Read STEEPLE: REVEREND IN LOVE now
Steeple is on a break while I consider a potential 4th arc. It's kind of a wait-and-see on how volume three (out in August) does, as I can only draw one series at a time.
But there is one piece of Steeple activity in 2022 for the faithful, and I very much hope you like it: a new special with art by Max Sarin of Giant Days and more great colours by Steeple stalwart Sammy Borras.
This one won't run as a webcomic - it's an exclusive to Patreon and my Gumroad. The download link is below the cover art.
Let me know what you think in the comments!
Comments (43)
More wholesome than I was expecting, but I welcome it
Ah! The *pat pat*! 🤩
The sight of my red-headed husband in a supermarket did actually remind a woman to buy ginger, one time. Don't think it was such a flirtatious encounter though.
This was such a wonderful read, thank you! Snappy dialogue, gorgeous art, and Shelly seems to have grown as a person while remaining herself in all the best ways, if that makes sense.
Beautiful story, beautiful drawings, spectacular both the dialogues and the facial expressions... I definitely didn't expect anything like this. But I dunno if the future will be happy for Penrose. Maybe I missed a piece of the story, but I didn't know Shelley left her husband. Before this story, I didn't consider at all the possibility that Shelley and Penrose could be a couple that could work well. I know that the things seen in the past about the future of the characters are not fixed and anything can happen, but I can't help but think that Shelley will end up returning to her husband leaving poor Penrose even more alone and desperate. At least the suspicion that Maggie is seriously attracted to Penrose is gone.
Shelley never got married - you can be pretty sure that Peggy's father Tim Jones blew himself up almost immediately after the final New Bobbins comic, and nobody cared.
I've been saving this, for a treat, and finally read it today. Delightful story. John's art will always be my first and best love, but Max Sarin gives a lot of life to the characters, which serves this story particularly well, and their young Peggy might well be definitive. Thanks so much for sharing this!
I finally read this. It's very charming and enjoyable - exactly what I needed last night. (And to add to the other topic going on here: Most of the characters look wonderful when drawn by Sarin, but I don't think I'll ever be comfortable seeing another artist work with Shelley.)
I was just wondering "huh, have we ever seen Shelley's child?" And lo, there was Peggy. Great story, and I love how Max draws the characters.
Well, I have to say I love Max Sarin's take on Shelley. Different spin than John's art, which I also love, but the two interpretations are completely compatible. (All to say that I miss Giant Days. And, yes, I loved the Giant Days x Batman comic too.) Anyway, gushing done ... Steeple No. 15, right? I know John already wrote something somewhere about how he sees the numbering on the "Steeple Series" goes, but I'm having trouble finding it. Maybe someone can set me straight. Assuming "no. 15" is meant to be only quasi-canon, how are the other issue numbers assigned across the print and webcomic issues?
This comic is 100% canon! The numbering is simple - every 22-page chapter is an issue, retaining the original numbering scheme from the Dark Horse series. So Volume 1 is 1-5, volume 2 is 6-9, Christmas With Clovis is 10, Clotted Crime is 11-14, Reverend In Love is 15.
This was the thing that prised open the sporran after… somewhere in first Bobbins, but not quite in antediluvian Genesis. An old miser I may be, yet utterly charmed.
Loved it! Utterly charming and beautiful to look at.
I enjoyed this great deal. Thanks, John. All about character development. You’ll always do the best drawings of Shelley, but Max got great versions of Maggie and Clovis in this.
Since this won't be a webcomic with individual comment days, I allowed my self to binge read instead of metering the panels like usual. Great story and graphics! Ready to reread it again tonight. Thanks for the reminder about Gumroad. I knew I had come across a place to get Scary-go-round series, but had lost the bookmark. Only one I have yet to read now.
Ha! I just now closed the Chrome tab that had the BadMachinery site now that the Solver series in on pause for a month, and guess what is in the header menu, the link to Gumroad. Was there the whole time. What got me started on that is that I realized I had, get this, 7 tabs still open related to JA comics. I used to be normal...
We finally see Peggy! Wait, does that mean Shelley thinks of herself as a "yummy mummy"? Oh dear.
That was adorable. And Max Sarin is always a treat—their work is fantastic!
Oooh. I normally go along with all those who want you to draw all the pictures. But Max's Missus Clovis is a real piece of work.
I came here just to say this! It's a revelation!
Oh hai, Peggy! I do not worry about what is canon, and what is not: And yet, I must have been worrying about whatever happened to baby Peggy. Something about being a parent, perhaps.
Peggy was a great reveal! I can already tell she will exceed her mama in chaos-generation!
This was fab, and a very nice read on my Monday commute. Lovely stuff!
Great story. Kind of jarring to have the characters drawn by not-John. The total charm is somewhere in the combination of your stories and your art, I think.
The market place does not agree with you, there’s a disconnected universe of readers who find it quite disappointing when I draw my own scripts 😟
This was great! Love Max's take on the characters, and bits in the art like Shelly spying between the shelves on the first page, and Mrs. C exuding skulls (very different vibe than when Esther does it). Also the giant octopus is fabulous!
Absolutely wonderful.
I'm always there for Max Sarin and this is a delightful use of his style. And his steamy women! Terrific story for the Reverend slowly warming his, er, heart. For this Yank, though, that might not be a universal joke with the box of medicine(?) at the picnic. Did his virginity grow back? Will we ever know? One of the mysteries of Cornish caves, I suppose.
Gaviscon is a big part of my life but you may prefer to think in terms of the American gut rot favourite Pepto Bismol.
Love it. Any comic with a sympathetic(?) gout joke is a friend of mine. The cover does make me wonder how Archie comics play in the UK, if they do at all. Love the homage.
They exist here but only in comic shops. Never really a thing in the UK.
Reverend Spiffington of the Church of Spiffy.
Just wonderful! So much to love about this team up and Max’s work here – (corrected: THEIR) incarnation of Shelly is delightful, and let us PLEASE talk about Fire Eye Maggie, last panel on the next to last page. Gold is too cheap; that’s one a Platinum.
Love it. Fun, beautiful and OMG continuity!
No offense, but I prefer John's drawing style.
“Can I show you my favourite cave?” is a line for the ages. And Max Sarin!!!
An unexpected twist that I suppose always made sense
Oh dear. I was dearly hoping this would go a bit more... But it was worth reading just for, "... It might have grown back."
Everything the others have said ❤️
Huzzah!
This is, quite frankly, THE BEE'S KNEES.
Enormous fun as ever, and also prompted me that I managed to miss issue 14 somehow. Even more Steeple to read!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome fun, thanks for sharing it with us!