Penny and Aggie

Infobox webcomic|
title = Penny and Aggie


caption =
author = T Campbell
Gisèle Lagacé
url = http://www.pennyandaggie.com/
status = Updating every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with the occasional update on Tuesdays and Thursdays
began = 2004 September 6 [http://pennyandaggie.com/d/20040906.html]
ended =
genre = High School Drama
ratings =

Penny and Aggie is a webcomic written by T Campbell and drawn by Gisèle Lagacé, centered on the two eponymous high school girls, Penny Levac and Aggie d'Amour. Penny is a blonde, over-confident and somewhat arrogant teen queen, who is on top of the social circles in school, and Aggie is an eccentric outcast who takes pride in her rebelliousness.

The comic focuses mainly around the relationships between the characters. In particular, the uneasy relationship between the two protagonists, whose differences in outlook often leads to clashes between them.

Penny and Aggie, depicted as a rich materialistic but charming girl and a middle-class free-spirited though self-righteous girl, sometimes draw comparisons to Veronica Lodge and Betty Cooper of Archie Comics fame. However, Penny and Aggie are distinguished from the classic Archie Comics love-interests by the fact that narrative events in the Penny and Aggie world have concrete effects on the characters (as opposed to the eternal stasis of the narrative world in Betty and Veronica Magazine), and the fact that there is no common love interest that Penny and Aggie share (thus preventing the Penny and Aggie narrative from succumbing to the Betty and Veronica syndrome).

Penny and Aggie was originally conceived as a newspaper strip, a goal in which the creators nearly succeeded, and later became a color comic book distributed through the direct market by Alias Enterprises. But its greatest success has come on the Web, where it regularly receives more than 20,000 visits in a day. [ [http://www.pennyandaggie.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=31025 "Quick Fun Facts About Penny and Aggie,"] , T Campbell.]

Plot summary

"The Best of Enemies" introduces the two main characters. Penny is a stereotypical blonde bombshell, a popular high school girl, and Aggie, the rebel of the school who is very liberal and nonconformist. This arc deals with their sometimes friendly, sometimes genuine rivalry and explores their characters as they attempt to get summer jobs. Ironically, they end up working in the same bookstore.

"The Mockingbird." introduces Karen, who Penny and later Aggie help turn from an ugly duckling into an attractive, more confident girl. However, Karen immediately rejects them post-transformation, becoming an antagonist from then on.

"Crush'd." Aggie starts crushing on Marshall (her first-ever crush, she questioned prior to this whether she was even attracted to boys), and Karen begins dating him.

"The Ticket." Duane reveals a crush on Penny.

"Uptown Girl." Rich, a bad-boy skater, makes a play for (and gets) Penny. Though opposites, they are very attracted to each other, but split up by the storyline's end over issues of safety (and their respective friends' urgings).

"Weights." A flashback of how Marshall fell for Karen.

"The Race Card", in which Aggie embarrasses herself by accusing Penny of racism when she appears to reject Duane.

"Omega Sisters", an introduction of several supporting characters, the "Omega Sisters", an unpopular group.

"Celebrity Poker Showdown." Karen and Penny finally make formal enemies of each other at a party.

"Campaign Trail", featuring Aggie & Duane running against each other -and Stan- for class president. Stan eventually concedes to Duane, and Penny kisses him rather than breaks up with him, in response.

"Names: A Study Primer", An attempt by T. Campbell and Gisele to correct their fans' interpretations of who is whom amongst the rather large cast.

"Pod People." Aggie meets Lisa, and the two become fast friends.

"Behind Closed Doors." The various cast members deal with sex before and after. Michelle and Stan sleep together, resulting in her thinking they're together (Stan views it as a one-time thing).

"Dinner for Six." The longest-running storyline to date, featuring Penny and Karen attempting to sabotage each other, and Nick finally meeting Charisma's son Marshall. Nick and Charisma break up.

