Bad fuel economy (CHRISTMAS SPECIAL begins)
A new story begins, and we’re heading back to a familiar location. Who can say what will happen over the next eight weeks?
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Bad Machinery
New comics by John Allison
A new story begins, and we’re heading back to a familiar location. Who can say what will happen over the next eight weeks?
Comments are closed.
Think of the planet!
Which one? Uranus?
Come on, girls, don’t let some milquetoast nominative determinism win. Give him the full Tackleford! Show him some Mayor Davies!
Tim Jones and Mayor Mayor being referenced in Solver feels like some forbidden crypt has been cracked open.
You could say Mayor Jones had quite the explosive reputation
Is that a Red Robot key fob?
As in Diesel Sweeties Red Robot? I think it is. I choose to believe it is. What else could it be?
I like how DS just stopped and I have no idea whether the guy died or just walked away.
Faffing about here: https://mastodon.social/@rstevens
And here: https://bsky.app/profile/rstevens.bsky.social
He’s still very much alive, he just doesn’t make comics any more. He runs a combined vape shop and dog groomers in western MA called “Scruffs and Puffs”.
I assume that the vape shop in Steeple drew inspiration from this rich vein.
He read the Steeple page with Vape Escape, and quit comics the next day. Sent me an email that said “you showed me the way, Johnny.”
It was R Stevens’ testimonial (along with a well placed hyperlink) that got me started reading Scary Go Round in the first place.
So… we will see him in Questionable Content?
Is that still going?
It is. Mutated to a sort of science fiction comedy.
It always had that science fiction element in the background, it’s just become the foreground.
It’s part of the conspiracy to quietly prepare us for our robot overlords
I find both the comic and the concept of robot overlords very calming
It’s a callback. Red Robot visited Tackleford back during the tenure of Mayor Mayor. It did not go well, either for the Mayor or the city’s buses.
Red Robot also once fought pre-Mayor Tim, or possibly a robot duplicate of him, depending on which account you believe.
Pour one out for Tim. I actually thought his robotic junkyard dog was pretty neat.
240P… All your tourism video are belong to us!
Christmas in North Yorkshire! What a wonderful time to be there. Nothing can possibly go wrong! I believe in this crew.
There is no more magical place for Christmas than Tackleford!!…However that magic can very well be that of the ghost of a wrathful warlock or something to that effect…Oh well, it could be worse, at least they’re not all gling to Tredregyn!!
*Going to Tredregyn!!
It’s spelled “Glenn”
Too bad, going to Takleford on the fire truck would have been legendary and Glenn would have understood everything about the place. I wonder if the mystery surrounding Tim Jones’ death is connected to the expression of anger Lottie displays just by hearing his name.
He has a very bad reputation.
Didn’t Mildred’s dad remember his regime fondly?
Lottie is particularly close to Shelley which might explain her instinctive reaction as well.
Oh, my wife and I have been discussing if we should go anywhere for our autumn holiday in october, and I hadn’t even thought of Tackleford! For shame!
But… but… if they are going away, then the property is not monitored at all times!
I’m sure Dean will be there over Christmas, by choice.
They rent the place, the cameras (and the signs) are presumably set up by the landlord. And yeah, there’s also Dean and maybe other people who have not had any plot relevance or panel presence yet.
https://badmachinery.com/comic/2022-07-11/
What is the DVD on the floor? Kuchak? Koxhak? Kojak vs Dracula? I must know.
I think it’s “Kaschak”, as in Ellyn Kascha, a founder in the field of feminist psychology. I can’t find a publication that matches the image though.
Kolchak, The Night Stalker!! Classic TV supernatural detective show from back in the day yo.
Absolutely correct. Lottie mentions and even waves it around in the penultimate episode of Little Days. https://badmachinery.com/comic/2026-02-25/
By coincidence, this week’s Basic Instructions features Kolchak
https://www.basicinstructions.net/
Must be that time of year… you know, Christmas!
Could somebody remind me how Time Jones actually (probably) died? I seem to have lost track.
I meant Tim Jones, obviously. Though some may call him Time Jones. Or is that his daughter?
“Time Jones” would go hard as the title of an arc to give some closure on the entire Tim/Scout issue. The continuation to Hard Yards!
Maybe we can sort this out over a pot of tea?
Same here! Always liked Tim.
He didn’t die (as far as I can tell from skimming my New Bobbins PDFs) but he did have a very messy life with significant regrets.
He didn’t die “on screen”, but John has stated several times that he did, in fact, die. Whether you consider the author’s out-of-comic statements to be canon or not will vary from person to person.
Note: Tim Jones died on the way back to his home planet.
Tragic. Oh well, you know what they say; the needs of thr many outweigh yadda yadda.
Uh … oh dear. What happened to Tim Jones?
His skeleton exploded, his head caught fire and his legs liquified – all simultaneously.
That’s what happens when you stand too close to an unshielded magnetron: Uneven cooking.
Just another average day at work.
For Tim Jones, anyway.
That didn’t stop him any of the OTHER times it happened, though.
At least now he can meet Natalie
His soul was also destroyed, so no, he can’t.
serves him right for inventing a paperclip
Claire has her sight set on planetary level adventures I see! (Think of the planet) I’m sure we’re getting Marvel level stakes soon
Also I really want to take a vacation to Tackleford someday.
TELL PEOPLE THE TRUTH, JOHN
I DIED AN IRONIC DEATH
He’s with the angles now
Acute or obtuse?
I think they’re all right, but since I only saw four the them, they could be wrecked angles.
My hopes of seeing the return of the Grampus 80 Fire Destroyer, raised and dashed in a single panel. What price fuel economy?
Is Tim the father of Shelly’s baby or did I misremember that particular bit of continuity?
You did not. Together they are the proud parents of Peggy. Or, well, Tim was before he turned himself into a rich, nutritious, well-cooked slurry.
Which presumably means that the sprog is learning to call the Reverend Penrose “dada”.
(But will the presence of Penrose in her life put Scout on a different and less murdery path in life?)
Scout is the daughter of Tim and the blonde flying saucer lady whose name escapes me. She is the half-sister of Tim and Shelley’s daughter Peggy. Penrose’s presence in Scout’s life would be peripheral at best.
Yes, true. I lost track. Though Scout clearly remained close enough to Shelley for the latter to turn up with a cheerful “What have you done NOW?” when Scout was busted for her temporal shenanigans. So I’ll guess that she’ll meet Penrose sometime.
The “blonde flying saucer lady” is Ryan’s little sister Riley.