Candi (webcomic)

Infobox comic strip
title= Candi


caption= Candi
author= Starline Xiomara Hodge
url= http://www.candicomics.com/
rss=
atom=
status= Monday, Wednesday, Friday
first= 2004-07-25 [Candi first webcomic [http://www.candicomics.com/d/20040625.html] ]
last=
syndicate=
publisher=
genre=
rating=
preceded by=
followed by=

"Candi" is a Keenspot webcomic by Starline Xiomara Hodge. It is about a college student studying art (the Candi) and her friends. It was published in the 5th Annual Keenspot Spotlight 2006 - Free Comic Book Day Edition and is slated for publication in the Keenspot Spotlight 2007 book. The website averages 11,218 unique visitors everyday.

Art style

The artwork in Candi falls into the modern American-Japanese Fusion genre, with heavy anime influences, prominent in the big eyes and facial expressions. As the comic strip has developed, more realistic proportions have been introduced.

etting

While it is never explicitly stated in the comic, the setting for the webcomic is the University of Florida, which the author attended. Homages to UF include the Bathouse and the girls riding on the "Lator Gator" bus route when returning home from a night partying. The official UF colors (Orange and Blue) can occasionally be seen in the strip as well.

Plot

The comic strip is currently separated into different chapters, each focusing on a new theme; love, relationships, school, and life.

Introduction to characters

Chapters: "Morning Routine" - "Fine Art" - "Ferret?"

The first few chapters of the story introduce readers to the characters and the relationships within the group. Candi, [Candi's first comic appearance [http://candicomics.com/d/20040625.html] ] Linda, [Laura's first comic appearance [http://candicomics.com/d/20040702.html] ] Laura, [Larua's first comic appearance [http://candicomics.com/d/20040706.html] ] Jon, [Jon's first comic appeaerance [http://candicomics.com/d/20040709.html] ] Alex, Jessica, and the rest of the scholarship house. Candi and Laura take Art Classes together with Professor Fitzgibbons. He and Candi often clash over his disapproving views of her cartoons and illustrations. [Prof. Fitzgibbon's distaste in Candi's "art" [http://candicomics.com/d/20040723.html] ] Candi and Alex have been dating since high school. Jon has a crush on Candi, stirring up some tension between Alex and Jon. Jon even buys Candi a present, but keeps the sender anonymous. While Laura is coming back from school one day, a ferret sneaks into her backpack, making its way to the scholarship house. Candi decides to keep it as a pet and names it Menjou.

Relationship set-ups

A flashback of events that happened before college, when Candi builds up the courage to ask Alex out. It is here when the reader learns that Candi knows Jon had feelings for her, but she chose to ignore it up until now. The stuffed animal that Jon got for Candi traveled its way from character to character being carried by Menjou, the house's pet ferret, causing a minor fuss within the scholarship house. It is here when Candi tries to get a part-time job from Trevor, a close friend. When Candi can't find privacy at her own scholarship house, she stays the night at Alex's. The first minor argument between the two happens, when they both argue about not being suitable to be engaged yet.

Turning point

Trevor invites Candi to a rave party he is going to in a few days. Candi accepts his invitation, but wants Alex to come to make her feel safer. Alex can't, because of his tight schedule and final exams coming up. Jon volunteers to go with Candi, but as friends. At the night of the Rave Party, Candi and Jon see Trevor 'dance' with another guy, unaware of Laura, who came with Trevor. Candi and Jon decide to keep this a secret and not tell anybody since it is none of their business. Jon drinks a cup of water that has been drugged, and kisses Candi spontaneously as a result. However, he is completely unaware of this the next morning. The next day, Laura finds out about Trevor dating someone else, but she has no idea who. They talk, and Trevor asks if Laura feels angry if he were to date someone else. Laura, embarrassed, tells Trevor that she couldn't care less. This is the turning point when well made relationships fall into a struggle where the plot gets more complicated, allowing further character development.

chool

During this time, the story focuses on school more than relationships. Candi is required to volunteer a specific number of hours to pass her Art Class. She stumbles upon Chris, an old friend that's volunteering at a Youth Center. She decides to work here to show Chris that she's matured since High School. When Alex finishes his Final Exams, he sets up a date with Candi, on which Linda stumbles on. The two grown a big dislike over each other, and Linda tries to get in between the two. A new character is also introduced to the plot: Jessica's self-proclaimed brother. Jessica is in rage when she sees that he is "freed" from a mental institute. Although what exactly happened is unclear at this point, it can be said that the two had problems growing up together.

