Kevin and Kell

Kevin and Kell
The Dewclaws, protagonists of Kevin and Kell. Clockwise from upper left: Kevin (né Kindle) and Kell, Lindesfarne, Coney, Rudy. The Dewclaws, protagonists of Kevin and Kell. Clockwise from upper left: Kevin (né Kindle) and Kell, Lindesfarne, Coney, Rudy.
Author(s)	Bill Holbrook
Website	http://www.kevinandkell.com/
Current status/schedule	Updating daily
Launch date	September 3 1995 [1]
Genre(s)	Furry

Kevin and Kell is an anthropomorphic animal comic strip, by syndicated cartoonist Bill Holbrook. It is reputedly the first comic strip syndicated exclusively via the Internet (although not the first comic strip online), and is the oldest continuously-running webcomic. The strip began on September 3 1995. The strip centers on the marriage of Kevin, the rabbit, to Kell, the wolf.

About the strip

Kevin and Kell takes place in a town known as Domain, populated entirely by animals. Despite their human society (a democracy, with animals working at jobs, using technology, wearing clothing, and living in houses, among other features), they have many animal features, such as identifying one another by scent, being divided into "predators" and "prey," and there is even a "Wild" where animals can leave civilization and act like animals, walking on all fours and not wearing clothing. Apparently, a human world exists as well, and humans passing into the animal world turn into animals, and animals passing into the human world turn into humans (some exceptions exist, such as travelling in lead-lined barrels). Humans are somewhat scorned in Domain, as Rudy mades fun of them, particularly their irresponsibility towards the environment on his webcomic, and they are referred to as creatures with no natural defenses. The series features jokes on a wide variety of topics. Many draw humorous parallels between its world and ours; for example, in a recent storyline, a professor is found to have falsified his cloning research. In addition to some sports, society, school and office-related jokes, it features many technological jokes.

In 2000, the strip began running in color. It is coloured by husband and wife team Terrence Marks and Isabel Marks, also online cartoonists, with features titled Spare Parts, Namir Deiter and You Say It First.

Kevin and Kell is one of the primary furry comics. It has a fairly large and active community, including a mailing list and IRC channel.

Kevin and Kell is still being considered for an animated television series. A tabletop role-playing game was released in July of 2005. The series is also available in as a dead tree format from Plan 9 Publishing (which was in fact founded in 1997 to publish the first Kevin and Kell book, "Quest for Content").

A notable aspect of the series is the tendency to introduce characters who are initially presented as antagonistic, but, over time and through character development, become more sympathetic and likeable. The earliest example of this was Rudy, but other notable examples include Ralph, George and Martha Fennec, and Vin Vulpen. Perhaps the only regularly-appearing character to remain largely unlikeable is Angelique, who despite numerous appearances in many storylines remains mostly shallow and self-obsessed.

Characters

This comic is set in a world of animals, rife with hunting and predation. Kevin, Kell, and most of the other major characters live in the city of “Domain”, which is roughly analogous to Atlanta, where Bill Holbrook lives. The exact address of the family (8888 Nail Dr., Domain, BH 30655) has a ZIP code which is analogous with the real-life town of Monroe, Georgia, 30 miles east of Atlanta. [2] In addition, Dorothy Kindle's location in The Wild was listed as 84.16°W, 34.02°N, which is the exact location of the intersection of Peachtree Industrial Blvd. NW and Abbotts Bridge Blvd. in Duluth, Georgia, to the northeast of Atlanta. [3]

Kevin Dewclaw

An exceptionally tall and fearless rabbit in his late 30s; given that he married Angelique at age 20 and soon afterwards, adopted a 6 month-old Lindesfarne, he is most likely 38 or 39. Originally Kevin Kindle, before he took his wife's name when he re-married; he was one of 38 children. Angelique, his first wife, left him for "User 458" (his father), and he eventually married Kell, being disowned by his family in the process. Formerly a manager at the herbivore forum, he is now the sysop of a local ISP, Hare-Link.

Kell Dewclaw

Kevin's wife. A wolf in her mid-30s. She is a staff predator for Herdthinners Inc, a hunting corporation. She has held a variety of positions at that firm, including hunter, webmaven, manager, corporate recruiter, and head of security. In mid-2004 she was fired from Herdthinners, and worked at Aby's Auto Repair as the office manager. She has recently returned to work at Herdthinners Inc. She was previously married, despite suspecting her fox husband of infidelity, and married Kevin some time after her husband was killed in a hunt in 1991. Her father disapproved and removed her from his will, but came to regret that decision after his death, when he learned that Ralph was trying to sell his antiques, and Kevin humiliated himself as Santa Claus to buy them back.

As a parent, she is loving, yet sometimes strict, and her expert tracking skills keep Rudy well-behaved. While Lindesfarne initially saw her as having difficulties approaching her, she now considers Kell her true mother.

The name of the two characters, Kevin and Kell, is a deliberate rhyme with "heaven and hell," indicating the contrasting nature of the couple. Kell's name was also influenced by the Book of Kells, a Celtic manuscript from the 8th Century AD.

Lindesfarne Dewclaw

A hedgehog, though she was initially presented as a porcupine. Kevin's adopted daughter from his first marriage. Seventeen years old at the start of the strip (18 now), and has recently graduated from high school. She is highly intelligent, and is an amateur scientist, fascinated with genetics, astronomy and spaceflight. An insectivore who was previously a herbivore until she learned that she was an English hedgehog, not a porcupine. In either event, her quills are often a blessing and a curse, as she can throw them with considerable accuracy, but they also make holding her difficult, which was the reason why Angelique chose to adopt her. She thus attaches her clothes, which look like paper doll accessories, to her quills.

Her species was the subject of early strips and series. She initially believed that she had, as a result of assimilation, become an American porcupine, but learned that Angelique had asked that she be classified as one because she could not catch insects. Lindesfarne changed back to her original species so that she could be nocturnal like her boyfriend, Fenton; she wakes up in the late afternoon and goes to sleep in the early morning. This change in schedule has had disadvantages; she initially felt neglected by her diurnal family members, but Chamilla Moodring's counseling session helped her to work through her feelings and not blame her family.

She is now attending Beige University on a triple major, along with her boyfriend Fenton and roommate and friend Rhonda. She also writes a blog, The Virtual Quill, about her perspective on major events in the comic concerning her, her life, and some information that is not in the comic strip (such as Rhonda's breakup with Edgar; no strips focused on the breakup, but a recent plotline dealt with Edgar's attempts to win Rhonda back).

Named after the island of Lindisfarne, off the coast of England. Lindesfarne's secret ancestry figured significantly in the comic strips of 2004; she is the human doppelganger to the hedgehog princess of England.

Rudy Dewclaw

Kell's son from a previous marriage; a wolf cub, but half-fox. Member of the Caliban High School hunting team, competing in mixed foursomes, and also a talented artist who produced webcomics about humans and an herbivore sheep (which was actually based on Corrie, even though Rudy was only unconsciously aware of this). Initially given as 12 years old, currently most likely fifteen nearing sixteen, as Kevin has begun to give him driving lessons. He is fairly impulsive and often immature, stowing away aboard the shuttle in a bid for fame (which results in him being denounced in the press as an "idiot" and "major bonehead"). However, he is also loyal (as a result of domestication), and despite distaste for herbivores and interspecies relationships, generally supports his friends and family in time of need. He previously held his father in high regard until he found out about his infidelity, but while he still has not quite accepted Kevin as a father figure, his relationship with his step-father is improving. He has a tracking disability, preventing him from seeing the way prey is going, and, like his mother and uncle, is domesticated. Although he often gets on Lindesfarne's nerves by mocking her nocturnal schedule, diet and boyfriend, there is evidence that he cares for her, such as when he saves her from three cougars.

Coney Dewclaw

Kevin and Kell's daughter. A carnivorous rabbit, age 2 1/2, who has completed toilet training, and has taken her first steps and beginning to speak. One of a very few mixed-breeds in their world; some other hybrids include Rudy and Corrie. As a result of this, she is regarded with suspicion and hope. Her mixed classification is often problematic because, as it is often said, prey daycare centers are afraid that she will devour the children, and the predator daycare centers cannot ensure her safety. She's also one of the most formidable predators in Domain, and generally swallows her prey whole and spits out the bones. Because of her skill, Rabbit's Revenge sought to breed carnivorous rabbits like her in order to drive other species to extinction, before their plans were foiled.

Other significant characters

Fiona Fennec

A fox, is Rudy's girlfriend. Her father's genes manifested themselves in April 2002 and led to her ears growing; she uses the ears for a variety of purposes. She is the richest person in Domain, having grown wealthy as a result of fixing the Y2K bug, and used her wealth to buy Flea-Bay when Angelique planned on using it to sell personal information to telemarketers. She sold Hare-Link to her father when her mother insisted on firing Kevin and promoting Ralph. Her parents are divorced, and she generally lives with her mother in a mansion that she built; her stepfather Ralph and her good friend and stepsister Corrie moved into the mansion after their parents were engaged. She is also on the hunting team, and her role in the "foursome" with her, Rudy, Bruno, and Rachel is to catch the prey's scent. She is supposedly the best hunter on the team, and is co-captain with Rudy.

George Fennec

A Fennec Fox and Fiona's father. In the early years of the strip, he was somewhat one-dimensional, arrogantly feeling superior to the Dewclaws, considering his and Martha's lineages superior. He has developed since then, and tolerates Kevin (although he only kept him as President and CEO of Hare-Link because Candace was loyal to him), but was initially desperate to shorten his ears to avoid being mistaken for a rabbit. He is now portrayed as somewhat clueless, especially with regard to parenting, but less unfriendly. He previously lived in half of Fiona's mansion, after almost demolishing the other half, but purchased Hare-Link from Fiona with the equity from his mansion and moved out. He works at the office as owner, but is considered somewhat useless and distracting; the employees see him as a figurehead. His management of the company is relatively pragmatic compared to now co-owner Kevin, and has stricter profit targets. He is often mistaken for a rabbit, and attempted to convince Fiona to pay for an ear-shortening operation for some time. His ear size proved advantageous when he posed as Kevin when going to finalize a business deal with Steve Lops, of Carrots Computer (a parody of Steve Jobs). During the deal, he met Zerdra Zenith, and, posing as a rabbit, had a brief relationship with her before she left him for a Fennec fox. Shortly thereafter, he discovered his "spark" with Danielle, and their relationship began. He married Danielle Kendall after discovering that he had a spark with her as well. Despite this, he still has not entirely gotten over his hatred of rabbits; he initially resented the idea that he and Kevin would become partners in owning Hare-Link. George is determined to not miss a relationship with his forthcoming son, as he traveled quite often during Fiona's early childhood and now only has visitation rights for her; she seems to be staying with her mother on a permanent basis.

Martha Redfox (Fennec before remarriage, now Dewclaw)

Fiona's mother, a red fox, who typically has custody of her. Her initial personality and development were largely similar to that of her ex-husband. While she genuinely cares for Ralph, and has a better view of Kevin's family than she did before, she is sometimes regarded as self-centered. She attempted to cajole Fiona, owner of Hare-Link, to fire Kevin and promote her fiancé Ralph, but the plan backfired when Fiona, balancing her family's feelings with her concern for Hare-Link, sold it to George. During her honeymoon, she and Ralph accidentally travelled through the portal to the human world, becoming humans in the process. She remained human when she hid in a lead-lined barrel, preventing the portal from transforming her back into a fox. Her human nature altered her personality, causing her to briefly plan on developing "the wild" before she realized that her family was losing their instincts because of her. She attempted to leave for the human world, but a trash bag knocked her back through the portal, and changed her back into a fox. No one outside her immediate family knew of her change before Lindesfarne, investigating her dreams about being a human baby, learned about it from Fiona and heard the story from Martha. She is currently "unlikely friends" with Danielle, partly because, according to Lindesfarne, both know what it is like to be human.

