Bye bye
If you’re not acquainted, Claire’s father is the fire chief of Tackleford. We’ve never seen any of the other members of her family. That is not to say that we never will.
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Bad Machinery
New comics by John Allison
If you’re not acquainted, Claire’s father is the fire chief of Tackleford. We’ve never seen any of the other members of her family. That is not to say that we never will.
Comments are closed.
She didn’t follow that back when she was setting fires.
Cut her some slack, che was a child at the time.
She did though. She kept the hard fact that she was lighting fires locked up tight. Colm found out, Sonny suspected and end of list. I don’t even think Lottie knows. Say what you will about our adorable firebug, but she knows how to keep a secret.
Sonny is the weak link – he only told Jack and Linton of his suspicions. If he’d told Lottie, Mildred and Shauna instead, things would have been different.
I was very surprised that Lottie didn’t figure out Claire’s secret when Claire was supercharging the campfires of those furry-fighters in the forest.
John A mentioned this earlier this month:
“Lottie has probably protected Claire’s “little secret” since the end of the third Bad Machinery story (there is no way over the years she hasn’t worked it out, and Sonny doubtless told her too).”
Notice, though, that while John A says “there is no way” Lottie “hasn’t worked it out”…he notes that Lottie has “PROBABLY protected Claire’s “little secret.”” (emphasis added)
What is the pizza in Sheffield like? I never thought of the UK as a pizza nation, but there’s no way it’s any worse than the pie I had in Reykjavik.
Maize is a common topping.
If I recall from my time in the UK this is true unless you get a traditional Neopolitan Margherita pizza.
Mind blown. Of all the things I could imagine putting on a pizza, corn/maize did not suggest itself.
I had a pizza slice with sweet corn as one of the toppings when I visited Bethesda. It was delicious.
We quite like a Tuna and Sweet Corn pizza.
Americans living in Essex circa 1993.
Pizza in the UK’s pretty good now, it’s not 1989 any more, I think you’d have to work hard to get a corn pizza unless you bring your own corn. Ross did you bring your own corn level with us
Fairly terrible kebab shop pizza still exists, and the last time I had one was in Sheffield in about 2022. These days there are probably a bunch of wood-fired, authentically Neapolitan places there too, but not necessarily what you pick up on the way home to somewhere out of the centre, though.
i had a really good pizza in Reykivek! shredded duck and apple. they are an odd but accomplished people
From the looks of it, Sheffield is in the midst of a pepperoni shortage.
Are you the guy that left a 1 star yelp review? There was a chalk sign with it on there in front of the Reykjavik pizza place. “Come try the worst pizza this guy has ever had!” written under it.
I’m just wondering how long that pizza has been sitting there.
when I was a student, deep fried pizza supper[1] (the person who complained about pizza quality should have looked away at the start of the sentence, sorry) on the way home from the student union meant you had chips for dinner avec half a pizza
but also cold cheese and tomato on “toast” with grease for breakfast
[1] it was glasgow, what can I say
Deep fried pizza is a tad unsettling my post-breakfadt stomach. Considering Canadians fry even Mars bar, I’m left wondering what’s this attitude of frying edibles you find in locations above a certain latitude. (A serious answer is welcomed but not required)
It’s not a latitude thing. Texas is the king of deep-fried stuff. The list of fried foods available at the annual Texas State Fair is seemingly endless. Among the items it includes are cheesecake, ice cream, Coca-Cola, oreos (regular and double stuff), lobster tail with champagne gravy, deviled eggs, pasta (cacio e pepe or tomato and mozzarella), lasagna, pho, candy bars of all types, Twinkies, wontons covered in pie filling (no, I’m not making that up) and, yes, pizza.
https://www.dallasobserver.com/food-drink/list-of-every-fried-food-at-the-state-fair-of-texas-2025-17585015/
One wonders how you deep-fry Coke? Is it sort of like poaching an egg, or do Texans just chuck the entire can (or because it’s the US, the 70oz bottle) in the fryer and leave the rest up to the Stetson Gods?
IIRC from news stories when that “innovation” was first introduced, it’s like a jelly donut with Coke syrup inside. I believe it’s also a staple a state fairs all through middle America, not just Texas.
I can confirm that the Oklahoma State Fair offers deep-fried Coca-Cola, as well as most or all of the items found at the Texas State Fair.
