25 Years On part 1
Prior to publishing the first Bobbins comic online, I hadn't published anything. I'd barely shown the comics I'd made to anybody. When I did, they didn't really have any frame of reference for what I was trying to do, and generally people just couldn't understand what I was making them for. I remember after a productive few weeks in 1997, tacking a load of pre-Bobbins comics on my shared university house wall to review, and one of my housemates looking at them like it was a serial killer wall and I'd flipped my wig.
Emailing Peter Zale and Jon Rosenberg took a bit of courage. I can't imagine emailing a cartoonist I admired just to show them my work now. They were kind and generous about it, and their links to my work were the first building blocks of my readership.
But my rejection letter from King Features remains one of my most treasured possessions. For all that the submission packet I sent was about as good as the first 25 newspaper strips anyone ever drew could be (ie, not very good at all), it was full of positive comments from the then editor, Jay Kennedy, who was younger then than I am now (he died at 50, in 2007).
To receive such encouragement - which seemed barely merited at the time, the work was so crude - was so wild a contrast from the reaction I got from the few people I'd shown my comics to that I felt that I had to continue to develop my strip. At 22, I wasn't totally daft - I knew it more of a "don't give up" than "you're comics' new genius", but I was just daft enough to want to pump my evenings and weekends into what was now a second job as a result.
--
If you want a part 2, I'll have a go.
Comments (38)
All this reminiscing had me searching out some photos I took of you and Mardou in what turned out to be 2005. Not the very early days but I have trouble believing you ever looked younger than here! https://www.flickr.com/photos/peteashton/7044183/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/peteashton/7043678/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/peteashton/7043447/
Terrible glasses. But I'm sorry to tell you, I am eternal. From April 2023: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrdG02LgGqC/
Yes, please, have a go!
Just found my "I am your secret scary friend" t-shirt in the back of a drawer. I know it's only about 20 years old, but I guess I was a late adopter.
Yes, more please
The thing I've always loved about your work is that the characters and places are all totally recognisable and believable, even if weird things occasionally happen there. The subtlety of your characters' expressions is a joy (and what I miss in Giant Days), as is your evident love for all your creations. Keep on keeping on!
*raising my webcomic porridge bowl* More, please!
I hopped on the Daddy John bus somewhat late (towards the end of SGR, though I would eventually circle back and read the whole thing), so I am especially interested in hearing recollections from the early years.
Poppycock. The notion that you've been creating comics for 25 years would imply that I've been graduated from University for an equal amount of time, and that's a preposterous thought. I was only there a few years ago.
Gosh. I haven't thought of "Helen, sweetheart of the internet" in years. But if it's how I found John Allison's work, it was a blessing.
Yes, please. Jay Kennedy was a saint. A gift to team comics greater than we deserved.
This is excellent (and I miss Goats, especially since it ended in the middle of a literally apocalyptic arc (oh, 2012)). Looking forward to more!
Yes please to Part 2!
+1 to part 2
Goats! That brings back memories.
Yes, please continue. Though I think you knew we'd want you to.
Please continue!!
Have a go - there's always more stories to be told, John!
Congrats on 25 John! I'd love a Des perspective on the early years. He could self -insert himself into all the strips he isn't in.
Yes, please, on parts 2++++!
So is this what Des was reading in the first panel on the 16/06/2023 page?
I also vote for a part 2. And I note that, seeing Des carrying you, all I can think is that this is the part of the beach with just one set of (webbed) footprints.
Having read a few authors' memoirs, it is interesting to note often a really helpful rejection letter has spurred them on to greater things.
Yes part 2 pleeze 🥺 also you and David Willis are the only ones who have been consistently pumping out webcomics for this long, so you're amazing!
Love hearing this!
Twenty-five years? But it feels like only yesterday!
Wonderful. Please continue.
A part 2 would be great, if you can swing it. I love a good origin story!
Oh, I would definitely want a part 2. Also I'm now trying to imagine your comics being part of the King Features syndicate. Mary Worth offering advice to Desmond Fishman? (At least he wouldn't be as horrible as Wilbur Weston.) Maggie and Billie meeting The Phantom? Lottie and Funky Winkerbean? The possibilities!
I suspect John's comics would have developed somewhat differently had they been accepted by King Features. Which makes me grateful that they weren't, since I love them the way they are.
Hurrah. (Now I know Des calls you Daddy John I will never rest again.) More please! And thank the lord for the wise comics people and their encouragement.
Part 2, yes please!
Would greatly appreciate a part 2!
Yay part 2
Of course we'd love a part 2 !
How could we not want part 2? I have to see how it ends!
It doesn't, that's what make it a happy end !
yes, PLEASE. I love this.