Quick Facts
Biography
John Allison (born 1976) is a writer and artist of comics and webcomics, based in Letchworth Garden City.
He began his career with the webcomics Bobbins (1998–2002, 2014-present), Scary Go Round (2002–2009) and Bad Machinery (2009–present). Allison described Scary Go Round as "a comic that I've been making since 2002. It started off as a comic about barmaids Tessa and Rachel, then it became more about Shelley Winters and her bizarre escapades. In recent times it is kind of a split between the Shelley Show and Tackleford Grammar School. It's always evolving."On 11 September 2009 he concluded Scary Go Round and on 21 September 2009 began the new strip Bad Machinery, focusing on several of those grammar school children, now teenage detectives.
In 2013, Allison pitched a spin-off from Scary Go Round, Giant Days, to Boom! Box, a newly formed imprint of Boom! Studios for established artists outside the comics industry. The series follows three young women—Esther de Groot, Susan Ptolemy and Daisy Wooton—who share a hall of residence at the University of Sheffield. The series began as a six-issue limited run, and was then picked up as an ongoing series. In 2016, Giant Days was nominated for two Eisner Awards and four Harvey Awards; in 2019, it won two Eisner Awards, for Best Continuing Series and Best Humor Publication. It concluded later that year with a special over-sized issue.
The success of Giant Days led to further work with independent presses. Allison went on to write the series By Night for Boom! Studios, and is now writing and drawing Steeple for Dark Horse Comics.
Works
Comics
- Bobbins (1998-2002, 2014-present)
- Scary Go Round (2002-2009)
- Bad Machinery (2009-present)
- Giant Days (2011, 2015–2019)
- By Night (2019–present)
- Steeple (2019–present)
- Wicked Things (2020–present)