Bobbins (webcomic)
Encyclopedia
Bobbins is a webcomic
set in the fictional West Yorkshire
town of Tackleford, England
, and written by John Allison
.
It ran from September 21, 1998, to June 3, 2002, but shifted into reruns with commentary on May 17, 2002. In 2002 Bobbins was nominated for the Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards categories Best Use of Color, Best Site Design and Best Female Character (Shelley Winters). In June 2002 Bobbins was Runner-up best online comic strip in the UK National Comic Awards
. Webcomics portal Keenspot
keeps the Bobbins archive freely accessible online.
Upon its conclusion John Allison began another webcomic, entitled Scary Go Round
(SGR). Most of the main characters followed him, and SGR, although originally intended to be a spin-off focussing on the minor characters of Tessa Davies and Rachel Dukakis-Monteforte, eventually ended up with roughly the same cast as the end of Bobbins.
Bobbins focused on the staff of City Limit magazine, their friends, relationships and lives.
and Universal Features
. They later rejected the submissions. By September 1998 John was hand-drawing five strips per week and scanning them for presenting on the web, up until mid 2000 when he changed to computer drawing with Adobe Illustrator
. Stephen Gerding described Bobbins as "kind of like “Friends
”", or "“Coupling
”" with an office atmosphere, and John noted his later episodes got very bizarre and this, beginning in 2002, led to the supernatural tone of Scary Go Round.
In 1999 Bobbins and Goats
produced two crossovers starting April Fool's Day.
to fight for her hand. A character in SGR, but later written out of the story.
Shelley Winters : The red-headed, green-eyed protagonist
of Scary Go Round was but an innocent country girl before moving to the big city of Tackleford, establishing herself as a promising young writer at City Limit. Used to live with Holly West, until she was lost in the Himalayas
. Then stayed with Fallon Young, all the while fulfilling the ingenue role.
Amy Chilton : The blonde, 20-year-old spoiled daughter of Len Pickering concerns herself mainly with keeping up her indie cred, but generally tries to be loyal to her father and protect him. Dislikes work and showers.
Ryan Beck : Barfly, record store manager, and drinking buddy of Tim Jones. Currently under the name of Ryan Beckwith in SGR. Always drawn with messy hair and a five-o'clock shadow.
Fallon Young : Originally a HiFi store owner in competition with Ryan Beck, was revealed to be a super-spy, then became flatmate of Shelley Winters. Comes up with many half-baked plans and crazy schemes.
Len Pickering : Longtime Editor of City Limit, left when Holly West, his favourite, abandoned his magazine. Has delusions of grandeur
, frequently makes sexual passes at his employees.
Rich Tweedy : The City Limit designer was originally perpetually single, but had flings with both Shelley Winters and Amy Chilton. Was "fired so hard he ceased to exist" by the megalomaniacal Holly West. http://bobbins.keenspot.com/d/20020326.html
Holly West : Former favourite of Len Pickering and flatmate of Shelley Winters, left the magazine to be with Van-Dyke Jones, the brother of Tim Jones, and was lost while trekking the Himalayas with him. She later returned, slightly insane, became editor of City Limit, and sacked most of the original staff, causing the strip's end.
Elliot Schlesinger : City Limit's tech support is a mystery within an enigma. His macho posturing at odds with his talent for dressmaking and sewing, Elliot is clearly a man fighting inner demons.
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
set in the fictional West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
town of Tackleford, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and written by John Allison
John Allison (artist)
John Allison is the writer and artist of the webcomics Bobbins , Scary Go Round and Bad Machinery . John described Scary Go Round as "a comic that I've been making since 2002. It started off as a comic about barmaids Tessa and Rachel, then it became more about Shelley Winters and her bizarre...
.
It ran from September 21, 1998, to June 3, 2002, but shifted into reruns with commentary on May 17, 2002. In 2002 Bobbins was nominated for the Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards categories Best Use of Color, Best Site Design and Best Female Character (Shelley Winters). In June 2002 Bobbins was Runner-up best online comic strip in the UK National Comic Awards
Comic Festival
Comic Festival was a British comic book convention which was held between 1999 and 2004.-History:It was devised and produced by Kev F Sutherland with the help of Mike Allwood of Area 51 Comics and was held in Bristol annually...
. Webcomics portal Keenspot
Keenspot
Keenspot is a webcomics portal founded in March 2000 by cartoonist Chris Crosby , Crosby's mother Teri, cartoonist Darren Bleuel , and Nathan Stone.-History:...
keeps the Bobbins archive freely accessible online.