Character development

From the Rave Club, Laura gets suspicious about Trevor's girlfriend. She seeks to find out, and when she does at Moonbucks, a local coffee shop, she finds out that Trevor is bisexual. Trevor is dating Matt, a guy at Moonbucks. In rage, she and Trevor get in an argument and it is here when we find out about Laura's intentions to get in-between them. Linda ponders Candi and Alex's relationship more, learning even more secrets and trying to get in-between them. Alex begins to not feel bitter toward Linda anymore, and as the two are both studying the same thing, Linda begans asking Alex for turtoring.. In the middle of all of this, Laura interrupts the relationship between Trevor and his boyfriend, Matt, by getting a part time job at Moonbucks, the local coffee store. Later, Candi oversees Jon giving a girl his phone number after going to the art store to get supplies. Jon says that her name is Rebecca, and they are apparently getting together for a project. Candi seems to be a little curious and maybe a little jealous at first, but chooses to ignore her feelings as she did before. In the end, through the constant interferences with Alex and Linda, they get in a big argument over Candi's brand new iPod.

ecrets revealed

In this point of the story, the intentions of the characters' plans spill out when the girls go out to a local bar. Candi runs into Laura at work, where Laura suggests they go to a "Girls Night Out," to "dance and get drunk." Candi and Laura end up inviting Linda and Jessica. Jessica usually doesn't go out, but realizes she should work on her relationships after Jon told her that she had no friends. Upon arriving at the club, Jessica lightens up even more and forgets about Jon's unintentionally cruel remark. It is here that Jessica tells Linda to stop messing around with Candi and Alex's relationship, but Linda ignores this advice and tries to figure out what Candi sees in Alex. Laura breaks down and leaves Trevor a message while she is drunk, asking him why he won't have sex with her.

Relationship development

In the beginning of the new chapter, "Dates", we discover that Rebecca is Matt's sister. Jon and Rebecca have arranged a date, while Trevor and Matt have arranged dates too. Alex calls up Candi and arranges a date with her as well, taking her to the local bat house. When they get back, they fight over unnecessary matters, partially due to the relationship breaking down. Candi ends up crying and abandoing the date. Meanwhile, Jessica openly tells Candi that she's always had a crush on Chris. We also see a little bit of Jessica's brother spying on Jon and Jessica, but as of yet it is unknown what his purpose is for. There has been some more tension with Candi and Alex on the other side of the house. Alex is shown in the comic with his arm around Linda and on his other side, a clearly upset Candi.

Fair

Candi must supervise children at the fair for her volunteering gig. She and Chris are asked to bring help. She recruits Jessica and Jon. Chris brings no one. After the children go home, they group is joined by Jon's jealous girlfriend. There is a run-in with Jessica's brother, and Candi is kidnapped. Candi tries to call Alex to rescue her, but he hangs up on her instead. Jon, Chris and Jessica rescue Candi, and Jessica's brother is arrested. When Candi goes over to Alex's to confront him about his hanging up on her he breaks up with her.

Issues after the fair

After the fair, Trevor comes home to find that Candi was kidnapped by Jessica's brother Andrew at the fair, that Jon, Chris and Menjou saved her, and that after the fair, Candi and Alex broke up. Laura and Trevor were talking, when Trevor's father came to the house. He was very rude to Laura, calling her plain, and made fun of Matt. Trevor and his father argued before his father left. Candi tries getting her mind off of Alex by focusing on her studies. She feels she is doing terribly, but her professor gives her an A because she is finally focusing on her work. Candi complains to Linda and Jessica that she wants to be back with Alex, but Jessica gets annoyed and confused, and tells Candi she needs to grow a spine and get someone better fore herself. Linda tells Candi that she shouldn't call, so Alex will miss her. After giving her this advice, Linda gives the same advice to Alex, saying that Candi was furious, and that he should wait for her to call first. The next day, Rebecca invites Jon to go to Mo's, but he says no. He asks Candi to go to Moonbucks, but she also says no. Candi then asks Linda if she wants to go to Sisi's with her, but Linda has made plans with a friend. The friend she is going with is Alex. While they are Pearbee's, Linda drives Alex and Candi farther away from each other by giving Alex false information on how Candi felt. Jon and Rebecca get into a fight over avoidance and attitude with each other. They make up, then make out to reconcile. Jon reassures Candi later on, that she will be fine without Alex.

