Zebra Girl
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| Zebra Girl | |
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 Zebra Girl Keenspot newsbox |
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| Author(s) | Joe England |
| Website | http://zebragirl.keenspot.com/ |
| Current status | unpredictable, but occasionally updated weekly. |
| Launch date | May 6, 2000 [1] |
Zebra Girl is a webcomic by Joe England, concerning the adventures of a young woman who (because of a magical accident) is transformed into a demon. It debuted on May 6, 2000. It won the 2004 Web Cartoonist's Choice Award for Black and White Art and has been nominated for Outstanding Story Concept in 2005 and Outstanding Black and White Art again in 2007.
The story centers on Sandra, a girl with a cynical streak who lives with her naïve best friend Crystal and Crystal's lecherous brother Jack. Due to a mishap involving Jack and an ancient tome of magic, Sandra is transformed into a demon [2] [3]. The title refers to Sandra's demonic features, which include black-and-white stripes and hooves. Less zebra-like features include purple hair, horns, a third eye in the forehead, clawed four-fingered hands, retractable wings, acidic blood and body fluids, a devil-like tail and the ability to cause people (usually Jack) to spontaneously combust. While originally started out as a humour comic, the story later takes a more serious turn. The main comic is accompanied by a second comic, Sandra's Journal!, drawn by Sandra, describing her everyday life and her feelings about her demonic condition.
The comic is currently hosted in Keenspot.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
[edit] Major characters
[edit] Sandra
A young sensible college graduate transformed suddenly into a demon. She's coping stoically, but she's not happy. Her greatest fear is losing her soul to her demonic side, though she has found ways to hold on to her soul - mostly by hanging with Crystal and by setting Jack on fire. Sandra has experienced many changes since being turned into a demon; she has discovered that she can grow wings, that Hell is very interested in swallowing her up, and that all her bodily fluids have been turned into a corrosive acid - something that makes it impossible for her to taste anything besides coffee. She has started her own tech support business so that she can have a job while staying indoors. Her outdoor excursions are aided by a hooded coat, made by Crystal, that makes her look like a bizarre loner goth type. She explains the "makeup" as being there to cover up scars from an obscenely complicated accident involving oily rags, a low flying bird, and a room full of knives.
[edit] Jack
Housemate of Sandra. Young, brash, self-proclaimed slacker and pervert (emphasized by his permanent "PERV" t-shirt). Haunted by guilt at causing Sandra's transformation, he's become a full-fledged wizard (Jack the Plaid) in his endeavors to restore her. Sandra's anger at him frequently sets him on fire. The frequency with which this happens, as well as his magical abilities, seem to have bestowed innate regenerative properties upon his body, so that he is fully healed after a few hours. There is some speculation that his powers could block Sandra's powers, but that he allows her to burn him as penance and in order to vent her building demonic rage. As the comic has progressed Jack has gotten much more serious and surprisingly might be the most level-headed of all of the main characters. Jack has also set on a crusade to get people (well, kids anyway) to believe in magic again.
[edit] Crystal
Sandra's other housemate. Jack's twin sister. Cheerful and pleasant, despite being a telemarketer. She seems to have subtle clairvoyant powers; her offhand comments often foreshadow future story arcs. She can also read Sumerian (so far only really used in the setup of the story). Her boyfriend is Wally. She has recently taken an affection to the goth lifestyle, though her attempts to appear moody are frequently defeated by attacks of cuteness triggered by puppies and such [4]. She is also trying to reverse her sleep cycle to live by night "because it's a gothy thing to do," but so far her body has manifested a will of its own to stick with sleeping at night. She has learned a handful of magic spells, mostly mind-reading and minor mind altering tricks. In her own words, "go for the Jedi stuff first." [5]
[edit] Sam
An embittered cartoon rabbit existing both as a fictional character in an old TV show, and as a real person that Sandra, Jack and Crystal meet in another dimension (ruled by Tool). Afterwards, having saved Sandra from other demons, Sam becomes stranded in Sandra's world. He appears to be connected with Sandra, sharing her soul and her memories. Because of his lagomorphic attributes (i.e. freakishly large ears) and his unusual nature as an extradimensional being, he has proven to be remarkably sensitive to supernatural disturbances, even faint traces of other demons or occult beings. After working in television for so long, he has a habit of relating events going on around him to cliché plot devices, as well as predicting bad dialog. Also remarkable is the fact that Sam goes out of the house at times sans any sort of disguise. He believes that no one will take him at face value, believing him to be a hallucination, a man in a costume, or whatever other explanation they can conjure. So far, he's right.
