings up the chronology of the Tackleford Multiverse, which is awesome.
Claire’s nuisance was involved in the bus explosion that the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive covered up. Dean escaped without harm because the universe simply forgot about him: it didn’t expect him to survive riling up the thugs that Gallon calmed down with a violence-adjacent question.
I’m torn between the living carpet and the giant sloth; I never though the one-man band would even rate…
I think it’s a sort of rock-scissors-paper situation. The carpet could muffle and constrict the automated one-man band, but the sloth’s claws would rip it up. The sloth could tear up the carpet, but its claws would be ineffective against the one-man band’s metal exoskeleton and brass instrumentation. The one-man band could daze the sloth with sonic attacks and pummel it with steely fists, but neither dissonance nor blunt trauma would be effective against the tough, flexible, earless fabric of the carpet.
I think this is the correct answer.
(Or, more succinctly, “Band breaks sloth, sloth cuts carpet, carpet wraps band.”)
The indicent in question: https://badmachinery.com/comic/2022-08-31/
It’s a perfectly good plan! Except for the part where Claire forgot to do the last step. And the part where Lottie ran away and left Claire as bait in a trap that doesn’t actually have any jaws to it.
Claire should go with the Claire plan instead: Burn everything she loves.
Claire needs to find out *who* Skelottie is. But once she does, THEN she can burn everything he/she/it loves!
That world seems more palatable when taken in in bite-sized chunks instead of by immersion. Then again, Claire has had the chance to get acclimated to Dean after that first close encounter.
Now I’m imagining a BBC Earth special about Dean going about his day with Claire as the Sir David Attenborough-esque narrator.
Yes. I can imagine the Alien Music sound track as strange visions are simply explained.
Our “popular little bug” needs to make use of her new expanded circle of admirers to reel in her prey. I’m sure they won’t mind being used.
They would probably draw lots to see who gets to go first.
Dean has really started to grow on me. Well… not really. But I’m starting to see his utility.
You should probably have that looked at.
Who would have thought that Dean would be a secret weapon for our heroes?! Also, every time I think Claire couldn’t become more adorable, you go and draw something like that last panel and I think… nope, those adorable levels have been upped once again!!
All this time he’s been a loose cannon, searching for a purpose. Is this all Claire’s doing?
I love the mercurial shift from Claire in panel 4 — sober, calculating, prone to pensive gazing out through rain-streaked windows — to Claire in panel 6, our familiar happy-go-lucky bug.
That’s a very accurate way to describe Dean, especially during his university years
Dean, he’s clean. Dean Clean.
The Garfield toy in the first panel…
…’tis meaning in it. But what?
That John A believes in continuity.
I am in shock. How. Did I miss that page until now?!?
(And Glugg should use the default – Computer Modern 10 point – or adjust the font to 12 point for more comfortable reading)
One of Claire’s admirers was wearing a Garfield hoodie. HOW DEEP DOES THIS GO?
John’s first link takes me to the first page of 100% Cuddles, featuring Lottie, a seagull, and a doomed phone, but no rainbow door. And now I am sad. I lack the rainbow door context.
His door, it’s green no more!
Re(re)ad the whole Green Door chapter if you need more context.