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Bad Machinery #5
Bad Machinery Volume Five: The Case of the Fire Inside
The new year brings the all the joys and near-drownings of young love in The Case of the Fire Inside, the latest volume of Bad Machinery! Sonny meets a mysterious new girl who seems to have climbed out of the sea itself, while Mildred falls for the bad boy of Saturday detention. But can either of them succeed in the face of jealous exes, overprotective fathers, and the persistent tide of DESTINY? What is a "selkie"? Is a Morton's toe fatal? And can Dark Rotuss truly save the galaxy?
128 pages, Paperback
First published April 20, 2016
3 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
John Allison
319 books830 followersJohn 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.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See other authors with similar names.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
December 24, 2016
[Warning: mega-spoilers, because I want to complain about the ending.]
I’ve been obsessively reading John Allison for many years now, and with “The Case of the Fire Inside” I would say that Bad Machinery, already his best work, really hit its stride. Allison has always been a funny guy, but Scary-Go-Round, though still, in my opinion, well worth reading, lacked a certain amount of depth. Too many characters were more or less placeholders, or didn’t quite make sense. Foremost among these was, as Allison himself essentially admitted in describing the genesis of Bad Machinery, Shelley, whose unchanging, preternatural good cheer and total lack of common sense worked in a way, but proved a limiting factor to the kind of stories he could tell. So for Bad Machinery he reorganized around a new set of characters, jumping forward several years from the end of SGR and focusing mainly on a group of 12-year-olds. Significantly, the only two main characters initially brought forward from SGR were Amy and Ryan, who were, by the end of the SGR run, it's most interesting characters, the ones who had grown and developed the most. And the choice to work with children also helped: kids, by definition, grow and develop. In fact, they become adolescents, and with “The Case of the Fire Inside” Allison tackles adolescence head-on. Cleverly, he does it by foregrounding Sonny, who had previously been the least distinctive of the group of friends at the center of Bad Machinery. Pleasant, easygoing, and unassertive, in the previous books Sonny largely seemed content to float along with things as they are. Of course, the thing about adolescence is that things don’t — indeed, can’t — continue as they were, and the book follows Sonny as he comes to grips with this fact. Since this is Allison, he naturally does so in the form of a supernatural mystery, this one involving a selkie (an excellent symbol of change, as they shed their skins to switch forms). Mildred’s abortive romance with an older boy also gets swept into the selkie story, and Lottie provides a number of hilarious interludes. There’s also the story of an older woman, on the edge of dementia, who takes in the selkie Ellen, straight from the sea, in the belief that she is her own daughter, and as an an act of rebellion against her actual child’s desire to put her in a retirement home. (We never learn this woman’s name, she is referred to solely as “Ma”.) This part of the story is extremely well done, in particular the ending, in which Ma, after sending Ellen back into the sea to her selkie family, walks into it herself. It’s sad, but powerful because it works so well, with Ma’s decision that she has nothing left to live for seeming tragic and plausible as well as noble, since in a way she is sacrificing herself for Ellen’s happiness. Or at least, that’s how it works in the original, online version. Unfortunately, according to the printed version’s afterword, after that scene went online a lot of people wrote to Allison about how much they liked Ma and how sad it was, and he decided to change it so that she was also a selkie and was returning to her home in the sea as well. Not only does this push the bounds of credulity a little too far — one selkie is fine, two selkies is an acceptable coincidence, but to have every new female character be a selkie is too much — it doesn’t make sense. If she could have gone back to the sea at any time, why didn’t she? Why keep living in an increasingly filthy house, with the only thing she had to look forward to occasional visits by a daughter who finds her to be an embarrassment? And why didn’t she mention this rather important fact to Ellen once it became obvious that Ellen was a selkie? More importantly, it destroys the power of Ma’s action, robbing it of its meaning. If she was a selkie and could go back to the sea, of course she’s going to do that, rather than continue her life as it is. What makes it so touching and sad in the online version is precisely the fact that, unlike Ellen (but like the readers), she doesn’t have the selkie option available to her. But most of all, it completely undermines the point of the story. As a selkie, Ellen represents change without being changeable herself: she must return to the sea because if she stays too long, she will become different and be unable to return (like Sasha, who has literally outgrown her skin and so lost the selkie side of her nature). But for the human characters, the story says, change is inevitable, even if not always welcome, and they must learn to accept it. Giving Ma a way out as Allison does runs completely counter to the entire theme of the otherwise carefully crafted and well-written story. While I appreciate that Allison wanted to listen to his fans, in this case they were just wrong.
