Zebra Girl

Infobox comic strip
title= Zebra Girl


caption= "Zebra Girl" Keenspot newsbox
author= Joe England
url= http://zebragirl.keenspot.com/
rss=
atom=
status= unpredictable, but occasionally updated weekly.
syndicate=
publisher=
first= 2000-05-06 [http://zebragirl.keenspot.com/d/20000506.html]
last=
genre= Urban Fantasy
rating=
preceded by=
followed by=

"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 WCCA|2005|Outstanding Story Concept in 2005 and WCCA|2007|Outstanding Black and White Art again in 2007. The comic is currently hosted in Keenspot.

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. [http://zebragirl.keenspot.com/d/20000707.html] [http://zebragirl.keenspot.com/d/20000804.html] 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. She has also recently demonstrated the ability to manipulate human minds to some degree, mostly through hallucinations. 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.

England changed the layout of the strip on 2007-04-08 [http://zebragirl.keenspot.com/d/20070408.html] to one similar to a comic book to make printing the strips easier. England said that he was inspired to do this by Tracy Butler ("Lackadaisy"), Remy Mokhtar ("Marry Me") and Bleedman ("Sugar Bits").

Characters

Major characters

andra

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. There is a mock-up [http://zebragirl.keenspot.com/techsupport.html Zebragirl Tech Support] page within the website, which emphasizes that while "face-to-face consultation is not available", her customers receive answers from "a real human being." She also advises her potential customers to remain calm and patient, "lest they suffer from something strange and violent" - Sandra has been known to set on fire callers with less than stellar technical knowledge.

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 rickety ladder, a low flying bird and a room full of knives - surprisingly, nobody has yet disbelieved this far-fetched explanation.

While Sandra was initially most terrified of losing her soul to her demonic side, she has experienced many feelings- joy and elation at realizing she was not a monster like Tool, acceptance of her demonic form, fear of her nightmares- and eventually reached the point where she has fully embraced her demonic side. She is now terrorizing the town she lives in, a monster in the shadows, and is desperate to make Sam hate her- mostly so that she can remove the "last thing" keeping her human.

Jack

Housemate of Sandra. Young, brash, self-proclaimed slacker and pervert (emphasized by his permanent "PERV" t-shirt), Jack undergoes a great deal of character development in the comic.

Initially haunted by his guilt at causing Sandra's transformation, he began studying magic in order to fix her, becoming bound with his spellbook, whose name- ironically- is Tomie.

While initially it gave him only light magical powers, an incident occurred in which Sandra and Crystal were dragged to another dimension (this being Sam's cartoon world). Left behind, Jack began intensive meditation and research, eventually finding a place called the 'Net, a place where other mages could communicate with each other telepathically.

While there, Jack joined the crusade that would eventually determine much of his future life: to get magic back into the world again. While on the 'Net, he personally introduced two children to magic.

Unfortunately, the 'Net was a trap; an evil wizard had created it long ago so that, when new wizards showed up and magic returned, he could absorb their souls and become much more powerful. His plan worked, to an extent, but missed Jack's soul. Jack fought against the wizard's demons, and won because of his high resistance to fire (developed from living with Sandra), but then died, and was sent back, like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. His ascension turned him into a full-fledged wizard, known as Jack the Plaid, and with his new powers he banished the evil wizard and freed his friend's souls to go on into the afterlife.

This event changed him; he became the most mature and level-headed character in some ways, though still enjoys playing with his powers. He now runs the newly-revived 'Net, and is looked up to as leader by most of the new mages who have found it. He is also continuing the crusade originally started on the 'Net: get people to believe in magic again. He mostly focuses on children, as few others believe him.

He is currently trying to help Sandra reconnect to her human side.

Jack has many powers as a wizard, but his first and most basic power is a result of his living conditions. Sandra's anger at him frequently sets him on fire. The frequency with which this happens, as well as his magical abilities, have given his body powerful innate regenerative abilities, so that he is fully healed after a few hours. Moreover, it has given him an exceptionally high tolerance for pain, surprising even demons with his ability to shrug off burns and wounds.

There was some speculation, inside and outside the comic, that his powers could block Sandra's powers, and he reveals that he could; but that he allows her to burn him as penance and in order to vent her building demonic rage.

He possesses multiple spellcasting powers, from crossing dimensions to hurling spells; he also has a powerful connection to things that are plaid, as it is his symbol and his totem. He can control objects the color of his totem and even best opponents much stronger than him if they are wearing plaid. He leaves a plaid trail after himself when he flies, or is in a trance, as a further indicator of his powers.

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. [http://zebragirl.keenspot.com/d/20050712.html] 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." [http://zebragirl.keenspot.com/d/20050724.html]

am

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 is Sandra, actually, but in another dimension; he shares her soul, and her memories, particularly the near-death experience she had of her life flashing before her eyes (described as "someone else's life can flash before your eyes, too.")

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.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Sam is the fact that he 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 has been shown to be completely correct.

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.

While he is a compendium of highly advanced magical knowledge, he has only fleeting awareness of his own contents through what previous owners have told him his chapters describe. This is because he is unable to read his own pages, as Tomie puts it to Jack: "Can you read your own intestines?"

Because he is now bound to Jack, events will always conspire to bring them back together should they become separated somehow.

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.

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.

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). [http://zebragirl.keenspot.com/d/20050828.html]
*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 soulless cyborg ruler of the parallel universe from which Sam hails, where most inhabitants are furry anthropomorphs. He is visually represented as a quadrupedal arachnoid mechanism with a human torso affixed to the top of its cephalothorax. His appearance as a whole is suggestive of driders and Mojo, while his visage is suggestive of Lobo and Count Olaf. 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. He drifted to an unidentified hell dimension [http://zebragirl.keenspot.com/d/20020906.html] as Jack pulled back Sam, Sandra and Crystal back to earth with him.
*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. He has now been turned into a demon himself, apparently as the result of the same curse which placed a 'yucky face' permanently on his forehead. He was then sent to a Hell dimension by Sandra. It's been recently revealed that this mark had some sort of significant role to play, as it opened up and revealed a third eye similar to Sandra's before being thrust into Hell, is the sign of his damnation for summoning something too strong for him to control during his college years, and never actually damned him; it was just a motive for him to damn himself. He revealed to Sam that he intended Sandra to be his last kill, and that destroying her would be a suicide mission.
*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.
*Mary Shrieks and Pooka Zin - A strange robed woman and a demonic "rarebit" bearing a strange friendship of sorts, similar to Sandra and Sam's. Mary Shrieks' nearly featureless robe looks like a streamlined version of Sandra's own, and Pooka Zin is similar to Sam, albeit as tall as Mary Shrieks, with a gaping, wolfish mouth with a row of very long and sharp fangs, and long, clawed fingers. Pooka Zin dresses in sharp Victorian fashion, and he and Mary are briefly seen discussing Sandra, Sam and the series of mishaps happening around Miscellaneous. Zin in particular quotes Goya's "the dream of reason produces monsters".

"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 fictitious 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.

At the current moment, her strips depictions are disjointed and schizophrenic, reflecting her demonic mindframe and possibly the struggle of her human side trying to reassert itself.

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 ( [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xVnAqL2i5U currently hosted] on YouTube).There is also a short [http://forums.keenspot.com/viewtopic.php?t=94339&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 fan mini-comic] on the Zebra Girl website's forums, set in the same milieu, by one Pnelma Tirian.

Collected Editions

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.

References

External links

* [http://zebragirl.keenspot.com/ "Zebra Girl"]