"Vertigo." Many of the cast members attend a party, where Sara confronts Aggie about her nonexistent crush on Penny. Lisa teases her, which causes her to freak out. Meanwhile, another boy in the party stabs Rich in the chest with a knife.

"Bedside Manners." Penny's group visit the hospitalized Rich, and are confronted by Rich's friends. Meanwhile, Karen is in Rich's room, and while he is unconscious, speaks about how she had planned to seduce him in order to get at Penny, but had decided not to. Later, after Karen leaves, Penny, her crew, Stan, and Jack go into Rich's hospital room. Penny verbally abuses Rich and tells him to "hurry up and die" before Brandi grabs her to leave the room. Outside, Sara realizes she is gay after stealing a kiss from Marshall while her pals are in Rich's hospital room.

"Awakening." Sarah admits her sexuality to Penny, who already guessed it (and doesn't appear to mind). Sara then confesses to Aggie and Lisa, who introduce her to Fred and Daphne, both of whom are gay. They start to give her a makeover as she talks about being a lesbian, mentioning her stolen kiss from Marshall which visually upsets Aggie, though Sara doesn't notice. Lisa goes off after Aggie while Daphne and Fred finish up Sara's makeover, which is revealed the next day at school in a very dramatic fashion. While most of Penny's crew finds Sara's outfit less-than appealing, Penny pulls Sara aside and warns her that her ensemble is not subtle, as Sara had originally wanted to be in her newfound lesbianism. Rich, out of his coma, shows up and approves of Penny's speech to Sara with a "true dat" remark. Penny crumbles at Rich's appearance, as she had gone back to his room, alone, after Sara's heeding the day before.

"20 2020 Pennies." Rich asks Penny to run away with him. Penny weighs the pros and cons of her impending decision by imagining twenty future versions of herself in the year 2020. Her future selves vary from a biker chick to a women's counselor. Ten of the versions say they decided to go with Rich, ten say they did not. Penny's teenage self confronts her imagined adult selves and claims, "I am not a person in the making, I am a person now." The story arc ends with the authoress version of Penny relating the memory of her decision to a future version of Aggie.

"Minjung." The story of a South Korean girl struggling through her stressful teenage years on the other side of the world.

"Bridge Out." The result of Penny's decision to run away with Rich and its effects on her friends and parents.

"Live Free of Dye." Aggie and Lisa are away from home doing some volunteer work for the United Mission to Sri Lanka. There, both meet up with Katy-Ann with whom Penny's clique has recently cut ties.

"The Popsicle War. Chapter One: Injustice Gang." Karen has brought together a group of girls who feel Penny is a threat.

Characters

Aggie d'Amour

Aggie is a high-spirited, left-wing, loner-type girl, who rejects the more materialistic influences in her high school, drawing her into a feud with popular girl Penny. Her closest relationship is with her widowed father, though she eventually befriended many people at her school (Duane, Lisa, and Helen in particular). Relationship-wise, she initially rejected the idea of being with someone, until seeing handsome fitness-buff Marshall for the first time. Her crush on him runs alongside her rivalry with Penny for the comics' longest-running plotline. Aggie has rejected conventional popularity and 'acceptable' behavior for the most part, a major issue with her rival Penny, who obsessively maintains such things, and she particularly despises the fact that Penny is one of the more intelligent people in the school, yet does nothing to apply herself or help others. Aggie reacts to this by one-upping Penny in class, ridiculing her (usually about trivial matters like celebrity gossip or fashion) in front of others, or playing physical pranks on her in one instance. Aggie also tends to act incredibly self-righteous. Both girls, however, are united in a distaste for Karen (she rejected both of their attempts to help her out of her funk, and she currently dates Marshall, Aggie's crush). Recently, Aggie's crush on Marshall has become more intense: she becomes angry when Sara tells the group that she kissed Marshall, which helped her realize she was a lesbian, and Aggie, knowing she hasn't "marked Marshall with her scent", tries to walk it off but then pushes away Lisa in blind rage.

