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The Case of the Team Spirit
(Bad Machinery #1)
by
Tackleford, England is a town full of mysteries. Shauna, Charlotte, and Mildred just want to help the mysterious old immigrant woman keep her home. Jack, Linton, and Sonny just want to find out why the owner of the local football stadium has been plagued by a curse. If only the two groups could stop fighting with each other, they might realize there's a shared solution...
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Paperback, 136 pages
Published
April 2nd 2013
by Oni Press
(first published March 27th 2013)
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Start your review of The Case of the Team Spirit (Bad Machinery, #1)
Jack, Sonny, Linton, Shauna, Charlotte and Mildred are six 11 year-old friends who’re about to discover that high school isn’t about lessons, homework and teachers; it’s about sleuthing, social justice, family curses, and big business football - this is Bad Machinery (a title I’ve yet to understand)!
This first volume is quite a hefty paperback with slightly larger than A4-size paper set horizontally so the thing flops open like a car manual as you’re reading it. But at 129 pages, it’s not a lon ...more
This first volume is quite a hefty paperback with slightly larger than A4-size paper set horizontally so the thing flops open like a car manual as you’re reading it. But at 129 pages, it’s not a lon ...more
I have to say that this is pretty hilarious stuff, consistently full of laughs. It’s funnier than Giant Days, surely, though to be fair Bad Machinery was set up as a web comic with a focus on regular gags vs. a coherent narrative. And Giant Days focuses on a group going to college vs. grammar school. A pretty coherent narrative does emerge, though, in this first long volume. I have no idea what “Bad Machinery” as a title means, I think the mysteries at the heart of the story are sort of peripher
...more
When I was a budding teen, I was probably just about what you were like. I was whip-smart, sardonic, and had no problems elucidating my every bursting thought with exactitude. I was, for lack of better description, charming. I wouldn’t go quite so far as to say “debonaire,” but really that’s probably just modesty speaking. I dressed well, spoke well, and forged relationships well. With either sex. Didn’t matter. I was basically the stuff. Except for the fact that none of that happened. I was ins ...more
I loved this! I want to be British!
I think this is one case where being a daily comic actually hurt the overall story.
I like a lot of things about this book - the illustrations are kinda funky, and well colored; the characters are at least a touch out of the box; the setting is not my normal world; the magic realism qualities are neat.
But I found myself looking for the punch line at the end of every page (and finding it, then being disappointed). There was a fair amount of lingo I didn't get, too.
Good, fine, but ya know - I wa ...more
I like a lot of things about this book - the illustrations are kinda funky, and well colored; the characters are at least a touch out of the box; the setting is not my normal world; the magic realism qualities are neat.
But I found myself looking for the punch line at the end of every page (and finding it, then being disappointed). There was a fair amount of lingo I didn't get, too.
Good, fine, but ya know - I wa ...more
This was fun in an off-the-way sort of way.
I liked the characters but there seemed to be two "teams" (boys and girls) and it wasn't entirely clear how they were connected. They didn't interact much, but seemed to have an undisclosed backstory? even though this is listed as the first book. ...more
I liked the characters but there seemed to be two "teams" (boys and girls) and it wasn't entirely clear how they were connected. They didn't interact much, but seemed to have an undisclosed backstory? even though this is listed as the first book. ...more
If you have been following this series online, this is the first collection from when it first started. If you haven't stumbled across Bad Machinery, and you like Giant Days, I would suggest giving this a try, as it has a similar, though much younger, group of quirky friends having adventures.
--additional edits on this review--
These are some pictures. As you can see, if is done in the same style as Giant Days, just with
a younger cast.
As with Giant Days, things seem like a conventional normal s ...more
--additional edits on this review--
These are some pictures. As you can see, if is done in the same style as Giant Days, just with
a younger cast.
As with Giant Days, things seem like a conventional normal s ...more
Think Scooby Doo and his gang but set in Britain and with clever, witty banter.
The cast of characters are divided along gender lines and both are fighting for a cause. The boys are concerned about the poor performance of their local soccer (football) team, while the girls are fighting for the housing rights of an elderly woman they refer to as Mrs. Biscuits whose home is threatened by the plan to build a new soccer (football) stadium.
The characters are fresh, fun, and cheeky. The dialogue was sn ...more
The cast of characters are divided along gender lines and both are fighting for a cause. The boys are concerned about the poor performance of their local soccer (football) team, while the girls are fighting for the housing rights of an elderly woman they refer to as Mrs. Biscuits whose home is threatened by the plan to build a new soccer (football) stadium.
