The Roor Joor
I have been summoned for jury duty. I've moved it to the start of the new year, but while I deliberate in seclusion with my fellow judicial citizens, regular comic publication will be suspended on the site, otherwise at some point two months later I'll have to cut a story in two. Best just to synchronise my pause with actual time out of the studio.
Hopefully it will only be the standard two weeks. During this time I have three options: publish nothing, run re-runs, or use my Christmas break to get ahead (of the law). The third option sounds great but three (four?) spirits appeared and told me not to do it.
I'm not pleased about having to revert to reruns so quickly, to the extent that I considered paying someone to draw a few weeks of material (that I had written) so I wouldn't have to. But one spirit (representing my 1970s-style bank manager) told me not to do it unless I won on a scratcher in the meantime.
So my question is, what can I re-run that will last 2 or possibly 3 weeks (plus I can use the two Christmas weeks off, so 4-5 I guess)? Obviously I'd add cheerful commentary eg "this page was drawn after I was hit in the head with a boomerang and boy does it show" or "I sold the original art for this page and bought a boomerang with it then chucked it but it came back and hit me in the head again". Not all my anecdotes will be about boomerangs.
Feel free to nominate stories that you'd like me to annotate. Nothing too recent, obviously, but nothing from the truly dim and distant past either. Nothing pre-2008/9, I would say. Your suggestions will all be considered. If you would prefer next year to start with a refreshing and boomerang-free hiatus, now's your time to advocate for your preference.
Thank you for reading this missive from the Roor Joor.
NOTE: After looking for this image just now, I was astonished to find that my jury service will coincide with the 20th anniversary of the airing of the episode of 30 Rock featuring the Rural Juror! How auspicious... for justice.
Comments (38)
No preferences to express... just the odd little cosmic alignment of also being called for jury duty. (For a date I was unavoidably unavailable, which actually saddens me. I'd be fascinated to sit on a jury. Like, as a member of one, not... you know.)
Awesome work 🔥
I would like a ten week series explaining the artistic reasoning behind the Don't Tit About On Ladders poster being published by the British Ladder Council, rather than BLAB, the British Ladder Advisory Board. But I imagine this can only ever be a dream
Enjoy your jury duty! I've always wanted to get picked... there may be some material for future work?
Roor Joor, nicely done John, nicely done.
PS, In reading through all of it again, I became more aware of one of the many subtle plot drifts of Bad Machinery - the end of Shauna and Lottie's childhood partnership. "The Case of the Good Boy" would be fun to hear about for that and other matters, but honestly, whenever you look back on the work, it's always amazing to read.
Excellent timing! I've recently gone through the lot again and it was AMAZING. It was in part sparked by an old friend remarking upon the "Tilt on Ice" poster. Of the less-known/unprinted stuff, I second/third/or fourth Space Is the Place, That or The Big Hiatus.
Thanks Rian! Did I come up with Tilt On Ice? It's the sort of thing I *would* come up with but I don't remember it.
I'd suggest By Night, but probably too long. Plus, I'm not sure where the rights are.
It's 264 pages long, Dean! The rights remain with Boom, and Christine Larsen and I share the copyright on that one.
Perhaps Wen-Tack? I find myself missing Zeebus, Warrior Child.
I've written at length about Wen-Tack here so any commentary would prob be a further re-run: https://www.patreon.com/scarygoround/posts/wen-tack-pdf-wen-56715196?utm_source=post-search-result
The lurid murder of Irma Luhrma-Merma. Not in the city, 'cause it says rura. Not even suburba.
Could you not get out of it by telling them you're "wew mentaw"... and then fleeing while they're utterly confused?
Unhelpfully, I have no preference but whatever you choose to run will undoubtedly bring us more pleasure than you’ll be having at jury duty! Best of luck!
any adventures featuring Desmond Fishman :p I have an unusual fondness for him
!!!! 🐸 !!!!
A somewhat underrated short story is “Come Back”, a remake of the Scary Go Round chapter where Shelley goes to find Amy in the coastal town she moved to.
Id say heavy metal hearts and flowers as it hasn't been pdfed yet but it might run too long. Good luck at jury duty.
Pre-2008, much too long, sorry Jacob
I'm pretty much happy with any story you choose to rerun. Though just for the sake of mentioning since no one has yet I nominate the first Destroy History Storyline with Shelley going back in time to the Golden Age of Hollywood to save Hedy Lamarr's Wartime patent.
Jury service? It’s a democratic duty, but oof. I did it almost thirty years ago, while I was working on my PhD. I wish you straightforward and non-traumatic trials, a minimum of hanging around waiting to be called or sent home, and fellow jurors who listen to instructions from the judge and do not view the world through Daily Mail-tinted glasses.
I don't have any requests, I just want to chime in to say I enjoy re-runs.
The we want road story would not be confusing at all
My vote would be for "That", but I am not sure if the page count allows it to run in the allotted time.
I could probably squeeze it in with a bit of judicious doubling-up.
The Rurrr Jurrrr has blessed this crime. You’ll be out in a day
For something that can be finished in 2 or 3 weeks in your usual upload schedule, some older-but-not-too-old Des Fishman strips would be cool. Maybe Fishman's Progress or Vote Des?
Space is the Place surely? Currently not collected in PDF I think.
That’s in the Bad Machinery archive
It’s time to bring back Mordawwa
And Moon.
Either Expecting To Fly or Space Is The Place would be fun, a little spotlight for some of the less-remembered parts of the archive.
Space is the Place is currently available on the Bad Machinery archive
I imagine I will be very happy with whatever you choose to re-run. But as you're soliciting nominations... I expect you will want to run a stand alone story. I can't remember if there was any part of New Bobbins/Bobbins.horse that stood alone sufficiently to start and finish in a 2-5 week period, but if there is I'd enjoy revisiting it. Expecting to Fly was a doozie, and I've lost my paper copies, but I imagine you'd only have time to run one part. Which may not suit. Mordawwa?
Great suggestions RIchard
I had forgotten about the roor joor but I had been thinking about going back and watching old 30 Rock, thank you for that reminder. Maybe in the future, Destroy History could end up on an off-brand 30 Rock? (50 Stone?) Just a thought.
I've rewatched it all recently - nearly at the end now - and enjoyed it enormously.