We read books!
Spare a thought for poor lovelorn Brian in panel one. I don’t think his insides are ever going to be the same again.
Spare a thought for poor lovelorn Brian in panel one. I don’t think his insides are ever going to be the same again.
Brian is the star of the play Love’s Meat Sweats Lost.
Soon to be a major motion picture, brought to you in breathtaking Smell-O-Vision!
Really, have Brian’s insides ever been the same since he drank half a gallon of premium vape oils?
I see you inspired today’s new story.
I, too, made the mountainous trek back to this page to see if I’d remembered correctly.
What a glorious tomorrow! New Steeple everywhere!!!!!
Must get a copy of Orgy Tips.
Love the Grote fashion sense, and the look on the face of the patterned sweater wearing bookseller. Curly haired bookseller is reminding me of someone but I cannot think who. It may be a cross between Monty Don and a young Jeremy Clarkson.
I was already loving Lottie’s outfit, and the lining of the coat takes it to a whole new place!
How can she possibly afford those shoes?
If Christian Louboutin shoes touch a Satanist, does he burst into flames?
They’re knock-offs. See https://badmachinery.com/comic/john-please/#comment-372
I forgot about that. Thank you.
I like how you discretely hid the last two digits of the year on the poster. When a story that’s meant to take place in the present spells out a specific year, it make it feel a little less relevant after a few years go by. Or maybe that’s just me.
Clearly the story takes place in the year 20xx – contemporary with the Mega Man
Do we get a meeting between werewolf and chibi Vampirella? Looks imminent.
It’s amazing how the Church of Satan in Tredregyn is so well known and involved with the cultural/every day life of the city that no one seems to think they could be involved in such an awful crime! Lottie needs to meet the church’s adept. Luckŕy Brian is just out of the bookshop.
typo:
duplication of the word “for”
panel 3
Great comic as always, I love steeple and would option it for a movie or tv show if I hadn’t quit my lucrative job as a hollywood power player to pursue my dream of commenting on blogs.
I’ll get this fixed (also spotted a stray “Saturday” which should have been a Friday on the poster).
Ain’t it great to have a legion of proofreaders?
Alas for Brian, I think the other lycanthropes are going to get him in the troub.
Tredregyn is what you get from this statement: “well he may be evil but at least he’s nice.”
Lottie’s getting some real “Wicker Man” folk horror vibes from Tredregyn so far justified or only partially justified. The main bookstore owner’s 70s era ‘fro isn’t doing the town any favors either.
I love that Brian has a Fort Boyard crew jacket. That is all.
Until I googled it, I assumed that Fort Boyard was an obscure 1970s British metal band.
The intended effect!
I was going to say the same. But obviously, you beat me to it.
Just a week and a half until the night of the unholy canticle! Great times for all involved, I’m sure.
Speaking of word duplication, I seem to have duplicated a “the” in there…
の_の
Can’t wait to see what Billie and Brian have prepared. It looks like something they planned together!
Loving the convention of having someone from outside the narrative world of Steeple come in and draw attention to all the weirdness that is just normally part of the atmosphere. I imagine Lottie won’t have much of a problem with the idea of the monsters that lurk on the outskirts of Tredregyn, but it’s fun to see her unnerved by all the Satanism.
In his newsletter John talked about wondering whether to run this cross-over, or to just continue with a normal Steeple story, but this seems like the perfect time to have Lottie and Shelly come in. Seeing these more light-hearted characters pulled into the somehwat murkier world of Steeple, just as we were starting to feel comfortable and at ease with it, serves to recalibrate our sense of what makes Tredregyn … unique. Well-played!
The newsletter?! I thought they’d ended. I haven’t had one since November 29th.
I am an outcast…
I’d forgotten about them, but I haven’t had one since 29 October (Dots Everywhere, the end of Secret Sentai). When I saw this I started to think they’d been blackholed somewhere along the line, as they’re not in my spam folder.
Indeed. October is what I meant.
There hasn’t been one for a long time.
Should we start our own and send it to you, John?
Wow who knew that Brian worked on Fort Boyard. What a detail
Come visit quaint Tredregyn and its friendly neighborhood Satanists!
(Though that’s a pretty accurate description of Billie, actually…)
I keep getting a Natasha Lyonne Russian Doll vibe from Lottie in this story.
Is Lottie still pulling her luggage around or does she have very long fingers on one hand in the last panel?
Well, she didn’t check into her room at the Vic, did she?
Maybe she thinks she can solve this one in time to catch the 7:30 back to London?
She doesn’t live in or near London — at least as I understand Tacklefordian geography.
There’s no direct train from Cornwall to Tackleford, I reckon.
Change at Bristol, no doubt.
Surely Plymouth has much more local service to Cornwall and a reasonable number of CrossCountry departures to Yorkshire?
Sounds like Lord Peter Wimsey puzzling out a train schedule after seeing a disliked artist bonked-off by a Scottish stream!
Watson, your Bradshaw, if you please.
Maybe the bag contains supplies or equipment to be used in the investigation?
All this was foreshadowed in Scary Go Round vol 2 “Shopgirl”
Amy and Shelley are on the roof of the department store on Christmas Eve, tied up by the cannabilistic janitor and his wife:
“Mrs Ivan and I are from a little village in Cornwall you’ve probably never heard of. We do things *different* there”.
Actually, that would indeed be pretty amazing if the Ivans are from Tredregyn. What a legendary callback.
Maybe, but with all the tie-ins it might be considered amazing if they were from anywhere else.