Girly

Girly is a webcomic created by Josh Lesnick which generally centers on the romantic relationship between two girls named Otra and Winter, as well as other citizens of the city of Cute-Town. It ran from April 2003 and finished on September 16, 2010.

On October 15, 2005 Girly became a part of the Dayfree Press collective, and on June 28, 2006 the first Girly print collection was published via Radio Comix.

Plot summary

The webcomic serves as a sequel to Lesnick's previous work, Cutewendy. It tells the tale of Otra, a fashion designer who feels something missing in her life until she meets Winter, the daughter of Wendy and Other Girl from Cutewendy, who declares Otra her sidekick. After a few adventures, Otra becomes attracted to Winter and the two become a couple going on adventures together.

History of Girly

Girly launched in April 2003, originally intended as a sequel/retelling of one of Lesnick's previous works called CuteWendy, and originally was not intended to run for more than 50 strips. However, Lesnick became enamored with the characters, with the comic reaching 764 chapters by its end.

Lesnick originally hosted Girly on KeenSpot. In November 2004, he moved Girly over to his own server, where it has remained since. On October 15, 2005, Girly became part of the Dayfree Press collective of webcomics which includes such other strips as Dinosaur Comics and Questionable Content.

On August 23, 2006, Lesnick announced that fundraising efforts for the comic had been successful that he would attempt to support himself wholly via the comic.

On June 28, 2006, the very first print collection of Girly strips was co-published by Radio Comix and Josh's own company Studio Zoe, and was made available via Amazon.com and selected comic stores. On May 2, 2007, volume 2 became available. Book collections were put on hold following this volume, until after the comic ended, when, after a successful Kickstarter campaign , a limited run boxset of the complete series was made available and offered exclusively online.

The final chapter was posted on September 16, 2010.

Girly's style

Girly's style is line-based and monochrome, using a vertical format. The original style of line drawing is akin to a manga-style but with more abstractions, giving it a sketched, freehand sort of look. The line art has evolved a great deal as time has passed, and no longer bears a great resemblance to most manga, however; recent works are somewhat reminiscent of some of John Kricfalusi's work. The art of the strip has shown a steady trend away from thin, pencil-like lines towards a much more variable, ink-brush look.

After a short hiatus, on August 4, 2007, in Girly #504, the art of the strip transitioned to a much more prominent use of color.

Along with absurdity and playing with stereotypes, Girly has a strong vein of sexual humor.

Various overhead shots show that Cute-Town has a skyline very similar to Dallas, Texas. In comic #398, the Alt Text to the comic said the author took the skyline of Dallas, and added smiley faces and a kitten. However, the interior of Cute-Town is said by the author to resemble Austin, Texas.

Main characters

Girly revolves around the main characters Otra and Winter (and often the cat as well). Occasionally the story will move to a small sub-story centered around one of the secondary characters but will eventually be tied back into one of the main characters again.

• Otra - Otra is the main character of Girly. She is 26 years old and is currently self-employed as a freelance fashion designer for the company Guapa. Not much is known about Otra (her name wasn't fully revealed until well into the comic) except that she hasn't had too hard of a life; she's just constantly disappointed/sad about mostly everything. Her main hobby is roaming through the city and observing life. Before she met Winter, she would deal with the annoying people in her life by cramming them into or tying them to small rockets and launching them into space. Winter's sudden appearance in her life has changed her a little day by day. Otra first appeared in Strip 1. Her name is Spanish for "other one" - a reference to CuteWendy's sidekick, known only as the Other Girl.
• Winter - Winter is Otra's girlfriend. She is 19 years old, has no job or home and has declared Otra to be her sidekick early in the comic. She has since looked out for Otra devotedly, helping her with work and even occasionally saving her life as well. Not much is known about Winter except that she is the daughter of CuteWendy and her sidekick Other Girl from Girly's predecessor CuteWendy (as revealed early on). She's free-spirited, with an attitude that's both serious and yet silly. First appeared in Strip 1.
• Marshmallow Kitty - A cat that was originally homeless and wandered the downtown area living off scraps and donations of food. After meeting Winter and Otra, it took a liking to them and followed Otra home. It soon became Otra's cat. Although the cat was intended to stay a secondary character or mascot, it became a primary character through its popularity. Its early appearances made it appear slightly perverted, but that has since stopped. The cat is too pudgy to roll itself over when it's on its back, and is totally indestructible. Recently it has given birth to several kittens, much to Winter and Otra's distress, and is now officially designated as female. In Strip 504 it was shown that Marshmallow Kitty was part of a scientific project to create the world's greatest cat, however this experiment resulted in the destruction of the laboratory along with everyone inside of it excluding Marshmallow Kitty. First appeared in Strip 36.

Secondary characters

• Danforth Policeguy - An officer of Cute P.D. He is constantly trying to find women who will date him, often without success. He tends to vent his frustration in his job, which has led him to considerable success as a police officer. He became frustrated with his job and quit the force, becoming a private detective and allowing him to form a relationship with Officer Hipbone (whom he had not been able to date before because they were co-workers). As of Comic 512 Comic 512, he has been temporarily written out of the comic but in Comic 674 he has appeared back in the comic to save Winter, Otra, and Hipbone. It was revealed he came back after having had many adventures and went to Cute P.D. Secret World HQ. He then persuaded the leaders to cross out the rule that officers may not have relationships with each other. He has come back to the Cutetown P.D. to be Officer Policeguy. He was last seen with Hipbone destroying the Sidekick police with their love. He's probably the second-most powerful character in the comic, only behind Otra.

• El Chupacabre (Chuy) - A comical fellow, first introduced with a ponytail, a flowing cape (not much else in the way of clothing,) and a long, thin, handlebar mustache. His body emits an aura, making him irresistible to women; at first, he believed that "the women need love, and only El Chupacabre can give it to them." As such, throughout the exposition, wherever Chupacabre went, he left a trail of satisfied naked women behind. At one point, El Chupacabre traumatized Policeguy, mistaking him for a girl. Policeguy then cut his hair in order to appear more masculine. Winter, who seemed at first unaffected by his advances, managed to show him that haphazard sex can be damaging to existing relationships (although it was revealed later that she was not, in fact, immune, but her love for Otra allowed her to resist him.) El Chupacabre tried to avoid women for a time, and developed and internet relationship with Autumn. As of comic 508, they married. Comic 508 He and his wife have recently returned with the French barbarian hordes at their side, and are helping with the Rogue Sidekick problem in Cutetown. He has some combat powers, but is not particularly good at it and does not have a ranking. As of comic strip 736, Chuy and Autumn were revealed to have been divorced in France. This was due to Chuy's libido suffering greatly from a monogamous lifestyle and almost killing him. They both mutually agreed to split up, and be love machines. They are still great friends.

• Officer Hipbone- The other main police officer character. A beautiful, but tough and no-nonsense officer. She helps Otra and Winter whenever the two are trying to defeat anything that threatens Cutetown's peace and quiet. Since Otra and Winter are quite often, in fact, the things threatening Cutetown's peace and quiet, Hipbone therefore also chases them and considers them her greatest rivals. Despite this, she is a heroic character, unusual for a character with a somewhat antagonistic relationship to the main characters. She and Policeguy are in love, and much like him, she is an incredible fighter, ranking near the third or fourth spot.

• Collette - Winter's half-cutpaste half-sister, who is the daughter of CuteWendy's Other Girl and Xerox Guy. An introverted girl with an affinity for videogames. She doesn't get along with her sister particularly well, although she means well. She seems to have a crush on El Chupacabre, or "Chuy" (whom she once had sex with) and is often irritated by his and Autumn's relationship. After their marriage, she went into a slight state of depression, which caused her a noticeable gain in weight. She currently attends Cutetown University. Collette is a terrible combatant, except where videogames are involved.

• Autumn - Somewhat of a nerd, Autumn was always picked on in school. After a rather mean prank involving a fish from the popular crowd, a few kids decided to be her friends (The taller one being Mickey and the shorter one being Babs), and they cut school together. When they are introduced into the storyline, they are students at Cutetown University. While on the library computer, she runs into funnybunnyfan4531 (El Chupacabre's screen name). Eventually, she tells Chupacabre that she wants to meet with him, at which point he discloses his identity. As she is preparing to tell him that she is still interested, a giant mouse eats her computer. Chupacabre thought she had logged off purposefully. Autumn, in a panic, purchases a new computer and waits for an entire day for Chupacabre to log back on. Eventually, they make contact once again, (ironically it is Collette who sets them up) meeting accidentally in a cafe. Chupacabre, afraid of ruining their relationship, runs, and she gives chase. Eventually, she catches up to him and they engage in sexual intercourse. As of comic 508, they are married. She and her husband have recently come back, riding a giant squirrel, in order to assist Winter and Otra. As of comic strip 736, Chuy and Autumn were revealed to have been divorced in France. This was due to Chuy's libido suffering greatly from a monogamous lifestyle and almost killing him. After mutual divorce, Autumn was drawn into Chuy's old lifestyle of sex and lots of it.

• Dr. Lucy McCurvy - The veterinarian that Otra frequently visits for problems concerning Marshmallow Kitty. She has black and white wavy hair and wears dark clothes creating an altogether fairly gothic fashion style. She often claims to be a genius- something which, while apparently true, does nothing for her superiority complex- and puts her money where her mouth is in fight scenes; she rarely loses. As fitting her chosen profession, she has a perfect track record of victory when fighting animals, though human opponents give her more trouble. Hell Kitty was adopted by her, and she has apparently grown mostly immune to his demonic Meows.

• Nurse Yumi - Doctor Lucy's 31 year-old assistant nurse. She has a somewhat... disturbing relationship with Dr. Lucy, possibly love; she has said "I'd have sex with her mind if I could." She was once thought to be the Queen Bee of the Sidekicks, but this was later disproved. She is Québécoise and forgets how to speak English after a head trauma, reverting to her native Joual, with quite a potty-mouth, for the duration of the story. Yumi's translations were provided to Lesnick by Dave Zero and Gizelle Laglace of the webcomic Ménage à 3.

• Officer Getskilled - Another officer of the Cute Town Police Dept. He has an open, friendly disposition that sometimes clashes with Officer Hipbone's stern personality. He is a somewhat feminine man, and his girlish tendencies lead the other characters to speculate his sexuality. He also shows signs of harboring something of a crush on Officer Policeguy, that are most obvious when he switches bodies with Hipbone. Despite his name, he has a high survival rate, and has recently developed immortality.

• Black Kitty - This strangely black cat first made a cameo when Captain Fist claimed it ate his soul in Comic 153. The first time we see the whole kitty is in Comic 161. The black kitty is the father of the Marshmallow Kitty's kittens, one of which is also black and shares its father's disturbing "meow". Comic 308. The Black Kitty makes another appearance during the battle against the Sidekicks, this time in an attempt to save Marshmallow Kitty from the animal sidekick in Comic 662.

• Captain Fist - The resident Superhero of neighboring town "Cheapgag", Captain Fist is a particularly inept brand of hero who constantly arrives at the last possible moment to take the credit for the heroic deeds of Otra, Winter, Policeguy and (on occasion) Dr Lucy. At one point he was a candidate in the Cute City mayoral elections, but this was later revealed to be a robot under the control of the Shadowy Villain.

Books

Girly previously had two volumes of books released, encompassing the first 7 chapters of the story, as well as two editions of a complete collection of its Cutewendy prequel. A complete collection of the series was published in the Summer of 2011, after being funded by Kickstarter.

1. Cutewendy: Collection of Perfection, 1st ed. by Keenspot Entertainment ISBN 0-9722350-1-9 (published August 1, 2002)
2. Cutewendy, 2nd ed. by Studio Zoe ISBN 0-9791417-0-2 (published July 4, 2007)
3. Girly Volume 1 by Studio Zoe and Radio Comix ISBN 0-9786385-0-6 (published June 28, 2006)
4. Girly Volume 2 by Studio Zoe ISBN 0-9791417-1-0 (published July 4, 2007)
5. Girly: The Complete Collection ISBN 0-9791417-2-9 (published August 1, 2011)

References

1. ^ Girly: #1
2. ^ Girly #764
3. ^ The Radio Comix Store
4. ^ Mia MacHatton, Slippery, Shiny, and Definitely Sexy: Josh Lesnick, Sequential Tart vol 7 no. 3, March 2004
5. ^ More than 700 strips
6. ^ Another webcomic (Girly) reaches a $$$ goal, Comixpedia, Thursday August 24, 2006
7. ^ "Girly Volume 1, Amazon.com". Retrieved 18 May 2012. 
8. ^ "Girly: The Complete Collection by Josh Lesnick". Retrieved 20 March 2011. 
9. ^ ^{a b} "The Girly Store". Retrieved March 13, 2007. 
10. ^ Overhead view of Cute-Town resembling Dallas, Texas.
11. ^ Girly #577: Otra's current age is given in the Alt-text.
12. ^ Girly #576: Winter gives her age.
13. ^ http://girlyyy.com/go/583

External links

• girly (official site)
• Guapa Design (official girly online store)