Peloton

Scary Go Round #7

by John Allison

Collecting all the Scary Go Round comics from November 5th 2007 to September 5th 2008, plus detailed chapter introductions, new illustrations and a sketchbook section with details of SGR stories too terrible to ever print.

Contains: "Traveller", "Chilton Takes Charge", "The Bell", "Winterlude", "The Cove" and "Learn To Read".

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy, Humor, Webcomic, Paranormal

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

John Allison is the author and artist of the British webcomics Scary Go Round and Bad Machinery.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See other authors with similar names.

Reviews

[Matthew Lloyd]

I probably read these comics daily as they were published on Scary-Go-Round-dot-com eighteen years ago, and I haven't reread them since. There's something about John Allison's humour that really appeals to me. In the daily webcomic format, there's some kind of punchline on each page; reading them in bulk means that the overall story, deeply planned (sometimes), can be more thoroughly appreciated. I tend, now, to agree with Allison that his other characters thrived without Shelly Winters, the erstwhile star of Scary Go Round, and it becomes clearer to me how the follow-up series came to include everyone but her. I haven't reread enough of Scary Go Round as a whole recently enough to say how this volume fits in - in terms of quality and comedy - but I enjoyed it very much in isolation (plus my memories of who these people are and what they are doing).

[Ethan Hulbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has an introduction comic drawn by Kate Beaton!!

This is SGR #7 on my chronological readthrough of the Tackleverse.

This one starts off with Shelley Winters vs. Shelby Winner. I love Shelby Winner and I love the friendship that developed from this. "You know, this isn't bad. It's the sort of thing I'd write if I thought electricity was witchcraft." Not to mention more Gibbous Moon!!! And Santa the big green goblin lives on Christmas Island. It's a wonderful job of reporting for Conde Nast.

Next is an Amy-centric period! Amy and Ryan together having fun. It's nice! Amy starts her Bric-A-Brac store. But those evil old church ladies are up to no good again.

It is lovely to have some down-to-earth (relatively - I mean, for SGR) stories again after how insane the last book was (insane in a good way still). And Ryan saves Melanie from the fire! Also Nicolas Sarkozy is there.

And then the story of Nicolas Sarkozy and the giant rabbit, replacing the tradition of the flying bell spewing eggs on its way to Rome. Definitely more down to earth. But it's a really sweet story actually where The Boy goes and meets Elodie again, and we get The Boy's first name!!! And a really touching soft love? story.

Also we meet Carrot for the first time... lol.

"Leave The Bell alone! He saved us from a terrible creature! It skinned and ate the Easter bunny!" "A nation mourns. But not to any great extent." Nicolas Sarkozy comes around for the bell in the end and Elodie and The Boy share a moment. It's very sweet.

And then Winterlude with Shelby in New York City! The first time Shelley has been to America, I believe. Malcolm Gladwell is there!

Then we go back to Hugo and his restaurant, and Esther is going through a pink hair phase. And she has a friendship with Ryan that I never really understood. But Ryan becomes a postman! And then starts uncovering corruption. Of course, the corruption is easily traced back to the 8 foot tall spirit of Blackbeard. And then Gibbous Moon is back!!! And there's some crime and hijackin' and Blackbeard is unmasked, alas. Moon and Ernest go away. :( :( :(

By the end, Shelley is back, and makes friends with Des and has some nice stories. Hooray!

[scarlettraces · Rating 5 out of 5]

scary go round is ALWAYS a good thing