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Scary Go Round
From Comixpedia
| Scary Go Round | |
 Shelley Winters | |
| Creator(s) | John Allison |
| Website(s) | scarygoround.com archive |
| Update Feed | RSS/XML |
| Update Schedule | Five days a week: Monday to Friday |
| Launch Date | June 2002: Chapter 1 - The gas |
| End Date | 11 September 2009 |
| Genre | Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Humour, Supernatural |
| Rating(s) | For everyone |
| Format | Multiple Panel Page, Serial |
Scary Go Round was a webcomic set in the fictional town of Tackleford, England, and written by John Allison. The comic started on 4 June 2002 and ended on 11 September 2009, with some of the characters returning in Bad Machinery. Scary Go Round was a highly respected member of the webcomic community and was named one of the best webcomics of 2004 by The Webcomics Examiner.
Scary Go Round started on June 4, 2002, roughly following on from Allison's previous comic, Bobbins. It featured bizarre happenings, strange creatures, parallel universes, zombies, time travel, and more recently, reincarnation. Initially set as the lives of the barmaids Tessa and Rachel, it evolved more into the story of Shelley Winters and her many adventures. Amy Chilton, one of the core characters to succeed Tessa and Rachel, successfully made the transition from the author's 17-year-old scribblings, through the hand drawn Bobbins era, and into the computer-generated Scary Go Round seen every weekday, all without aging a day. Shelley, another of the characters who made the transition from Bobbins, also featured heavily throughout the webcomic.
Contents |
[edit] Attributes
From 2002 June 4 the comic appeared twice weekly, increasing to five times weekly from 2004 onwards and reducing to four times weekly in 2009. The comic has always been in full colour with mostly rectangular panels.
The comic's fans appreciate it for its quirky, morbid sense of humor, which shows especially in the way the characters speak.
The story is usually split into chapters, though some stories happen outside of the chapter format; these are known as "The Scary-Go-Round Chronicles". Each chapter stars a few choice characters from the huge cast, and the art is ever evolving. John Allison also somehow finds time to return to his hand-drawn roots, with Shelley Winters' Scare-o-deleria updated sporadically.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Major Characters
| Name | Image | Description | First seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shelley Endeavour Winters |
| Shelley Winters : The red-headed, green-eyed protagonist of Scary Go Round. Likes polite speech and adventuring. Murdered, became a zombie, returned to life & gets into trouble often. Original character based on the Bobbins webcomic. | 2002-07-09 |
| Fallon Young | 
| A sleek, sexy secret agent and all 'round girl-spy. Although very incompetent at her job, she always manages to achieve her objective... that is if you squint really hard and tilt your head to the side. Fallon is Shelley Winters's best friend and roommate. | 2002-09-19 |
| Ryan Beckwith | 
| A lovable fool and heir to the King of Tramps. Best friend to Shelley Winters and Tim Jones. Always drawn with messy hair and a five-o'clock shadow. | 2002-06-25 |
| Amy Chilton | 
| A blonde-haired, tattooed art student. Roommate and best friend to Shelley Winters and Fallon Young. The spoiled daughter of Prof. Len Pickering. Dislikes work and showers. | 2002-09-19 |
| Tim Jones | 
| A prolific inventor and friend to Ryan Beckwith and Shelley Winters. Dated Fallon Young and employed Amy Chilton as his inventor assistant. Was mayor of Tackleford. Last seen in self-exile in Wales after losing a rigged Invent-off. | 2002-08-30 |
| Hugo Rodrigez | 
| A sandwich shop owner and good friend to many of the cast. Righteous in nature and quick to act, a good friend to have in a fight. Comes from Latin America, his past is unknown and he owns a sandwich shop. Friend to Ryan Beckwith. | 2003-03-06 |
| Riley Beckwith | 
| The current girlfriend of Tim Jones. She set him up to lose his job and get exiled. |
[edit] Minor Characters
- Rachel Dukakis-Monteforte
- Journalism student and Tessa's friend. One time leader of evil nuns. Last seen being burned alive in a wicker vole.
- Tessa
- Journalism student, one time friend of Rachel. Evil nun for a while. Last seen walking away from Tessa's sacrificial burning.