Fenton Fuscus

A bat, is Lindesfarne's boyfriend. He works at Hare-Link, now as Director of Security, and lives in a sentient tree that he saved from the lumber company. As a bat, he is able to fly, often taking Lindesfarne with him on his flight. He is also able to use sonar, which, while helping him navigate, is extremely painful to canines, and possibly others who can hear high frequencies. His vision is extremely poor, and he is virtually blind when he is unable to use his sonar. He attends Beige University with Lindesfarne, sharing a room with Bob Shrike, and is an excellent student. He has repeatedly announced his desire to marry Lindesfarne, but she insisted on waiting until after college.

Ralph Dewclaw

A wolf and Kell's brother, the "black sheep" of the Dewclaw family who formerly leeched off his father. While initially a villain of sorts, due to his attempts to kill Kevin and vices such as greed, he is currently portrayed in a more sympathetic fashion, especially since his reason for trying to kill Kevin was to spare Kell the pain he suffered when Wanda Woolstone, his herbivore girlfriend, died in childbirth. Since then, he became a totally inept hunter, and he is unable to kill even a goat that was tied to the ground. He originally tried to kill Kevin to keep Kell out of her interspecies relationship; his failure was partly due to his sheep girlfriend's death in childbirth. Now he's vice-president of Hare-Link; he initially chafed at working for Kevin, but became more submissive and loyal after receiving paychecks, and after gaining weight from being fed by Elanor. He married Martha Fennec (Fiona's mother) in June 2002 after meeting her online about a year before. He is currently in charge of Hare-Link, with the other employees being either preoccupied or unsuited to lead the company.

Elanor Dewclaw (née Fangore)

A wolf and Kell's mother. She is relatively accepting of Kell's marriage to Kevin, helping him with his campaigns and looking after Coney, and is the closest to the family, after moving in following losing her savings day-trading; Kevin was initially unhappy because he was not asked, but he came to appreciate Elanor. She provides daycare to Coney, and there was some tension between her and Dorothy Kindle over Coney's diet. However, she often visits Dorothy after she moved out of the Dewclaw treehouse.

Elanor also serves as a campaign manager to Kevin, both in the 2000 Recreation Administrator and 2006 School Board elections. She is fairly pragmatic; she suggests that Kevin put his principles away until her "Change" slogan, designed to counteract the lack thereof in Sheldon Dome's century-long administration, fails, and also proposes that Kevin use negative ads in the current election.

Franklin Dewclaw

A wolf and Kell's father. Passed away after a struggle with Alzheimer's, and lives on in Kell's memory. He initially disapproved of Kevin, but came to regret that when, because he had written Kell out of his will to coerce her into divorcing Kevin, Ralph tried to sell his heirlooms and Kevin saved them. The part of him that lives on in Kell and Elanor's memory provides them with advice.

Pop Kindle

The original White Rabbit, Kevin's father, generally unsupportive of him and his marriage to Kell ("Now marrying a wolf, that's treason"). A con-artist who supposedly invented every "get rich quick" scheme, he worked for Herd Thinners as a security consultant because of his expertise in criminal methods. He is currently serving a life sentence in prison, having taken the blame for murdering Sid at Herd Thinners, and is communicating online with Elanor Dewclaw — his role is currently minimal.

Dorothy Kindle

Kevin's mother, who lived in The Wild for years until Kevin and Kell found her in late 2005. However, if Danielle Kendall is correct, Dorothy left the Wild to visit her less than three years prior to her first Christmas with the Dewclaws. She is an extremely short rabbit who had Kevin via a C-section. She has a somewhat obnoxious personality, and is fairly creative at tormenting people. She too is less than pleased with Kevin's marriage, but apparently did not think highly of the "awful" Angelique, either. She initially got along poorly with Elanor, but rescued her when she broke her hip, but used the howls of predators to show her what it means to be prey. She then used her skills as a retired physical therapist to aid Elanor's recovery, albeit with threats and psychological torture. She has re-entered society and now lives with George and Danielle. She gets along well with her grandchildren, regretting not being close to Lindesfarne during her childhood, and helping Rudy with his tracking disability. She is partly motivated to help Rudy because she is also unable to follow tracks, and when she was younger, was forced to find her own grazing spots. She volunteered to be conditioning coach for the hunting team, despite her initial protests. She said she would quit after Danielle gave birth, and it is most likely (but not shown) that she did so.

Danielle Kindle

Kevin's sister, an accountant who often describes situations in terms of percentage values, generally probability (when threatening to report Kell, she says that there is an 85% chance she will tell the authorities). She was mortally wounded saving George from an automatic stake launcher, but her interdimensional counterpart (originally from a human universe) Danielle Kendall, remains in the strip. Danielle Kindle supposedly acts through Danielle Kendall, such as when Danielle knows her way through the Rabbit Warren despite never being there before, and Danielle Kendall sees her purpose in Domain as living Danielle Kindle's life.

Danielle Kendall

Danielle Kindle's human counterpart, who was thrown through the Bermuda portal while investigating the garbage dump as an IRS auditor. The two have almost identical lives, from their clothing (although Danielle Kendall usually wears blue rather than light green and pink) to interests in numbers to the fact that both their fathers are in prison. However, Danielle Kendall possesses insight on the human world, yet somehow knows the way through the Rabbit warren on her first time there, as her counterpart is acting through her. She married George Fennec (Fiona's father) in February 2004, and is somewhat naïve about his flaws (she is hopeful that he will guide her through the process of raising her son, even though he was detached when Fiona was born). She initially planned on leaving to counter the instinct loss, but Ms. Aura and Nigel did so instead. Although her immediate family knows that she is not the Danielle Kindle whom they have known, the family treats her the same, with Kevin referring to her as his sister, and with her mother apparently only pretending to believe her. She is pregnant with George Fennec's child (while Kevin commented that she will most likely give birth to a litter, ultrasound readings indicate a single fetus). Her due date is November 7. Danielle has also taken to wearing her hair in a long braid down her back, rather than letting it flow to just below her shoulder — the first instance of her doing so is when she sees Dr. Caduceus after the debate.

Francis

The newborn son of Danielle Kendall and George Fennec. Biologically, he isn't a hybrid or a chimera as much as a mess. The child of a fennec and a formerly human rabbit, he's a docile long-eared ball of fur that's unidentifiable anything more specific than a mammal. Cross-species offspring have previously been clearly identifiable as one species or as a distinct mix. Francis has so far been healthy, but Danielle is worried about the long-term consequences of his ancestry, and suggests that her being a former human is a cause of this.

Angelique

Kevin's first wife; completely conniving, selfish, and unethical, and also very pragmatic. Currently married to R.L. Lost her rabbit credentials when she turned their defense secrets over to R.L., and now lives (courtesy of cosmetic surgery) as a rat (a "pleasant mental image" to Kevin). According to Lindesfarne's blog, she is sterile, which is why they decided to adopt a child, and according to Angelique, she wanted a "prickly species" in order to have an excuse to keep her distance. She has 20 adopted children skunks from her second marriage. She married R.L. on a "Flea-Bay" appointment when they found out their personalities matched. When R.L. vanished, Angelique took over the company, and planned on ruling the world with it, but R.L. returned and convinced her to use Herd Thinners to make a lot of money. She used to battle with Kevin over Lindesfarne, going so far as to make Lindesfarne allergic to Kell, apparently out of spite. She surrendered custody of Lindesfarne when she graduated. Kevin, Kell and Kevin's parents generally have low opinions of her, and Lindesfarne, who remembers feeling neglected by Angelique, is quite conflicted about her, but considers Kell her mother. She is perhaps the only recurring character who has not become more likeable or sympathetic with the passage of time.

Gweneth

One of Angelique's children, who often talks with Lindesfarne when the latter is babysitting her. She receives little attention from Angelique during the holidays, but Lindesfarne helps the situation by sending "applications of Christmas" to the laptop she left with Angelique. She seems to be the only one with any significant role, although another skunk is named "Bosworth."

Randy Foxglove

A fox who was Kell's first husband and Rudy's father. He was killed during a hunt while trying to prove himself, and appears in Rudy, Kell and even Kevin's (as a result of living with Kell) memories. He had an affair with a female fox named Gladys Burrows, who gave birth to Vin Vulpen. Kell suspected this during her marriage, but only became sure after Lindesfarne did genetic profiling to identify Vin Vulpen's biological father. Rudy, who formerly idolized his father, was shocked at this revelation. Randy apparently holds Kevin in high esteem, and does not see it as a problem that he is a prey species ("Another predator would have devoured me").

R.L.

A wolf, the chief of Herd Thinners, Inc. (his name stands for "Real Life"), who is only visible from his mouth forwards unless his face is covered. He has a voracious appetite, sometimes eating disfavored subordinates. The Purchasing Manager was devoured for taking bribes, and it is suggested that Kell might have been eaten as well for being "domesticated," had Lindesfarne not exposed his own domestication. R.L. has married Angelique, whom he had planned to eat during a Flea-Bay date, when he found out that she is "as greedy, conniving, and unethical” as he was. She took advantage of his domestication, and even temporarily took over the company when he was presumed dead, before stepping down when he returned. R.L. is also almost completely ignorant about computers, and needs Kell's help to understand them. He seems to respect Kell's skills and integrity (particularly her keeping his rabbit wife and domestication secret), and despite firing her, came to regret it during the rabies shot shortage and when the rabbits set up a fake insurance company to force them to rehire her. R.L. uses Kell as an unofficial aide, partly for the purpose of having her as a good public face.

L.D.

R.L.'s predecessor (his name is apparently "Lethal Dose"), also visible only from his mouth forward. His personality is very similar to R.L.'s. He drowned in his own drool upon seeing Coney.

Aby Eyeshine

A domestic cat, runs "Aby's Auto Repair" where Kell worked from Nov. 30, 2004 to July 2005. She helped Kell to learn the language of cats; Kell used this knowledge to help Aby move in to the Ursals' former house by persuading the cat homeowner board that felines and canines could live together, having learned how to speak like a cat. Aby tries to find a boyfriend, but has little success, partly because she gets extremely dirty in the course of her job; eventually, Aby decides that she is "married to her work", and has a wedding to make it official.

Candace Canid

A border collie, Hare-Link's customer support and Kell's friend. A former airline traffic controller before her boss tormented, and eventually fired her, for Domestication. Currently works out of New Zealand and still occasionally appears in the strip. She and her husband adopted a baby sheep that was, in fact, Corrie's clone. Corrie had lived with her for some time before replacing her with her clone, after becoming tired of a rigid lifestyle that even dictated what steps to take on the way to bed. When her clone began rapidly aging, she convinced the clone to pose as her birth mother and take her away. The clone happened to find the GBC's time machine while working as a cleaning lady, and turned herself into an infant by accident, taking on the name "Mary." Candace has strong maternal feelings towards Mary. Her husband Buster, who works for a "Mr. Jackson" sometimes appears, but has little character development. She has, fundamentally, been written out of the series, but made a few appearances after the move.

Bruno Lupulin

Bruno is Rudy's best friend, despite his unease about Rudy's initial negative opinion on interspecies relationships, which forced him to keep his relationship with Corrie a secret. He is on the school's hunting team; he and Rudy chase down the prey to exhaust it. A wolf who turned herbivore in an operation that changed his digestive system to that of a ruminant; Corrie paid for it and his parents signed a permission form without realizing or caring about what it was. When Rudy fought him (supposedly over his herbivorism, but Kevin realizes that it was over him as a father figure), his canine teeth were knocked out and replaced by those of a herbivore. He is officially "trans-diet," and experiences some prejudice; he was nearly banned from the hunting team until he tricked the school board into thinking that he could eat meat by eating his sheepskin rug instead of Mary, who had been captured as the animal to be eaten. His diet has earned him the hatred of some carnivores, particularly one pack of coyotes. He typically wears a sheepskin rug made from Corrie's wool since Corrie disguised herself as "Dale", and has been wearing the horns Corrie gave him for his birthday in 2003, so that he will not be confused for a female again.

