Yeah? YEAH? (Wobbly Head pt 1 concludes)
Shauna Wickle! The most reliable friend of all!!
—
That’s the end of part one. Part two doesn’t start until January 1st, because I didn’t want to split it with my traditional Christmas break, which falls awkwardly this year. If comics were running as usual, there would be five more before I took a week off. I’m writing this at the end of October, and I don’t know what will fill the gap. I’m sure there will be something, but as I type, it is as much of a mystery to me as it is to you. See you… on Wednesday?
That first panel with the sunglasses reflection is awesome!
Thank God Lottie has dropped the accent…
Those two reflections in the sunglasses are mirror images of each other. That’s not how reflections should work. I. suspect evil is afoot.
I think what we’re seeing there is just the same image from two slightly different angles. Shauna’s face and hair are symmetrical enough that the images come out looking as if they mirror each other.
Agreed. Plus, in general, I think the composition of panel 1 is just really lovely as a standalone artwork, and the symmetry plays a big part in that. Shauna’s face looks like a mirror image of itself because that is a normal property of human faces. Our face are mostly symmetrical.
If Shauna had instead been (say) an air-breathing, anthropomoric flounder, THEN it would be highly suspicious.
Three hampers.
The bill just goes up and up and up
Oh, so that was Lottie all along! It was hard to tell. 😛
It’s been too long since the Lottie/Shauna Team Supreme last worked together. Here’s hoping it lasts!
A much better “team” than with boy-band boy.
Shauna slots well into the fighter slot of any party. You don’t often see a strength/intelligence roll like hers!
Kudos to whoever stumped up and provided John A with the £6000 Fortnum & Mason hamper of his dreams. I assume that he was eating cognac butter with a spoon straight from the jar as he posted today’s strip.
It’s such a big hamper!!
Apart from the 7 bottles of wine and the bottle of cognac, it has 3 wicker baskets in it!
I guess that’s a bit like a super-yacht having a launch and a couple of jet-boats onboard…
I’m guessing because I don’t have that sort of money to spend on super-yachts or hampers. In fact £6000 is about as much as I’ll pay for a car!
What a beautiful surprise! A reunion between Shauna and Lottie is an amazing way to end this first part. Shauna is the only one that can hold her while she’s collapsing for the fear. This duo can win against everything!
Shauna!!!!!!!!!
Lottie is undergoing the wrong kind of pixilation.
… Is there a right kind?
Nah. She’s just setting her mind on “0” for a bit, to give herself a much needed break, I think. We all sometimes need to reset when we’re going through particularly bad times.
Maybe the doppelganger is The Child from Scary Go Round, all grown up.
It is also possible that she is the Uh-Oh Baby from Cul de Sac, all grown up.
Huzzah! Shauna!
Yeah, these were the safest hands I could think of for Lottie to flee to, or at least the safest ones I could think of her thinking of. She has, after all, had a recent reminder of the comforting sensation of entering a danger zone with a rock-hard fighter at her side.
All four mystery girls in one story! You spoil us, Mr Allison.
Now all we need is to bring all the Mystery Boys back into the fold too!
We got Jack in the last story, with bonus Young Shelley. Though I think the circumstances probably leave him unavailable for this case.
Sauna! Yay! The love and comfort in P3 is only gorgeous.
*Shauna (oops)
The Case of Charlotte Sometimes, for us cureheads.
There was (is?) also a band called Charlotte Sometimes! I liked their album Waves and the Both of Us back in the day
You still left out the ‘x’. No, I also don’t know where it’s supposed to go.
Good god, Holiday Surprise was TWO YEARS ago?! Not possible!
Shauna name checks Good Charlotte, and in the same panel almost name checks The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Huzzah!! The Dream Team Reunited!!
I’m so impressed that it’s taken so many years to make a Good Charlotte reference
Nothing like a good ol’ John Denver reference to make those of us of a certain age feel even older.
SHAUNAAAAASAA!!!!!!!!!!! YESSS!!!!
I can die happy now.
Hold the phone! Didn’t we hear (in Circus Windows, perhaps?) that Xhauna’x using an X these days? Thought without knowing how.
Xana?
Sxauna?
Shaunax?
