Safeguarding trust since 1998

Who are you, John Allison?
I am the UK's primary, some would say leading maker of comics on the internet. I have waited more than ten years for someone to take my inexpensive crown. I live near Manchester in England's (s)pecific north-west. I have been a music writer, a magazine designer and a web designer. I have a degree from Sheffield University in "the journalism".

Do you do commissions?
Let me know your project and the price you have in mind and I will let you know. My email is john@scarygoround.com. I haven't taken on much work in the last few years because of the weak dollar but the exchange rate now favours clients in the USA.

I am always happy to do Scary Go Round character drawings or paintings to suit your pocket.

Will you design a tattoo for me?
This isn't something I feel comfortable with. I am sorry.

John, what is this "Scary Go Round"
Scary Go Round is the comic I use to tell the stories I come up with. It's a little self-contained universe! It isn't particularly scary. Some stories are macabre, some are played with a straight bat to the cheap seats.

Do I need to read from the start?
God no! No no no! The later chapters have been written so you can just jump in. Nothing from The Great Tackleford Show onwards requires any more than a cursory eye to the past. I have tried not to write an impenetrable, neverending saga at all costs.

It may help to know that here have been a few strands to Scary Go Round:

Shelley Winters eyes the prize
Red-haired cypher Shelley Winters occasionally undertakes adventures. She believes herself to be wise, pretty and morally beyond reproach. In truth she is probably dangerously insane.

Tim Jones, a good man, a man of action
Tim Jones is an inventor and one time, he runs for mayor. Straight-backed and true, Jones gets the job done.

Tessa and Rachel are nefarious investigators
Student barmaids Tessa and Rachel look into mysteries and eventually get a come-uppance.

School-age chronicles
Midway through the run, enter The Boy, Dark Esther, Milford and Erin Winters. An ongoing teenage yarn.

Ryan and Amy learn, slowly
Shelley's best friends begin at the very bottom and claw themselves towards respectability. It takes years.

Desmond Fishman
The mystery of a scaly homunculus which will probably never end.

Why doesn't [character X] appear any more?
Characters just get worn out after a while.

How do you draw this thing?
Scary Go Round used to be drawn in Adobe Illustrator using a Wacom tablet. To be honest, this isn't the best way to draw a comic. Then there was a long spell where I drew it traditionally with pencils and pens, then coloured it in Photoshop. Since January 2008 I've drawn it on a Wacom Cintiq in Manga Studio, coloured in Photoshop and lettered in Adobe Illustrator.

You can read a review of Manga Studio 4 I wrote, with some screenshots of my process, here.

Is this your job? Do you make a living from Scary Go Round?
Yes, somehow I support myself by making up silly girl adventures. This fact continues to astound me. I'm very grateful to the people who buy my merchandise and keep the comic going.

Will you do more short stand-alone books like Girlspy, Ghosts and Scareodeleria?
I hope to do more standalone works at some point.

Can I still get the first three Scary Go Round collections?
Unfortunately they are all out of print and there is not the demand to justify a reprint.

Could you make them available via print-on-demand or as PDFs?
I had a look at print on demand, the books were going to cost a lot. As for PDFs, if there was a decent way to get paid for that, sure. As it stands at the moment, I haven't found one. But I am looking at it all the time.

Do you make appearances in person?
I do sometimes! I try to make a couple of appearances a year in the USA and at least one in the UK. I've exhibited several times at San Diego Comic-con, as well as shows in New York, Maryland, Connecticut, London, Brighton and Lancaster. But these things cost me money and bitter experience has taught me to give most things with a big picture of The Hulk and Wolverine over the door a miss (from a purely financial standpoint). If you'd like me to attend your event, I can probably be lured with the promise of a hotel room, travel money and a gold satin sash (sash negotiable).

I want to make my own colour book like how you did! Should I do it?
If you think you can sell at least 1000 copies, then do it. Bulk printing is cost-effective (remember to shop around) and extremely rewarding. If you can't, don't! Vanity publishing via print on demand is a racket that feeds on self-delusion. When you're good enough, you'll be able to sell some books without having to pay $10 a pop to print them.

But here's a secret: BLACK AND WHITE LITHO PRINTING IS NOT ALL THAT EXPENSIVE. While all my books are printed in colour, which isn't cheap, you can get into black and white printing at a fraction of the cost - especially if you work in a standard size. If I'd known then what I know now, I probably wouldn't have designed a comic that would be so expensive to reproduce. Mark an old man's words.