- Bob Crowley
- "Most wicked man in England". First seen in the 1800s.
- Pa Beckwith
- Father to Ryan Beckwith and Riley Beckwith. A recluse and former King of the tramps. Has recently made amends with his daughter and son.
- The Boy
- A Junior inventor and dreamer. Was a friend of Erin Winters, Shelley's younger sister. Lived with The Mother and The Father. Real name is Eustace.
- Erin Winters
- The younger sister of Shelley Winters. Is quite serious. A friend of The Boy. Now in hell, erased from memory.
- Esther de Groot
- A creepy classmate of The Boy.
- Paul Milford
- A friend of The Boy. Likes to think that he is successful with women. Is not as successful as he believes.
- Mayor James Mayor
- The former Mayor of the city and and ex-boss of Shelley Winters. He is easily confused and bedazzled.
- Natalie Durand
- Ryan Beckwith's former girlfriend. First appearance 2003-10-10. She speaks with a French accent. She was killed by old meddling ladies who believed she was an instrument of evil. She currently acts as the assistant to Death.
- Professor Len Pickering
- father of Amy. First seen 2002-06-04
- Ralph
- Satanist. First seen as a lift man at 2002-06-13
- 'The Devil'
- First seen 2002-12-06 Last seen crushed.
- Dr Petrescu
- First seen 2003-04-24
- Seamus Fogerty
- seen murdered at 2002-09-13
- William
- Tessa's boyfriend. First seen 2002-06-27. Last seen dead in an 'accident' 2006-11-17.
- Monty
- As Professor Braun, a genius, but was first seen as a mental vegetable when under the care of the evil Nuns of Belial and depicted as The Sage of the Pipers Three by Tessa's "prophesies". Last seen murdered by Ralph.
This list is incomplete, other characters include: Desmond Fishman, Carrot, Shauna Wickle, Charlotte Grote, Linton, Jack, Gibbous Moon, Professor Gerd Muller
[edit] Various Creatures
The Scary Go Round universe is populated with many creatures and odd happenings. Some of these creatures include:
- Portuguese Man-o-war
- An arrogant blob who lives in the ocean.
- Goblins
- Goblins populate Tackleford. They live like people, but are unseen by people.
- Death
- Comes to you when you die. To see what should be done.
- Krakkagar
- Shiny black beetle-type thing. First seen 2002-07-11.
[edit] Crossovers and references
In Scary Go Round as of 2008-05-23 John Allison has drawn only references to characters from other webcomics, but no crossovers. Selected references are:
- Red Robot from Diesel Sweeties in Chapter 29, Your taxes at work, as Ambassador Red Robot from Robotania and occasionally other chapters. 2006-03-03, 2006-03-22, 2006-03-23 and 2006-03-24
- Pint Size from Questionable Content in 2006-03-02
[edit] Guest comics
Each spring other webcomic artists draw single page episodes using Scary Go Round characters in their on style.
- 2003 Spring guest comics by Jeff Rowland of Wigu, Jon Rosenberg of Goats, Bill Mudron of Excelsior Studios, Michael Lalonde of Orneryboy, Jen Wang of Strings Of Fate, Sam Logan of Sam and Fuzzy, Chris Onstad of Achewood, Vera Brosgol of Return To Sender, Christopher Baldwin of Bruno, Chris Crosby of Superosity, R Stevens of Diesel Sweeties, and John Allison (drawing by hand for the first time since Ocotber 2001).
- 2004 Spring guest comics by Sam Logan of Sam and Fuzzy, J.Jacques of Questionable Content, Jeff Rowland, Jon Rosenberg of Goats, Mark Inman of the useless superheroes, R Stevens of Diesel Sweeties, Julie Keene of Okay Pants, Aaron Farber of Men In Hats, Michael Lalonde of Ornery Boy, Kelly Vivanco of Patches, and John Allison (drawing by hand). Chapter 14, Count My Toes, had an animated intermission in the form of a special feature by Andy Bell of The Creatures In My Head (requires Flash) involving Shelley, scary stuff, and Amy.
- 2005 Spring guest comics covered 14 days until 2005-06-12 by Dylan Meconis.