Corrie Dewclaw

A sheep/wolf, Bruno's girlfriend and Ralph's daughter from his teenage relationship with Wanda Woolstone; she is also Fiona's step-sister, and is friends with her cousin Rudy. After her mother died in childbirth and Ralph put her up for adoption, some scientists got hold of her and cloned Dolly/Mary from her. Corrie escaped into the wild where she met Bruno, who was on his first hunt — he made the mistake of talking with his prey, and became friends with her, eventually falling in love with her. She is another mixed-breed, who appears and lives as a sheep, although she is half-wolf. Used to ride on Bruno's back, disguised as a sheepskin, for protection against predators, but once she was revealed as Bruno's girlfriend, she mostly stopped doing that. However, she often does so in order to conceal her presence, such as when she listens to Fiona talk about her with Bruno, or when she sneaks into the school board building to help Bruno "prove" that he is still a carnivore. She sometimes uses Ralph's wolfskin to disguise as a wolf, which resulted in her being registered as a wolf-cub, and people thinking that she was Ralph's daughter, although they did not know that. During this time, she got a job at Herd Thinners as web maven, and when she was revealed when protecting Fiona from a cougar attack, she was allowed to keep it due to her notoriety. She is a web designer, who is web maven for the Interspecies Relationship website, as well as for Herd Thinners. She has graduated from Caliban with a GED, presumably because while she only briefly attended school, she may have learned alongside Bruno.

Dolly/Mary

Corrie's clone. She replaced Corrie when Corrie tired of living under strict guidelines at the Canids. She showed signs of age during the creation of Flea-Bay, as clones age more rapidly than non-clones, and posed as Corrie's birth mother to take her away. She got a job as a cleaning lady for the Ms. Aura, and accidentally turned herself into an infant, taking on the name "Mary," and becoming a playmate for Coney. She now lives in New Zealand with the Canids; as Corrie says, she may be a clone, but she has her own life.

Catherine Aura

A buzzard, teacher, then Assistant Coach at Caliban. She was once the High Priestess of the Great Bird Conspiracy (GBC) until the Y2K crisis, a cover to make the world self-sufficient and free it of the secret GBC domination. She returned when Rudy made his "humans" comic, and became assistant coach of the hunting team, increasing the practice hours to prevent Rudy from drawing the strip. In March 2004, she and her son Nigel departed for the human dimension and became dolphins, which they considered the "most superior species." She has been written out of the series — her returning would possibly once again offset the balance.

Nigel Aura

Catherine's son. He is quite intelligent for a bird his age, possibly because he inherited it from his mother. His conversations with his mother reveal more about the Great Bird Conspiracy. However, he sometimes is prone to accidents, such as when he shot Ray and Tree with the "intelligence ray" and is sometimes impatient and impulsive. He now lives in the human world as a dolphin.

Vin Vulpen

Rudy's half-brother as a result of Rudy's father's affair with a fox named Gladys Burrows (who died when Vin was young; his surname most likely comes from his stepfather), and his nemesis. A former hunting team champion who resented the success the foursome of Rudy, Bruno, Fiona and Rhonda. Previously worked in Herd Thinners' labs despite most of his work on domesticity being stolen from Lindesfarne; however, he managed to make a concoction that made Lindesfarne allergic to Kell. Was fired when Rudy's DNA caused him to make an explosion that destroyed Angelique's cosmetic ears. He fled into The Wild after his attempt to frame R.L. and Angelique for fraud failed; only Rudy and Fiona, who helped him escape by falsely reporting his death, know about this. In the Wild, he has a mate and has adopted her cubs. He has even forgotten his own name, which he does not use in the Wild. He has been written out of the series.

Rhonda Panthera

A tigress; for a time she was Vin's hunting partner and girlfriend, and currently Lindesfarne's roommate and friend. She is somewhat heavyset, which she is fairly sensitive about, and which hinders her stalking in low grass. She was formerly on the hunting team's foursome, and supposedly the team's captain at one point, until she started hunting alone to get an academic scholarship to Beige University. She now attends college with Lindesfarne and attempts to get used to a college schedule. She taught Coney how to pounce, helping improve Kell's perception of felines. She is in a relationship with Edgar, a lion from the school. However, they broke up in February of 2006 after Edgar showed little desire to improve his hunting skills or to hunt independently of females. They recently reconciled after Edgar, in attempting to hunt, proved how much he cared for Rhonda. Despite this, Lindesfarne is uncertain of what will happen in the future, speculating that Rhonda may meet someone else at Beige University, but may also continue seeing him. Rhonda's last name is only mentioned in the "Sergeant Pepper" strip.

Edgar

Rhonda's boyfriend. An extremely lazy male lion who, similar to real lions, uses females to do his hunting for him — his father supposedly watches TV all day while his mother works as an ad executive. Rhonda broke up with him over that, but he attempted to learn to hunt by taking lessons from Rudy. He did not improve, but Rhonda, seeing him embarrass himself for her, resumed her relationship with him.

Rachel Einhorn

A lesbian rhinoceros that initially fell for Bruno before realizing that he was not female, because his sheepskin smelled like one. She reflexively charges at unfamiliar things, which also extends to unfamiliar concepts such as Bruno's diet and Kevin and Kell's family. She is Rhonda's replacement on the hunting team; while Fiona had reservations about a true herbivore being on the team, Rachel finished off a deer by knocking a tree onto it, winning her trust. She is a lesbian, and went to the prom with Joan Hoof, a female giraffe; same-sex relationships are not as much of an issue in Domain as they are in the human world — according to Danielle Kendall, a society can only have one pointless arbitrary division at a time.

Tree

Fenton's house, which became sentient after being hit by the misfired intelligence ray that also worked on Ray Flambeau. While sentient, Tree has plant instincts, and when corrupted by connection to the internet, siphoned funds from Hare-Link, and almost got Fenton in trouble. Additionally, diseased branches caused Tree to behave erratically — it IMs Lindesfarne and e-mails Hare-Link while impersonating Fenton to prevent suspicion, and battles Lindesfarne with its diseased branches. Kevin now uses the tree to hold some of Hare-Link's hardware. He was initially suspicious of the tree, supposedly because it is "prey" to him, and possibly because of past incidents, but his relationship with it seems to be improving, especially after a long conversation during a power outage that disabled the electric lock controls and prevented him from leaving the tree.

Ray Flambeau

A large, simple-minded but good-natured firefly (who attempted to "e-mail" Lindesfarne by throwing a computer through her window) who was Tammy's boylfriend; he dated her to be close to Lindesfarne, whom he truly loved. He was hit by the GBC's intelligence ray, becoming as smart as Stephen Hawking, and worked for Microtalon until New Year's Day 2000. During this time, he realized that Tammy was using him for his light. He used the intelligence ray on himself and reverted to his normal, low, intelligence; he did not want to come between Lindesfarne and Fenton. He eventually truly fell for Tammy, married her, and had a bright moth child with her, and works at a lighthouse.

Tammy Tussock

A moth who was once in love with Fenton before Lindesfarne became nocturnal and spoke with her about him. She dated Ray, but because he was a powerful source of light, he temporarily blinded her after his return from Microtalon. She truly fell in love with him and has since married Ray. She and takes college courses online at the lighthouse while caring for baby Angstrom. Insects in Domain are either the same size as other sapient species, or as small as they are in the real world; Tammy is the former, as she is about as tall as Lindesfarne.

Chet Cheetah

A former boyfriend of Kell; their breakup was quite acrimonious, as Kell reportedly broke his jaw in the course of doing so, under unknown circumstances. He sees Kell's dumping him for a prey species as a personal insult. After losing to Kevin one night at the health club after Christmas of 1998, an unknown cheetah stole his wallet and his identity cards. Chet killed the cheetah and took over his identity theft business, but Kell, investigating his alleged death, tracked him down and turned him over to the police.

The Coyote Pack

A gang of six coyote thugs that hates herbivores, particularly those who were formerly carnivores. Three of them attacked Rudy for being friends with Bruno, and the whole pack later attacked Bruno as well, before a team effort by Rachel, Lindesfarne, Corrie, and Fenton trapped them in the Rabbit Warren and forced at least one member to live as a rabbit for decades.

Dr. Caduceus

Kell and Elanor's doctor, a sidewinder snake. He provides medical humor for the comic (such as dealing with the "cost containment administrators" for Kell's HMO, which are leeches), and is one of the few who knows about Martha's transformation into a human. His role in the plot has expanded recently, as he checks in on Danielle's pregnancy. He was a "local tough" when Kevin was arranged to marry Fran, and decided to become a doctor after reviving his fellow tough Carl with C.P.R.; as he was a teenager, this indicates that he is considerably older than Kevin and is presumably in his fifties. His name probably a reference to the caduceus, the traditional symbol of physicians and healers.

Coach Pardus (formerly Eyeshine)

A house cat who disguised himself as a leopard; he is Caliban Academy's hunting coach and Aby's brother, whose role has expanded in recent years. As coach, he accepts "unconventional" kids such as Rudy (who has a tracking disability), Bruno (who is trans-diet), and Rachel (who is not a carnivore). He feared that if he were replaced, his successors would not do the same. That fear caused him to hide his domestication, until when during the course of being named Coach of the Year, the Gatorade drenching ceremony washes off his leopard makeup. Public outcry ensues, but the team stands up for him, and the headmaster keeps him on the technicality that he didn't lie outright. His leg has been broken as a result of a moose charging him while he was sitting on his bench during a game — his absence required Dorothy Kindle to fill in.

The Ursals

A three-generation family of bears. Majorie and Manny are a retired couple that lived across the street from the Dewclaws and were friends with them, in order to make up for throwing their daughter, Minora, and her husband, Bob out of the house for being vegetarians. Minora and Bob lived in the Wild, and had a son, Harcourt, until Kell found them and reunited the family. Majorie and Manny have accepted their vegetarianism, and eventually became vegetarians themselves because of their inability to eat solid meat. They currently live in Florida, and have been written out of the strip.

Professor Antlerhead

A geneticist at Beige University who recruited Lindesfarne to work on cloning with him, until she found out that he faked his results. She decided to undertake and prove his research for real herself, and now continues to work for him, despite her perspective on him being changed and her supposedly being isolated from the others.

Sheldon Dome

A turtle who is at least 120 years old (while most species in Domain have human lifespans, there are exceptions such as mayflies). He has held the position of Recreations Administrator for 120 years, but almost lost it to Kevin, who is campaigning to allow Coney to join the Youth League. His claim that Kell ate his campaign manager (and, as it is later revealed, wife), dooms Kevin's campaign, but Lindesfarne finds his campaign manager just at the end of the election, and he allows Coney to join the Youth league. He despises technology and anything related to it, due to the fact that his wife left him a century ago for an abacus repairman, but Rudy tricks him into looking at a PDA to prove that he is old enough to be on the hunting team. Despite his differences with the Dewclaws, he testifies before the senate about the herbivore/carnivore marriage ban, to oppose the bill.

Senator Angus Steerage

A bull senator, who authored a bill banning marriages between herbivores and carnivores in order to gain media attention for himself. The bill was set to pass unanimously, as the senate was entirely controlled by herbivores (who make up a greater portion of the electorate than carnivores) but when Kevin and Kell learned that they were not legally married, they raced to the marriage office and their working together to save the marriage convinced everyone except Senator Steerage to vote against it.

