Sans moustache
We’ve now entered a sequence of pages I “drew ill”. This was the worst day. I held it together through the shivering and rivers of snot and quality didn’t suffer too badly. I wore my bathrobe over my clothes and tucked a hot water bottle down the front. You might ask, John, why did you not just go and watch an old film on the sofa? I found myself asking the same thing quite quickly. But sometimes it helps to have a distraction.
If Dean were with them, he could accompany the horn on his horn.
Lottie is (uncharacteristically) continuing to say Glenn’s name correctly. Will this continue if and when he’s actually found and they reunite?
Is the seagull trying to match Lottie’s expression, or is Lottie trying to match the seagull’s?
Whichever it is, this ferry is clearly cracked. It’s shipping Lottie and the seagull!
I think Lottie’s reacting, reflexively, to an old nemesis. Sick or well, John has a superior ability to convey emotion through his characters’ expressions.
It’ll turn out that Glenn changed his mind in the last minute. He’s back on shore, chatting with Dean.
Uh oh, Lottie’s other great nemesis has returned in Panel 2.
It turns out wax statues are no good out at sea (see the Wobbly Head part 2 seagull page comments for context)
Does John’s sickness have any bearing on the appearance of the classic polo mint in panel 4? Does the fact that Claire and Lottie have never explicitly discussed how they each feel about Glenn simmer in the background of this mission? What does Claire’s expression in panel 2 mean? Does the timer perform any real function here? Only you can tell.
But Lottie’s sincere expressions of concern for Glenn over the past couple of pages, albeit only in his absence in a crisis, are lovely to see.
The timer adds a vital sense of dramatic tension.
Perhaps the Polo looking like a mini life-saver is inspirational, or foreshadowing things to come!
What if the sofa doesn’t want you to
John’s illustrative skill while ill and chilled is still thrillingly coup de ville – and not just run of the mill!
(something windmill something daffodil… sorry, I ran out)
Fairies. Can’t live with e’m, can’t swat them fast enough.
ÄŒechov seagull. They will attack Lottie making her fall in the Sea, I’m sure!
Those things, easy to get lost in.
Especially (can’t resist!) when the maze changes after you look away (like the window pane shape in panels 1 and 2).
I was very ill
I might be displaying terrible ferry illiteracy here, but I thought the shape of the portholes on a ferry was different on the inside and the outside of the hull? Something to do with keeping evverything watertight? Have I just made that up?
You probably are right. I drew this two months ago in a delirium so whether it is right or wrong is in the lap of the gods. Yuri only comments to point out little errors, I assume they’ll eventually form the basis of his court case against me.
That statement is a big error.
Anyway, sometimes those errors look like there’s some joke or message in them. Hope nothing fell to ruin because of me asking.
It’s very shameful to misspell someone’s name. Please have your lawyer add this charge to the pile. The offending window in panel 1 will have mysteriously changed to the correct shape when this story is collected for print.
Yoorie is the new Glenn
Yury, when you order the hamper just tell F&M that it’s for John Allison- they probably have his delivery address memorized by now.
Do you know if your body is compatible with large amounts of vit D3? I used to get sick every 6 months with a sinus infection that rapidly turned into a sore throat, and then migrated into my chest. Twice a year, like clockwork. I blame it on Texas – I’m allergic to everything here.
Then, for a completely unrelated issue, my doctor told me to start taking 5000iu of D3 every day (it was to protect my bones from calcium depletion).
Long story short, I just don’t ever get sick anymore. At all. I didn’t even get Covid, and everyone else around me did. I’ve been taking it since 2017, so if it was going to do something bad to me, I think it would have happened by now.
I recommend it to everyone I meet.
Strangely I was told to do the same in January 2020 – with the same effect. This was my first cold since then. I did get Covid a couple of times.
Don’t assume that what worked for you will work for everyone.
A stitch in time saves nine.
A penny saved is a penny earned.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
For what it’s worth, this page came out great. Just look at Lottie’s face in every single panel she’s in.
Huh. I would have guessed seasickness, not the flu.
I didn’t have influenza, let’s not confuse respiratory illnesses. There will be no brave soldiering on with flu.
Duly noted.
I hardly dare to and sorry for the objectification(?), still, here I go: Their legs. The last panel shows Lottie’s and Claire’s legs side-by-side and it is a sight to admire: Claire’s legs are slim while Lottie’s legs are remarkably well-defined. The first panel shows that Claire isn’t lacking leg muscles at all but (at least in comparison) Lottie’s legs look like she’s working out with them.
Since this is very consistent throughout the whole page (well, 2 panels) but I still didn’t notice it earlier, I wonder: Was this done intentionally, is it attributed to sickness, or did it happen by chance? (If I had to bet, I’d put my money on the first option.)
In Solver, Lottie has a robust physicality (developed while hefting sacks of beans with Fizz at the coffee roastery in Tackleford) whereas Claire is more slight, as she’s been since her very first appearances in Bad Machinery. I try to always draw them that way though I’m not history’s most consistent artist.
(Since I started Solver, I’ve done dozens of life drawing sessions, which have made me draw slightly differently, I think, as time goes on.)
Thanks! I love such details.
“Pay attention when I’m talkin’ to yuh, son! Ah say, ah say, ah say the mission has beGUHN!”
Not that Foghorn!
Having read the advanced PDF, I just want to say that Claire is always a style icon, but I was very envious of her look on the ferry. So chic!
The sound effects have quite a presence, it’s like I’m there!
I’ve been getting over cold and frankly, it’s a miracle I got anything done the past couple days. So, John, I admire your tenacity to keep drawing whilst feeling very ill.
This is a lovely page! Maybe you should contract a disease every time you sit down to draw. Might I recommend Beriberi? Or Dengue Fever?