I’ve been obsessively reading John Allison for many years now, and with “The Case of the Fire Inside” I would say that Bad Machinery, already his best work, really hit its stride. Allison has always been a funny guy, but Scary-Go-Round, though still, in my opinion, well worth reading, lacked a certain amount of depth. Too many characters were more or less placeholders, or didn’t quite make sense. Foremost among these was, as Allison himself essentially admitted in describing the genesis of Bad Machinery, Shelley, whose unchanging, preternatural good cheer and total lack of common sense worked in a way, but proved a limiting factor to the kind of stories he could tell. So for Bad Machinery he reorganized around a new set of characters, jumping forward several years from the end of SGR and focusing mainly on a group of 12-year-olds. Significantly, the only two main characters initially brought forward from SGR were Amy and Ryan, who were, by the end of the SGR run, it's most interesting characters, the ones who had grown and developed the most. And the choice to work with children also helped: kids, by definition, grow and develop. In fact, they become adolescents, and with “The Case of the Fire Inside” Allison tackles adolescence head-on. Cleverly, he does it by foregrounding Sonny, who had previously been the least distinctive of the group of friends at the center of Bad Machinery. Pleasant, easygoing, and unassertive, in the previous books Sonny largely seemed content to float along with things as they are. Of course, the thing about adolescence is that things don’t — indeed, can’t — continue as they were, and the book follows Sonny as he comes to grips with this fact. Since this is Allison, he naturally does so in the form of a supernatural mystery, this one involving a selkie (an excellent symbol of change, as they shed their skins to switch forms). Mildred’s abortive romance with an older boy also gets swept into the selkie story, and Lottie provides a number of hilarious interludes. There’s also the story of an older woman, on the edge of dementia, who takes in the selkie Ellen, straight from the sea, in the belief that she is her own daughter, and as an an act of rebellion against her actual child’s desire to put her in a retirement home. (We never learn this woman’s name, she is referred to solely as “Ma”.) This part of the story is extremely well done, in particular the ending, in which Ma, after sending Ellen back into the sea to her selkie family, walks into it herself. It’s sad, but powerful because it works so well, with Ma’s decision that she has nothing left to live for seeming tragic and plausible as well as noble, since in a way she is sacrificing herself for Ellen’s happiness. Or at least, that’s how it works in the original, online version. Unfortunately, according to the printed version’s afterword, after that scene went online a lot of people wrote to Allison about how much they liked Ma and how sad it was, and he decided to change it so that she was also a selkie and was returning to her home in the sea as well. Not only does this push the bounds of credulity a little too far — one selkie is fine, two selkies is an acceptable coincidence, but to have every new female character be a selkie is too much — it doesn’t make sense. If she could have gone back to the sea at any time, why didn’t she? Why keep living in an increasingly filthy house, with the only thing she had to look forward to occasional visits by a daughter who finds her to be an embarrassment? And why didn’t she mention this rather important fact to Ellen once it became obvious that Ellen was a selkie? More importantly, it destroys the power of Ma’s action, robbing it of its meaning. If she was a selkie and could go back to the sea, of course she’s going to do that, rather than continue her life as it is. What makes it so touching and sad in the online version is precisely the fact that, unlike Ellen (but like the readers), she doesn’t have the selkie option available to her. But most of all, it completely undermines the point of the story. As a selkie, Ellen represents change without being changeable herself: she must return to the sea because if she stays too long, she will become different and be unable to return (like Sasha, who has literally outgrown her skin and so lost the selkie side of her nature). But for the human characters, the story says, change is inevitable, even if not always welcome, and they must learn to accept it. Giving Ma a way out as Allison does runs completely counter to the entire theme of the otherwise carefully crafted and well-written story. While I appreciate that Allison wanted to listen to his fans, in this case they were just wrong.
