I have been waiting for this team-up for what seems like years, two characters who just look right when drawn next to each other. This might be the nicest page of Steeple there has ever been. The next page… could be even nicer. The page after that… maybe not so nice.
Author Unknown
Lottie’s origin story is touched upon in a Bad Machinery case – comics that ran nine years ago, so I wouldn’t be surprised if no one remembers them. Two comics, starting here.
Thank you to the incredible Nick Roche (SCARENTHOOD, TRANSFORMERS, SPIDER-MAN: RENEW YOUR VOWS) for this this beautiful cover. Nick’s drawing (and superb colours) made me think of the late, great Richard Sala, so I tried to letter it as he might have done. See you on Monday for the second half of the crossover.
Don’t ask me what a “penny longstand” is, it’s a term I have only ever heard my mother use. It does not appear on Google. My Patreon subscribers in the $3-and-up tiers can read the whole second part of Author Unknown now!
Post-its are a theme through a lot of my comics, my feeling is that Lottie caught the lifelong love of Post-Its from Daisy in Giant Days during her first appearance (issue 35). This is like when JK Rowling says that Hagrid was actually a cheetah man, nowhere in Harry Potter does it say that Hagrid ISN’T a cheetah man etc. You can’t argue with me. I’ve gone mad with power.
Some comics don’t come together easy and it is often those with just a few simple panels that I find hardest. I wrangled this one for hours longer than usual. Balance is everything with only a few elements in play. I think I got there on this occasion.
The complex dynamic at play here may take some time to unpick. But one thing is certain, the next page reveals Reverend Penrose’s SECRET ORIGIN! NOTE: today’s comic features what I believe is the only thought bubble in any of my published work. I made it a very special one.
AKA I WENT TO THE KUBERT SCHOOL FOR A MORNING; TURNS OUT, WAR IS HELL I think this comic features every trick I have ever learned making comics, a shallow toolbox to be sure but I used every chisel on this occasion. I don’t want to diminish anyone’s service in an actual conflict, so as the sharp-eyed will see, this war seems to be between the British armed forces and mercenary soldiers on the Isle Of Man. I think there’s a jungle there. There’s no speed limit on the Isle Of Man, you know.