Mr. Castrato

A cow disguised as a bull, which runs the Bovine Herd out of the Badda Bing Badda Bull club, a parody of The Sopranos. Mr. Castrato has several illegal operations, such as gambling and illegal meat selling, and demanded that Pop Kindle turn Kevin over to the mob so that they could sell him as meat. When the police's attempt to wiretap the Bovine herd failed, Kevin defended himself against the attacking bovines that were sent after him, and saved his father from the others, but Mr. Castrato escaped, and it was revealed that Mr. Castrato was a cow in disguise all along.

Pastor Worchestershire

Pastor of the Carnivore church, Kell's former, and Elanor's current church. He, like his fellow clergymen, disapproves of Kell's marriage, but does not openly admit it to her (he asks, "How is the, uh, marriage going?", indicating that he is thinking of a term for Kevin and Kell's relationship that will not betray his true feelings). Despite this, he is willing to give Kell spiritual advice.

Wanda Woolstone

A sheep who became Ralph Dewclaw's girlfriend when he violated one of the primary rules of hunting and started talking with his prey. Wanda became pregnant with Corrie and died in childbirth, forever scarring Ralph, who has not been able to hunt successfully since. Ralph often visits her grave, and Corrie does so on Mother's Day.

Lab Mice

Two mice that Lindesfarne originally adopted for a research paper on the Internet. They have also served as test subjects for a domestication cure and assistant astronomers for Lindesfarne, as well as individuals with whom she can talk about the ramifications of her experiments. Lindesfarne promoted them to her assistants when studying Vin and Rudy's DNA, and also used them to study marriage. They planned on going through the portal to the human world to restore the balance between the worlds, but Catherine Aura told Lindesfarne that they were too small, and went through with Nigel instead.

The Squirrel

A nameless squirrel investor whom Rudy caught during the tiebreaker of the hunting championship finals. He was prepared to eat the squirrel, but hearing that Fiona was in potential financial trouble caused him to accidentally drop the squirrel and give it amnesia. He put the squerl in with Lindesfarne’s mice and looked into the matter himself. When he recover his memory the squirrel warned Lindesfarne about the unstable foundations of Fiona’s mansion, helping her to save Rudy, Fiona, and Corrie. The squirrel now lives with the mice in order to stay safe from Coney.

Chertsey Ealing

Lindesfarne's doppelganger in this world, the hedgehog Princess of England. Her ears are far larger than Lindesfarne's, because they were not bobbed as hers were. She became homeless after her parents' divorced, until Lindesfarne's revealing her being the princess allowed her to live at the palace. Lindesfarne sees her as the ultimate test of nature vs. nurture; similarly, her learning about Chertsey's life story after adoption caused her to appreciate her foster father Kevin.

Fran Caudal

A rabbit from a well-respected family; Dorothy Kindle and her mother attempted to arrange a marriage between her and Kevin, but when Kevin showed no fear against a threatening rattlesnake, the Caudals broke off the marriage. She is currently running against Kevin for school board, and knows who he is. She attempted to seize the advantage by claiming to have killed the rattlesnake (despite the story conflicting with both the actual events and what she was told had happened), but failed when Dr. Caduceus revealed the truth. She helped to deliver Danielle's baby on election night; she was formerly a midwife. She seems to be gracefully accepting her defeat in the election, and may be appointed to head Caliban Academy.

Carl Crotalus

The snake who wanted to attack Kevin and Fran in their infancy. He accidentally knocked himself unconscious and Dr. Caduceus revived him. He is currently alive, and Dr. Caduceus reached him to confirm his story.

Bob Shrike

Fenton's roommate, a shrike. While he eats small mammals as well as insects, he did not eat many mammals while growing up, as his family could not afford them. However, the fact that his species eats insects caused Lindesfarne to become concerned for Fenton's safety, until she realized that her father had no natural defenses, yet trusted his predator wife and stepson. Lindesfarne has begun to trust Bob.

The Headmaster

The headmaster of Caliban Academy, a larger than normal fly. Although he only appears twice, he makes the relaively significant decision to keep Coach Pardus despite his domestication and his covering it up. He is killed when a windshield falls on him, and Fran Caudal may replace him.

Places of note

The Dewclaw Treehouse

A modest three-story treehouse that the Dewclaws moved into after Kevin and Kell married, and which has Hare-Link's offices in its basement. Most people live in houses carved out of trees, with some exceptions (Aby Eyeshine, a cat, feels naturally uncomfortable living in one), but larger buildings such as the Herd Thinners headquarters and the Fennec Mansion appear as normal buildings. Elanor moved in after losing her life savings and Social Security day trading. Danielle lived in the newly dug basement in this house for some time, presumably until she married George. Dorothy used to stay in Lindesfarne's bedroom, but now lives with George and Danielle. Far from being a static residence, the tree, while not sentient like Tree, often seems to display a will of its own; roots sometimes enter the basement and Kevin once suspected that the tree deliberately dropped a branch on a sapling. The tree's structural integrity is also related to its health; when the tree lacked sunlight, the structure became increasingly unstable until light shone on the treehouse again. The house is across the street from Aby Eyeshine's (formerly the Ursals') cave, and next door to the Fennec mansion.

Fiona's Mansion

Constructed near Rudy's house as a way for her and her family to live close to him. Ironically, the mansion almost forced the Dewclaws to move out when their tree didn't get enough light, but the neighborhood used mirrors to reflect sunlight onto the tree, saving it. When Fiona's parents divorced, they attempted to destroy each other's side of the mansion, causing sunlight to once again shine through the mansion. The mansion is built atop a squirrel cache of acorns; when the squirrels withdrew their acorns, the structure's foundations were threatened, and Corrie, Rudy and Fiona fell through the floor, but Lindesfarne filled the chamber with the remains of shredded documents, allowing the three to escape; concrete now reinforces the mansion's foundations. Fiona lives there with her mother and with her stepfather Ralph and step-sister Corrie; her father has moved out after buying Hare-Link with the equity in his half of the mansion.

Caliban Academy

A high school that Rudy, Bruno, Rachel and Fiona attend; Lindesfarne and Rhonda have graduated, and Corrie received a high school equivalency diploma. Ms. Aura used to teach there before travelling back in time to Ancient Greece; when she returned, she became coach along with Sam Pardus. Kell previously served as an assistant coach of the hunting team; however, it is not known whether she continues to do so after returning to Herd Thinners, but she may have stopped at some point.

Beige University

A fictional institution of higher learning, somewhat analogous to Auburn University, Holbrook's alma mater. Lindesfarne Dewclaw attends the school, with Rhonda as her roommate. Beige is the alma mater of Kevin Dewclaw, Lindersfarne's adoptive father. The school is located some distance from Domain Township, but Fenton Fuscus, who also attends, is still be able to commute between the school and his job with Hare-Link.

Herd Thinners, Inc.

A corporation of predators that hunts down prey species for meat. R.L. runs the company, Angelique is a senior executive, and other characters, such as Kell, Corrie, Ralph, and Vin Vulpen worked there. The atmosphere is very hostile, as employees ruthlessly compete for credit, and downsized employees are often eaten or forced to escape from bear traps. However, the pay is quite good, as Corrie is able to afford a small house on her webmaven income. Herd Thinners supposedly has existed since prehistoric times, when a dinosaur ran the company before being killed by a meteorite.

The Wild

An undeveloped region near Domain; those who enter as residents typically take off their clothes and abandon civilized behavior. Ralph and Rudy once spent time in there, and Vin has taken refuge in The Wild; he has virtually forgotten even his name, but still remembers that he once had a life outside The Wild. A cult exists inside that forces its members to act as recruiters. Martha once attempted to develop the Wild, but when she realized that she was causing instinct loss, she sold it. The motto, "Four legs good, two legs bad," is a reference to Animal Farm.

The Rabbit Warren

A series of underground tunnels, modeled after the Internet itself and something of a parody of Wonderland, with "pop-under" ads, difficult to escape "sticky" sites, and "memory card" soldiers. The society is quite hostile towards outsiders, particularly Herd Thinners predators, who were presumably killed or executed when caught. Rabbit's Revenge thrived down there until its violent methods were exposed and the records were erased, defeating the group's extreme plan of breeding carnivorous rabbits. The Rabbit Council occasionally summons Kevin to meet with him, and while they strongly disapprove of his marriage, he seems to be currying favor with them by being the Easter Bunny.

Churches of Domain

At least three separate churches exist in Domain. Lindesfarne implies that she attended the Herbivore Church with Kevin, which does not have a church building or even a designated meeting ground, and stresses that its members accept their eventual fate, and realize that their species go on. Kell grew up in the Carnivore Church, which stresses moderation in consumption, and has rituals such as a "flea dip," an equivalent of sorts to baptism. She used to attend it with Kevin (presumably because she, a predator, would never be allowed in the Herbivore Church), until he, as a prey species, was mistaken for a donation, and he was disturbed by the body parts on the collection plate; the fact that the church disapproves of her marriage may have been a factor. The couple now attends the Unitarian church, although Rudy and Kell attended Franklin's funeral at the Carnivore Church. Kell briefly returned to the church, before realizing that it was best not to dwell on the divisions in her family, and returned to the Unitarians, despite their boring and generic sermons.

The Human World

A parallel world to the main animal-populated world, in which humans exist. Although it is a largely parallel world, having an identical history and doppelgangers to many individuals in Domain, they are not perfectly matched. For example, while Danielle Kindle and her doppelganger Danielle Kendall have very similar personalities and appearances (even the same tattoo of pi) Danielle Kendall had five siblings and was an IRS auditor, but Danielle Kindle was an accountant and part of one of six litters. Additionally, some surnames in the animal world are changed in the human world to conform ot actual names; "Kindle" becomes "Kendall." If too many individuals from the human world enter the animal world, instinct loss results, and it can only be remedied by having individuals from the animal world cross over to the human world. Lindesfarne is from this world, and is the human Princess of England.

Storyline

Kevin and Kell is more storyline oriented than many traditional comic strips. Bill Holbrook indicates that this is possible because of the availability of online archives for the strip, which allows readers to browse and understand the (complex) storylines.

Events before the beginning of the series

As is the case with some other webcomics, Kevin and Kell features events that are that take place before the main timeline and are only revealed in flashbacks. These events which precede the strip are listed here for background on more recent events in the series, and because they are chronologically first.

The story begins millions of years in the future when humans have made Earth uninhabitable, and have departed for a distant planet. The birds, the only surviving vertebrates, use the humans' intelligence rays to increase their intelligence, and travel back in time to 10 million BC, to stop humans from emerging, giving intelligence to other species in the process. However, the animals still retain their more savage instincts, so the birds attempt to introduce a Domestication gene to counteract this, but this plan fails. As society established itself, birds took on seemingly low ranking positions in society as teachers, secretaries, and the like, but controlled the world behind the scenes, eventually devising their plan for a computer-run society. Their altering the timeline led to two timelines; one with humans and one without.

In the earliest known event involving the main cast, a Elanor, in her 20s chases Pop Kindle, but collides with Franklin in the process, and they eventually marry and have two children, Kell and Ralph. Similarly, Pop Kindle marries Dorothy, having six litters with her (Kevin is a single birth, and Danielle was the twenty-ninth child, born about 10 to 15 years after Kevin), but Dorothy eventually divorces Pop Kindle and gained income as an informant on his illegal activities. While married to Pop Kindle, Dorothy wishes to enhance her family's prestige by arranging for Kevin to marry Fran Caudal. A rattlesnake attacks them and hits its head on a swingset. Dorothy and Fran's mother run out, and see Kevin playing with the unconscious snake. They believe that Kevin killed the snake, and the Caudals withdraw from the arrangement. Another snake, however, revives the snake and eventually becomes a doctor — this character is Doctor Caduceus.

