My MUBI password
This page took a bit of wrangling. A group of four characters who move as one are a bit of a chore. A lot of little details to keep in line. Anyway, what’s going on with Glenn and Claire?
Comments are closed.
Bad Machinery
New comics by John Allison
Claire’s really enjoying this, isn’t she?
Such a popular little bug
Fascinating detective work in panel 3!
Yes, looking around I can’t say I’ve seen a lot of casual hair I’d consider to be a local styling
But a lean body due to habitual trampolining is definitely a thing!
I think “casual hair” applies in Wellington, no point getting anything elaborately styled in 75kmph wind.
But Glerm is from Te Awamutu
(mentioned in a much earlier comic, which always made me wonder if John enjoyed Split Enz’s Haul Away… or Mean to Me)
It’s a farming town so that might explain the hair?
Indeed! But do you suppose Mikey will ferret out what kind of business it is?
PARK LIFE
Also can we agree on whether it’s Clarem or Clairem?
glaires at you
Yes, Glaire is more or less the general consensus for the ship name.
I think he’s talking about the name of Claire’s harem.
Clairem = the four students that follow Claire about like lost puppies.
Glaire = Glenn/Claire ship name
Oops my bad. In thet case then yes, Clairem is the correct name then.
Fun fact: “glaire” is the French word for phlegm.
And the French for harem is… harem (but it’s said with an accent)
the accent is Yorkshire, for reasons only known to the French.
I’m getting serious Four Stooges vibes from the Clairem. No wonder they move together so closely.
Hm, Claire’s lisp becomes more prominent when she’s tired or stressed… and she doesn’t seem that tired here…
Also when she’s relaxed, I think. I know someone whose extreme stutter only comes out when he lets his guard down, when he’s relaxing among friends. Also, Claire may be deliberately pushing the lisp because it’s cute.
Colm suggested once that Claire’s lisp is just an affectation.
By Clairem you are referring to Claire’s man-harem.
John, now you know how the designers of the Bayeux Tapestry must have felt, with all those groups of chainmail-clad soldiers moving as one. If you look carefully, there are never enough legs for all the heads. Maybe you should try that …
Perhaps add some knights riding snails in the background, really capture that mediaeval vibe.
And an armoured rabbit.
Poor Clarem group. They totally fallen in Lottie’s trap and just in the day Glenn meets Claire and looks really handsome! We
It’s Clairem, not Clarem. In the first, the a is pronounced like in ray or pain. In the second, it’s flatter, like in flat or pan.
So, like, clay-REM? That sounds uncomfortable on the ol’ eyeballs.
That must be unwelcome news to women named Clare
If I had a nickel for every time a John Allison plot involved someone talking a dork (or dorks in this case) into beating up someone for the crime of going out with someone they fancied first i’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot but it’s neat it happened twice and there’s no statutory this time.
Poor Clairem, their disappointment is so palpable. However, I do love how obviously happy Glenn and Claire are to see each other, even if it’s just for one of their routine business meetings.
I hate to double comment but I only realized this after my initial joke: I relate to the Clarem. I was also a skinny kid who pined for many a lady without realizing you have to just take the leap, that just pining in silence does nothing. It may hurt if you get rejected, but it may salvage your friendship in the long run.
It’s neat to see John both tackle this again and from a diffrent angle: While Ed was more passive, hoping she’d pick him but not trying to wreck her relationships. The Clarem, at least half of them, seem ready to try to get in there and fight unaware it’s not remotely what Claire wants. It does seem like a clever ploy by Lottie to settle her love life: Get her and Glenn to fully admit they want to couple and get the clarem to back down. She did start this trainwreck after noting there just isn’t enough Claire to go around and this situation is untenable and given she sicced them on Glemp seems keenly aware of what’s going on.
The Clarem specifically have made a pact NOT to take the leap, which is a bit different. https://badmachinery.com/comic/bombs-away/
Fair I genuinely forgot the pact despite no Mikey respect the pact being wobbly heads best like. Still feels like a dodge, a way to have an excuse not to just ask as a group. Is asking as a group do you want to date us awkward and a tad uncomfortable. Yes but so will whatever plan they have probably.
Have any of them connected Business Night with that well-known New Zealand anthem, Business Time?
I wonder if Glenn has Business Socks.
The recycling is important!
Didn’t think the mere addition of a purple scarf would make Glenn such an alpha, but here we are.
The purple lends him an air of confidence. It suggests that he is unafraid of unconventionality.
Bad timing to have the Clarem turn against their mistress as Dean is preparing his formal assault. The Solvers are going to have to step livelier than a sailor dancing his hornpipe while avoiding a War on Two Fronts!
As a New Zealand 8, Glenn still beats four Sheffield 2s.
very disappointed in this comment section not using Glurm’s real name
Well, I haven’t had a reason to call out Ygln yet.
is “spunkier” used here in the “brave”, “energetic”, or in the “handsome” sense?
all of the above?
“I thought he’d be spunkier” is a really clever reflection of this Clairem member (whose name we’ll never remember) expressing his delusional world in which he can come to terms with rejection only if his rival is on a par with Henry Cavill
Strong advice: don’t google “UK guys with spunk”… you’ve been warned!
Aarrgghh Business Night and the Antipodes have firmly wedged It’s Business Time by the Flying Conchords in my head. And this muddies the water of this plot!
Glenn, I feel like you’re only here for the trampoline.
There’s a girl in New York City
Who calls herself The Human Trampoline
I had to look up what a Mubi was. Turns out I wasn’t quite right when I assumed it was a streaming service for cows. Who knew!
“I gave you my Mubi password and you stomped on my heart!”
I had to look up both MUBI and Business Time. I learn so much from this comic & its comments section.
Is this her social research experiment??
I am rooting for dean and the gang to reconcile.
Also I am rooting for you to add some categories to your wordpress, and select them, so there is never this again: Posted In: Uncategorized
brrr.
I don’t have the same visceral reaction to the Uncategorized category–I certainly wouldn’t be any better about it were this my own wordpress site. But out of curiosity I looked at all the posts here that are currently Uncategorized, and it seems the lion’s share could be caught in the following fi–three (definitely three) groups:
Print Comics
Web Comic Archives
Website
Appearances (e.g. cons or podcasts)
Albums of the Year
Now for me to file this comment in the Mostly Useless category (YMMV).
I love the little question mark wave
It’s funny how so many of us want Dean and our heroes to somehow reconcile. John has done an excellent job of making Dean somehow simultaneously awful and sympathetic.
These comments are more civil than Dumbing of Age’s board has been for the last several months. I thank you all.
I’m not going to go into detail about my thoughts about many of the people who post on Dumbing of Age- I don’t feel I have the right to cast some sort of absolute judgement on the way other people read comics- but I will say that I think, of all the many webcomics I’ve read, John’s various comics and Girl Genius have been the only ones where I nearly always enjoy reading other fans’ comments. I think we usually-though not always- strike a pretty good balance between getting invested in the characters and situations and having fun.
Shouldn’t Claire sample each of them, one by one, in order to eventually make a more informed decision?