Penny Levac

Penny is very fashion-minded, and has maintained two love interests throughout the story, though remaining a virgin until Rich's recovery. Despite disliking Aggie, she has shown a degree of restraint toward her, for example not using the "weapon" of her mother's death against her in an argument. She makes and breaks friendships easily, as shown with Karen and Meg, and has been shown as deliberately attempting to hurt their popularity and self-esteem. Penny currently has a large group of followers circling around her, many of whom keep secrets from her (Sara's self-doubts and Michelle's many crushes on boys Penny either likes or dislikes, in particular). Penny is extremely focused on maintaining her popularity, and strongly dislikes the part of Aggie that allows her to ignore such things. In one storyline, Penny explains that she doesn't view caring about her looks and her social life is a result of peer pressure, but of trying to earn peer respect. It should be noted that Penny never dresses in overtly revealing or trashy clothing like Karen, nor does she act trashy; she doesn't care for others flaunting their sexual activity in her face and it's heavily insinuated that she wouldn't ever have casual sex with multiple partners like some her peers do. Penny dated Duane briefly but ended the relationship after realizing that although she enjoys his company, she is not romantically interested in him. She also had a whirlwind relationship with Rich, with whom she fell in love; she broke it off after Rich ignored his own safety and after they both received harsh criticisms from their respective groups of friend about each other. It was recently revealed in "Bedside Manners" that Penny had planned for Rich to be her first sexual partner, implying she was still in love with him.

Nick d'Amour

Nick is described by the creators as a "genuinely cool parent" who gets along with teenagers (including his daughter, who holds him very close to her heart) and reacts sensibly to Aggie's outbursts and gives heartfelt, solid advice. Nick was at first seen only in domestic situations with Aggie. In his first appearance, he accidentally upsets his daughter by ripping magazines she had been keeping in memory of her mother. Later, he begins to date Charisma, and this spawned the longest story arc of all, "Dinner for Six." He broke off the relationship when he realised she would be a poor stepmother to Aggie.

Charisma

Charisma is the ex-girlfriend of Nick (Aggie's father), and Marshall's mother. Initially based on Cher by T. Campbell's own admission, Charisma is hedonistic and lustful, often having trysts with Nick in public locations. Though she claims to love her son, she has openly berated him in front of others (accusing him of holding her back), and has had a long string of failed relationships that have led to his own issues on the subject. Though she loved Nick (and he claimed to love her), he broke up with her after seeing her public outburst towards Marshall.

Charisma was initially introduced as Nick's personal trainer after he injured his back. It wasn't until much later when they were introduced as a couple, and even later when she was revealed to be the already-introduced Marshall's mother.

Karen

Karen was introduced as an unattractive, nervous girl, who Penny and Aggie separately took pity on and developed into a more fit, attractive, confident teenager. However, Karen immediately rejected them after she grew more confident, and went into a feud with Penny, as well as dating Marshall (Aggie's crush, though Karen didn't know this). Though she carries herself as a typical "queen bee" high schooler, Karen has proven to be extremely nervous and unsure of herself still, often falling apart emotionally when she feels rejected (such as Marshall's rejection of her sexual advances, feeling they 'weren't ready'), as well as ignoring and denying her past as an ugly girl. She has shown to resolve many conflicts by primping herself up or revealing more skin, rather than with discourse.

Marshall

Marshall, Charisma's teenage son, is an attractive, kind-hearted young man who possesses many nervous tendencies (he rejects his girlfriend Karen's sexual advances because of his mother's own open-minded approach to sexuality), fearing being let down or hurt by others. He was initially more well-known through Aggie's crush on him early on, and Karen subsequently dating him, though more was revealed about him later (Charisma being his mother was not revealed for over a year after both had appeared). He has an antagonistic relationship with Charisma, despising her promiscuous ways, though he has made an emotional connection with Nick before Nick's breakup with Charisma.

