John Allison

My sabbatical is now over (for me) but alas the hiatus is just beginning (for you), eight weeks of reruns. Here's a (non-rerun) comic showing just how it happened. I think that explains everything. In lieu of a new story, on Monday early reader Patreon subscribers will get a 68-page PDF zine I made

I've created a collection of all the fun comics I've made for Patreon, or collected for posterity here - weird experiments, hourly comics, pandemic-era overflow. You've probably seen some of them but if you're a more recent subscriber, I doubt you've seen all of them. As a sampler, I've made my favo

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

I am sure you have been wondering if Fishman Industries has a Black Friday event. Well, the answer is, of course they do. Details follow and remember: Black Friday didn't exist outside the USA until 2010!

I have a convention in a few weeks so it's time to make a new vinyl roller banner. I threw my last one in a skip on the way out of the sole event it was used at (2018). No regrets. Anyway, I resolved this time to design something I would not regret making from almost the second I sat in front of it.

Occasionally (but increasingly frequently) I am awoken at about 3AM by the hands of Desmond Fishman, vigorously shaking me out of my hard-earned slumber. "Daddy," he says in his voice rich as plum pudding, "the country's going to the dogs and I know what to do about it." He pushes a pencil and pad i

I participated in Hourly Comic Day yesterday. Every hour, you draw a comic of what you've been up to. Ideally a panel or so, but I really got into the process and it ended up very sprawling. Failure of editing or endless bounty? You decide. Last time I did this was 2021 (see those hourlies here) and

Last week, I saw an advert for an early 1980s BBC Micro games compilation. Splendid art, very cheering: Unfortunately Des saw it too and started making phone calls to his associate Paul Scoville. Yesterday, he called me into his "office" and showed me the advert for his latest "drop". Now, I have ju

Someone asked why A Holiday Harlequinade wasn't up on Patreon all in one go. The answer is, I don't know. But for those who want to open their presents early, here it is. If you prefer to enjoy it in two-page bursts on the website... DON'T READ ON!

Bulbquest "continues"!!!

I've drawn a little strip in Procreate just to keep the Patreon ticking along. I've begun to find different ways of working in it, fun new lines and methods of attack. Sadly I've not used them wisely on this occasion but there's always a chance that the next comic could be "the one".

It's Christmas Day tomorrow, so here, in its entirety, for all to enjoy, is this year's festive spectacular. Best wishes to all my readers and thanks to all my Patreon subscribers for keeping the show on the road this year. All being well, I have some real treats for you in the new year.

Of course the final guest could only be Samantha from Sex & The City, Des' favourite. Here ends Des Fishman's Holiday Lodge.

It's possible that this is the final part of Holiday Lodge but it's also possible that it isn't. Stay alert.

Lottie adds real value to this holiday special. I don't know if there are any more parts of it to come. It doesn't really emerge with my permission.

The less said here, perhaps, the better.

No explanation offered, or indeed, I would say, strictly necessary.

I'm still trying out new inking styles, with a slightly more chaotic feel. Trying to avoid rigidly straight lines to create movement where the line width itself is stiff and fixed. Here's a test comic strip I made last week. I drew it first then made up some speech bubbles to go on top. The Marvel M

I'm supposedly on holiday from comics for a month after finishing work on Steeple volume 3. Thus far, the holiday is very tiring. I think I might just be old now. It's my 45th birthday on Wednesday, or as I like to think of it, my "half ninety". Speaking of birthdays, I visited my friend Marc Ellerb

Here's a test comic (well, half of one) that I made in Procreate today. I love the pencil tools in this app. No other program has a pencil that feels so free to draw with. But colouring a page in Procreate is a nightmare, and it's not a lot easier if you take your line work into Clip Studio (which I

I went on a brief holiday a few weeks ago, and while out and about, I improvised this beautiful three-part comic. There could have been a fourth part but I resisted. I felt that it was going in a direction best described as "unfestive". Rest assured that everyone made it home safely.

If there's one thing Shelley takes against, it's being asked to toe the company line. She marches to the beat of her own drum. So, a fifth Rave On and a fifth method of drawing it. I just drew this one straight out like Here Comes Gothy or Cattywampus. With the previous four, I tried to do it proper

Here's a second pencil practice page just for patrons. This one's a Murder She Writes page. I feel like I got somewhere with this one. But again, I doubt I could do it twice in a row.

In July, I made attempts to harness my other drawing style for comic pages again. All I really want to do is a short story this way. But I still can't squeeze out more than a single page before the wheels come off. Above is an experimental page. Between the first and the second page, an argument beg

You'd think the limitations of this format would make drawing these quick but I am fast being reminded that the more characters you draw in a panel, the more quickly it becomes a 2-dimensional game of Twister.

Here's a third one of these. I absolutely believe there can be a fourth. Don't forget there are a feast of Shelley and Nemulon history comics at destroyhistory.com.

A second instalment of this powerful new tale.