- 2006 Spring guest comics covered 6 days until 2006-04-15 by Jeff Rowland.
- 2007 Spring guest comics covered 14 days until 2007-06-02 by Ali Graham of Afterstrife.
In 2006 John Allison announced a Scary Idol comic drawing contest and presented the runners up starting 2006-06-10 with number 1 by Tyler Martin up to number 6 by Tom Siddell and concluding with the winner by Josh Rosen.
In 2008 John Allison announced Feats Of Strength, another comic drawing contest. Runners up and the winning entry were displayed from 26 May 2008 (winner Lissa Treiman) until 8 June (runner-up Nicholas Daniel).
The final chapter finished on 11 September 2009, with some of the characters returning in his new comic Bad Machinery that started 21 September 2009. (cite: Stephan Britt. Bad Machinëry by John Allison. Date 2009-10-06. Last retrieved 2009-10-11.)
[edit] Computer drawing
From the first episode in 2002 June 4, Scary Go Round was computer-drawn and John Allison only returned to hand drawing as experiments in Scareodeleria (from 2004 until 2007) and for his own guest comic pages on 2003 May 31, and 2004 May 8. Excepting guest comics he continued with computer drawing until August 2005, chapter 24 Oldbourne. From chapter 24, Allison began to draw the main comic by hand; though he returned to computer drawing in November 2005, he kept his promise to resume drawing Scary Go Round by hand, and has done so from April 2006 until the end (2009-09-11).
[edit] Index
The following tables contains links to the start and end of each section in 2002 to 2004. A character's first appearance, death, or re-animation, is sometimes shown as a direct web link to the comic panel.
| Date start and end links | section name | characters | deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1 start 2002-06-04 to end 2002-08-22 | The gas | Len Pickering, Rachel, Cecil, Tessa, lift man Ralph, Ryan, William, Shelley, Krakkagar, Dr Proops | 0, but several deaths in flashback |
| Chapter 2 start to end 2002-10-18 | Science fair | Ryan, Shelley, Tim, Rachel, Tessa, Seamus Fogerty, Archie, Fallon Young, Len Pickering, Amy | 2, and one dismemberment |
| Chapter 3 start to end 2002-12-20 | Meddling | Ryan, Tim, Rachel, Tessa, Ralph, Shelley zombie, Mrs Birch, Sanjiv, Biff, The 'Devil', Amy, Len Pickering | 1 |
| Chapter 4 start 2003-01-05 to end 2003-02-28 | Inevitable | Amy, Tim, zombie Shelley, Ryan, Hamilton Percy, re-animated Shelley, Rachel, Tessa | -1 |
| Chapter 5 start 2003-03-04 to end 2003-03-25 | Down | Amy, Ryan, Hugo, Shelley, Tim, Mr Mayor | 0 |
| Chapter 6 start 2003-03-26 to end 2003-05-16 | Romania | Ryan, Hugo, Fallon, Tessa, Shelley, Amy, Dr Petrescu, Tim, Rachel, | 0, maybe |
| Guest comics to end 2003-05-31 | Guest comics | Jeff Rowland of Wigu, Jon Rosenberg of Goats, Bill Mudron of Excelsior Studios, Michael Lalonde of Orneryboy, Jen Wang of Strings Of Fate, Sam Logan of Sam and Fuzzy, Chris Onstad of Achewood, Vera Brosgol of Return To Sender, Christopher Baldwin of Bruno, Chris Crosby of Superosity, R Stevens of Diesel Sweeties, John A of Scary Go Round | 0 |
| Chapter 7 to end 2003-07-25 | Dimensionality | Tessa, Rachel, Len, Tim, (Ralph, Mrs Birch), Hugo, Amy, Shelley, William | 0 |
| Chapter 8 to end 2003-09-19 | Where the dumb things are | Tessa, Rachel, Krakkagar, Shelley, William, Amy, Len, Mr Mayor | 0 |
| Chapter 9 to end 2003-11-21 | Ballad of the man | Tessa, Rachel, Hugo, Ryan, Shelley, Amy, Mrs Birch, Fallon, Poppy, Friend Bat, Natalie Durand, old meddling ladies, Ralph, Len, Tim | 1 |
| Chapter 10 to end 2004-01-02 | Shopgirl | Shelley, Amy, Old Man Wallis, Len, Hugo, Ivan the caretaker, Mrs Ivan | 0 |