Upon its conclusion John Allison began another webcomic, entitled Scary Go Round
Scary Go Round
Scary Go Round was a webcomic set in the fictional West Yorkshire town of Tackleford, England, and written by John Allison. Scary Go Round was named one of the best webcomics of 2004 by The Webcomics Examiner. The Sunday Times describes it as "postmodern Brit horror" that is "subtle and stylishly...
(SGR). Most of the main characters followed him, and SGR, although originally intended to be a spin-off focussing on the minor characters of Tessa Davies and Rachel Dukakis-Monteforte, eventually ended up with roughly the same cast as the end of Bobbins.
Bobbins focused on the staff of City Limit magazine, their friends, relationships and lives.
History
John Allison had started drawing the characters in 1994 and experimented with them in various paper-comics until mid 1998 when he submitted a sample pack of 25 strips titled Bobbins — northwestern English slang for "crap" - to King Features SyndicateKing Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, a print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles and games to nearly 5000 newspapers worldwide...
and Universal Features
Universal Press Syndicate
Universal Press Syndicate, a subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal, is the world's largest independent press syndicate. It distributes lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and other content. Popular columns include Dear Abby, Ann Coulter, Roger Ebert and News of the Weird...
. They later rejected the submissions. By September 1998 John was hand-drawing five strips per week and scanning them for presenting on the web, up until mid 2000 when he changed to computer drawing with Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. Illustrator is similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to its competitors, CorelDraw, Xara Designer Pro and Macromedia FreeHand....
. Stephen Gerding described Bobbins as "kind of like “Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
”", or "“Coupling
Coupling (UK TV series)
Coupling is a British television sitcom written by Steven Moffat that aired on BBC2 from May 2000 to June 2004. Produced by Hartswood Films for the BBC, the show centres on the dating and sexual adventures and mishaps of six friends in their thirties, often depicting the three women and the three...
”" with an office atmosphere, and John noted his later episodes got very bizarre and this, beginning in 2002, led to the supernatural tone of Scary Go Round.
In 1999 Bobbins and Goats
Goats (webcomic)
Goats is a popular webcomic written and illustrated by Jonathan Rosenberg. The webcomic started April 1, 1997. On April 3, 2006, after nine years drawing the strip, Rosenberg became a full-time cartoonist making his living drawing Goats...
produced two crossovers starting April Fool's Day.
Major characters
Tim Jones : Allegedly the music writer of City Limit, but generally occupying himself with crazy inventions and bizarre musical projects, probably the protagonist of Bobbins. Created Unit Daisy, and was challenged by Red RobotDiesel Sweeties
Diesel Sweeties is a webcomic and former newspaper comic strip written by Richard Stevens III . The comic began in 2000, originally hosted at robotstories.com...
to fight for her hand. A character in SGR, but later written out of the story.
Shelley Winters : The red-headed, green-eyed protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of Scary Go Round was but an innocent country girl before moving to the big city of Tackleford, establishing herself as a promising young writer at City Limit. Used to live with Holly West, until she was lost in the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
. Then stayed with Fallon Young, all the while fulfilling the ingenue role.
Amy Chilton : The blonde, 20-year-old spoiled daughter of Len Pickering concerns herself mainly with keeping up her indie cred, but generally tries to be loyal to her father and protect him. Dislikes work and showers.
Ryan Beck : Barfly, record store manager, and drinking buddy of Tim Jones. Currently under the name of Ryan Beckwith in SGR. Always drawn with messy hair and a five-o'clock shadow.
Fallon Young : Originally a HiFi store owner in competition with Ryan Beck, was revealed to be a super-spy, then became flatmate of Shelley Winters. Comes up with many half-baked plans and crazy schemes.
Len Pickering : Longtime Editor of City Limit, left when Holly West, his favourite, abandoned his magazine. Has delusions of grandeur
Delusions of Grandeur
Delusions of Grandeur is an album by Fleming and John that was released in 1995.-Track listing:# "I'm Not Afraid" — 3:13# "Break The Circles" — 3:01# "Delusions Of Grandeur" — 3:45# "Love Songs" — 4:33# "Letters In My Head" — 3:56...
, frequently makes sexual passes at his employees.
Rich Tweedy : The City Limit designer was originally perpetually single, but had flings with both Shelley Winters and Amy Chilton. Was "fired so hard he ceased to exist" by the megalomaniacal Holly West. http://bobbins.keenspot.com/d/20020326.html
Holly West : Former favourite of Len Pickering and flatmate of Shelley Winters, left the magazine to be with Van-Dyke Jones, the brother of Tim Jones, and was lost while trekking the Himalayas with him. She later returned, slightly insane, became editor of City Limit, and sacked most of the original staff, causing the strip's end.
Elliot Schlesinger : City Limit's tech support is a mystery within an enigma. His macho posturing at odds with his talent for dressmaking and sewing, Elliot is clearly a man fighting inner demons.