Review by Ian Keogh

Almost all you need to know about Bad Machinery is there in the first page of the sample art supplying Charlotte Grote’s assessment of herself and the remainder of the cast. It has the sassy quality of the character, the quirky inventiveness of writer John Allison and the distinctive cast portraits.

Allison knows his cast inside and out by this point, and is actually making them a little older with each successive adventure, as there has been growth since The Case of the Unwelcome Visitor. Although Lottie’s quick mouth has star quality, lovely touches are included for all the leading cast members. There’s discussion as to whether mystery solving is too babyish, but when the lab assistant’s nephew looks and behaves a little too weirdly perhaps it’s time to investigate after all. Allison additionally manages to work in jokes about the school drama club performing Glengarry Glen Ross before posing the big question as to whether or not time travel is possible. Those used to Bad Machinery know that if it’s possible, it’ll happen in Tackleford, haven of strangeness.

There is a secondary plot involving the boys investigating the unconventional behaviour of Oliver Spain, considering whether he might be a psychopath, but it’s small potatoes, something Allison’s conceived to have some sort of counterpoint to the main affair. Or so it seems. The way it connects is so good, and the mission that eventually evolves is an absolute belter. And there are so many great small touches: alternates! Steam trains! Bad bands! The how to stop a train argument… And we eventually find out what the title means. It’s all great.

For some reason, in its original edition at least, this is the only Bad Machinery book published in portrait format, so an instant collector’s item classic. Like all Bad Machinery graphic novels it’s kindly preserved by Allison in digital form if you’d like to read it without paying him anything, but how fair would that be? The book contains some contextualised extra pages, admittedly also found on the website if you know where to go looking for them.

Next is The Case of the Modern Men.