Bad Machinery. The Case of The Team Spirit. John Allison (Writer & Artist). Oni Press (2013)

A wonderfully funny and confident updating of the school student detective team who solve strange mysteries in their town.  In Tackleford, Shauna, Sonny, Mildred, Charlotte, Linton and Jack all starting their first year at Griswalds Grammer School, Shuna, Charlotte and Mildred want to help an old woman keep her home, Sonny, Linton and Jack are investigating if the Russian owner of the local football team is under a curse. The threads develop and twist together in the most glorious fashion and finally are resolved in a highly satisfactory way.
John Allison has managed to update the genre requirements for mystery solving school children without winking at the audience about how obviously absurd the whole set up is and that he and the reader are both in on the joke. The cast is serious and the story is extremely funny and the mix is perfectly judged. Enough time and detail are given for the school time, home lives and the story threads for all of them to contribute to the overall impact of the book. The adults and the children interact with each other in highly credible and funny ways that never feel forced or deliberately set up.
The mystery team are individual, smart, uncertain and funny, they spark off each other and try to navigate their lives with tremendous energy and force. The perils of school life are just as terrifying as the dangers of the football mystery.
The art is a pleasure to read, it is friendly and open, the cast are sketched with great expressiveness, body language is as eloquent as dialogue. The bright colours catch the mood and tone of the story perfectly and the lettering is natural and unobtrusive.
John Allison has the confidence and talent to pull of a very difficult task, he has written a story that has a joke in every strip that never feels overloaded or rushed. The story moves in all sorts of directions and consistently remains true to the cast, it never makes the children to be short, smart mouthed adults, they are smart engaging children.
Bad Machinery is a web comic and the transition to a physical book is seamless, the oversized horizontal format gives enough space for two strips per page , each at a lovely big size that gives the art the room to make an impact.
Comedy is hard work, lighthearted, charming comedy is fantastically hard work, John Allison makes it look easy and natural, what a treat for readers.