Kell marries a fox named Randy Foxglove, who, early in their marriage, has an affair with a fox named Gladys Burrows that results in her having a child, Vin Vulpen. At the age of 20, Kevin marries Angelique, much to his mother's chagrin. Around this time, the baby human Princess of England is in an accident at sea near England and is thrown through a portal, turning into a hedgehog in the process. She is sent to an orphanage along with the future Chertsey Ealing, who was somehow separated from her parents at this time. Kevin adopts the baby and names her Lindesfarne; she is an English Hedgehog, but becomes reclassified as an American Porcupine, because Angelique cannot catch insects. A few years later, Kell gives birth to Rudy. Around this time, George Fennec and Martha Redfox, two foxes from noble families, are married in order to protect against inbreeding. Martha then gives birth to Fiona while George is out of town; by the time George calls the hospital and reaches Martha to give her breathing advice, she has already given birth.

When Rudy is a baby, he, Bruno and Fiona are all in daycare together. Though he and Bruno become lifelong friends, he fights often with Fiona, and doesn't remember her when they meet again as teens. Around this time, Ralph, at 16, breaks the fundamental predator rule of not talking with prey (to prevent the predator from befriending the prey), and meets and falls in love with Wanda Woolstone, a sheep. She becomes pregnant and dies in childbirth. The baby, Corrie is put up for adoption, and adopted by two mole scientists for use in a cloning experiment. DNA is extracted from her, and she escapes into The Wild, meeting Bruno, who is on his first hunt. He also makes the mistake of talking to her rather than killing her, and carries her around on his back for years, falling in love with her.

In 1991, the earliest dated event, Randy goes on a hunt to prove himself to Kell's parents, but a moose steps on him, breaking his neck and killing him. About three years after Randy's death, when Lindesfarne is 15, Kevin gets home from work and discovers Angelique cheating on him with "User 458" (his father, who may have been trying to break up their marriage), as she had supposedly done throughout his marriage. She then divorces him and collects alimony and child support from him, despite initiating the divorce and Kevin having custody of Lindesfarne. Lindesfarne does not know why Angelique divorced Kevin, but blames Angelique and resents her doing so. Almost immediately afterwards, Kevin meets Kell in an online chat room, supposedly the result of rabbit manipulation of the Internet. They meet for dinner, discovering each other's true species, but their feelings for each other take precedence over their instincts as predator and prey. The two enter a relationship, and soon marry, despite the fact that such relationships are frowned upon. Rudy is quite unhappy that a rabbit has become the "alpha male" of his family and does not send the marriage documents, preventing Kevin and Kell from being legally married. As a result of Kevin's marrying Kell, his family disowns him, and Kevin and Lindesfarne take the surname Dewclaw. Kell's father writes her out of his will in order to force her to divorce Kevin, and Elanor also initially disapproves of Kevin. The new Dewclaw family moves in next to the Ursals who, having thrown out their daughter and son-in-law for vegetarianism, see a chance for redemption for their intolerance. Kell becomes pregnant again, this time with Coney. The first strip takes place in 1995, a year after Kevin and Kell's marriage and late in Kell's pregnancy.

1995

Initial strips establish the couple of Kevin and Kell and develop the characters: Kevin, who works as system administrator at the Herbivore Forum; Kell, employed at Herd Thinners, Inc., Rudy and his friend Bruno (who always wears a sheepskin on his back), and Lindesfarne, who is introduced as a porcupine. Coney, the carnivorous bunny, is born. Ralph Dewclaw appears often, with futile attempts to assault/kill/eat Kevin and break up his sister's marriage.

1996

Rudy meets and falls in love with Fiona, initially believing his love to be a curse brought on by the full moon. This relationship is forced to a long-distance connection as Fiona's family is forced to move back to their original habitat. Later in the year, Fiona returns, only for the two to find that the two cannot talk outside of their computers; their accidental overloading of the Internet forces the two to see literally eye-to-eye.

Elsewhere, Kevin hires Candace Canid the border collie as an assistant sysop, an acquaintance that lasts for the rest of the strip. Lindesfarne, searching for her birth parents, discovers she might be British royalty, but gives up the search completely in disgust. Rudy saves Lindesfarne from a cougar attack, and in return she helps him pass his final exam. Kell is diagnosed with spontaneous domestication. Catherine Aura the turkey buzzard is introduced as Rudy's teacher and becomes friends with Kell. Kell discovers that the sheepskin Rudy's friend Bruno carries around on his back is secretly his girlfriend Corrie, and promises to keep the secret.

1997

Rudy briefly gets into trouble with Fiona when he becomes involved in an online relationship; unknown to both, the other user was Corrie. Bruno attempts to convince Corrie to join society; she cunningly goes along with the plan and hacks into the computer systems to make it seem as though she was rejected. Kevin almost fails his scampering test and nearly loses his rabbit license. Lindesfarne meets and falls in love with Fenton Fuscus. Dolly the Sheep is revealed to be a clone of Corrie.

Rudy, experiencing serious problems with his hunting skills, is at risk of failing school; while Fiona pretends to be lost in the woods as an incentive for Rudy to improve, she is abducted by a UFO. She returns with an ear tag that seemingly endows her with the power to repair broken computers and other machines. The tag eventually falls off; Fiona's powers are later seen to be still existent, but the loss of the tag gives Fiona an excuse to pretend her powers are gone and avoid attention. Lindesfarne and Fenton begin to experience problems with conflicting schedules (his nocturnal, hers diurnal) and begin an electronic relationship until their schedules coincide again. Rudy assists with the delivery of Catherine Aura's chick, Nigel; she becomes a single mother in the process and is later fired from her teaching position until Rudy and Lindesfarne create, and then kill off, a fictional husband, causing the school to reinstate her.

Fiona meets and falls for musclebound Vin Vulpen, briefly abandoning Rudy. While Fiona realizes that Vin is using steroids, it is too late — Rudy goes to the Wild and joins an anti-civilization cult. Rudy leaves the group with the help of Kevin, and Rudy and Fiona make up. Kevin, now homeschooling Coney, begins to feel more predatory in nature and develops a relationship on Wolf MUCK with a random online wolf who, in reality, is Kell (who is searching for someone with predatory instincts); neither knows the other's identity at this time. Rudy joins the hunting team with Fiona in the mixed doubles slot, having learned effective techniques in his time in The Wild. Kell begins to experience problems with domestication. Fiona Fennec's parents appear; it is revealed that Fiona's father George is a Fennec fox, with particularly long ears, and was in an arranged marriage with Martha, a red fox. The two are quite snobbish about their ancestries, and only allow Fiona to continue to date Rudy if Caliban Academy's team wins the city hunting championship. Rudy wins with Lindesfarne's help, much to the Fennecs' chagrin. Kevin has a brief run-in with a loanshark, from whom he must take a loan when the bank refuses to give him one. The loanshark was devoured by Coney when Kell was toilet-training her.

1998

Rudy almost discovers Bruno's relationship with Corrie when he learns that Bruno has been visiting the Interspecies Relationship website, but is misled at the last moment by Kell claiming that she was using his laptop to do so. Lindesfarne reveals that Kell's boss R.L. and Rudy also suffer from domestication. Rudy panics, but a placebo from Lindesfarne seems to cure him for a while. Fiona, facing some bad publicity from a piece of Rudy's art that was stolen, undergoes a second major makeover (to her original appearance). Kevin, attempting to fix the Y2K bug, temporarily throws the entire family into a time warp to prehistory. Fiona secretly uses her still-existent powers to fix the Y2K bug and therefore the computer; it is much later revealed that the Great Bird Conspiracy engineered the time warp to make Rudy believe he was responsible for domestication after he tamed a goat.

Fenton meets Tammy the moth, and, missing Lindesfarne's company due to aforementioned schedule conflicts, becomes somewhat close with her. Lindesfarne therefore decides to switch from a diurnal to a nocturnal schedule, bolstered by the fact that she discovers her true identity as a hedgehog; she changes her registered species, becoming nocturnal. She becomes friends with Tammy, and the two fake Tammy's death in a scheme to toy with Fenton. Lindesfarne is initially angry with Fenton, but forgives him, especially since he has no reason to cheat on her anymore now that they're both nocturnal.

Fiona starts an apprenticeship as a stalkerazzi, with Catherine Aura's cousin Gino, and her first case involves Lindesfarne's suspected royal English lineage. Lindesfarne runs some DNA tests, confirms she was indeed royalty, then engages in a scheme to identify Chertsey Ealing, a homeless hedgehog in England, as the missing princess, so that she can remain at home and be able to conduct scientific research. A run-in with the insurance company re-reveals Rudy's domestication. Rudy, who anonymously faxes over the information proving his and Kell's domestication, has accepted that he has not been cured of domestication. Miss Aura reveals (to the audience and Nigel, not the main cast) the nature of the Great Bird Conspiracy. Corrie is adopted by Candace, but quickly tires of the rigid structure of a border collie's life; Dolly arrives and, used to a rigid lifestyle at a laboratory, takes Corrie's place. Vin Vulpen tries to get Rudy and Fiona and friends in trouble with a hate group, until they turn the group on Vin. Vin later attempts to cause Rudy's death by exposing him to pheromones during a hunt where the hunting team is only guided by scent, thus causing Rudy to be accidentally eaten. Rudy manages to avoid his team-mates and catch the elk that is his target, and he finds out that they accidentally ate someone Rudy suspects is Vin. Kell's father dies, and Ralph plans to sell all the family heirlooms, so Kevin gets a temp job as Santa to buy them back. Angelique makes an appearance (with her 20 adopted skunk children); her second husband left her with those children, so Lindesfarne transfers all his money to Angelique's account. Lindesfarne experiments with role-playing as a human, a creature of her own imagination.

1999

While seeking the missing Vin Vulpen, Fenton disappears. The Great Bird Conspiracy abducts him, and reveals that Vin had disappeared because he had stumbled upon the GBC, much like Fenton had. In order to prevent Fenton from telling anyone, and in order to utilize his skills, the GBC claims that he died while running into a tree, and gives him a job at Microtalon (the equivalent of Microsoft). Fiona realizes her powers of technological repair were sent to her to fix the Year 2000 problem;also her appearance is changed yet again,when her hair switches from braids to pigtails. Rudy becomes lonely as she tours the world to put her power to use. Lindesfarne and Tammy meet Ray Flambeau, the firefly. The birds reveal (again, to the audience only) the time machine that sent the Dewclaws into prehistory in 1998. Corrie obtained a wolfskin (after another failed attack by Ralph), and used it to teach Bruno a lesson about appearances. Kevin found a semi-intelligent daisy, named it Daisy, and kept it as a pet. Dolly, experiencing rapid aging, runs off briefly, is accidentally zapped by the time machine and becomes an infant; Corrie returns Dolly to the Canids, calling her "Mary". Ray is accidentally zapped with an intelligence beam (the same beam that gave Daisy its intelligence), and was moved to work at Microtalon. He then realizes that the GBC's ultimate plan is to create computer code to run society. Kell's mom, who lost her inheritance day-trading, moves into the attic.

Fiona, intending to fix as many machines as possible before the start of the Year 2000, goes to Microtalon and invites the Dewclaws to come as well. Ray admits to Vin that he truly loved Lindesfarne, not Tammy, and gets the intelligence ray. After a few strips implying that he will use it to lower Fenton's intelligence, he uses it on himself to revert to his low intelligence in order to keep from coming between Lindesfarne and Fenton. Fiona then realizes that her powers are gone, but Kevin and Kell fix the code, imbuing it with their tolerant personalities.

2000

The changes are made at the last moment, and the code works. The GBC disbands, and Catherine and Nigel Aura travel back to ancient Greece. Fiona and her parents officially moves into their mansion. Fenton decides not to return to school, as despite not remembering his work at Microtalon, he feels confident enough to go into the real world. He gets a job at Flea-Bay, adding an insectivore perspective to the company. Fenton proposes, but Lindesfarne does not feel ready for marriage, the two being only in their late teens.

