 COMICS |  | WEBCOMICS OF THE WEEK 8/18/08 | | This week, take a look at Gunnerkrigg Court and Scary Go Round.
| | | By Steve Sunu and Kate Napolitano | | Posted 8/20/2008 | |  | | Scary Go Round
By John Allison
Updates: Monday through Friday
Imagine your life. Now imagine that life, but with zombies, gentlemen thieves, monkeys, ghosts, demon bears, space owls and Ralph your everyday activities. Scary Go Round by John Allison is a spin-off of his previous comic, Bobbins, and focuses on a core group of people encountering very strange phenomena and the hilarity that ensues. The sky is the limit with Scary Go Round, and if you're a fan of poking fun at the paranormal, make sure you check out the excellent jokes and amazing second look at the macabre that Allison provides. The art is definitely above the curve. Excellent use of color, expression, and the simple joys that the characters exhibit all add to a comic that is definitely worth your time reading through the archives. | |  However, Scary Go Round's greatest strength is the compelling characters that populate its world. From happy-go-lucky and perpetually enthusiastic Shelley to perpetually down on his luck Ryan, Allison manages to make his readers truly feel a connection to his characters through the real life problems (such as unemployment) that each character goes through during this veritable cornucopia of horror hilarity. Who could help but feel a connection with Ryan as his French girlfriend Natalie is flayed alive by his incredibly prudish old landlady and her bridge partners? Or Shelley as she reveals that she had to quit law school due to an intense fear of judges?
Okay, maybe those are bad examples, but the adventures and stories that John Allison tells are grounded in reality religious cults, scientists who lose sight of why they're inventing something, starting a business, even just getting through high school every story told has some sense of emotion and reality tied in to the hilarity and horror movie antics. It's what keeps readers coming back for more every weekday; it's what makes the comic a cut above others; it's what keeps us laughing along with the misadventures of this cast of people just like you or me.
If you enjoy poking fun at most any horror movie or novel, then Scary Go Round is the comic for you. It's also an excellent guide on how to deal if one of your best friends is unwillingly raised from the dead and becomes a zombie, but you're not going to need that
or are you?
Wizard had a chance to catch the ever-talented John Allison in between updates to ask him a few questions about Scary Go Round, webcomics and his experiences with the paranormal.
WIZARD: What inspired you to spin-off Scary Go Round from your previous comic, Bobbins?
ALLISON: Bobbins had all the hallmarks of early work: inconsistent style, rudimentary storylines and hasty character choices. I had to draw a line under it and start anew with what I had. I did this by changing its name and ploughing on in a slightly different direction. I fooled everybody.
What do you enjoy most about the webcomic format?
ALLISON: Due to the low-resolution nature of onscreen graphics, you can get away with murder. Wobbly lines, not coloring in tiny areas. I would advise any slapdash artists to get on the internet as fast as possible because as far as I'm concerned, it's a gravy train with biscuit wheels.
Who is your favorite character to write?
ALLISON: I think a favorite character to write equates to an easy one to write. But I write everything in a kind of stream of consciousness, it just spills out onto the page, so I can't really distinguish them that way. I think more in terms of my favorite characters to draw. I've written out characters who were good to write because I couldn't get a handle on them visually, while some old lags have outstayed their welcome by years because drawing them was fun. It's bad business, but it's the only way I know.
Have you ever had any run-ins with any of the paranormal situations depicted in Scary Go Round?
ALLISON: Scarcely a day passes where I'm not conscious of a bogeyman, spirit, elf, pixie, dwarf or brownie lurking at the edge of my vision. Yesterday I bought a bag of apples from a local vendor and found, upon examination, that they were covered in what the vendor described as "a sort of ectoplasm". It's important to draw from life and I do my very best to reflect my daily experiences beyond the veil.
Who do you think would win in a fight and why - Zombie, Pirate, or Ninja?
ALLISON: Given the desperate exhaustion of those three pop-cultural tropes, I can only imagine that a three-way fight between them would end with all three flat on their backs, struggling to lift a flaccid limb in anger.
What's in store for the future of the comic?
ALLISON: I can promise more of the same, but better. The hits you loved, played again on ever-bigger instruments. I have an idea for a story about a mobile orchestra that commits outrageous crimes. There's every possibility that I could do a story about a cricket-playing supercomputer that learns how to love. No one in webcomics has really tackled the issue of whether water is (A) good or (B) evil and I might get into that. It's an exciting time for Scary Go Round.
Check out Scary Go Round here and check back next week for our next offering of Webcomics of the Week. | | | | | | | | |
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