So I don’t forget where I’m from
Shauna’s anchor tattoos are egregiously big, and another holiday surprise (if you will). Shauna previously balked at photorealistic tats (chiefly of her own face) but as a protege of Amy Chilton, she probably came round to the idea of letting someone draw all over you.
Glad to see that Amy’s example influenced Shauna so well, those tats are gorgeous! I agree with Shauna, it’s really weird that Lottie avoided investigating about who framed her. I know, that story sent her into a crisis for months and there’s probably still a trauma. But the Lottie that Shauna remembers would never stop. Maybe Shauna will help her?
That storyline was so anticlimactic. Even the phone thief escaped!
Perhaps it was anticlimactic because it was cancelled after six issues…
Wait, it was canceled? I thought it just came to an end?
Someone cancelled a John Allison story?
Hold my pint.
This person will be found
That is a shame, I thought it was first in a series of mini-series.
Time to pay the editor a visit and make him an offer he can´t refuse.
I think John has/had plans for the rest of that story but was unfortunately unable to continue them in Solver due to funding/contract issues. I hope he will get to complete the story one day… but maybe that’s what he’s doing now?
Sorry, Wicked Things, not Solver.
Alas not much is resolved here… except the mysteries of friendship.
There are only three more pages to this story, so I doubt “Holiday Surprise” will include that resolution. On the other hand, John is certainly letting us know here that he hasn’t forgotten that that lack of resolution is hanging over us…
Crikey. Shauna’s Disapproving Glare packs even more of a wallop than her punch!
Shauna knows how to rock.
I’m waiting for either the chair to collapse or the barman to come over and ask Shauna nicely to stop damaging the furniture.
It IS a tank top!
(I was wondering whether it was that or a sweater on Wednesday)
Lesser spotted sleeveless shirt and tie, too. Shauna seems so… cool
Also, this is another of those pages where I just love every single facial expression and gesture.
Jack has always thought Shauna was cool.
Never change.
No, it’s Just Shauna and Lottie. Wednesday is Not Appearing In This Comic.
She’s got her own show now. Netflix. Not bad.
She’s doing mysteries, now. Lottie might get jelly.
The show kind of weirds me out, because it’s set in Jericho, Vermont, which is a real town that I actually drive through regularly. But the Jericho in the show is, like, the Hollywood idea of what small-town New England is like… and it’s way bigger than the actual Jericho. I mean, they have a stop light on the show. They shot it in Eastern Europe, where it’s surrounded by a whole lot of Obviously Not Vermont. I mean, Mount Mansfield should be looming in the background much of the time, but the horizon is very conspicuously flat.
(Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry was actually shot in Vermont, and I can pin down within a couple miles where by the perspective on Mansfield in the background of some of the shots.)
There’s also this whole weird Pilgrim thing, which is really more Massachusetts than famously areligious Vermont.
“You know what she’s like” — perfect.
Also also, I like that Shauna knows roughly what’s been going on in Lottie’s life, like you do with an old friend you’ve lost touch with.
Also, John, I’m curious how you went about aging Shauna — visually, mannerisms, etc. — though maybe that’s a better subject for a Patreon Q&A.
I’ve often admired that about BadMachinery, how they all appropriately age over the years. That’s is no small feat for an artist.
It’s okay, Lottie. I’m pretty sure that at most only maybe 15% or so of the terrifying anger visible in Shana’s face in that last panel is directed at you. The rest is directed at the person who framed you. Who should be absolutely terrified right now.
Shauna looks ready to find that person and say “Jack Hughes!”
That’s him. Jack Hughes. The man who framed Lottie. He was fed up with being called out all the time and plotted a diabolical revenge.
Shauna is the only person who can get Lottie to make that face.
Love Shauna’s fashion aesthetic, tats and buff arms here! I have a feeling she’s going to help fill a gap (not just her framing) that Lottie’s left empty these last few years.
I miss Mildred. She’s my spirit animal.
(This week)
I’m a fan of Mildred too. She’s a renegade and car thief. Remember Jack telling her “I think you might be a dangerous nutter!” and she answers “AND?”
Now I find myself concerned about Shauna’s mum and stepdad. They were lovely, weren’t they? I hope they’re doing well.
I hope her brother is keeping out of the nick too
There is something remarkable about a person who got *that* on their arm, saw it, and went, “I’ll take another just like it on the other side.”
The ring on that anchor is so big it might almost be read as an androgyne symbol.
I thought that, as well. Perhaps that was Shauna’s intention?
I just drew it wrong, looked at it, and couldn’t be bothered to change it. It’s just an anchor. It’s nautical. You’ll get the chance to see it drawn right next year.
If I understand you correctly, that means… more Shauna is coming our way! Yay!
But wouldn’t that work? I noticed that too but it made sense because I thought Shauna was possibly a they now? Wasn’t there a hint at that at some point? Or did I completely misread something.
People were reading into what Mildred says in the third panel at the link below (rejecting gender norms” doesn’t necessarily mean changing her pronoun). And note that, as Shauna points out on the current page, Mildred’s not the most reliable source. Note also that Mildred refers to her as “she” in that panel, and that John refers to her as “she” in his note/summary/whatever to this very page.
https://badmachinery.com/comic/should-i-reply/
Thank you for Doing The Work, as they say on No More Jockeys. That certainly sounds like a hint from John and he knows well how us lot below the line like to latch onto those… I’m sure it will be permalinked for future such discussions if Shauna doesn’t appear within the first 6-8 weeks of the new year.
I kind of got the impression that Shauna may well have been having her fun with gender’s vagaries (and I suppose massive anchor tatts aren’t generally considered particularly feminine) the X thing was a bit of a joke from Mildred, and any pronoun adjustments were reader supposition/speculation.
Thanks!
As this page implies, that was Mildred being puckish
That’s what you get for having really boring parents!
Panel six: Shauna’s feeling bad for not being there for Lottie. #friendshipmysteries
Anchor tattoos + tie & vest –> Extremely stylish combo, Shauna!
Sailor Wickle action figure when?
(I kid, I kid)
Sounds like Shauna should perhaps take out her nautically-themed rage on the executive staff at B**m Comics.
I suppose Shauna graduated to wearing contact lenses?
She must have – those eyes are wrecked, after all.
Shauna being well butch ^__^