Emeritus Position (HOLIDAY SURPRISE 2022 CONCLUDES)
That’s it for the Holiday Surprise. You’ll see Shauna again in 2023: this I am pretty sure of. No comics next week, but the next story, the two-part “Boys Like Fun”, begins on January 2nd. Thank you for reading this year, and tolerating my occasional enforced breaks. Let’s hope for smoother seas ahead. Merry Christmas, everyone.
Oh!! My heart!!
Thank you so much for this.
This reunion–and the prospect of more Grote-Wickle times–is the reason for the season!!! <3 <3 <3
Best Christmas present ever.
Ah, Shauna, like my mom, went into Urban Planning.
Aww, thanks for the reunion, John. Love them.
Why am I crying in the club right now
Architecture! It was either that or death metal lyrics writing. Thanks for this!
Let’s hope she’s still writing death metal. Maybe she’s even in a band with some other future architects. The Brutalist Structure.
They only do metal covers of songs by Architecture in Helsinki or off of OMD’s Architecture and Morality
Or Bruce Cockburn’s “Fascist Architecture” 😆
And Megadeth’s “Architecture of Destruction”.
I mean, hopefully some screamo versions of songs off ofSongs About Buildings And Food would be acceptable.
Shauna doesn’t need to do covers. She writes her own songs.
So bury me in sulphur
Atomic number 16
Boiling point 717.8 Kelvinnnnn
Guest star appearance from architecture historian Jonathan Meades!
I totally forgot about the death metal. The only thing I remember about Shauna’s musical taste is her dislike for the Velvet underground. I hope she grew out of it, she is otherwise perfect.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Aw, my heart grew two sizes! Thanks for this little Christmas Miracle story.
Happy holidays all.
A lovely tale of friends in a train station! (which may be the opposite of strangers on a train)
Architectural Studies in Glasgow. That should make her mum proud.
Merry Christmas to you and thanks for this sweet story/surprise. It’s nice to see Shauna is still following her architectural dream♡. Next year will be an amazing year.
“Emeritus position” is such a bittersweet little turn. Elegantly done, Mr. Allison. (And you’ve prompted me to go send my best friend, emeritus a holiday greeting.)
Thank you for this little story.
The two parter starting in January is a Solver story, right? At least from what I gathered in a recent Patreon message. Are you planning to go back to the Steeple cast next year?
I’m still waiting to find out the fate of the Beatles in Destroy History.
I posted the whole 32-page rough for NEMS pt 2 on Patreon, it was, alas, undrawable (by me at least)…
It’s nice, once in a while, to have a story where there are no big mysteries and nothing is in peril. A refreshing little rest.
Bravo, sir.
And a Merry Xmas to you, too.
A very brief meeting between long lost friends; low on drama but tons of heart. Thank you John for this lovely holiday treat and for reuniting Lottie and Shauna even if just for a little while, though this won’t be the last we see of them together.
I didn’t know how much I needed this. Thank you John, and Merry Christmas.
Having read, loved, and purchases your comics for well over a decade, I’ve only come to love your characters and storytelling more, John. Thanks so much for this heartfelt interstitial story about two lifelong friends – I can’t think of a better way to cap a year of excellent stories. I’ll admit, I’ve worried over Lottie and Shauna for a while, and this resolution was a joyous relief. It’s a testament to your talent that I’ve become so invested in the friendship of two fictional characters — and been reminded to call up my own friend emeritii to remind them how much they mean to me.
Anyway, enough of my nattering. Get some well-earned rest. Keep up the good work. Can’t wait to see what you do next.
this lovely run of strips + the reflective, stock-taking flavour of the winter holiday time + being 30 or 40 years old (prime reflecting + stock-taking years) had moved me to comment essentially exactly this, but you’ve already said it so completely and so well so i’ll just agree and add my own thanks to John for the years of wonderful art.
*purchased
bloody typos always hiding until after the damned comment is up
They mutate after psoting.
Lovely. Have a great Christmas, John.
I had to look up Emeritus Position and now I’m crying even harder.
Thank you, John and have a lovely Christmas and New Year.
I initially read that as, “No comic begins next week” and was trying to figure out how to parse it when I realised I had completely misread it.
Thank you, John. For another year of the best Web Comic, bar none.
Your hundreds of hours of work are truly appreciated!
Best wishes for continued success in all your on-line, and hard copy projects, too.
And also, to you, in your personal life. You’ve made mine better, and I wish you the same, in return.
Merry Christmas to you, and your loved ones. And a Happy New Year!
Tres satisfaction. Truly a pleasant vignette closing the loop on what was an epic tragedy when they were forced to (unknowingly) end their powerful friendship to help protect others.
I know John has said that it’s a personal rule of his to not take the comic title from the last panel. I suppose one could argue that, as the title of the comic isn’t ‘FIN’, this rule has been obeyed today. But personally I’d rather think that, this one time, he’s made an exception.
Nah, this one’s fin(e). There’s a clear instance of rule-breaking in the theatre of pain. Evidently that’s the kind of mayhem a rampaging stag can bring.
😭
Thank you John and Happy Christmas to you all.
Thank you SO much John for another wonderful year of fabulous stories. This was the coup de grace. May you enjoy your well deserved rest and have all the fun you wish for over the holidays.
Eagerly awaiting next year’s tales. More power to your elbow!
Sláinte!
Merry Christmas, Captain Allison.
Brilliant work, as always. All the best to you and yours, Mr. Allison!
A short story, but a nice and heartwarming one!
Merry Christmas, John Allison!
Merry Christmas, John — and happy holidays to everyone here!
Merry Christmas, John. And Merry/Happy Whatever Holidays everyone here celebrates to everyone here. And Season’s Greetings to all.
Oh, I hope for a future Glasgow episode! Where is Shauna studying, though, the neo-Gothic wonder that is Glasgow Uni, or the brutalist, pragmatic Strathclyde Uni?
Happy Christmas one and all! And thanks for everything this year John, here’s to the next one. Got a second-hand copy of ‘Enormous Changes at the Last Minute’ in my stocking today, based on one of your characters’ recommendation – complete with annotations from a mystery previous owner, excellent.
Thank you for making a rad comic.
I’ve been an avid reader of yours since the early scary go round days, and as far as breaks are concerned you’ve earned them. I can’t think of a web comic that could compete with your schedule for volume and reliability. All the best to you, merry holidays and happy new year.
You work way too hard for us, John. Merry belated Christmas and I can’t wait to see what you have for us in 2023.
Thank you John, for another year of human insight accompanied by wry chuckles and the occasional wild guffaw. You make all our days brighter!
Did we ever see Shauna in 2023?
Yes, in Great British Bump-Off from Dark Horse. 88 pages of Shauna!