Other supporting characters

Rich- A stereotypical 'bad-boy' skateboarder from a poorer family, who initially makes a play for (and gets) Penny. They are very attracted to each other, but split up on the urging of their respective friends. Also, Rich skated without a helmet or pads, which worried Penny to no end. He still pines for her, though has appeared rarely since the split. He at one point is shown about to engage in sexual intercourse with one of his skater groupies but, according to his thought bubble, is thinking only of Penny. In the most recent storyline, Rich is stabbed at a wild party and is rushed to the hospital.

Stan & Jack- Rich's friends (initially based on Stan Lee and Jack Kirby). Stan is more outgoing (a ladies' man of great success, and nearly class president), whereas Jack is more reserved and quiet, though thinks his actions through a little better. It's insinuated that Jack may soon have a problem with alcohol; at parties, he drinks heavily and picks fights. Stan slept with Michelle, resulting in her thinking they are an item, much to his chagrin. He had also previously slept with Brandi. It's implied that Stan, though probably heterosexual, has a "man-crush" on Rich. He was also the one that urged Rich to end things with Penny, because he was whipped (though Penny jumped the gun before Rich could). Initially a supporting character, Stan has appeared in the strip more frequently than Rich, and has been a factor in more storylines.

Sara & Michelle- Penny's best friends, though both are distant from her in different ways. Sara has shown many hints of an attraction towards women (she fantasized about Lindsay Lohan once), and a tendency to brand her own tendencies onto other cast members, whether warranted or not (she suspected Penny & Aggie of having a thing for one another, and similarly to Stan & Jack). Sara finally realized that she was gay in "Bedside Manners". Michelle is more silly and nervous, having crushed on several male cast members thus far and even had a brief flirtation with Rich, though he was only using her to get to Penny. She now believes she's in a relationship with Stan after she lost her virginity to him, but, unrevealed to her, the feelings aren't reciprocated. In a flashback story arc about the girls and their fathers, Michelle's bond with her stay-at-home dad is the strongest (in contrast to current relationship to her father, in which he is a "jerk") and this relationship is what causes her to become boy-crazy. This leaves us to ask what happened between childhood and teenhood to make Michelle dislike her father so much. It's implied that her father lost money in a publishing business resulting in a loss of trust.

Lisa- Aggie's new friend, who is particularly interested in the rights to download music.

Duane- Aggie's friend, an intelligent and bookish type with a crush on Penny. He actually manages to date her, though she eventually dumps him when she realizes she's simply not attracted to him. He has not been seen since. He has recently, if shortly, in the "Popsicle War" story arc. However, it is currently unknown if he will play a major role in said arc.

The Omega Sisters- A strip nickname; nobody in continuity has actually called them that. A trio of unpopular girls at Penny & Aggie's school. Helen is shy and quiet, though she forms surface friendships with both Aggie and, surprisingly, Karen. She is rejected by Charlotte (a fiercely religious and judgmental person) when she rejects Charlotte's plan to humiliate another student. Helen was once friends with Penny and Sara when they were much younger, but was replaced by Michelle after her family moved to their neighborhood. Helen's parents have favorites among their two daughters; Helen's sister is a singer and her father's golden child. It's insinuated that the reason Helen has grown up so awkwardly is because of the lack of attention from her parents. After being shunned by Charlotte, she has entered Aggie's circle of friends and has secretly become close to Karen. Tharqa is a friend to both Charlotte and Helen, a lazy talker with a weight problem.

Gary- At this point, not much is known about Gary. So far, all he has done is stab Rich in the chest at a party, hospitalizing him. He is later seen being arrested after Stan informs the police of his location.

Brandi & Katy-Ann- Both girls in Penny's circle, Katy-Ann is described by the creators as an "upbeat Christian" and Brandi as "secure and mature" despite her sexual experiences (including Stan at a point in the past).

External links

* [http://www.pennyandaggie.com/ Official Site]
* [http://www.pennyandaggie.com/pages/cast.html About the Characters]