Chapters 11 to 20 - 2004:
| Date start and end links | section name | characters | deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 11 start 2004-01-05 to end 2004-02-06 | Robot town hall | Shelley, Amy, Fallon, ninjas, Mr Mayor, robot dignatories from Robotania, Hugo, Tim | 0, but several ninjas injured, possibly dead |
| Chapter 12 start 2004-02-08 to end 2004-03-27 | Bad religion | Shelley, Amy, Ryan, Tim, Mrs Birch, Friend Bat, Fallon, Hugo, Mrs Tinsley, Wayne, Percy, Maud, Natalie Durand as ghost | 0 |
This list is missing chapters 21 to 49
Chapter 50 - 2009:
| Date start and end links | section name | characters | deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 11 start 2009-03-16 to | Looking for Atlantis | Shelley, Amy, Desmond, Ryan, Professor Gerd Muller, Sarah, several Atlanteans, (in flashback: Hitler, Unity Mitford, Nicolas Sarkozy) | 1 character, several Atlanteans and one God Poseidon |
This list is missing the final chapter, 51
[edit] Cultural references
The following table lists some of the comic pages that make a cultural reference to literature, radio, television or film.
| Date links | reference | chapter and characters |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter 8: 2003-08-13 to 2003-08-14 and 2003-08-19 to 2003-08-20 | Silence of the Lambs - film | Where the dumb things are: Shelley as Clarice Starling, William as Dr. Hannibal Lecter |
| Chapter 33: 2006-09-25 and 2006-10-16 | The Prisoner - 1960s British cult TV series | The Big Broadcast: Fallon as a Prisoner, Wishing Elf as the new number 2 |
| Chapter 34: 2006-10-20 | The Singing Detective - British TV miniseries | Aw Hell: Desmond as Philip E. Marlow |
| Chapter 50: 2009-04-13 | Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (TV series) | Looking for Atlantis: Shelley as Twiki |
This list is incomplete.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Scary Go Chat: An online interview with John Allison by Leah Fitzgerald Leah Fitzgerald, comixtalk.com, 2003-03-01 last accessed 2007-10-25
- SCARY-GO-ROUND: A John Allison Interview, Stephen Gerding, Kung Fu Rodeo, 2004-09-29, last accessed 2007-10-25
- Webcomics: Interviews with John Allison & Jeph Jacques, Tama Leaver, Ponderance, 2005-07-27, last accessed 2007-10-25
- Laboratory and Obsession, Michael Whitney, Webcomics Examiner, 2004-08-09, last accessed 2007-10-25 (tweaked, quirky, Bobbins had typical faults but well drawn, progression of style over years)
- JOHN ALLISON and his Scary-Go-Round, thunderchunky.co.uk, 2003 or later, last accessed 2007-10-25 (one of the best online comic strips)
- A RIDE ON THE ‘SCARY GO ROUND’ Wizard Universe talks to webcomic creator John Allison, Brian Warmoth, 2006-12-22, last accessed 2007-10-25
Blog posts on the start of Bad Machinery
- Brian Warmoth. 2006-12-22. |title=A RIDE ON THE ‘SCARY GO ROUND’ / Wizard Universe talks to webcomic creator John Allison archived at [1] on 2007-01-06. Last accessed 2007-10-25.
- Ethan Holbrook. 2009-09-22. bad machinery. Last acessed 2009-10-11.
- El Santo. 2009-09-21. Allison’s got a case of Bad Machinery. Last accessed 2009-10-11.
[edit] External links
- Scary Go Round official website displaying Bad Machinery
- Scary Go Round archive
- John Allison. 09 July 2009. The end, the beginning. SGRBlogspot. Publisher: Blogspot. Last accessed 6 August 2009. - announcement of the end
- Dumbrella
- Bobbins archives and cast list on Keenspot
- Stephen Gerding's 2004 interview with John Allison
- last.fm Scarygoround group
[edit] Credit
| This page was originally based on an entry from Wikipedia and is used under their GNU Free Documentation License. |