January 1, 2021
12/26/2020 Lovely Christmas morning reading. Full review tk at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.
1/1/2021 My husband got me this book several years ago as I'm a huge Bad Machinery fan, but for some reason or other, I put off reading this until I felt it was the "right time." So it's been languishing on my dining room table for years, unready to join its kin -- the first four volumes -- that I hide in a special place to save from my kids' grubby and destructive fingers, until I decided on Christmas morning, while my kids were occupying themselves with presents, that it was finally the moment!
Ofc, the first thing I did upon slipping back into that wonderful fictional world was chastise myself for waiting so long, but if I did that for every book I own that I put off reading, I'd be recriminating myself foreeeeever. And don't think I wasn't sufficiently punished when I went online afterward to track down the next volumes, and found myself faced with a multiplicity of editions and availabilities. Wound up buying used copies from online thrift stores because I'd waited so long to get the particular editions I wanted... and I've just discovered I could've gotten the exact copies I had in mind directly from the author's website, oh good grief.
But this should give you some idea of the charm and hold that this series, revolving around six teenagers solving weird crimes in the town of Tackleford, England, has on the reader. Both funny and poignant, John Allison is doing some of the best work of his career with this series, and especially with this fifth installment, The Case Of The Fire Inside. Our heroes are growing up and setting aside things like their mystery-solving clubs in favor of romance and swotting up for college (well, most of them anyway: Charlotte is incorrigible as always.) Shauna and Jack have broken up, so now Jack and Linton, his best friend, spend all their time thinking about meeting girls. This doesn't sit well with the last member of their trio, Sonny, who isn't ready for a girlfriend and wishes they could go back to just playing with toys and having adventures. While moping at the swim party organized for his 14th birthday, he thinks he sees a girl swimming outside off the beach. He runs to see if she needs help, more or less followed by Charlotte, who is busy getting herself kicked out of the pool establishment. The mysterious girl disappears, but not before Sonny finds some weird hide lying on the seashore. Charlotte stuffs the hide into Sonny's bag because... well, because she's Charlotte and in her tortured logic it's the sensible thing to do.
Meanwhile, Sonny's cousin Mildred is suffering the pangs of first love when cool, handsome Lee starts paying attention to her. Shauna and Charlotte egg her on, tho Shauna is too busy with her studies to care about boys herself. But Lee has a secret that could change everything, even before a new girl shows up in Tackleford and seems to set her sights on Sonny.
I love these books so much, not only for the lightly paranormal mysteries and gleeful humor but also for the authentic look into the lives and emotions of young people trying to navigate growing up and what it means to be a good friend. The kids are certainly in a different place in their lives now than they were in the first books, and it's a joy to follow along as they solve not only crimes but the conundrums of their personal lives. I am also obsessed with Charlotte, who is exactly the bold, savage opposite of myself at that age (I was definitely more of a Shauna.)
I'm hoping the thrift store volumes arrive soon so I can happily devour the rest, ahead of catching up with the final volumes, the last of which is to be released January 26th! I can't believe their story is coming to a close. But I also know that I put off reading this book so as to prolong my own joy, knowing there are fresh Bad Machinery stories for me to enjoy for the first time still in my future (also, I think Mr Allison keeps writing about the kids as grown-ups? The prospect sends a delighted shiver of joy through me!) Were I impatient, I would have likely already read all these at Scary Go Round, the site where Mr Allison originally publishes his webcomics, but I like having these nice floppy volumes in hand to savor while overseeing my children's mischief. Anyway, don't be an idiot like me and put off buying these delightful books.
Bad Machinery Vol 5: The Case Of The Fire Inside by John Allison was first published April 20th, 2016 by Oni Press, and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop! Want it now? For the Kindle version, click here.
1/1/2021 My husband got me this book several years ago as I'm a huge Bad Machinery fan, but for some reason or other, I put off reading this until I felt it was the "right time." So it's been languishing on my dining room table for years, unready to join its kin -- the first four volumes -- that I hide in a special place to save from my kids' grubby and destructive fingers, until I decided on Christmas morning, while my kids were occupying themselves with presents, that it was finally the moment!
