Bad Machinery: Solver
By John Allison | 1.3K FollowersAbout Bad Machinery: Solver
"Bad Machinery" followed six young detectives at Griswalds Grammar School for Girls and Boys in the weird English town of Tackleford. Between lessons, detentions, and lunch queues, Charlotte, Shauna, Mildred, and their counterparts Jack, Linton, and Sonny investigated the strange happenings that flocked to their town—haunted vehicles, time anomalies, curses, cryptids, and crimes both petty and supernatural. As they grew from wide-eyed 12-year-olds into complicated teens, their mysteries became less about monsters and more about people—parents, teachers, friends—and the small betrayals that come with growing up.
By the time school was over, the group had drifted apart. Some left Griswalds; others stayed and wondered why. Charlotte Grote, a born sleuth, now with her faithful friend Claire Little, refused to stop investigating. She might not have case files or a mystery shed anymore, but as long as there were mysteries, she was going to solve them... until she was framed for murder (spoiler: she beat the rap).
That’s where "Solver" begins: What does a teen sleuth do when she's aged out of the child mystery marketplace? This may be the one question she can't answer on her own. It will take a mix of old friends and new to get her back on her feet and solving again. What do you do when you've spent your life sticking your nose into other people's business but ignored the biggest enigma of all... yourself?
Meet John Allison
Based near Leeds, U.K., John Allison is the creator of, among others, the comic series "Giant Days," "Bad Machinery," and "Steeple." In addition, he created the webcomics "Bobbins" and "Scary Go Round," with his work appearing online since 1998. He was one of the first comic artists to build a daily following exclusively on the internet.
John's comics have been nominated for multiple Eisner Awards (winning twice in 2019), and in 2018 "Bad Machinery" won the Best Long-Form Online Comic award from the U.S. National Cartoonists’ Society. His work has been translated around the world, with "Giant Days" currently published in eight foreign-language editions.
His latest book is The Great British Bump-Off: Kill or Be Quilt, a collaboration with "Giant Days" artist Max Sarin, for Dark Horse.
Cast of Characters
Charlotte
Charlotte “Lottie” Grote once led the Griswalds mystery kids with unstoppable curiosity and a knack for chaos. Now older but no calmer, she’s traded school blazers for secondhand jackets and kept her detective instincts sharp. Lottie can’t help solving things—even when they’re better left unsolved.
Claire
During their schooldays together, Claire Little went from cute nuisance to Lottie's best and most trusted ally. Clever and kind, she has a glittering academic future ahead of her. While she sounds almost too good to be true, Claire does have a "little" problem... where there's smoke, there's fire!
Mildred
Very blonde, very tall. The child of two academics, Mildred grew up slightly feral (but in a nice way). Now a gifted science student on the fast track to a job in lasers, she and Lottie have grown apart, but she has a sixth sense for showing up at key moments—whether anyone wants her to or not.