elf-Destructive

Trevor and Matt sit together, but when Matt tries to cheer Trevor up, Trevor gives him an attitude, and walks away. Matt tells Trevor to call him when he will start acting kinder. Matt goes to work and tells Laura what has happened, and Laura confronts Trevor at the house. They argue for a bit, but Trevor apologizes, and Laura accepts. Then, to Laura's surprise, Trevor kisses Laura. They continue, and soon they are in deep liplock, and Trevor leads her to his bedroom. Laura, however stops Trevor. She says that it's not fair that she does that to Matt. Trevor doesn't understand how Laura wanted it for so long, and once he allowed it to happen, she refused. Laura leaves for work, and Trevor texts Matt to tell him what happened. When Laura arrives, Matt is angry at her, and despite her apologies and the fact she stopped it, not Trevor, Matt quits the job. Meanwhile, in Art, Candi is assigned a new type of art: Performance Art. She partners up with Emily, and they began brainstorming.

Cast

College students

Rebecca

Rebecca is a fellow student in Jon's college classes. She does not live in Candi's house, but rather in another building with her brother, Matt, and roommate, Kari.

Rebecca and Jon first paired up for a project, but have been seeing each other apart from projects and recently started dating. However, this has not dampened Jon's old feelings for Candi, which makes Rebecca very jealous and possessive. She intensly dislikes Menjou.

Professor Fitzgibbons

Professor Fitzgibbons is a professor who teaches art at the university. Both Candi and Linda are his students. However, he does not appreciate Candi's cartoon- and anime-influenced art styles [Prof. Fitzgibbons' distaste in cartoons] and often gives Candi bad grades. [Instance of Prof. Fitzgibbons' bad grading towards cartoons http://candicomics.com/d/20040719.html] Predictably and understandably, Candi dislikes him.

Fitzgibbons takes his work far more seriously than most art professors at school. He is also more personally involved in his students' art than they are sometimes comfortable with. [Prof. Fitzgibbons models nude http://candicomics.com/d/20041213.html]
* Professor Fitzgibbons describes himself as: "I am a wonderer attempting to make art. Art is substance. I am Art."

Andrew

Andrew is Jessica's brother. Until very recently, he was institutionalized for extreme schizophrenia, which made him have hallucinations that his sister was a demon who needed to be destroyed [Andrew used to believe Jessica was a demon http://candicomics.com/d/20050601.html] . He was let out of the institution after starting a medication program that kept his delusions under control. Jessica has accused him of trying to suffocate her, but Andrew appears to still be in denial about his earlier behavior. [Jessica tells Andrew he used to try to kill her http://candicomics.com/d/20050608.html]

Since Jessica refused to talk to him after their first meeting as adults, Andrew has returned to his earlier hallucinations, under direction from the squirrels. [The squirrels describe their plan to kill Candi http://candicomics.com/d/20070116.html] At their instigation, he kidnapped Candi and attempted to set her on fire to burn out the evil influences, but was foiled by Chris, Jon and Jessica, and arrested by the police.

Reception & controversy

The webcomic is fairly new, having started in June 2004. Although fairly new to the internet webcomic industry, it has gained a stable fanbase. Partly because of the constant update schedule and the author's interaction with fans.

A spark of controversy surrounded the comic strip of June 6, 2006, [Racist Candi comic strip? [http://www.candicomics.com/d/20060606.html] ] where the barber addresses Candi as an outsider because she cannot speak Spanish well. Some more controversy stirred up when a user accused the author for making money off of her monthly donation wallpaper (July), when it was originally by Bruce Timm [http://imagesocket.com/view/1205392.jpg] . However, the author has repeatedly stated that she has given Bruce Timm credit.

References

External links

* [http://www.candicomics.com/ Candi web site]
* [http://crossovers.dragoneers.com/index.php?comic=Candi List of crossovers and cameos]
* [http://www.purrsiapress.com Purrsia Press, publishers of Celly's Wings, Starline's 1st comic]