Ofc, the first thing I did upon slipping back into that wonderful fictional world was chastise myself for waiting so long, but if I did that for every book I own that I put off reading, I'd be recriminating myself foreeeeever. And don't think I wasn't sufficiently punished when I went online afterward to track down the next volumes, and found myself faced with a multiplicity of editions and availabilities. Wound up buying used copies from online thrift stores because I'd waited so long to get the particular editions I wanted... and I've just discovered I could've gotten the exact copies I had in mind directly from the author's website, oh good grief.
But this should give you some idea of the charm and hold that this series, revolving around six teenagers solving weird crimes in the town of Tackleford, England, has on the reader. Both funny and poignant, John Allison is doing some of the best work of his career with this series, and especially with this fifth installment, The Case Of The Fire Inside. Our heroes are growing up and setting aside things like their mystery-solving clubs in favor of romance and swotting up for college (well, most of them anyway: Charlotte is incorrigible as always.) Shauna and Jack have broken up, so now Jack and Linton, his best friend, spend all their time thinking about meeting girls. This doesn't sit well with the last member of their trio, Sonny, who isn't ready for a girlfriend and wishes they could go back to just playing with toys and having adventures. While moping at the swim party organized for his 14th birthday, he thinks he sees a girl swimming outside off the beach. He runs to see if she needs help, more or less followed by Charlotte, who is busy getting herself kicked out of the pool establishment. The mysterious girl disappears, but not before Sonny finds some weird hide lying on the seashore. Charlotte stuffs the hide into Sonny's bag because... well, because she's Charlotte and in her tortured logic it's the sensible thing to do.
Meanwhile, Sonny's cousin Mildred is suffering the pangs of first love when cool, handsome Lee starts paying attention to her. Shauna and Charlotte egg her on, tho Shauna is too busy with her studies to care about boys herself. But Lee has a secret that could change everything, even before a new girl shows up in Tackleford and seems to set her sights on Sonny.
I love these books so much, not only for the lightly paranormal mysteries and gleeful humor but also for the authentic look into the lives and emotions of young people trying to navigate growing up and what it means to be a good friend. The kids are certainly in a different place in their lives now than they were in the first books, and it's a joy to follow along as they solve not only crimes but the conundrums of their personal lives. I am also obsessed with Charlotte, who is exactly the bold, savage opposite of myself at that age (I was definitely more of a Shauna.)
I'm hoping the thrift store volumes arrive soon so I can happily devour the rest, ahead of catching up with the final volumes, the last of which is to be released January 26th! I can't believe their story is coming to a close. But I also know that I put off reading this book so as to prolong my own joy, knowing there are fresh Bad Machinery stories for me to enjoy for the first time still in my future (also, I think Mr Allison keeps writing about the kids as grown-ups? The prospect sends a delighted shiver of joy through me!) Were I impatient, I would have likely already read all these at Scary Go Round, the site where Mr Allison originally publishes his webcomics, but I like having these nice floppy volumes in hand to savor while overseeing my children's mischief. Anyway, don't be an idiot like me and put off buying these delightful books.
Bad Machinery Vol 5: The Case Of The Fire Inside by John Allison was first published April 20th, 2016 by Oni Press, and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop! Want it now? For the Kindle version, click here.
August 29, 2017
Much silliness ensues when the mysterious girl Sonny spots swimming in the sea starts going to their school.
I love the hilarious dialogue and the zany sweetness of these books.
I love the hilarious dialogue and the zany sweetness of these books.
Read
May 30, 2023Mildred gets a boyfriend, and Jack gets a girlfriend. But something’s fishy... in more literal ways than you’d think.
Had a lot of fun with this one. Charlotte is still my favorite character, though Mildred comes close after this book. Allison once again proves his ability to balance character, plot, and humor like few in the business.
Had a lot of fun with this one. Charlotte is still my favorite character, though Mildred comes close after this book. Allison once again proves his ability to balance character, plot, and humor like few in the business.