Shortly afterwards, the house begins losing its leaves and falling apart due to a lack of sunlight caused by Fiona's mansion overshadowing it. The Dewclaws are nearly forced to move, but the neighbors use mirrors to shine light on the house. Lindesfarne goes with Kell to Herd Thinners on "Take your daughter to work day"; while she is told to remain in Kell's office for her protection, she helps eliminate a termite infestation that almost causes the building to collapse.

Hackers strike Flea-Bay and erase the records. Angelique meets R.L., who was apparently mistakenly assigned a status as an insectivore. He plans to eat her, but when he hears of her selfishness and lack of ethics, he marries her. Kevin has a run-in with the rabbit council under accusations of treason to rabbitkind, but reveals that it was not him but Angelique who was leaking secrets after Fenton uses his sonar to find out that Angelique married RL. Angelique's Rabbit License is subsequently revoked; she is demoted to a Long-Eared Rodent (i.e., rat) and gets cosmetic surgery to this end. Angelique attempts to buy out Kevin's business to gather personal information to sell to telemarketers, but Fiona buys it out as well, shortly before Angelique's evil scheme can come to fruition. Rudy has a run-in with Vin Vulpen, who challenges him to a duel. However, the part of Rudy's father that lives on in his memory gives him a stick, and Rudy uses it to expose Vin Vulpen's domestication.

Fiona's parents divorce because of mutual infidelity, and the mansion is (literally) split in half in the process. After a mole blows an incident with Coney out of proportion, the Dewclaws go into counseling. Despite believing that it will be an easy session, they learn that Lindesfarne feels neglected as a nocturnal species and that Kevin is unhappy about not being asked if Elanor could move in. After nearly killing the chameleon psychiatrist (who changes color to reflect the mood) with many conflicting emotions, they resolve their differences. In late June, the strip switches to color and adds large Sunday strips; often for strips that would not be possible under a normal layout, such as a map of the Dewclaws' tree, a 19-panel illustration of how the Dewclaws react to a ringing cell phone, or longer strips.

Lindesfarne has a stint with NASA, (she is hired to plug holes with her quills, despite her inventing an alloy that could do the same thing) which Rudy almost messes up by stowing away aboard the shuttle. Rudy barely avoids being exposed as domesticated on TV because he was temporarily cured of domestication by the moonlight he was exposed to in space. As a result, he starts messing around with his previous online romance with Corrie. Bruno, standing in for a tired Corrie, sets up a meeting with Rudy, not knowing who he is, and Corrie wears the wolfskin and what will eventually become her typical outfit as a disguise. Rudy realizes that he does not want to cheat on Fiona as his domestication kicks in, and he and Fiona become friends with Corrie, who has adopted the name "Dale Corrie." Unfortunately for her, Fiona, well-meaning, but not knowing of who "Dale" is, registers Dale as a wolf cub, much to Corrie's dismay. Kevin's businesses change in this period. The Herbivore Forum shuts down on September 28, 2000. He also realizes that Mating Call is not very profitable, and while he briefly considers selling data, he realizes that it is what Angelique would have done. While experiencing problems with connection, he is inspired to establish an Internet Service Provider that has better service.

Kevin runs for election for recreation administrator against Sheldon Dome, in order to allow Coney into the predator Youth League. He loses due to Sheldon's last minute accusation that Kell ate his campaign manager (and, as is later revealed, wife), but due to Lindesfarne's investigations, the wife and cross-species child are discovered, and Coney is allowed into the league. Vin falls in love with Dale, who initially refuses his advances. However, when Vin steals Lindesfarne's domestication research, Dale goes on a date with him in order to help Lindesfarne to replace her stolen research with fake data, and claims to be a "were-sheep" to scare him off forever. Rudy, in the process, forgives Lindesfarne for halting her research.

2001

R.L. disappears; Angelique takes over Herdthinners until R.L. comes back, firing much of the management and only hiring domesticated predators. She fires Ralph after Vin discovers that he was pocketing the money that Herd Thinners saved from Kevin's discount. Angelique also plans on taking ovver the world, but R.L. returns and convinces her to focus on making money. Ralph begins to work for Kevin, and a strip shows both him and Kell chafing at working for their worst enemies, yet realizing that they have no choice. He soon becomes extremely fat, but loses his bitterness towards Kevin in the process. Kell gets a promotion, but finds mere management "empty", and eventually gets to work as a corporate recruiter instead. Off in the woods, she meets three vegetarian grizzlies in a twist on the Goldilocks fable; these three bears turn out to be long-lost relatives of Kell's good friends and neighbors, the Ursals. It is revealed that the Ursals disowned the three vegetarian bears, but regretted their actions and became good friends with the Dewclaws as a way to make amends for their intolerance. Kell reunites the family by having Harcourt send an e-mail to his grandparents. Rudy starts a webcomic about Lindesfarne's "human" invention, named "Rondo and Viola"; the title characters are human versions of himself and Fiona who enjoy despoiling the environment to stop Lord Vulpenator. Ray and Tammy marry. A giant spider attacks the wedding, but Lindesfarne, who is attending as a bridesmaid (her "cocoon" prevents the guests from knowing that she is an insectivore) eats the spider.

Ralph has a complete change of heart, accepting Kevin as family. Kevin also values Ralph, and after Ralph gets a major contract at ISP Con while standing in for Fenton, Kevin promotes him to Vice President. Rudy and Fiona accidentally set up a relationship between Ralph and Martha, but accept this as a good thing. Rudy's comic about humans was found to be causing instinct loss by Ms. Aura and later, Candace, so Ms. Aura becomes his hunting coach and, under pressure from school and sports, Rudy quits writing the comic. Lindesfarne discovers that she is allergic to Kell, and stays with Angelique, until she learns that Angelique had Vin prepare a compound to make her allergic. Bruno, still wearing a sheepskin on his back, is captured by the mole scientists who had cloned Dolly and were searching for her; before escaping, he learns that Corrie is secretly half-wolf and Ralph's daughter. Corrie introduces herself to Ralph, and Ralph introduces Corrie to Martha (still as "Dale", with the wolfskin). Martha immediately experiences second thoughts about her relationship with Ralph. A costume party and conversation with Corrie, however, causes her to re-enter her relationship with Ralph. Rudy is thought to be 12 because Kell lied about his age in the past, and is banned from the hunting team, but clears himself; this is either a reference to Danny Almonte, or a possible resolution to Rudy being claimed as 12 in the early years of the strip. Kell attempts to convince Kevin to contact his family. He calls the number and gets a restraining order. Kell feels guilty and, dressed up as a rabbit, has a brief trip into the Rabbit Warren. She runs into trouble when she is almost exposed as a predator, and is rescued with the aid of Kevin's (sleazy) dad, "Pop" Kindle, who poses as her husband with the help of fake IDs that Kevin made. Ralph, while playing Santa for Hare-Link, gets an e-mail from Gweneth asking for Angelique and R.L. to spend more time with her. Lindesfarne accesses Angelique's laptop with the applications of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, and convinces her to come home.

2002

Pop Kindle is hired as a security consultant for Herd Thinners to deal with vanishing herds. Martha proposes to Ralph, and asks Fiona, who owns Hare-Link, to fire Kevin and promote Ralph. Fiona, knowing that Hare-Link will collapse if she fires Kevin, and that she may anger Martha, Ralph and Corrie if she does not, sells the business to her father, who buys it using the equity in his half of the mansion. Rudy starts a new comic about a sheep with a wolfish personality. Dale is finally revealed as Corrie when she eats a cougar that attacks Fiona, and her disguise is knocked off. Fiona's fennec genes finally express themselves when her ears experience a growth spurt; she almost decides to have them shortened, but learns of a Fennec Pride group. After a falling-out with the group, she leaves it, but keeps the ears. Her decision disappoints her father, as he was also prepared to shorten his ears, and could only do so if Fiona did. Vin loses his tail in an accident; in the search for a compatible tail donor Lindesfarne discovers Rudy is Vin's half-brother. Rudy is upset upon learning of that his father, whom he had respected, had been unfaithful, and donates part of his tail to Vin, altering the latter's personality. Fiona donates her pigtails for use in tail extensions for the two to restore them to their former appearance (resulting in Vin mysteriously regaining his previous personality), changing her own hairstyle significantly; she wears her hair shorter for some time, but by mid-2004, it has grown significantly.

George Fennec, working for Hare-Link, lands a major contract with Carrot Computers while dressed up as a rabbit, but falls in love with a certain Zerda Zenith, who thinks he is a rabbit; he does not reveal himself because she saw him on TV, and would think of him as a "self-centered schmoe" if she knew who he really was. An e-mail relationship ensues. Kevin holds "Rabbit School" to teach George how to act like a rabbit; George's main weakness was not acting fearful enough. However, Kevin reveals that he has always been an outcast and anomaly due to his lack of fear, and fearlessness was the reason for his difficulty on scampering tests. It was also a possible reason why he married Angelique; he did not fear those with evil intentions, and mistakenly trusted her. Tammy's son Angstrom hatches from his egg, and has the ability to give off intense light. Angelique and RL have a run-in with the law for supposedly inflating kill counts, but it is revealed that they were framed by Vin. Shortly after being discovered, Vin is abducted and infected by a collection of mild bacteria, viruses, and fungi; Rudy saves him by using mouthwash to destroy the germs, and helps Vin escape into the Wild by falsely reporting his death. Coney gets lost while the family is looking at trees and has a variety of misadventures. Her diaper begins to smell during this time period, and some bank robbers use her to thwart a bank's security system. They run into Kevin's father, and accidentally injure him by dropping a chunk of the ceiling on him, but Coney thwarts the robbery, and Kell, who picks up Coney's diaper scent on winds created by Santa's sleigh passing by, takes her father-in-law to the hospital. The police decide not to charge Pop Kindle in gratitude of what Coney did.

The Bermuda Triangle

In June of this year, shortly after Vin and Rudy are revealed to be half-brothers, Ralph and Martha are married and honeymoon in Bermuda. Their ship starts to sink, and upon being thrown overboard, they encounter a dimensional portal within the Bermuda Triangle that leads to the human world (i.e. our universe), which was being used by a random (human) garbage scow for garbage disposal purposes. This portal is later explained to change the fundamental genetic code of any organism sent through it to suit the laws of nature on the other side; as such, it turns Ralph and Martha into humans themselves. The two sneak back to their dimension by hiding in some lead-lined barrels. Ralph considers living in a place where he believes he would fit in, but is thrown through the portal when a loose rope catches around his leg. They return, but Martha, whose sealed lead-lined barrel prevented the portal from changing her back, remains human. Jokes ensue, including a parody of Beauty and the Beast's song of the same name. Martha even plans on developing The Wild until she realizes her family is suffering instinct loss as a result, upon which she heads out to sea to return to the human world. She returns once again as a fox after her family pursues and rescues her, and only her immediate family (Ralph, Fiona, Corrie) knows of the situation at first.

2003

Pop Kindle has a run-in with the mob — more accurately, the Bovine Herd, which he owes money because he lost the bet that Kell would eat Kevin. The Herd supposedly wishes to recruit Kevin, but actually plans on using, him, and Pop Kindle after he gets caught wearing a wire, as meat. The Herd is busted by the cops after Kevin defeats the members sent after him and traps the rest, but the boss, a cow in disguise, escapes. Bruno is revealed as a "closet herbivore"; he gets into a big fight with Rudy in the playground where they first met. Afterwards, they reconcile and Bruno gets herbivore teeth; Rudy knocked out all his canine teeth. Lindesfarne encounters an intelligent tree; Fenton saves it from the lumber company and makes it into a home. Tree experiences an issue with warped intelligence, which is repaired by pruning. The Dewclaws appear on Trading Habitats and find the skeleton of Kell's previous boyfriend in their neighbor's wall; a mystery ensues involving identity theft that results in Chet, who is actually alive, being exposed as the identity thief. A parent group attempts to remove Bruno from the hunting team by using a technicality; the hunting team must share in the kill, something Bruno, now a ruminant, cannot do. However, Bruno, Corrie and Rudy successfully trick the school board into thinking that Bruno can eat meat.