A new fun comic begins today. If you're not familiar with these series, they leak out slowly, starting in protean form, before gaining their shape. I'm not sure when the next page will emerge but it'll be along eventually. This story was conceived by my girlfriend Laura Snapes, who gave me the plot

On the train on Saturday I drew two really spiffing fun comics. The first one is a minor entry in the series but part 2 is top-hole. Beezer. With the first one, you must understand that I wrote the words "having fun with Hardware Harrison" with no idea who the titular HH was or what he might represe

On Monday evening I sat down with a blank sheet of my drawing pad and a pen, and half an hour later, this existed. Powerful social realism with a message of justice. Want to see more JACKIE SMASH? Let me know!

Hundreds of people have contacted me to say that they can't find the final issue of Onion Dan in stores. This doesn't surprise me, as there is a conspiracy to suppress this, my most important work. So here's the pivotal page - disseminate it as widely as you feel is safe. NOTE: I know that the "beas

I'm still practicing with pencil, pen and paper. Here's an improvised comic, I started with the car and worked outwards, then made up some dialogue once I'd coloured it in. I'm having some eye issues at the moment, the result of a year and a half of staring at screens almost without a break, day aft

I've started to get a little busier of late, a deadline has appeared for a new book, plus a few illustrations on the side, and some distant thunder on other projects is starting to sound. This has combined with pretty brutal eye strain from a year of staring at screens for work and play all year, so

I did quite a lot of drawing in my ink-only sketchbook in May. Below is a themed selection. Why is the sketchbook ink-only, you ask? Because it's wire-bound and if I keep it in my bag for drawing out and about, pencil drawings smudge. THAT'S WHY, ALL RIGHT? I don't make the rules! There are no rules

More pen and paper practice. I broke a page of my practice script (Giant Days 38) in half and added some new dialogue to make a strip, because doing full size pages was proving a bit much. I think I inked this one a little bit better, following some reading around technique. When I finished, I liked

Here's the second part of WHEELIE: Rhyme Masters, which I drew while watching an episode of Midsummer Murders with my parents. You try writing rhymes while DI Barnaby is "on one"! There's not a lot of crossover between the two franchises.

I've been on a much-needed break this week, mostly away from screens, getting it together in the country. But I've drawn a few comics straight out into my sketchbook, watching TV, just like I might have done as a child. And this one is exactly the sort of comic I would have drawn as a child. I ran i

A couple of weeks ago, I took advantage of a break between stories to spend a week trying out different drawing techniques. Using traditional materials, I drew a couple of pages like I used to back in the day, but I soon remembered why I stopped doing that. No matter how much I love drawing in my sk

When Bad Machinery was finished, Giant Days was entering its final year, By Night was coming out and before I started work on Steeple, I should have taken a rest, but my mind was a factory making nothing, a machine that would not turn off after 20 years. I have a whole folder marked simply '2018' fu

Here's the final installment of Here Comes Gothy. You can't say there wasn't a sort of logic to this story. A circularity. Similar to a fever dream. Catch up with previous episodes on the Here Comes Gothy master post. Who knows what the next KRAZY KOMIC for Patreons will be? Not me. I have no idea r

It's a double Gothy week! The only downside to this upside is that this is the penultimate HCG. Catch up on all the eps on the HCG master post.

It's a cruel world, but sometimes good things happen. Here's the 10th episode of Here Comes Gothy. Can you believe there are only two more? You can catch up on the HCG Master Post if you've missed any episodes. I realise that "do one" may not be an international term. It's a slightly more polite way

As promised, the 9th Here Comes Gothy comic. I'll stick this one on the HCG Master post (where you can catch up with the story) later today. As I wrote last week, I'm trying my hand at some traditionally drawn comics again; this is the first one I felt good enough about to post. I don't know if you

It's a short life, and here's how I spent a portion of it. This started as a blank page and maybe it should have stayed that way... ...but I don't think so! To think some Patreons are just pictures of comic artists' sexy lady characters in the nip. Those lads are barely scratching the surface of wha

A lot going on in Onion Dan #3 (from IMAGE COMICS, HOME OF SPAWN) - remember, Onion Dan is not recommended for anyone of either a nervous OR stout disposition! Not available in the USA, Canada or the UK for legal reasons!!! Try Russia!!!!!!

You only had to wait a week for thrills and spills at a very high level, as Here Comes Gothy returns! So many relatable characters in this episode who we must hope return soon!!!! Spooky woman! Steam le punks! Adoring emo! Others! I've not written the senses-shattering conclusion to this story yet (

I did a master page for Here Comes Gothy, here's one for Cattywampus' first story arc so you can read all the pages in one place. In "Cattywampus", Desmond Fishman moves to Tredregyn to (let's not put too fine a point upon this) continue his career in the Scary Go Round Cinematic Universe. Consider

After a break of a month, which must have seemed painfully long, here's Here Comes Gothy #7. To read all the Here Comes Gothy comics on one page, just go to this page.

Updated May 6th 2021