February 25, 2020
My absolute favourite volume. Lots of water, which was nice. Also some trickery. Ellen is also such a sweet girl who is just trying her best despite not being particularly skilled in the art of holding a fork or pen.
Plus, I love the title. It's basically just a joke from the book.
Plus, I love the title. It's basically just a joke from the book.
June 20, 2018
Sonny and Mildred get their first taste of love, not with each other thankfully because they are cousins. Unfortunately Sonny's first love turns out to be a seal in disguise, we have all been there I suppose. Mildred's budding romanticism is the fuel in this plot engine, but Charlotte as always is the goofy oil that keeps it running smoothly.
August 2, 2016
Another solid entry in the Bad Machinery series. Fun and weird.
June 9, 2017
Allison has some of the best dialogue, and his panel composition is excellent.
June 21, 2017
It is always a delight to hang out with this crew.
October 21, 2018
I really like these. Literally the only problem is the shape of the darn books! They were annoying before and are nearly impossible with a nine month fetus involved haha
March 16, 2019
I'm really enjoying these books despite being aimed at the teenage market! Also perfect for the middle-aged comics fan man market.
April 7, 2019
Fourth volume read in a week! Really enjoying catching up on this series. So witty and charming, and this volume is a definite favourite for me.
September 6, 2021
This is a review for all 10 volumes of Bad Machinery, which I read consecutively. Each of the volumes warrants a top review, but it is the opinion of this reviewer that the series should be read all at once for maximum effect.
Welcome to Tackleford, England, a low-to-middling “town full of mysteries” typically solved by the Mystery Kids, a sextet of 11-year-old students at Griswalds Grammar School. The boys—Linton, Jack and Sonny often work in parallel to the girls—Lottie, Shauna and Mildred—but sometimes also as mild rivals, and often unwitting allies. Chockablock with wirtty dialogue, great laughs and characters who you will certainly grow to love. Bad Machinery begins as a kind of deeply English homage to both Harry Potter and Scooby-Doo, but evolves into a terrific character comedy and some coming-of-age drama along the way.
Written and illustrated by John Allison, Bad Machinery feels rather close to his other work, especially the fantastic Giant Days (which is essentially Bad Machinery set in college rather than high school), but that’s alright. Once this story really finds its footing in the second volume, it’s a consistently excellent ride to the finish, as we watch our heroes grow up, grow wiser, and in some cases, grow apart. It’s a story teased out in tiny increments, page by page, betraying its webcomic origins. But Bad Machinery very shows why it’s won the armloads of awards to its name, and for those willing to give it a little room to breathe and get on its wavelength, there is some immense fun and terrific storytelling in store. Teen-appropriate, but be warned, American readers, if you’re not up on your English slang, you’ll miss a few of the jokes.
Bottom line, if you love any of John Allison’s other work, you’ll love this.
Welcome to Tackleford, England, a low-to-middling “town full of mysteries” typically solved by the Mystery Kids, a sextet of 11-year-old students at Griswalds Grammar School. The boys—Linton, Jack and Sonny often work in parallel to the girls—Lottie, Shauna and Mildred—but sometimes also as mild rivals, and often unwitting allies. Chockablock with wirtty dialogue, great laughs and characters who you will certainly grow to love. Bad Machinery begins as a kind of deeply English homage to both Harry Potter and Scooby-Doo, but evolves into a terrific character comedy and some coming-of-age drama along the way.
Written and illustrated by John Allison, Bad Machinery feels rather close to his other work, especially the fantastic Giant Days (which is essentially Bad Machinery set in college rather than high school), but that’s alright. Once this story really finds its footing in the second volume, it’s a consistently excellent ride to the finish, as we watch our heroes grow up, grow wiser, and in some cases, grow apart. It’s a story teased out in tiny increments, page by page, betraying its webcomic origins. But Bad Machinery very shows why it’s won the armloads of awards to its name, and for those willing to give it a little room to breathe and get on its wavelength, there is some immense fun and terrific storytelling in store. Teen-appropriate, but be warned, American readers, if you’re not up on your English slang, you’ll miss a few of the jokes.
Bottom line, if you love any of John Allison’s other work, you’ll love this.