Rudy encounters trouble with a pack of coyotes who hate Bruno's diet. Bruno meets Rachel Einhorn the rhino, who helps save him from another attack by a larger number of coyotes. A sneaky plan deals with the coyote menace in a more or less permanent manner, with Lindesfarne disguising as a reindeer to scare them away from Bruno and Rachel, Corrie luring them to a Rabbit warren entrance, and Rachel sealing them inside. Corrie gets jealous of Rachel, but then Rachel, who is a lesbian, reveals that, due to poor eyesight, she had thought Bruno was a girl. He adds a set of horns to his favorite sheepskin, which Corrie had given him for his bithday, to rectify the problem.

Rabbit's Revenge

Shortly after the Trading Habitats episode, The Rabbit's Revenge terrorist movement strikes Herd Thinners, Inc., resulting in Sid's death. Kevin and Kell investigate down in the Rabbit Warren, meeting Danielle Kindle, Kevin's twenty-ninth sibling. Danielle has information on the terrorists, who are exposed and rounded up after Kevin uploads the information to Hare-Link, and Rudy and Lindesfarne disseminate it. Kell catches Pop Kindle, who denies killing Sid, and suggests that Angelique might have done it to frame him as a member of Rabbit's Revenge; "Rabbit's Revenge" was in her handwriting. However, both Pop Kindle and Angelique tried to frame each other. Danielle was apparently partially responsible for the murder; she was going to kill the victim, but when she was too nervous go through it, he slipped on some of her sweat, and accidentally shot himself with her stake gun. Pop Kindle takes the fall for the murder, is convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. Danielle moves in to the Dewclaws' basement, working as an accountant for Hare-Link. She discovers embezzlement, which Lindesfarne first traces to Fenton, but Kell realizes that Tree is responsible, because all the money was saved. Danielle accompanies George to a meeting with Zerda masquerading as his teenage daughter; shortly after Zerda dumps George for a fennec fox (and after his own attempt to expose himself as one falls flat), he develops a static-electric romantic "spark" with Danielle. When this proves hazardous to electronic equipment, they avoid each other. Rabbit's Revenge elements come back for Danielle, demanding that she turn over Coney in order to breed carnivorous rabbits to drive other species to extinction. She escapes their attempt to throw her to a group of lions and subsequently embarks on a mission with George and Kevin to destroy their records by means of their electrostatic spark. George triggers a trap that fires a stake at him and Danielle pushes him out of the way; the stake hits and mortally wounds her. She dies heroically in George's arms as her massive final "spark" destroys the computers.

Meanwhile, in our universe, a human IRS agent named Danielle Kendall is investigating a garbage scow which was previously involved in the Bermuda Triangle portal dumping business. The crane operators decide to play around and throw her into the portal as a demonstration, but the portal, no longer blocked, transports her into the animal world. She is transformed into the exact image of Danielle Kindle; she ends up on the Dewclaws' doorstep after escaping from the birds. It is in their home that she comes to terms with the occurrences, and decides to stay in that world, with the family believing that she is really Danielle and she unwilling to tell them otherwise. Although she initially meets much resentment from George, who doubts she is Danielle when they do not "spark," they later develop a similar romantic spark and she removes his doubts. Danielle engages in un-rabbitlike activities due to her human upbringing, such as consumption of meat, and fails her scampering test due to an unrabbitlike lack of fear. As she is weeping and does not know what to do, George suggests she become "a Fennec" and proposes. Danielle accepts, and their wedding is scheduled for February.

2004

Danielle engages in wedding preparation. Rudy begins to suspect Danielle has a secret, finding a quarter with George Washington's human face on it. Lindesfarne investigates, has a vivid dream, and when she learns that she is genetically identical to Churtsey Ealing (royal British hedgehog; see 1998) and that there is a parallel world with humans, she realizes she is from that dimension. She believes that she, like Martha, is causing instinct loss, and flees for Tammy and Ray's lighthouse, but Fenton, whose unfortunately phrased answer to her somewhat vague question of how she impacts those close to her had convinced her to leave, persuades her to stay.

On their way home, the comic begins a crossover with General Protection Fault. GPF' characters Nick and Ki, experimenting in virtual reality, find themselves in the animal world. The two stay briefly and talk with Lindesfarne and Fenton about the nature of human beings. During this time, Lindesfarne suspects that Danielle might be human when she overhears a conversation between Ki and Danielle, and recalls Rudy saying that she is. When they leave, Danielle attempts to go along, fails, and immediately regrets even trying, given her engagement to George. Lindesfarne and Fenton speak with Danielle regarding her humanity, and Miss Aura finds out as well. Due to a massive imbalance between the universes (the result of Nick and Ki arriving, resulting in four individuals from the human world), the most massive worldwide instinct loss in history is occurring, with dire consequences. Danielle and Lindesfarne realize this, so Danielle moves her (imminent) wedding to a cruise ship where she plans to head through the portal to the human world. Mrs. Aura and Nigel appear and leave in her stead after briefly appearing intent on expelling Lindesfarne and Danielle, leaving the cast, and other birds, with the responsibilitiy of being the "caretakers" of the portal. George and Danielle are married, and things return to relative normalcy. Gino moves into his cousin Catherine's vacant tree; while he helps Kevin by delivering eggs, what effect he will have on the storyline has yet to be determined.

Kell recognizes and overcomes a prejudice against cats; she throws out some recruiters for a feline university, but learns of Rhonda teaching Coney how to pounce. When her car breaks down outside a cats-only bar, she becomes friends with a feline auto mechanic named Aby Eyeshine. Aby had helped Kell, disguised as a cat, deal with a troublemaker and had fixed her car for no charge, using Kell's fake tail to replace the fan belt. Eleanor becomes involved in an online relationship with Pop Kindle. Legislation is proposed to ban carnivore-herbivore marriages, and during the resulting discussions a legal anomaly regarding Kevin and Kell's marriage is discovered; Rudy had failed to send the paperwork out of bitterness that the "alpha male" of the family was a rabbit. The two are finally legally wed when rushing to a courthouse in the belief that they will be prevented from marrying; their rush to do so prompts the herbivore-dominated senate to unanimously defeat the bill, when they had been set to pass it. Rudy is diagnosed with dystraxia, similar to a storyline in one of the author's other comic strips, Safe Havens, which occurred in early 2000. Between his natural talents for using his other senses and help from his friends, Rudy manages to still hunt quite well. After Kell is inexplicably fired from Herd Thinners, ironically on the recommendation of a cat contractor, Kevin secretly decides to reprise his role as a wrestler named The Iron Rabbit for quick cash. His first adversary is revealed after the match to be R.L. himself, who purchases the new identity from Kevin. Kell decides to become assistant coach for the Caliban Academy hunting team, which upsets Rudy, who is in the process of a "lone wolf" phase. She volunteers herself to work for Aby as office manager, and likes the friendlier atmosphere in the shop. Meanwhile, Herd Thinners experiences drawbacks with rabies vaccination cutbacks, leading the company to seek out Kell. Kell, bitter about being fired for no good reason and distrustful of R.L., refuses to be re-hired and instead refers them to the Caliban High School hunting team for use as interns; the experience makes Rudy feel bettter about himself. The city of Domain begins solicitizing bids for city-wide Wi-Fi access. Despite the major competition, Hare-Link enters the contest, confident in their ability to provide a better wireless service than their competitors, and knowing that someone else winning the contract would put them out of business.

2005

Kevin and Hare-Link manage to secure a bid to provide the suburb with Wi-Fi access. The plan to provide Wi-Fi access falls through however, as lobbying from telecommunications companies coerced the mayor to cancel the project; the contract with Hare-Link included a sort of insurance clause, so no harm was done to the company. Kell attempts to fix Aby up on a date with Sam Pardus, coach of the school hunting team; unbeknownst to her, the coach is Aby's brother. It is also unknown to all but the Eyeshine family that the coach is also domesticated, and not really a leopard; he also changed his last name. During a celebration naming Pardus the coach of the year, the students inadvertently wash the leopard-print paint from him with Gatorade, reveaing his true appearance as a calico. Amid angry words from the spectators in the benches, the students and Coach Kell stand together in his defense, themselves being unconventional, and Rudy disperses a mob by taking advantage of their ignorance about domestication. In the end, the headmaster of the school allows Coach Pardus to keep his job.

Kevin becomes the new Easter Bunny. Easter egg hunting turns out to be a recruiting ploy cooked up by Herd Thinners Inc. Coney says her first word and begins learning to walk shortly thereafter. When Lindesfarne posts it on her blog, the Rabbit Council attempts to set up an arranged marriage for her; Kevin is still turning down requests. Lindesfarne graduates from high school and decides to have Rhonda as a roommate at Beige University. Before receiving her diploma, Lindesfarne encounters Angelique, who relinquishes all custody of Lindesfarne as a gift. Rudy takes up driving lessons and is interested in the navy. Kell learns that her mother once failed to catch Pop Kindle, and that she discovered his identity a long time ago.

Kell talks with Aby about the differences in communication between canines and felines, and the two begin to learn the intricacies of each other's language. Kevin is informed by the Rabbit Warren that Kell's and Aby's relationship may be a threat to the Warren and to prey species everywhere. The Warren starts a fake insurance company to compete with Herd Thinners and nearly drive them out of business (by insuring prey species exclusively and "bleeding them dry"). Kell comes up with a plan to avoid preying on the staff of the insurance company, thereby forcing them to give pensions to their workers and go out of business, in exchange for R.L. making Aby the official contractor for Herd Thinners auto maintenance. Kell resigns as Aby's auto manager, partly because R.L. is rehiring her, and partly because Aby now needs a professional accountant, and is rehired as a staff predator with an executive salary.

Lindesfarne and Fenton enroll in college (Lindesfarne is doing a triple major). The ISP needs some new modems, but there is no more room — Fenton's "Smart Tree" is suggested, but Kevin is hesitant, presumably because to him, Tree is "prey," until he spends some time with Tree during a power outage that traps him inside.

The Ursals move to Florida, abandoning their home across the street from the Dewclaws. Aby tries to buy it, but is blocked by the feline Homeowners' Board because they do not want a canine and a feline living in adjacent houses. Kell pleads Aby's case on her behalf by speaking in feline to them and succeeds. A rumor is spread about Rudy — that he is a picky eater. Things become unbearable, until Lindesfarne discovers that it was one of Rudy's fleas who was the web-bully. A flea dip fixes that problem.

Kevin searches for his mother in the Wild, as he wishes that she could see Coney's growth. He finds her, and she makes plans to visit the Dewclaws at Christmas, so that Coney will know her grandmother's scent (Coney, being part wolf, will not hunt fellow pack members). Kevin's mother visits them on Christmas Eve and learns that Coney is an omnivore, rather than a carnivore or (as her newly-found grandmother would prefer it) an herbivore. The relations between the two improve slightly, however, when Kevin's mother helps Kell's mother when she slips and breaks her hip. Dorothy, however, had some self-serving ulterior motives for doing so; she imitates the howls of a pack of predators to make Elanor think that she is in danger of being eaten in order to teach her empathy for prey species.

2006

Dorothy begins to help Elanor rehabilitate, and relationships seem to improve between the two. However, Dorothy continues her futile attempts at making Coney a vegetarian, such as carving a face into a head of lettuce, but such attempts fail, as Coney uses a carrot as bait in a box trap. Dorothy begins to annoy Kell, although apparently she also did so with Angelique ("The little annoyances you used on my first wife won't work on Kell").

