Quite a surprise, I don’t mind saying
Here we reprise events that took place in Steeple volume 1, still available from Dark Horse through the usual channels.
As everyone rightly knows, today is both my birthday and the anniversary of the first appearance of Desmond Fishman in 2006, which I count as his birthday too.
Those bitches.
I .knew. there were drawbacks to using the fancy Dyson vacuums.
I think the real lesson here is to only have your Dyson vacuum cleaner repaired at a qualified service center, preferably one that isn’t witchcraft-based.
I have to admit. Ludmilla and Clotilde are so bad that I start to really like them. They seem so proud to have made Billie switch side and clever enough to not say that to her. At least for now. Beautiful Billie centred composition.
They seem slightly proud and maybe slightly chagrined, as well.
And yes, the page design and art is great!
Chagrined isn’t a word I’d use – Clo’s outright gloating!
Yes. These two are shameless and one is more shameless than the other. As you will discover.
Could be wrong, but Lud appears to be about 50% more thuggish than Clo, just based on the relatively stupid expressions she routinely makes when important things are being said…
The are definitely giving Tom a run for his money for the title of Most Despicable Character in the Steeple Universe.
I still think Bob Warren has them all beat.
Pretty much, though Tom is catching up again now that he’s keeping Rev. Penrose’s long lost friend hostage. I’d rank Lud and Clo currently just below the owner of Pixie Garage.
OK, granted. Bob Warren is a strong candidate. If Bob, Tom, Ludmilla and Clotilde,ever decided to join forces, all would be lost. (not that this is likely)
likely betray each other before anything significant was gained, though…
I get the impression that L. and C. are only outwardly acting like they are the best of friends, while each of them is secretly waiting for an opportunity to backstab the other. In all these years, neither has ever found that opportunity, because neither would dare to drop their guard for even a second.
Tom? Not hardly. Old fashioned bespoke sins, mostly self limiting. Maggie’s Dad? Now there’s true evil
-Jolly John
– Joltin’ Johnny A
Mrs. Clovis hasn’t even been gone 12 hours and we already have a pair of witches warping the weave of fate. At this rate, by the time she comes back from her week in Tenerife Mrs. Clovis won’t have to worry about the state of the cottage, half of the West Country will be floating a thousand feet above the North Sea.
Don’t threaten the hipster witches with a good time!
Beelzebub, brother of Beelzesis. The Wonder Twins.
I hope he remembers to wipe the soot off his hooves before going home to Beelzemum and Beelzepop.
I have no idea how one becomes brilliant enough to compose a comic page like this. How do you even start working on a page flow this dense and layered?
Oh it’s quite easy. Start drawing comics twenty years ago, and then keep getting better. Easy peasy.
Oh is that all then? I’ll nick one of Tim’s spare Time Teapots right away.
Yes, the best time to start doing webcomics is 25 years ago.
The second-best time of course, is right now.
Is that right? My memory is fuzzy, but didn’t someone tell someone named Alice “Webcomics yesterday, webcomics tomorrow, but NEVER webcomics today!”? If memory serves… 😉
It’s a work of art, but don’t feel overwhelmed! I imagine it went something like this: start with Billie speaking with panels behind her, and once the basic contents of each panel are figured out, go back and work out what bit of each panel can be used as bleed.
Definitely two or three times the effort of a basic page, but that’s where the twenty years of experience pays off.
Thus spake you.
Older issues of Steeple are also available for borrowing on the Hoopla website, if you’re an American with a library card.
Quite a surprise, indeed! Not every “Daily Event” Bingo Card contains an “Infernal Lord Manifests” space.
Happy Birthday!
What I ask is this – has anyone ever seen John and Desmond in the same room at the same time?
Well, I’m afraid we have, in at least one story, an image from which is John’s avatar.
Happy Birthday John!
So the vacuum cleaner was hexed and so Billie is also hexed! Such a tale we weave!
Happy birthday John!
Happy Birthday! To you and Desmond.
Happy birthday! 🎂
Are those two witches the same ones who half cured Brian of his Weirwolfism I wonder?
Yes!
The idea of pop-up spell shops is really interesting. I can imagine a woman going there and asking “Can you fix my husband, he’s really lazy”. But the thing with Ludmilla and Clotilde is that their spells are imperfect or at best mischievous. So that lady who wanted her lazy husband fixed may get more than she bargained for – like the sorcerers apprentice. In fact Ludmilla and Clotilde might become victims of their own spells.
Happy Birthday!!!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to you and Margaret Dumont (who got all the jokes)!
It’s funny how resistant people are to the idea that Margaret Dumont got the jokes. I think it’s a testament to her skill as a straight man.
Arguably the greatest in movie history.
I’ve read Groucho’s autobiography & a collection of his letters. He claims she didn’t get the jokes in both. Are you saying he is an unreliable narrator?
Interesting that Billie thinks everything she believed in was backwards yet still behaves like she’s with the other side. If she really believed that everything was backwards, seems like she’d wholeheartedly embrace evil…
Also, happy birthday, John!
Why? Do you think people’s personalities are entirely based on their beliefs?
Not entirely, no; however, I do think that if Billie truly believed that evil was the way to go, she’d behave accordingly. She doesn’t.
Do what thou wilt != Do evil in spite of your unquenchable benevolence
I dunno, recruiting people to evil with niceness is pretty diabolical.
Virtual cake for John and Desmond!
Happy birthday John and Des!
Happy birthday Mr. Allison. I’m glad you were born
No way! You and my wife have the same birthday. Does Billie’s dress exist in this world? I’d love to get one for her.
“her” = my wife, not Billie
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DESMOND!!!!!!!!!! CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOUR NEXT ADVENTURE!!!!!!!!
Also, happy birthday to you too, John
Happy Birthday to you and Desmond, wherever he may be lurking!
He’s lurking where he’s usually lurking- the Patreon banner.
I see that the Church of Satan believes in full immersion baptism.
But you go into the font wearing your street clothes.
I suspect it’s more of a “it works the way Tom decides it works at the moment” sort of thing.
Possibly he thought Billie might need to ease into the casual nudity thing.
Because Tom catches fire if he touches Billie’s skin!
I HATE when that happens!
When what happens? When you catch on fire, or when Tom touches you?
Tom probably wanted to get Billie onto the team before she had second thoughts.
Happy Birthday John! Thank you, as always, for all the excellent stories.
Happy Birthday John! And many, many others!
Happy belated birthday to one of the finest cartoonists living!
I somehow missed both this page and Mr. Allison’s birthday, so a belated happy birthday to you, sir.