I thought Mildred made that up. You know what she’s like.
Mildred made that up. You know what she’s like.
Shaunaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa my goat
I read this ahead on the patreon, but i was so shocked to see SHAUNA’S BACKKKKKK. I didn’t expect her to return this soon especially with a mystery dark horse mini in the works. But if anyone can help solve this it’s her. She’s already helping by giving us a better alternative to Evillottie. Bad Charlotte it is.
Still a massive headspinning cliffhanger as we don’t know WHO Bad Charlotte is or what she’ll do to draw Lottie out. I mean if she’s clever enough to avoid detection till playing her hand, she’s smart enough to realize “I can hurt lottie’s family to draw her out”. Her extended family seems safe: Esther is in limbo, Mildred just saw her and is a touch too experinced at this stuff to fall for obvious bait, but I could see Bad Charlotte luring lottie’s mum, sister or shelley over. I thought hs’ed have to do a kidnapping or something but she’s doing her dark deeds on social media. I suspect while part of her endgame is ruining lottie’s career going after her family could be the real goal. Either way this exciting second season of solver has me on pins and needles and we’ll see how it plays out in the new year. I also hope for print copies of season 1 to reach us in the new year. For now let’s find out what hollday harlequnade is
Yay!!! Shauna!!! Love the new look.
Only tangentally related and putting it in a second post but i’ve mostly completed my collection of giant days! I still need to get the early admission collection but have everything else and have re-read the whole deal. Excellent stuff. Hope we get a serial some day following some of these guys again as i’m curious where they’ve landed between when the series ended and present day of the allison verse.
Coming out of my second reading I love the series even more. It was already an all time faviorite but reading it in a big pile allowed me to see a lot of the setups sprinkled throughout, especially in years 2 and 3 where John had a clearer idea of where the rest of the series was going. Nina showed up way earlier than I remembered, Esther’s dread about her future that’s the backbone of her final character arc (for now) starts to set in early in late year 2. As the series goes you can see John evolve from mildly writing by the set of his pants ot having some clear ideas of where the various plot threads go. Neither style is bad but it’s engaging to see. Every piece fits in in some way and by the end the story feels complete.. evne if I badly want to see these guys again. And also teh Esther/Ed/Nina throuple we deserve. I just shipped Ed and Esther but not only is nina great her whole “If you don’t date her I will” sounds less like an empty threat and more like a promise. Or maybe I read too much into it.
As one last note having finally read the Australian Issue I also wouldn’t mind a nina (and co) spinoff set there at some point. Even in just a one shot John built up a lovely strange little town. Also told me the superb parrot exists.
Still with the super high top sneakers
Shauna! So soon after seeing Jack! What a treat. As a fellow glasses-wearing blonde I’ve always had a soft spot for her in a sort of basal tribal way.
I wonder if this is false Charlotte. It would be a twist bordering on a cheat, but…
The False Charlotte Shall Make the True Charlotte Disappear
The Case of the Charlotte Ruse
First Mildred, now Shauna calls Lottie a “comely shortarse”. Can the cover of Comely Shortarse magazine be far off?
My feeling is this is what Mildred and Shauna have called Lottie and Claire to one another, behind closed doors, for some time.
“… and a new one from the Comely Shortarses, coming up after the 6 Music news.”
I did suspect it might be a running joke we’d been let in on at a rather late stage.
Their third Peel Session is absolutely legendary
Still got it on tape somewhere.
Until panel 3, I was wondering what in the world happened to Shauna’s eyebrows.
Now I’m wondering what in the world a Harlequinade is.
Eager to find out!
You’d be better off with a dictionary than by trying to divine the meaning of the word from what is to come.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequinade
Four parts sugar water, one part freshly-squeezed harlequin juice.
Do we know what Shauna has been doing all this time? I think she might be an influencer.
Apart from baking cakes on TV and solving associated crime? I think she’s been a student, presumably at the University of Glasgow.
Brooooo, best early Christmas gift is Lottie and Shauna reunited!
Good Charlotte’s Wikipedia page entirely doesn’t mention the most astonishing thing about them, which is that the unpreprocessing twins at the centre of the band are married to Nicole Richie and Cameron Diaz!