[edit] Tomie
The sentient book of magic that caused Sandra's transformation and that Jack studies in his search to restore her. Rather to its own surprise it has become a friend of Jack. Only Jack can hear Tomie speak and the others seem unsure whether the book is really alive or if it's Jack's imagination. Seems to share Jack's pervert aspect and has manifested many times his desire to be near his secret stash of erotic magazines.
[edit] Wally
Crystal's new werewolf boyfriend. Once the lowest member of Doyenne's pack, he is now trying to be human but often absent-mindedly falls back into old patterns (such as sleeping on the floor). He likes to sing Louis Armstrong and Crystal was first attracted to his voice. His eyes are two different colors, and those colors switch around when he turns into his wolf form.
[edit] Mr. Chalk
A mysterious figure appearing only in dreams thus far. He appears a sort of silhouette, with only the white outlines of his mouth visible (reminiscent of Apocalypse's mouth). He first appeared in Sandra's dreams shortly after her return from Tool's dimension. His conversations with Sandra have upset her, leaving her quite concerned. At times it seems that it is his goal to make her upset - angry, or fearful in particular. Mr. Chalk has recently made brief appearances in the dreams of others.
[edit] Other characters
- Mike — A normal adult man, which one has to admit is becoming exceedingly rare in this comic. He was interested in Sandra early on, eagerly curious to figure out the secret of the 'strange goth girl' he often saw at the bookstore and coffee shop. He discovered her demonic condition, deeply hurting her feelings in the process, though he did not reveal this to his other curious friends. He has been haunted by guilt ever since, and he has attempted many times to contact her in order to make up for the pain he caused. He appears to be genuinely attracted to her now, but he knows that her current condition makes a relationship impossible - a single kiss would dissolve his entire face, as he experienced in a very vivid nightmare (apparently caused by Mr Chalk)[6].
- Jen — A college student who pursued the occult all her life in the attempt to document it, but failed repeatedly until a chance encounter with Sandra. Because of a recent wound by Doyenne, Sandra required organic material from a human being to heal, and Jen was able to provide it for her with the help of Jack to heal the damage inflicted by this strange feeding process. Jen has since vanished from the mainstream media, taking her now mildly enchanted camera to interview magical beings and monsters who live in the shadows and dark cracks of the so-called ordinary world.
- Tool — Uncontested ruler of a parallel universe (Sam's dimension) where most inhabitants are furry anthropomorphs. His lack of a soul somehow made him invisible to Sandra, her third eye altering her sense of sight so that she saw people's souls rather than their physical bodies. Was sent to an unidentified hell dimension after Jack pulled back Sandra, Crystal and Sam with him back to earth.
- Jacob - Tool's mechanical companion, highly advanced and autonomous (possibly self-aware) which Tool built as an artificial soul replacement of sorts and meant to be his conscience. Has frequently been the target of Tool's violent outbursts of rage, and has shown himself equally capable of dealing violence and torture to others. He is responsible for Crystal's ever-present link earrings, which were really chains used to hold her head tied to a torture device and have now become permanently fused in place.
- Doyenne — Alpha female of a werewolf pack, she is Wally's former leader. She has taken an interest in Sandra and her friends, though her reasons for doing so are nebulous at best. She has gone into hiding after being defeated in combat.
