John Allison Books in Order
John Allison has written 41 books, published between 2005 and 2025. The first book is Heavy Metal Hearts and Flowers (2005) and the newest is Kill or Be Quilt (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 41
- Published
- 2005–2025
- Pages on record
- 3,346 in 24 of 41 books
- Reading time
- 56–84 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 3,346 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 24 of 41 titles with a page count on record.
John Allison, born 1976, writes and draws comics, and has been producing them since 1998. Giant Days and Bad Machinery head a 41-title catalogue that runs from Heavy Metal Hearts and Flowers (2005) to Kill or Be Quilt (2025), with Scary Go Round, By Night, Steeple and Great British Bump-Off alongside. Teenage girls, women college students, female friendship and small-scale detective work recur as subjects. Allison's comics have taken multiple Eisner Awards.
How many John Allison books are there?
John Allison has 41 books, released between 2005 and 2025. They include 9 separate series.
John Allison Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 41 John Allison books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 120051001/4
- 22008–1/4
- 320131121/4
- 420131321/4
- 520141441/4
- 620141311/4
- 72015–1/4
- 820151291/4
- 92016–1/4
- 102016–1/4
- 112016–1/4
- 1220161351/4
- 13Giant Days: Not On the Test Edition Vol. 1Giant Days: Not On The Test Edition #12017 · 256 pages · confirmed 1/420172561/4
- 142017–1/4
- 152017–1/4
- 162017–1/4
- 1720171191/4
- 18Giant Days: Not On The Test Edition Vol. 2Giant Days: Not On The Test Edition #22018 · 256 pages · confirmed 1/420182561/4
- 192018–1/4
- 20Giant Days: Not on the Test Edition Vol. 3Giant Days: Not On The Test Edition #42018 · 240 pages · confirmed 1/420182401/4
- 212018–1/4
- 222018–1/4
- 2320191121/4
- 2420191121/4
- 2520191361/4
- 2620191121/4
- 272019–1/4
- 282019–1/4
- 2920201361/4
- 3020201121/4
- 312020–1/4
- 322020–1/4
- 3320201121/4
- 3420201601/4
- 3520201121/4
- 3620211601/4
- 372021961/4
- 3820211281/4
- 392022–1/4
- 402023–1/4
- 4120251041/4
John Allison series and characters in order
Each link below opens a reading-order page with every book in publication order.
- Bad Machinery books in order 10 books
- Giant Days books in order 21 books
John Allison books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. A group whose heading is a link has its own reading-order page; the other groups have no page of their own on this site.
Giant Days books in order
15 books by John Allison- 1. Giant Days, Vol. 1
- 2. Giant Days, Vol. 2
- 3. Giant Days, Vol. 3
- 4. Giant Days, Vol. 4
- 5. Giant Days, Vol. 5
- 6. Giant Days, Vol. 6
- 7. Giant Days, Vol. 7
- 8. Giant Days, Vol. 8
- 9. Giant Days Vol. 9
- 10. Giant Days, Vol. 10
- 11. Giant Days, Vol. 11
- 12. Giant Days, Vol. 12
- and 3 more in the table above
Giant Days: Not On The Test Edition in order
4 booksBy Night in order
3 booksSteeple in order
3 booksScary Go Round in order
2 booksGreat British Bump-Off in order
2 booksGiant Days: Year One in order
1 bookGiant Days: Charlotte Grote in order
1 bookDo you have to read John Allison books in order?
You only need to read John Allison books in order within each series: the books listed here span 9 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.
Where to start with John Allison
Start with the first book of the John Allison series you want to read: Bad Machinery starts with The Case of the Team Spirit (2013) and Giant Days starts with Giant Days: Early Registration (2013). The earliest catalogued title overall is Heavy Metal Hearts and Flowers (2005).
What is the newest John Allison book?
Kill or Be Quilt (2025) is the newest John Allison book released so far.
Is there a new John Allison book coming?
No next John Allison book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
John Allison at a glance
- Still publishing
- John Allison published a book as recently as 2025.
- Release pace
- John Allison books have appeared more than one a year on average.
- Length
- 3,346 pages across the 24 of 41 books with a recorded length, a median of 128 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most John Allison books, 26 of 41, were published in the 2010s.
What the John Allison books are about
29 of the 41 John Allison books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: comics & graphic novels is tagged on 13 of 29. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Comics & graphic novels 13 of 29 books
- Female friendship 8 of 29 books
- Teenage girls 8 of 29 books
- Women college students 8 of 29 books
- Children's fiction 7 of 29 books
- Students 7 of 29 books
- Private investigators 5 of 29 books
- Comics & graphic novels, crime & mystery 3 of 29 books
- Friendship 3 of 29 books
- College students 2 of 29 books