PDF bonus: Human Soup
A Patreon subscriber emailed to ask me about the availability - or otherwise - of a comic I made called Human Soup. This was a 24-hour comic I did for the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival in 2015.
The event itself was enormous fun. I was in a big room with some other great artists. What I produced is, I think, not brilliant, and I think it's made worse by the fact that I managed to make it the same way as I'd make any other comic. It's written, drawn, inked, coloured and lettered to look like my other work, but obviously it's far worse, because what normally takes me more than a month, took a calendar day. It's just professional enough that you can't enjoy the desperation! Like a brutal machine, I pencilled for 15 minutes, inked for 20 minutes, coloured for 15 minutes. There were times towards the end of making it where I was actively hallucinating - sounds and visions!
Throughout the night there were many visitations by cartoonists in states of disintegrating repair. The late, great Darwyn Cooke in particular provoked many moments of levity that we still recall fondly to this day.
Anyway, if you have never read it, you can download it at the link below.
Comments (27)
"Your attitude towards safety is very erratic!"
Oh wow, thank you so much for sharing this it's so charming! Absolutely wild that this was made in 24 hours
It's a beautiful vignette, a sampler of Mr Allison's work, with recognisable people, places and situations veering into unsuspected territory. Lovely.
Aww. I love "Human Soup". It's one of my favorites. 🙂
I think it is charming. Nice story. Perfectly fine art.
I haven't read this in years, but I have very fond memories of it. I kept it downloaded on my phone's comixology account (back when comixology was good) because it pleased me to look at
I wonder, is it still available to read through your Amazon account? I was pleasantly surprised to find I could still read Giant Days: Year One despite it being delisted, but that might not be universal.
I remember this! And I remember wondering at the time if he had in fact met his end at the grate, and been transported to an afterlife where his wishes came true: he'd retrieved his wristband, Terry had vanished, and his urgent meeting could take a back seat to the possibility of romance.
Honestly, I quite liked this one. You should be a lot prouder of it. Certainly, if this is what you consider one of your worse efforts, it's better than a lot of people's best. (I know I couldn't produce anything nearly that good, no matter how much time I was given.)
I'm proud of the effort but the result is both too polished and not polished enough.
Amazing. So charming.
Love this comic.
Wonderful! I did miss this the first time around, so it's great to have the opportunity to read it. (As for the self-criticisms, let he who can write, draw and colour an objectively flawless 22-page comic in under 24 hours cast the first stone, I say.) Thank you for posting it, and thanks to the Patron who made the enquiry.
I remember reading this on either the Scarygoround or the Badmachinery site. I'm gobsmacked to learn it was produced in a single day! Wasn't there some 1960s film that inspired or informed it? I think John posted a clip or a one-sheet (poster) from it.
I there was, I think 8 years may have washed the memory away :C
This is so sweet. I love it.
I think about your character design choices for the woman in this at least once a year, honestly. It may have been rushed, but a sense of your essential creative muscle is there
I've always kind of loved this comic.
That was done in a day???
I got up at the normal time, about 7.30, started work around 12pm and stopped work the same time the next day. At around 6am I went for a shower and I could hear voices in the water. I went for a shower because I kept hallucinating that the curtain in the conference room we were working in was a tall, thickset man watching me.
I dunno if you'll want to hear this, but it's one of your better stories, which is not small praise. Its simple focus on one man's quest to find his locker key is quite charming.
WOW, I loved this! Great comic, John.
"Kids are... FERAL." Priceless!
it's quite lovely/cute :-D
I had not read this before. It's lovely, so thanks for posting it. And thanks for your 24 hours of suffering to produce it.
Please don't hate me for this, but I enjoyed this a lot.
I am delighted you like it.