The characters are fresh, fun, and cheeky. The dialogue was sn ...more
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One grammar school, a group of six students and a mystery that is confusing the residents of their home town. The owner of the local football stadium claims to be cursed but from who or what no-one knows. Meanwhile, an elderly lady lives in a house on the grounds of the stadium and doesn't like change. The other neighbours have been forced to move out to make way for new building developments. This story was very British, as it is set in a fictional t ...more
One grammar school, a group of six students and a mystery that is confusing the residents of their home town. The owner of the local football stadium claims to be cursed but from who or what no-one knows. Meanwhile, an elderly lady lives in a house on the grounds of the stadium and doesn't like change. The other neighbours have been forced to move out to make way for new building developments. This story was very British, as it is set in a fictional t ...more
This book started off as a "gag-a-day" web-comic, and perhaps would have been more accessible had it been written in graphic-novel form. But the humor was so spectacular I got over the weirdness of form and uncertainty of plot and eventually a mystery took shape.
I do not recommend this book to anyone reading for the mystery of it all or a tight, conventional plot. But if you enjoy off-beat British humor, and don't mind a sort of YA Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew with 6 sleuths, minor growing pains a ...more
I do not recommend this book to anyone reading for the mystery of it all or a tight, conventional plot. But if you enjoy off-beat British humor, and don't mind a sort of YA Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew with 6 sleuths, minor growing pains a ...more
Cutest frickin thing I have read in a long while. Repeated instances of waking husband up to read him funny parts. Slight eye- watering. Yay!
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Fun, quirky episodic-webcomic-style story of kids at a British school solving mysteries (intentionally or not.) Definitely some confusing bits here for the non-British, although a glossary at the back helps a tiny bit. Seemed a bit disjointed at the beginning, but the plot threads tie together pretty well towards the end. The odd nonchalance about some of the stranger or more supernatural goings-on in town seemed odd, but maybe that's just more Britishness coming into play.
...more
This caught my eye as it was passing through the library. I quite enjoyed the humor. The kids seemed older than they were supposed to be, and the one oddball supernatural element in the story felt kind of plunked in. Still, it was great fun, and I'm looking forward to reading more.
...more
Jan 18, 2013
Mike
rated it
it was ok
Recommended to Mike by:
Webcomic Wonderland Group
Shelves:
starters-sequential-art,
webcomics
This volume collects the first "case" of the webcomic Bad Machinery, about 100 strips.
I didn't realize Bad Machinery was a spin-off of sorts before reading, so I am reviewing this without any familiarity with Scary Go Round.
Bad Machinery uses a combination of "long form" and "gag-a-day" structures to tell the story of six elementary school detectives who get involved in strange happenings in a stranger town. The comic has long running storylines divided into cases, but each strip generally has a ...more
I didn't realize Bad Machinery was a spin-off of sorts before reading, so I am reviewing this without any familiarity with Scary Go Round.
Bad Machinery uses a combination of "long form" and "gag-a-day" structures to tell the story of six elementary school detectives who get involved in strange happenings in a stranger town. The comic has long running storylines divided into cases, but each strip generally has a ...more
I love Bad Machinery. I read Scary Go Round (the webcomic which preceded Bad Machinery, whence Bad Machinery was "spun off") and liked it a lot; I think I actually like Bad Machinery MORE. I like that the protagonists are kids, clever kids; they're innocent and whatnot and that appeals to me. (Also the supernatural stuff is toned down a little bit, which I think I like as well.)
So this book is a collection of the first "mystery" of Bad Machinery. It introduces our six young protagonists. I like ...more
So this book is a collection of the first "mystery" of Bad Machinery. It introduces our six young protagonists. I like ...more
Took some effort to get into this, and if I hadn't bought it I would have given up halfway through. Eventually, though, all the meandering characters and storylines came together and connected and had a cute little ending. Sometimes I felt like I was missing things, and was just a little lost. The earlier pages seemed to wander and not entirely make sense, but eventually the pages actually focused on the plot and it felt like tighter storytelling.
Some of my confusion might simply be cultural dif ...more
Some of my confusion might simply be cultural dif ...more
This was all kinds of fun! Shauna, Sonny, Mildred, Charlotte, Linton, and Jack all attend the same school in Tackleford, England. The girls stumble onto a mystery, a sweet old lady being pressured to move so that her house can be torn down to build a new football stadium. Meanwhile, the boys discover that the Russian owner of the local football team is being haunted, and it becomes clear that their two mysteries may be related ... The story comes together very organically. Allison seems more int
...more
3.5
Becca gave me this because I loved Giant Days so much, and it was fun and cute, but so much younger that I was disappointed. She told me that the next ones in this series are - I don't want to say 'better', because there's nothing wrong with super-cute graphic novels for younger kids! - a bit meatier, and I have now read two of them and she was so right. Worth reading this so you know the characters, but not if you're going to be put off. ...more
Becca gave me this because I loved Giant Days so much, and it was fun and cute, but so much younger that I was disappointed. She told me that the next ones in this series are - I don't want to say 'better', because there's nothing wrong with super-cute graphic novels for younger kids! - a bit meatier, and I have now read two of them and she was so right. Worth reading this so you know the characters, but not if you're going to be put off. ...more
Jun 12, 2015
Jenna
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
young-adult,
webcomics,
graphic-novels,
brit-lit,
fantasy,
children-s,
mystery,
books-i-own
8/2016
Finished reading the entire run of Scary Go Round and Bad Machinery... more, please?
