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Time for some Bad Machinery

Time for some Bad Machinery published on 2 Comments on Time for some Bad Machinery

Got a hankering to see schoolgirls and schoolboys solving mysteries that involve curses, football, supernatural creatures and mothballs?
If those things ring your bells, then you will love….

Bad Machinery
Bad Machinery
Bad Machinery is a webcomic set in the fictional town of Tackleford, England, written and drawn by John Allison.
The story involves two groups of schoolchildren that attend fictional “Griswalds Grammar School” who spend their time solving mysteries.
The groups interact, but each is unaware of that the other group is out solving mysteries, just like they are.
Rest assured thouhg, the whole thing is far less “Fantastic Five” than it sounds.
This strip has humour, action and mystery all with a very British sensibility to it.

Visually, Allison’s artwork  is a joy to look at. There is detail (such as in the background scenery) but the overall feeling is simplified and not too over-drawn.

(By the way, I have no idea why this comic is called Bad Machinery. If you do, please let me know in the comments below).

Got a strip you think I should know about? Then leave me a comment below.

Wayback Machine

Wayback Machine published on 7 Comments on Wayback Machine

Don’t you love when grandparents re-invent history?

But it won’t be long until some of us start reminiscing about the good old days and creating stories about how life worked before everything was online.

I know some people that even do it now.
They sit around and tell us about how good things were before everyone was distracted by facebook, twitter and iphones.
Yup, in the good old days all they had to keep them amused were video games, IRC chats, Rubiks cubes, messageboards and web-rings…..

You are a Bad-ass Charlie Brown!

You are a Bad-ass Charlie Brown! published on

Ever wanted to see what your childhood comicstrip memories would look like, if all the characters had ended up in a post apocalyptic world?
Well, wonder no more, as I present to the following webcomic for you to delight in….

Weapon Brown –
Warning : this webcomic is for adults only, and many panels are not safe for work.
Weapon Brown
Weapon Brown is a parody of all the comic strips you read in the paper when you were growing up. Jason Yungbluth has taken these characters and set them loose in a desolate post-apocalyptic world.
Charlie Brown is now a cybernetic warrior who roams the lawless wasteland with his dog Snoop by his side.

All the characters you remember from the funny pages as a kid now have blood thirsty appetites, mutations and cybernetic parts.

The strip has a fantastically fun feel to it all, whilst still retaining a gritty, road warrior vibe.
As well as the fantastically detailed art, I had immense fun trying to see how many comic strip references and characters I could pick out. It’s like a pop-culture comic quiz jammed inside of a Mad-Max film.

Jason Yungbluth is the artist & writer for this strip and he produces a highly professional and refined piece of work.
The comic is fast paced, action packed and well illustrated. It is also quite a respectful tribute to the original comic characters while parodying them a the same time

Weapon Brown is part of Jason Yungbluth’s Deep Fried webcomic site, but it has proved to be so popular that it’s going to collected as a stand-alone graphic novel by the end of 2010. Start reading it from here, but be aware that you may have to jump a few of his other Deep fried strips before returning to the story.

Got a strip you think I should know about? Then leave me a comment below.

Poor treatment

Poor treatment published on 15 Comments on Poor treatment

Can you imagine treating your doctor this way?

Unfortunately, this is how many web developers and software developers are treated regularly by clients.
Due to website development being a pretty new occupation, there are still a lot of people out there that do not understand what goes in to making that cool website, or that awesome online application.

I have personally been on the receiving end of some pretty ridiculous and outright stupid requests by clients.
It is so common, that sites like Clients From Hell are able to exist and be filled with stories which at first seem totally fictional. But they are not.
But go and speak to someone who works in web development and ask them about horror clients. Every one of them will have a story to tell you.

My theory is that because the average person only sees the front end of websites, they have no idea of the coding work and time it takes to create a good web product. They do not get to “look under the hood” and see all the scripts, calls, CSS styles, etc.
If they did, there would be more understanding that this is REAL work, not just a hobby people do on computers in their spare time.
(Also, many “discount” operators such as outsourced development teams & unqualified designers help to perpetuate a myth that this work is cheap & easy to do)

Think about industries where customers have a better understanding of who the end result is produced:
– Customers would not tell a mechanic to throw in free extras just because they are in the engine anyway.
– Clients would not ask an architect to totally redesign a building plan once it is done, by 9am the next day, because their 6yr old son did not like it.
– House painters are not asked to re-paint a house for free, because the colour now looks different when viewed in the morning sun.
– Lawyers are not asked to work on a case for free, just because it may look good in their resume later.

Sadly, elements of all these things exist within the current client-web developer dynamic.
I, for one, hope this changes soon.


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