Talking Hat Culture
In December I took several train journeys to the capital, almost all of which were disrupted in one way or another. As a skilled traveller, I knew what to do of course - develop a seething hatred of my fellow passengers, almost all of whom were watching endless short videos on their phones. Ho ho no that is just my littel jok frens; in fact, having been diverted via York, I was suddenly gripped by a ferocious urge to draw, and with no precedent, over an hour I filled two pages of my sketchbook with a truly impenetrable tale that I entitled "Talking Hat Culture". It starts weird and ends baffling. But it is not without merit, and I present it to you here today.
Take pity on the poor woman sitting next to me on the train, I don't think she knew what was happening.
Comments (21)
I love your pencil drawings so much. WHY WOULD YOU STOP THERE, JOHN???!!!
I have never wanted a third page so much in my entire life
The poor woman next to you on the train has blossomed into a John Allison character. She was the first draft in crude flesh. Her job is now done, and she can go to rest. Or she can carry on doing what she was doing: that's fine too.
Incidentally, 2017 is the year a Mario game with a talking hat as the main companion graced store shelves
Give me brimmy or give me breadth, Msr. Warninnnnnncks!
Without my signature hat, I would be a nobody....
Time to go ‘All Hat’ https://joshuahedley.bandcamp.com/album/all-hat
Crikey! Hitchin appears in my "Socials" twice in one week. Must be a sign. Visited once. No visible scars.
I imagine that Warnincks has a large set of complex head calipers.
I implore you to not pursue the underlying meaning of this any further!
There’s a saga in them there hats, I can feel it!
Leopold Q. Warnincks feels like a character worth checking in on in the future. The insouciance with which he sports so many chapeaus is captivating.
HITCHIN!
A "tip of the hat" to my nine years in N. Herts
Maybe you should make a goal of drawings from frustrating rail journeys throughout the world. I wonder what our own SEPTA, the most annoying train system in the world, would generate.
I'll say one thing bout those hats, they certainly look relaxed...
I'll admit I'm slightly disappointed that the hat doesn't talk.
NEMS: 1968 did unreasonably raise expectations on that front.
Sometimes I see someone wearing a really cool hat and think 'wow I should start wearing hats'. Then I see someone wearing one and it makes them look like a complete wazzock and I think no, maybe I won't get into hats
The problem with deciding to wear a hat is that suddenly an entire subsection of society decides to wear the same type of hat and the rest of society immediately decides that that hat is now the mark of the pariah.
Having realised I don't interact enough with this glorious patreon thing, I resolve to do better in 2026, starting now. This comic is tremendous stuff, hilarious and surreal and yet extremely believable. I'd say I hope to see more Hat Culture chronicles or other Talks but I suspect that might require more disrupted journeys and obviously we wouldn't want that.