Enjoyable but I almost wish that we had focused on fewer characters at once. At times it felt like we were missing out on things like background and history. But I did like it. Like the drawing style and expressiveness with just a little shape change of those rather oval eyes.
Finished reading the entire run of Scary Go Round and Bad Machinery... more, please?
Enjoyable but I almost wish that we had focused on fewer characters at once. At times it felt like we were missing out on things like background and history. But I did like it. Like the drawing style and expressiveness with just a little shape change of those rather oval eyes.
Stopped reading a quarter way in.
Didn't enjoy it at all.
Cute artwork though. ...more
Didn't enjoy it at all.
Cute artwork though. ...more
Apr 04, 2017
Kimber
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
young-adult,
comics,
graphic-novel,
collection,
series,
family,
magic-supernatural-scifi,
netgalley
This is a trimmed down version of my review, to view the full review visit The Book Ramble.
I received a copy of this book from Diamond Book Distributors on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Bad Machinery follows the adventures of 6 friends who solve mysteries around town. This particular case is about an apparent curse on the local football team. The group split boys vs. girls and works to solve the troubles in town cause by the local team.
I am a huge fan of John Allison’s Giant Days so ...more
I received a copy of this book from Diamond Book Distributors on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Bad Machinery follows the adventures of 6 friends who solve mysteries around town. This particular case is about an apparent curse on the local football team. The group split boys vs. girls and works to solve the troubles in town cause by the local team.
I am a huge fan of John Allison’s Giant Days so ...more
This appears to be a quirky internet comic that was published in book form. I don't know why it should matter whether I'm reading it on my computer screen vs in paper form, but it seemed like I would have enjoyed it more on my computer. Perhaps it was because the book was over-sized (9 x 12.25") and was difficult to wrangle. It follows the adventures of 6 British middle school students as they unravel a mystery involving their local city football (soccer) team. The insertion of a supernatural el
...more
Came across this when I was looking for some of Allison's Giant Days collections and picked it up cheap from eBay. Originally published page by page as a web comic, it can sometimes feel a little disjointed as each day has to land with the bottom-right panel. But there are a couple of stories worming their way through this, recognizable if you ever read British comics or watched British children's TV in the 1970s. And, most importantly, the jokes are good.
I wasn't expecting this over-sized, lan ...more
I wasn't expecting this over-sized, lan ...more
2.5 stars.
After reading this and the first volume of Giant Days, I just think me and John Allison don't really have similar tastes in humour. This was ok, as was Giant Days, but I haven't really gotten much out of either of those books, maybe there are other things or later things by Allison that I'd enjoy but I don't think I'm going to try any more of his stuff out. It's alright, but just maybe not for me. ...more
After reading this and the first volume of Giant Days, I just think me and John Allison don't really have similar tastes in humour. This was ok, as was Giant Days, but I haven't really gotten much out of either of those books, maybe there are other things or later things by Allison that I'd enjoy but I don't think I'm going to try any more of his stuff out. It's alright, but just maybe not for me. ...more
So very English! Love that it takes place in Yorkshire. It’s quite amusing and the dialogue is great and very Yorkshire.
Cute. 3.5 stars.
Dear John Allison... I’m not entirely sure what I just read. Cheers for Mrs. Biscuits tho!
The size of this book is very annoying: it is enormous and floppy and you need a music stand to read it properly or else just lie on the floor. Which is not comfortable. But it's hilarious and I love John Allison, so now I have to decide whether or not I want to deal with this nonsense for another FIVE VOLUMES. Maybe the webcomic is still available online and I can just read it there? I will hope.
...more
Full disclosure: I was a real sucker for kid detective stories as a child. I guess I still am (both a sucker and a child - at heart). At risk of aging myself, I devoured the likes of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys novels along with - when I was even younger - their more obscure counterparts Nate the Great and Encyclopedia Brown. Favourite TV shows included 3-2-1 Contact’s The Bloodhound Gang and The Edison Twins.
So when Net Galley offered this title in exchange for an honest review, I naturally jumpe ...more
So when Net Galley offered this title in exchange for an honest review, I naturally jumpe ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Webcomic Wonderland: January-Bad Machinery | 4 | 15 | Jan 30, 2013 07:38AM |
Readers also enjoyed
John Allison is the author and artist of the British webcomics Scary Go Round and Bad Machinery.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See other authors with similar names. ...more
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See other authors with similar names. ...more
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Bad Machinery
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