I hope they have deep-fried butter.
Pho? HOW IS THAT DONE?
Knowing Claire, I’d guess the pizza is still sufficiently hot. If it were Lottie who ordered, it’s anyone’s guess.
No angst compactor on the market compacts angst to a smaller size than Little Claire!
(Exceeding marked angst capacity may result in structural fires or character forming.)
Indeed! Her angst is so compact it begins to collapse itself into a singularity of dread!
Scenes like this just encourage those of us who are shipping “Glaire”.
She does seem rather comfy in his weird hotel-room-substitute bed (speaking of things that are possibly not healthy…).
That one small pillow in the centre is probably what I find most upsetting.
What small pillow?
Oh god it was Claire’s leg all along! I guess she’s resting upon a couple of them, which get tossed behind her when Glorm flops?
Yeah, panel 2 seems intimate. It would blow the Clairem’s circuits.
Happy little recycling!
Well-spotted!
I wonder how that troll is doing
I have a feeling angst compactors are a common personality feature among anyone born and bred in Tackleford.
Awwww, Claire. It’s not easy carrying a seething torment of personal traumas around in your personal psychic backpack all the time. No wonder you like setting things on fire.
I love panel 2
That is all I have to say…
You are not alone there, though the sparkliest gem of all, for me at least, are the excellent Claire toes in the last panel, the epitome of relaxed and cosy.
I see Lottie’s been teaching Glenn the secrets of self duplication. So far, it seems he can only manage two, but perhaps someday he’ll approach Lottie’s level.
It’s a dangerous technique. If you’re not careful, you can end up with a rogue duplicate that doesn’t fade away and ends up possessing someone else and framing you for murder.
No idea if that’s just friendship or something else. But the way they look at each other upside down laughing is so sweet. Then the 4th panel is like Glenn’s pov seeing Claire becoming serious. Claire’s relationship with her family is… kinda difficult.
You can say that again.
Indeed. I really do wish this site had a mechanism for editing/deleting accidental redundant comments.
I’m personally anticipating to see more of the Little family.
Their talents undoubtedly bely their name.
Her brother Stuart is the most unusual one.
Is that a pepperoni pizza with only one lonely piece of pepperoni per slice? That makes me sad.
I figure it’s like Ernie Bushmiller’s three rocks. It’s enough pepperoni to convey the idea of “a pepperoni pizza”, but no more than is required to do so.
I dunno, that explanation works in panel 4, when it’s a whole pie with 8 slices and 8 pieces of pepperoni, but in panel 5, it looks like deliberate statement to me. They can afford pepperoni pizza, but it’s the cheapest version that still qualifies as pepperoni pizza. Any less, and at least one slice would just be cheese pizza.
I have a distinct recollection of having had a pizza like that once- one piece of pepperoni per slice. I think there was one slice that had two pieces, and one that had none. I can’t remember when or where (definitely in the U.S., though). I kind of think it may have been a (formerly) frozen pizza.
So I hear John A quit the comments, after reading this thread where you pick apart how he draws a cartoon pizza, I really understand, poor dude’s probably running for the hills. I couldn’t take this for five minutes let alone decades. No self awareness at all. Poor poor dude.
Maybe you can get into how he drew that recycling box next. I mean he only drew one flap. What kind of box is that? One time I went on a school trip to a box factory and they told me cardboard boxes got four flaps at either end. You should email him about that.
In no way were any of my comments intended as any sort of criticism. It looked to me like the one-pepperoni pizza slices were a deliberate choice for comic effect. I was merely saying that I enjoyed the joke.
I am a huge fan of Johns work. I buy his books. I support him on Patreon. I eagerly await each new comic. I have never deliberately said anything negative about anything he has done.
I don’t have a problem with anyone being excited about the sparse and slapdash way I draw a pizza. Plasticinsect is a loyal and valued reader, Andy. But I should add here for clarity that I may have revealed with this comic my simultaneous love of the taste of pepperoni and my recent inability to digest it satisfactorily, creating the tension you see atop the pie.
Andy, there is no need to rush to my defence. Apparently when I take a few days off the comments, gatekeeping breaks out like like ringworm in a flophouse. I recognise you are trying to help but I’m just an old tired man. I’ll survive pizza chat.
Cover Claire’s mouth in panel 3 and it looks like she has a big bushy beard!
Bobby problems?