- Professor Broadshoulders — A professional demonologist who hunts all demons to exorcise or destroy them. While he has been unrelenting in hunting Sandra, he is not doing so out of malice but rather out of fierce determination to drive demons out of earth forever. His extreme focus comes from the scar he received from a demon — a 'yucky face' brand burned into his forehead, usually hidden under his hat. Was responsible for sending Sandra and Crystal to Tool's dimension where they met Sam. It's been recently revealed that this mark has some sort of significant role to play yet, and is the sign of his damnation for summoning something too strong for him to control during his college years. He revealed to Sam that he intended Sandra to be his last kill, and that destroying her would be a suicide mission. He has now been turned into a demon himself, apparently as the result of the same curse which placed a 'yucky face' perminantly on his forehead. He was then sent to a Hell dimension by Sandra.
- Harold DuVase — At first, Harold appeared to be a harmless Harry Potter look-alike, but was soon revealed as a powerful and ancient wizard who created a magical pocket reality called Magi-Net. He invited all wizards and mages of the world to gather there as a sort of social club, but this turned out to be a trap to drain their essence and steal their powers. Jack barely escaped the trap with his life, and 'died' during his battle with Harold, 'pulling a Gandalf' to be reborn as Jack the Plaid. Jack defeated Harold and freed the souls of his friends, though he could not restore their lives. Harold is now cursed by Jack, condemned to always be in the one place in the universe where he least wants to be. Should he ever think of a place he'd want to be even less, he would be relocated there instantly. Of course, it is inevitable that he'll show up at Jack's doorstep one day because of this, although he'll probably blink away before he can do anything.
- Sandra's Mom - Like all mothers do, she cares very much for her daughter. We get a sense of her personality through hearing Sandra's side of phone conversations with her. She senses from her voice on the phone that something is terribly wrong and hopes that Sandra will confide what that problem is. She has only been seen directly through Sandra's imagination, trying to predict what her reaction would be to finding out that her child has turned into a demon. We also know from Sandra's Journal that her mom always looks a little worried, even when she's smiling, and that she has a penchant for digital cameras and other electronic gizmos.
[edit] Sandra's Journal
Sandra's Journal is a four-panel autobiographical webcomic fictionally "drawn" by Sandra, mainly discussing her new life as a demon. The art style is radically different from that of the main Zebra Girl comic. In contrast to the sharp lineart and cross-hatching techniques used in Zebra Girl, Sandra's Journal appears like very rough sketchwork. This is explained by Sandra's inability to use a pen properly due to her claws. It is explained that she "draws" the comic by dipping her fingers in ink and using them as a sort of quill.
The events of Sandra's Journal are generally Sandra's own musings and fantasies; thus, they are ficticious within the context of the main comic. Generally, the Journal strips are disconnected from the main comic. However, on occasion, they reflect Sandra's thoughts and reactions to events from the current storyline. This was especially evident in the most recent (as of January 2007) storyline, where a character named Stubby appeared. It eventually became evident that Stubby was at least partially a projection of Sandra.
[edit] Fan Works
As with many webcomics, the fans have created a fair body of work in tribute to the characters and the world. Outside of the graphic art, there have been several multimedia projects including two songs, four music videos using images from the comic, and a short live-action fan film (currently hosted on YouTube). There is also a short fan mini-comic on the Zebra Girl website's forums, set in the same milieu, by one Pnelma Tirian.
[edit] Collected Editions
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This article or section contains information regarding scheduled, forthcoming or expected future book(s). It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the product release approaches and more information becomes available. |
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England is currently preparing the strips for publication in book form. He has to rescan many of the images since he never saved them in 300 DPI. England also planned to redo the lettering of the older scripts using computer fonts, but after poor fan response he decided to keep the original, more aesthetically pleasing hand lettering intact.
