Bad Machinery Vol. 1

Born in a hidden village deep within the British Alps, John Allison came into this world a respectable baby with style and taste. Having been exposed to American comics at an early age, he spent decades honing his keen mind and his massive body in order to burn out this colonial cultural infection. One of the longest continuously publishing independent web-based cartoonists, John has plied his trade since the late nineties moving from Bobbins to Scary Go Round to Bad Machinery, developing the deeply weird world of Tackleford long after many of his fellow artists were ground into dust and bones by Time Itself. He has only once shed a single tear, but you only meet Sergio Aragon's for the first time once. John resides in Letchworth Garden City, England, and is known to his fellow villagers only as He Who Has Conquered.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (STARRED) - Allison is a triplethreat: he plots deftly, draws confidently, and writes dead-on adolescentdialogue. Set in a grammar school in a British working-class community, thisfirst book in his Bad Machinery series--originally published as a webcomic--hasthree earnest boys wing against three sharp-tongued girls to solve mysteries.The framing story concerns a Russian owner of a U.K. football (soccer) teamtrying to bully an elderly homeowner to sell her house; as the title hints,supernatural elements surface, too. There's plenty of cynical commentary aboutBritish consumer culture, and the students' sardonic banter provides a constantobbligato. About her mother's boyfriend's Velvet Underground albums, Shaunayawns, "It's nice that you gave some money to people just playing music for thefirst time." Allison's adults are sympathetically drawn, too--even thearchvillain has a human side. A wry glossary "defines" British terms ("Nuffink:The way you say 'nothing' if you were dragged up rather than brought up"), butcan't begin to illuminate the arcane mysteries of the Britishfootball-industrial complex; readers are on their own there. Dark, fast-paced,and riotously funny entertainment. Ages 10-up. (Mar.)