Who's That Girl? Plus a Talk About Time.

So who's that girl in the last panel of Wednesday's comic? Her look has changed a bit, plus the comic's picked up a lot of readers lately so many of you might not know why her showing up is significant. Here's the story where she was introduced...

http://thezoo.comicgenesis.com/d/20051207.html

Here's a later storyline with her.

http://thezoo.comicgenesis.com/d/20070615.html

She's pretty much a harbinger of bad times for Baker...well, at least annoying times. You may have also noticed that she's matured a bit since her first appearance, which begs the question...does time pass in Zoology?

I've been thinking about time as it relates to Zoology for a little while. Most comic strips are stuck in a sort of time paradox whereby seasonal and annual events are recognized each year...when it's winter it's winter in the comic, when Christmas comes around they do Christmas comics and so on...but with the exception of a couple strips (For Better or For Worse, Gasoline Alley) few progress in real time.

A lot of strips take the Simpsons approach whereby seasonal/annual events are recognized, but the characters themselves are forever in a state of suspended animation. Occasionally past adventures will be referenced, but for the most part they don't really change and each adventure is started fresh. Others jump forward in spurts...they'll stay in the same place for 10 years then suddenly, Marvin's a toddler or everyone's 10 years older!

I don't really like either approach. Neither seem like satisfying options for people who actually follow the characters...it's either no growth at all, or growth that just comes out of nowhere which you don't actually get to see develop. At the same time I don't think moving ahead in real time FBoFW style would be feasible either.

The approach I'd prefer to take is to have time always progressing in the comic, but at reduced speed. So in other words even though Zoology has been going for around 3 years, 3 years haven't passed in the Zoology universe.

I would say at this point around 1 year has passed in Zoology time since the strip began.

Of course this has had different effects on different characters. The girl character who returned in this strip would be around 14 now, so obviously she's matured over the past year. The young Guinea pig also has grown up significantly. Guinea pigs don't live too long, so they'll age at a rate faster than the other characters...thus the kid guinea pig has gone from being the equivalent of a 6 or 7 year old to more of a 10 or 11 year old. It's had less effect on other characters...Baker and Shandy would both be in their early 20s if they were human, so a year doesn't make a huge difference at that age. Angsty on the other hand would be in his late teens (18, 19) if he were human, so there has been some noticeable maturation on his part (although not as significant as what you see in the guinea pig).

I don't expect anybody reading to actually follow this, I guess I'm just making it known that this comic isn't quite a random as it might appear and that I actually do think of these things. Or at least I do when I decide to write a blog post about them...

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Happy Saint Patties day to all you fine Zoology readers...don't overdose on green food dye kiddies.

I also helped write a new article for Cracked on the subject, check it out and give it a Digg for me will you [flutters eyelashes]?

6 Reasons the Irish Aren't so Lucky!

Also hope you folks are likin' the current Guinea Pig stories...this is the biggest story I've ever done with these characters. I thought it was about time I developed 'em a bit more.

Character Profile: Baker!

Name: Baker
Species: He’s a sheep!
Breed: Poll Merino
Astrological Sign: Scorpio
Beauty Secret: Weekly hoof pedicures.

The fluffy hero of our scintillating story! Baker lives a quiet and rather dull life, but is actually relatively content with his humdrum existence with one of his few big dreams being to finally defeat the Wall and at last meet up with his dear friend Shandy. Baker loves Shandy but has never met her face to face, and in fact doesn’t even know that she’s actually a monkey (he imagines her to be another sheep like him). Baker has an impressive knack for getting into trouble, often through no fault of his own…a fact that has led to some bouts with depression. Baker was separated from his family while young, had to essentially raise himself and as such tends to internalize his thoughts and feelings and is closed off to even his closest friends to a certain extent. Life in the petting Zoo has steadily become more complicated as Rose, a kind (and cute) girl sheep, arrived on the scene a while back…Baker finds himself drawn to her in a way he perhaps hasn’t felt with anyone before, even Shandy. Baker’s rogues gallery of villains also expands as he not only has to contend with his enemy the Wall but the cute-but-sadistic lemur Mortimer, which whom he seems to be establishing a not so friendly rivalry.

I'll be posting more profiles in the future and you'll be able to access them all at This Link!

Character Profile: Shandy!

Name: Shandy
Species: Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulatta)
Astrological Sign: Aries
Favorite Foods: Nachos, cheese, nachos and cheese or cheese and nachos.

Baker’s friend from the other side of the wall. She doesn’t get along with the other monkeys in her cage particularly well, so hangs out and talks to Baker instead. Shandy’s feelings for him don’t seem to be as strong as his for her…but despite her sometimes cold treatment of Baker, she will occasionally let slip something that reveals that she cares more about him than she lets on. Shandy may sometimes seem to have a silly, frivolous personality, but she’s actually quite smart, tough and stubborn when she wants to be. Her self esteem can be kind of low sometimes and in fact she wishes she was one of the human's who pass her cage and thus tries to dress, eat and act like them. She also happens to be a dancin' machine and when nobody's around to hear she likes to sing.

I'll be posting more profiles in the future and you'll be able to access them all at This Link!

This Title is for the Birds...(check out that pun, no wonder I write a comic).

There's been a lot of random birds in Zoology over the years and yet I've never actually made a reoccurring character out of any of them. It just seems natural to have them appear in my mind...no matter where you are outside there's a bird watching overhead somewhere isn't there? Plotting perhaps.

They usually show up in Zoology in order to provide an outside perspective or sarcastic comment on the wackiness that goes on below in the zoo. Well, that or the time I had one with bird flu show up out of nowhere. Not sure what I was thinking that week (other than I was tired of hearing bird flu stories on the news).

Anyways, the point of all this is I kind of like the mailbird. I think he may have what it takes to be a reoccurring character. Besides, he solves various writing dilemmas as now animals in different parts of the zoo can freely communicate (well, not exactly freely).

Of course I don't exactly need a new character or anything...too many of the darn things running around already.

A Sheep by any Other Name...

So, as you may have noticed Rose the Sheep has shown up again after not appearing for a while. I like Rose...I think she's one of the cutest character designs I've come up with, but a number of people have told me they don't like her. You shouldn't let her hear you say that, she has a bit of a temper.

I think a lot of this stems from the fact that people see her as "competition" for Shandy. I know everyone (well, everyone out of the 10 people who read the comic) likes Shandy, but there's no need to hate on poor Rose! Her relationship with Baker is different than Shandy's (and I admit it's my fault for maybe not making the differences clear enough). She does make life at the petting zoo more complicated though.

Anywho, something fairly big is going to happen with her sometime down the line. Maybe she'll walk off into the sunset for good...or maybe it'll be the opposite and she'll be around a lot more often! Who knows? Well I do, but I'm not telling.