November 1, 2019
This is an ongoing series (of nine volumes now) about the adventures and just ordinary life experiences of a crew of engaging adolescents in the English seaside town of Tackleford. They’re all thirteen now, more or less, and the boys have stopped arguing about superheroes and have begun trying to figure out girls (and vice versa) while all their parents just keep their fingers crossed. The plot this time involves selkies, the apparently not-so-legendary creatures that can shift from seals to human form. Sonny Lord gets caught up with one, a girl his own age whom he discovers can’t read or write, but those big seal-like eyes just reduce him to mush. Meanwhile, his friend, Mildred Haversham, is trying to figure out how to have a relationship with Lee, the school’s key bad boy, while her friends try their best to save her from herself. Mildred’s best friends are Lottie, who is writing a very strange children’s book called Energy Crow,and Shauna, the brain of the group. And then there’s Grandpa Joe, an ex-Teddy Boy who was a terrible husband and not a great father in his time, but now he’s the best grandparent any kid could hope for. And there’s Sonny’s three-year-old sister, Cecile, who’s going to be a holy terror in a very few years. The cast of characters is nicely developed and believable in all the important ways, and Allison seems to have modern Brit teen-speak down pat. And he’s really good with dialogue. Nice artwork, too. Allison is also the author of highly regarded Giant Days series, by the way. For some strange reason, my library bought only the one volume in this series, so I’m definitely going to have to hunt down all the others.
May 21, 2018
After reading the previous volume, I was going to the library anyway, and I couldn't resist picking up this volume. For the first time, I saw generally where one of these stories was going to go, but that didn't take away from the fun at all. Again, it was so nice to see characters interact in different ways with each other, and the addition of romances was sweet. While I think I preferred the previous story in terms of humor, I really liked the plot and resolution of this story a lot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2019
Like the others, you can read this one online.
HERE
I really tore through these & loved them. They are freaking hilarious.
HERE
I really tore through these & loved them. They are freaking hilarious.
September 6, 2021
Fun with selkies! Heavy Sonny and Mildred. Fire inside = they're all becoming teens and full of the loves and crushes.
One of my fav panels:
Sonny- Ask Lottie! She saw her in the sea!
Linton- Potty Grote, who says an orange, a lemon, and a lime are the same fruit at different stages of ripeness? Unreliable witness.
Lottie- I AM THE ULTIMATE DINOSAUR.
One of my fav panels:
Sonny- Ask Lottie! She saw her in the sea!
Linton- Potty Grote, who says an orange, a lemon, and a lime are the same fruit at different stages of ripeness? Unreliable witness.
Lottie- I AM THE ULTIMATE DINOSAUR.
July 6, 2022
My Favorite So Far
I'm definitely not the target audience for this series, but I loved Giant Days and Wicked Things so I thought I'd give Bad Machinery a whirl. The first few weren't my speed, but I'm glad I kept reading. The kids are more appealing in this volume and I liked the Selkie legend.
I'm definitely not the target audience for this series, but I loved Giant Days and Wicked Things so I thought I'd give Bad Machinery a whirl. The first few weren't my speed, but I'm glad I kept reading. The kids are more appealing in this volume and I liked the Selkie legend.
January 15, 2023
The Case of the Diminishing Returns. Just more of the same with less of the wit. There are fewer jokes in this volume than previous volumes which makes this less funny and less good. That's just science.
September 21, 2017
Amazing. Loved it.
June 13, 2018
Sometimes, you should leave items on the beach
The secret lives of Selkies
A bit of melancholy in the end
The secret lives of Selkies
A bit of melancholy in the end
April 20, 2019
I Love these books.
September 17, 2019
IT’S ALMOST UNBEARABLY CHARMING
January 29, 2020
Not quite 5/5 but the best of the Bad Machinery books
April 2, 2020
These are so insanely funny and I will read them forever.
August 2, 2020
Le iba a dar 4 estrellas pero el final me robó el corazón.
February 25, 2021
Excellent
December 28, 2021
Ngl the twist made me gasp out loud
June 21, 2022
I can't even being to express my love for the series. A fun read for all ages although geared for the younger crowd... I think. I laugh so much. They make my heart happy
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews