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Sluggy Freelance is one of the longest running, best-known and most popular webcomics, with a new comic released daily since August 25, 1997. It is written and drawn by Pete Abrams. Sluggy Freelance set many of the standards for web comics.
The characters constantly find themselves in strange and usually dangerous circumstances and surroundings. There is plenty of sexual innuendo and cartoon violence (the fan site listed below keeps track of how many kills each character has accumulated) but no strong profanity or explicit nudity. The strip tends to be more text-heavy than most.
While the strip began as a gag-based series in which the three main protagonists (Torg, Riff and Zoë) would stumble from one brief, bizarre, parody-centric adventure to the next, the characters and plotlines have gradually developed to the point that the storylines are longer and more serious. However, even the more dramatic and soap operatic story arcs often conform to the established "one punchline per day" format.
Characters
The "good" guys
- Torg
- A hapless freelance web designer and the butt of much of the humor, Torg is the primary protagonist in most storylines, having appeared in more than half of the site's comics at last count. He's generally viewed as not being terribly intelligent, much of which is due to his tendency to act before he thinks things through (if he thinks about it at all). Often, these actions can end up landing himself and others in trouble; a prime example is when Torg gave Zoë a necklace found in a lost Egyptian pyramid, which turned out to be cursed and turned her into a camel.
- Torg is also marked by his very amiable personality and his unwavering loyalty to his friends, which sometimes causes him to act in very selfless (and sometimes reckless) ways.
- Torg seems to have problems with steady or stable relationships, as most of the women with any romantic designs on Torg have generally found themselves dead (Valerie, Oasis (multiple times), and Alt-Zoë), emotionally traumatized (Angela), or generally not very well-off.
- Not much is currently known about Torg's past. We never see his parents or family.
- Riff
- Genius inventor and "freelance bum" whose creations almost always bring mayhem and destruction in their wake. Riff (full name Riffington) is much more introverted than much of the cast (especially in contrast to his best friend Torg), and seems to often have difficulty expressing his feelings beyond just a shrug or nod.
- Riff's inventions have been extremely varied (though he has a love for heavy firepower), and often play key roles in plotlines. Among his inventions have been the Dimensional Flux-Agitator (a device used for teleporting matter into random dimensions or, on occasion, travelling to them in a more controlled way), a time machine (not Y2K-compatible), and a gigantic mecha-style robot featuring enough firepower for a modern army and an AI cribbed from an old Speak and Spell.
- His biological mother was revealed early in the strip to be Dr. Lorna, a Dr. Laura-esque radio personality whom he blames for ruining his life. His father's identity is unknown, though is presumably an Indiana Jones-esque archaeologist.
- Riff also was a former freelance talent for the evil corporation HeretiCorp, but eventually aids in reducing the company to shambles when he discovers his reports he had sent in are being used for very sinister purposes.
- Bun-Bun
- Nominally Torg's lop-eared rabbit; has a switchblade, a Glock, and a really bad attitude, especially toward telemarketers. Bun Bun, though physically a small rabbit, is actually one of the most powerful characters in the comic. Though his origin is currently unknown certain scenes have pointed towards the rabbit being quite old and possibly immortal. Bun Bun switches between roles often in the comic. At times he is the protagonist, other times he is the antagonist, in addition to many other roles and jobs, including a narrator. Seems to have a liking for alfalfa-margaritas and old reruns of Baywatch (he was highly traumatised when the series was cancelled and tried to kill everyone when they accidentally wiped his extensive Baywatch tape collection). Bun-bun became lost out of time due to his takeovers of various holidays, and is currently fulfilling an ambition by captaining his own pirate ship, the Bloody Bun.
- Kiki
- Riff's ferret; A former lab animal, she is hyperkinetic, has a microscopic attention span, and has a dark past. She belonged to Sam for a time, then came into the care of Riff. Kiki is very like a small child in many respects, and even though she can be annoying at times, most of the other characters, including Riff and Sam, seem to have a soft spot for her, and will help her in times of need.
- Zoë
- Half-Korean friend, housemate and occasional camel, Zoë is probably the sanest one of the bunch, often acting as the voice of reason. More often than not, she gets swept up in the group's adventures either entirely by accident or against her will, but she did volunteer herself in testing out Riff's time machine once.
- Zoë is originally from Nebraska (and where she eventually graduated college). Her family includes her younger sister Min (who is now in college herself), her father (who works as an English teacher and looks vaguely similar to Torg), and an incredibly overprotective mother.
- Sam
- aka "Sam da man": a rather dimwitted wanna-be ladies' man with an overinflated ego. Sam was turned into a vampire in an early adventure. He leaves the main group shortly after being turned due to Riff's mistrust of his vampiric nature and is, for the most part, only shown in the comic through side stories about him. However, from time to time he and the other main characters will cross paths.
- Unlike most main characters, Sam actually has a full first and last name, that being Sam Sein.
- Gwynn
- Another friend and housemate; blind as a bat without her glasses. A practitioner of black magic (sometimes under the influence of Bun-Bun, due to possession by the demon K'Z'K, or the book of E-ville itself rather than by her own will). She and Riff have dated in the past.
- Aylee
- An alien refugee from another dimension who changes form about as often as The Doctor, but more drastically; her first appearance was as a Xenomorph-like creature, while a more recent incarnation was a dragon who created electromagnetic pulses after eating potato-based products. She was cloned by Hereti Corp (see Bad Guys), which was subsequently killed by Torg. The original Aylee is currently trapped in a cocoon, in between changes in form.
- Sasha
- Another ex-girlfriend of Riff. Played the role of straight-woman in Zoë's absence; strangely receptive to weird situations. Also seemed to have some of Riff's knack for inventing, though her inventions seemed to be far more reliable than his. Moved away and has not been seen for a long time.
- Mosp
- Full/true name Amospia. A warrior in ancient times, she was transformed into a demon by a mage. She was given awareness of her name back and pity from Torg for the two snakes on her head that are too stupid to realize Mosp isn't just an extension of their bodies (See Isp and Osp below). She risked everything and eventually died to protect Torg from demons of the Dimension of Pain by attempting to kill Lord Horribus.
- The Sword
- aka the Sword of Torgamous, aka Unholy Evil Death Bringer, aka Weeping God aka Chaz. A sentient sword received by Torg in medieval times during an adventure involving Riffs time machine. It can speak when recently "charged" by innocent blood, and claims the ability to kill "most things that can be killed" when in this state. This quality leaves the Sword's status as a "good" character under some debate, but in Chaz' own words: "I am just a sword. Wield me as you will, Master".
The "bad" guys
Important and/or recurring villains and antagonists
- K'Z'K
- Aka "Kizke", aka "Kenny", aka "Captain Consonant", aka "The vowelless" aka "The soul collector", a demon with plans to rule the world, originally summoned by Gwynn. Very touchy about people who mispronounce his name. His powers have been reduced to almost nothing (if, indeed, he even still lives) after a final attempt to fully take over Gwynn's body failed miserably.
- Lady Valerie
- A vampire and one of Torg's love interests from the past. Originally, Valerie was a queen back in the middle ages, but after the death of her husband Lord Torgamous, she despaired and the vampire queen Lysinda (see below) offered to turn her into a vampire and she accepted. In the present, she posed as Sam's wife to help search for people to induct into the Lysinda Circle, and instantly felt a bond for Torg, given his similarity in appearance to her dead husband. Has long since been destroyed.
- Lysinda
- A vampire queen and creator of the Lysinda Circle of Vampires. Was directly responsible for turning Sam and Valerie into vampires and attempted to turn Torg and Zoë as well. Was destroyed in a very early storyline.
- Dimension of Pain
- an alternate dimension filled with ferocious yet inept demons who have a grudge against Torg. For more information, see the header "The Dimension of Pain guys."
- Hereti Corp
- A shadowy corporate organization that funds questionable scientific research and has its hand in a large number of conspiracies. Has been currently reduced to shambles, though its highest-ranking officers are still lurking around (though working at Burger Meister).
- Oasis
- A gymnastic assassin who is brain-washed to be madly in love with Torg and will kill anyone and anything in her path. She harbors a special hatred for Hereti-Corp, and will drop whatever she's doing and kill anyone who works for Hereti-Corp. Many of her appearances involve her trying to kill Zoë out of jealousy, due to finding a love letter to her from Torg. Her status as a villain (she can be viewed as victim)is debatable. She was once thought to be a robot, but was confirmed to be an extremely athletic human with a highly boosted immune system. She has a bad habit of repeatedly and mysteriously coming back from the dead. She has a limited awareness of real world conventions. There is currently an ongoing and spirited debate among fans over whether there is one Oasis with extraordinary regenerative abilities, or multiple Oases with shared memories.
- Kusari
- An assassin working for Hereti Corp. She refers to herself as Oasis' sister and shares her tendency to return and/or be recreated after being killed.
- Dr. Steve Hereti
- Oasis' creator and/or trainer, founder of Hereti Corp. His Oasis Project seemed to have been done after he had a falling out with his own corporation and created his own compound in a forest, so very little is known either about Oasis or his doings there. Was (presumably) killed after his compound self-destructed.
- Dr. Catherine Crabtree
- A scientist of highly questionable ethics, sanity, and bodily composition. She was involved in a project to create nanites, tiny robots designed to exist in a person's bloodstream and report all personal information about them to a centralized database, using Kiki as her test-subject. When this failed (when the nanites would spread, they would kill their host), she seemingly put the project on hold. After the project failed, she somehow seemed to have increasingly experimented on herself with nanites, so much so that eventually they were all that held her biological components together, turning her nearly into some form of cyborg capable of ingesting the brains of others to harvest their data. She was eventually destroyed by an EMP blast of Aylee's, shutting down all of her nanites and liquifying her.
- Dr. Irving Schlock
- A scientist who worked in the same lab as Dr. Crabtree. He first appeared as a walk-on character administering cosmetic tests on Bun-Bun. He later appeared as an old man from the the future of an alternate timeline where K'Z'K had overtaken the world. His knowledge helped save the current timeline from that same fate. He occasionally aids the main characters with insider information (he's been involved with Hereti Corp, though entirely against his will) or inflatable technology from the future, but only when threatened with significant bodily harm.
- The Evil
- An litter of evil kittens created when Satan came to earth and drunkenly accepted a dare. The Evil are quite harmless unless they have not been given their milk, though the kittens themselves eventually seem to realize the hold milk has upon them. They have also more recently been given mittens and additional powers (such as the ability to fly) from their father, Satan.
- The Holidays
- If Bun-Bun is to be considered "good", then the holidays must be "bad". In Sluggy there is a physical being who runs each holiday, including Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Groundhog Shadow. When a holiday is killed, the killer gains control over that holiday, a proccess known as the "Right of Caste". Recently, Bun-Bun began killing off holidays one by one, culminating in his takeover of Christmas. However, when the Groundhog Shadow, attached to him, killed the year 2003 (also physical) seconds before years end, Bun-Bun was forced to use the Dues ex Ovum to return things to there proper order and save his life.
Some of these characters have been killed at various points, but that generally does not preclude their return through an interesting plot twist or use of time travel.
The Dimension of Pain guys
The Dimension of Pain is an evil world where demons thrive and all goodness has been driven out. (Though apparently is an entirely different location from Hell.) The Dimension of Pain is introduced when Torg is accidentally sent there due to an accident caused by the Dimensional Flux-Agitator and eventually escapes.
The Dimension of Pain is magically linked to several similar dimensions, such as the Dimension of Grief and the Dimension of Crabby Chain-Smoking Biddies, and some denizens of these dimensions are also numbered in this list.
- Horribus (Horb)
- Lord of the Dimension of Pain, Horribus is large, mean, and very proud (though sometimes not very bright). He was granted aristocracy and lordship after leading the forces of the Dimension of Pain to victory after the accidental death of the previous ruler of the Dimension of Pain, Lord Atrocioun.
- His attempts to bring Torg back to the Dimension of Pain every Halloween fail, and getting Torg back becomes almost an obsession, allowing potentially conquerable worlds such as the Dimension of Lame to slip through his fingers. Recently, he has had his aristocracy and title stripped of him by the Demon King and has been cast into the depths to rot.
- Reakk
- A rather slow-witted demon and right-hand man to Horribus. Reakk's actions more often than not end up landing himself and the others into severe trouble, such as when he accidentally killed Lord Atrocioun with a shortened spear (he though Horb had told him to "shorten it" as opposed to "sharpen it"), or woke up the first and second Dragons of Annoyia. He HAS performed some good actions somewhat by accident, however, such as driving the first Dragon of Annoyia away (earning him the (self-given) title of Reakk the Dragon Boinker, due to how he boinked off the dragon's nose), and using the Evil Super Mop of the Heavens to clear a path to the Dimension of Lame.
- Psyk (Psykosis)
- A somewhat portly cyclopean demon, and perhaps one of the most intelligent of the Dimension of Pain demons. While Horribus could be seen as a man of action (so to speak), Psyk relies on careful planning and thought. While loyal to Horribus, he eventually becomes increasingly frustrated at the unhealthy obsession Horribus has with catching Torg at all costs, eventually going so far as to try and act against him, resulting in his head being mutilated by way of having one of his horns ripped out in an act of vengeance.
- Currently, Psyk has been granted aristocracy and Lord Horribus' previous position by the Demon King, transforming him into Lord Psykosis. It is currently unknown how the reign of Psykosis may differ from that of Horribus, or how his newfound position of power may affect him.
- Isp and Osp
- A pair of snakes that served as Mosp's "hair." Isp and Osp were originally two serpent archers in the Dimension of Pain's army until they were accidentally merged into Asmopia's body when she was turned into a demon. Isp and Osp were rather unintelligent (even in comparison to Reakk), but were extremely cunning, and when combined with Mosp's spear arms were a force to be reckoned with. Isp and Osp were killed when Mosp was destroyed by Lord Horribus after she attempted to kill him.
- The Demon King
- Apparent ruler and overlord of all realms overseen by the Dimension of Pain, The Demon King is a very large, very imposing figure. The Demon King founded the Dimension of Pain by defeating the Goddess of Goodness and sealing her away in a resealable plastic bag and placing it in the bottom of his refrigerator. The Demon King apparently has the ability to grant demons lordship and the power of aristocracy, which turns them into larger, more imposing versions of themeselves. He seems to not interact much with the demonic realms, so very little is known about what he actually does. Seems to have recently been injured by The Sword as Torg made his escape from the Dimension of Pain once and for all.
- Terribus (Terb)
- Horribus' younger, very ambitious brother. After Horribus was banished to the surface for his failure to capture Torg at Halloween 2002, Terribus tried to become the new lord of the dimension of pain using such underhanded tactics as attempting to rig the election with confusing ballots and selling his soul to a mortal politician. This attempt at selling his soul ended up letting an Angel of Goodness into the realm temporarily transforming the Dimension of Pain into a Dimension of Joy.
- Terribus has also attempted to pose as the Demon King and attempted a hostile takeover of the nearby Dimension of Grief (ruled by his sister Deplora). Recently, however, Deplora and Terribus (reduced to just Terb and Plorb after being stripped of their aristocracy) had settled their differences and vowed to rule the Dimension of Grief together, but were not allowed to.
- Deplora (Plorb)
- Horribus' sister and queen of the Dimension of Grief, she is more intelligent and cunning than her brother, though still seems to suffer from the same amount of mishaps as he does. Seems to have had a relationship long ago with Satan that ended up souring quite badly.
- She tried to take over the Torg's dimension after she learned that her brother Horribus was in the Dimension of Lame, but failed mostly due to her usage of the Four Horsemen of Inconvenience (the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse had been bought out by Satan long ago).
- Currently, her aristocracy has been stripped, and her position of power taken away from her.
- The Demon Spear Calmadar
- While not technically a demon, it has played a fairly important role. The Demon Spear Calmadar (which looks like a squid on a stick) has the ability to transform whomever is stabbed by it into a demon. Among the individuals who have been turned into demons by this method are Steve Uozin (The Demon Hunter), Asmopia, Alt-Riff, and Alt-Alt-Kiki.
- The Grief Monarch
- The Demon King of the Dimension of Grief. Apears to cry continuously, and considers it a fine point in his newest Grief Lord that he betrayed his trust and had a one-eon stand with his (the Grief Monarch's) girlfriend.
The Dimension of Lame guys
The Dimension of Lame has no beer, sugar, salt, very few foodstuffs other than rice cakes, and has never encountered evil so they have no word for it but "rather nice" in opposition to "extremely wonderful". As well, all swearing is censored out by a "beep" noise. It features mirror alternatives to many Sluggy characters in a 'lame', innocent way; the fans prefix the alternates as "Alt-" and postfix the originals as "Prime".
- Alt-Riff
- Transformed into a demon, and eventually doomed to be a master of the "rather nice" remaining demonized denizens of the DoL, as the others look to him for leadership. Because of his origin, his most evil acts so far are grimacing to little girls (feeling guilty for it) and trying to make this dimension's Zoe happy by kidnapping Torgs from various dimensions in an attempt to make things right. Unlike Riff-Prime, Alt-Riff builds only inventions of a helpful, useful and above all non-violent nature, including, for example, the Retreat-bot. His inventions also seem to have a higher success rate than Riff Prime's. Any change to this after his demonization has yet to be reported.
- Alt-Torg
- Alt-Zoë's husband. Not actually drawn anywhere. Killed in an accident involving one of Alt-Riff's inventions.
- Alt-Alt-Torg
- Has a tough-guy tattoo, thinks Alt-Zoe had a great body but was kind of ditzy, and "happy he can have any girl now". A macho and opportunistic type who isn't originally from the Dimension of Lame, but rather was one of the Torgs Alt-Riff kidnapped from various dimensions to try and serve as a replacement for the deceased Alt-Torg.
- Alt-Zoë
- Innocent and extremely kind, she never told Torg Prime he was a replacement for her lost husband. Torg Prime fell deeply in love with her. Killed by Lord Horribus while attempting to reach the Demon King's lair.
- Alt-Kiki
- Another character never drawn out. Was killed in the same accident that killed Alt-Torg.
- Alt-Alt-Kiki
- Has the attitude of Bun-Bun Prime, and is another character not originally from the Dimension of Lame, as Riff kidnapped her from another dimension to serve as a replacement for Alt-Kiki. Alt-Alt-Kiki, like Alt-Riff, was transformed into a demon. Unlike Alt-Riff, she rather enjoyed her newfound demonic powers, and is presumably currently residing in the Dimension of Pain.
- Alt-Bun-Bun
- Kind, generous, honest, and capable of crying. Extremely naïve. He's the only one straightforward to Torg Prime. Behaves quite similarly to Kiki-Prime.
- Alt-Gwynn
- Merged with the Alt-E-ville book, the Book of Ro'Thar-Niece. Has many magical powers but is categorically opposed to using violence in any way. She bleeds paper instead of blood, apparently inscribed with the events of her life at least a short way into the future.
- The talking arrows
- The weapon of Alt-Alt-Torg. Like Torg prime's sword, they can talk, but apparently require no "charging". They're prone to constant bad puns, and Alt-Alt-Torg took his first opportunity to propose a trade with Torg-Prime because of this.
Traditions
In an early plotline, one of Riff's inventions sent Torg to the "Dimension of Pain". Every Halloween, a different demon is sent to Earth to try to bring him back, failing in amusing and unexpected ways. Since the end of the Age of Horribus (Horribus being deposed by Psykosis), it seems possible that this will come to a stop as Horribus was the main driving force behind these attempts
Bun-Bun and Santa Claus try to kill each other every Christmas, with continuously escalating violence; the fact that Bun-Bun became the Easter Bunny early on in the strip merely adds spice to the relationship.
Since January 18, 2003, each Saturday's comic has been devoted to events "Meanwhile in the Dimension of Pain", done by guest artist Ian MacDonald of Bruno the Bandit. When the plot of the daily comic came to the Dimension of Pain, Saturday's comics moved on to the Dimension of Grief and occasionally Hell.
Abrams invites other well-known webcomic artists to do the strip for a week once or twice a year, while he goes on vacation. A frequent result is a hilarious parody of the strip itself, other webcomics, other creative works and/or artists, including Scooby Doo and Ayn Rand.
Crossovers
A picture of Bun-Bun appears as a several-story-high decoration adorning a massive artillery piece in several of John Ringo's science fiction novels (see Ringo's website (http://www.johnringo.com/bunpics.htm) for details). Several comics by Pete Abrams also appear in the afterword of these books.
Numerous other webcomics have referenced Sluggy Freelance, and various guest artists on Sluggy Freelance have included their own webcomics' characters in their guest strips.
External links
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