Review by Ian Keogh

To date, the eccentric, quick-witted and acerbic Charlotte Grote has been Bad Machinery’s star character. However, in the presence of aloof French exchange student Mimi she’s lost for words. John Allison cleverly plays British politeness against aggressive ecological concerns at the start. It doesn’t last, though, as while Mimi is surly, another exchange student is a malign presence.

After taking rather a back seat in The Case of the Forked Road, the boys are pushed back into the spotlight here. Bad Machinery is a series where the cast gradually age, and they’ve begun noticing girls more seriously, and are also becoming infatuated with Tackleford’s revival of mod culture.

The Case of the Modern Men is rather an atypical Bad Machinery story. For starters Allison’s moving on a little with the cast, finding the shy and lisping Claire more interesting than Mildred at the moment, who’s sidelined and absent. For a long time there’s also an absence of the supernatural intrusions so regularly afflicting Tackleford, and when it manifests it’s minimal, while no great detection is needed, although that’s a lesser concern. The problems addressed are more to do with teenage restlessness and uncertainty than the unknown. It’s a step toward Allison’s future with Giant Days.

Noting the above changes, this is the usual Bad Machinery, but slightly disjointed, flitting from one subject to the next, introducing characters for a few pages and then discarding them and not greatly following through on matters. On the other hand this approach allows for great cameos, with several appearances for Sonny’s grandfather and his memories of the past. He’s quite the dab hand at refurbishing mod scooters, and, it turns out, devising tasks for their riders. As ever, Allison can throw in some great non-sequiturs, and both his reworking of the Who’s back catalogue and the dreaded “Jimmy Clitheroe” are delights.

Allison is so effortlessly funny and such a good cartoonist that almost anything he produces is worth your time, and there’s plenty of evidence to show why in The Case of the Modern Men. However, much of what happens is just surface deep, with the elements never greatly gelling. Whether this is just a momentary blip or the initial feeling of it being time to move on will become apparent in The Case of the Missing Piece.

The Case of the Modern Men was never issued in the oversized paperback format, and first saw print in the smaller pocket book size.