Rudy and the others at Caliban Academy are entered into a "high stakes test" in which the predators must hunt and kill their fellow students until 10% of the school is eliminated. However, the prey species hide well, and only the school board members who proposed this test are devoured. Kevin decides to run for school board, and is currently in the process of doing so; the election is in the fall. The election currently centers around the issue of high stakes testing; Kevin opposes such tests, but his opponent, who is receiving funding from "the testing industry" most likely does not. Rudy attempts to study tracking to deal with his tracking disability until, at Dorothy's suggestion, he simply runs around, and catches as much prey as he did while attempting to track his quarry while enjoying it more.

Back at Beige University, Professor Antlerhead recruits Lindesfarne to be a research assistant, but she discovers that he has been falsifying his results. Unwilling to be seen as a whistleblower, and unable to ignore the professor's fraud, Lindesfarne honestly completes the experiment and continues to work for the professor on stem cells. Her blog also chronicles other events, such as Rhonda breaking up with Edgar, and becoming close friends with her.

Dorothy torments Elanor psychologically in order to help her rehabilitate; partly because she does so, Elanor eventually fully recovers. The outward reactions the two have to each other belie their true feelings; Dorothy wishes to help Elanor despite seeming malicious, and the outwardly resentful Elanor inadvertently reveals her inner gratitude when her tail is in the "thank you" position.

Danielle becomes pregnant. George, who was emotionally detached when Fiona was born, is thunderstruck upon learning that Danielle is pregnant and passes out when he realizes that rabbits have litters. Still, he is determined to have the kind of relationship with this child (an ultrasoud exam showed there is only one) that he never had with Fiona because of his frequently being away and Fiona usually . Danielle later finds out she's having only one child, a boy, though at this point, it is not known whether the child more resembles a Rabbit or fennec fox. Danielle attempts to tell Dorothy that she is the human counterpart of the dead Danielle Kindle, but while Dorothy seems understanding, Danielle is certain that she does not believe it, and has given up on convincing her otherwise.

Kevin once again takes on the role of the Easter Bunny (despite reservations from the Rabbit Council over his School Board campaign). However, when Gino delivers the eggs, Kevin is too ill to move. Kell, dressed in a rabbit suit and the traditional outfit, stands in for him. Not only does she avoid any suspicion that Kevin had shirked his duties, but she also earns acclaim for her work because of her hiding eggs near where canines mark scents. Kell convinces Aby, who considers herself married to her work, to have a formal marriage ceremony, and she does so; this may be the end of her trying to find a boyfriend.

Elanor completes her rehabilitation, and Dorothy moves in with George and Danielle in time for Lindesfarne to move back home for the summer. Elanor and Dorothy's relationship improves, and they start spending more time with each other, partly because the now-speaking Coney wants to see Dorothy. Kevin learns that he was arranged to marry Fran Caudal in infancy, but her family had withdrawn from the marriage when they found out that Kevin was fearless. Fran has also discovered that Kevin Dewclaw was the person she had been arranged to marry after learning that his last name was previously Kindle, but neither she nor Kevin will mention the incident.

Lindesfarne returns from college, along with Rhonda and Fenton. Edgar wishes to re-start his relationship with Rhonda, but Rhonda refuses to have anything to do with him because he refuses to hunt. Edgar takes some lessons from Rudy, and while he fails to learn how to hunt (he slams into a tree while pouncing at a roast chicken), Rhonda appreciates his efforts and their relationship resumes.

Danielle's continues in her pregnancy, and the baby, due in November, continues to grow. However, whether it is primarily a rabbit or a Fennec fox is unknown — Danielle refuses to get ultrasounds after Dorothy and Elanor speculate its true species based on inconsequential bits of evidence.

Dorothy is asked to be the conditioning coach for the hunting team. While she is initially reluctant to accept, she eventually agrees after learning that the team does not hunt rabbits. She also reveals her reasons for helping Rudy overcome his dystraxia; she, too, has the disorder. When a moose charges Coach Pardus during a hunting competition and breaks his leg, Dorothy fills in for him as the coach on the bench. She uses a strategy that Rudy proposes that involves him serving as a distraction for the prey while the others make the kill. His strategy works and he becomes co-captain alongside Fiona. His teammates treat him and Fiona as their parents, attempting to manipulate them into acting in their favor, until he begins treating them as child stereotypes.

Lindesfarne moves back into the Beige University dormitories and meets Bob Shrike, Fenton's roommate. She is initially concerned because Bob Shrike's species sometimes eats small mammals, and Fenton has no natural advantages over him, but is willing to give him a chance, possibly because her foster father, despite being in a similar situation, trusts Kell and Rudy.

In a debate in the School board race, a moderator asks about the rattlesnake incident. After Fran Caudal claims to have killed the rattlesnake, Dr. Caduceus reveals that he witnessed the actual event when he was younger. After this revelation, Kevin and Fran are tied in the polls. On Election Night, Danielle goes into labor, but is unable to reach the hospital by car with Kevin, Kell and Elanor because of traffic. While she and Kevin initially plan to use the rabbit warren entrance in Fran Caudal's backyard to travel to the hospita. The baby comes sooner than expected, and Danielle gives birth with Fran's help, but not before George, determined to not miss his son's birth, arrives. At the same time, Kevin hears from the media that he won the election, although he is initially distracted by Danielle giving birth. Danielle's son, named Francis after his midwife, is not classified as either a fox or a rabbit; Elanor and Dorothy are unable to resolve their bet over what he is, and Danielle is concerned that this may impact his health care when he is older.

On Kevin's first day as a school board member, a windshield falls off a truck, killing the headmaster. Kevin nominates Fran Caudal to replace him- despite the fact that she supports high-stakes tests, he realizes that he will need to form a consensus on the board.

Continuity

Kevin and Kell began as a strip with the characters in fixed ages and points in life. The year is typically considered the current year- for example, the stories about preparation for the y2k bug took place in 1999, but the passage of time is almost never explicitly mentioned; Kell cuts off one police officer before he can say when the health club incident with Chet Cheetah was. Despite this, one year into the strip, which began with Kevin and Kell's first wedding anniversary, the couple celebrates their second.

In 2005, however, the strip moved forward a year; one noticeable effect of this is Lindesfarne graduating from high school. Additionally, shortly before Danielle becomes pregnant in 2006, when Kevin asks George how long he and Danielle have been married, George says, "Over a year." Whether the characters will continue to age is unknown.

Trivia

• On December 14, 2001, Pop Kindle presents identification for "Vern and Betty Lopear." These are the names of rabbits mentioned on December 17, 1996; Kell caught and ate the two rabbits about ten years prior, long before she met Kevin.
• According to the Unofficial FAQ, many of the names are derived from aspects relating to characters. For example, Coney's name is an old term for a rabbit, and the Dewclaws' name is derived from dewclaw, a non-functional digit on a canine's leg.
• The Wild's slogan, "Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad" in addition to being a standard regulation, is also a reference to George Orwell's Animal Farm.
• The comic makes several references to Calvin and Hobbes. Hobbes is first seen in January 1, 1996's strip, when he, jobless after Calvin and Hobbes' end, offers to "act wistful for food." On October 22, 2005, Hobbes is noted off-panel, having "migrated back" to The Wild, and tells Calvin to stop urinating as he does on a bootleg car logo. Additionally, on January 16, 2005, Rudy and Fiona sled down an impossibly steep slope to understand the terror a prey species feels, a reference to some of the sledding comics in Calvin and Hobbes (the name of the slope is "Hobbes Hill").
• On June 12, 2003, Pop Kindle takes his blood-stained jacket to "Lady Macbeth's Cleaners," to wash Sid's blood off of it. His doing so leads Kell (and most likely the reader) to believe that he killed Sid for Rabbit's Revenge.
• The storyline in which Kell enters the Rabbit Warren, between December 2 and 14, 2001, contains several references to Wonderland with Internet twists, including "Eat Me" mushrooms and cake, "memory card" guards, and the mounted heads of Herd Thinners spies, who have "vanished... except for their smiles," a reference to The Cheshire Cat.
• Kevin's father is a parody of The White Rabbit, or as he describes it, a "corrupted version." On June 14, 2003, he mentions that he stole R.L.'s pocketwatch, and is asked if he is "late for a very important date." He also uses the phrase on December 13, 2001, claiming that he is Kell's husband to get her out of trouble with the Rabbit Council.
• Kevin goes to a pig named Wilber, head of a marketing firm, to promote Hare-Link, but Charlotte quits, weaving a web that reads "Take this job and shove it." This is a reference to Charlotte's Web.
• Majorie and her daughter Minora's names, while not mentioned in the FAQ, are possible references to Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
• All of the characters are left-handed, as Bill Holbrook is; for example, in December 17, 2003's strip, when Bruno and Rachel shake hands with their left hands.
• The comic occasionally makes references to movies. For example, Kell tells Danielle "To paraphrase Jaws, you're gonna need a bigger crib", when her ultrasound, confirming a single birth, is seen as proof that her son will be as large as Kevin was.

Errors and discontinuity

• On September 28, 2001, Bruno thinks that the moles have mistaken him for Corrie. However, other dialogue indicates that he was actually mistaken for their clone; the moles needed to recover the original clone to qualify for funding, and still do not know what happened to Corrie.
• On February 15 2004's strip, Kevin, attending Danielle's wedding, is wearing a gray suit with a white dress shirt. However, on February 16's strip, in the same location, almost immediately after the previous strip, he is wearing his typical outfit — a blue dress shirt and jeans, and wears it for the rest of the wedding. This may be to conform with the fact that the other characters are wearing their everyday clothes to the wedding, apart from Danielle and George, as bride and groom, and Martha (who is wearing a gold bridesmaid dress that she owns).
• Rudy is initially portrayed as 12 (see October 31, 1996), but according to Bill Holbrook, his age was changed to 14 when he was seen as acting older than he said he was (the first reference to being a teenager is in June 10, 1997).
• On June 17, 2002's strip, Ralph, preparing to get dressed for his wedding with Martha, is holding a black tuxedo jacket. However, on June 18's strip, at the actual wedding, he is wearing a gray tuxedo.
• It was initially claimed on January 27, 1997 that Kevin, before he became a sedentary computer worker, was brown. However, both his parents and Danielle are later revealed to be white.
• Most hunted prey species, usually deer (and on several occasions we see a raccoon's bare backside), are not wearing clothes, unlike most characters in the strip (regardless of food chain status.) This may be because Kell primarily hunts in The Wild, though.
• In "Kevin and Kell's Virtual Wedding", a picture published in 1999 that depicts Kevin and Kell's wedding with characters who were met during the marriage photoshopped in, two rabbits who are presumably Kevin's parents are sitting on Kevin's side of the church. However, if they are intended to be his parents, they do not resemble Kevin's actual parents, and may only be early designs (Kevin's father is seen for the first time in December 2001, and Kevin's mother is seen in October 2005). Additionally, Kevin's mother left for The Wild after divorcing her husband and never met Kell, so she could not have attended the wedding; however, this may be a retcon.
• The comic makes a note of foxes practicing lifelong monogamy. However, in a possibly intentional pattern, most of the characters who are foxes or half-foxes have engaged in infidelity. For example, Fiona's parents divorce after catching each other dating other people and Rudy (whose father was a fox) goes out with an online girlfriend while in a relationship with Fiona. The exceptions are either party to infidelity, as in the cases of Vin Vulpen and his mother Gladys Burrows, or less than loyal to their significant others; Fiona initially goes out with Vin Vulpen because of his hunting skills, and Zerdra Zenith leaves George Fennec because she is attracted to a Fennec fox.
• On January 27, 2006, Kevin's mother offers Rudy a pair of socks, despite it having been specified several times earlier that the animals do not wear anything on their feet, and that they have no knowledge of the usage of socks and shoes. Exceptions are usually limited; On April 26, 2001, when Ralph offers a colony of dangerous fire ants a contract to install high-speed connections, the protective suit he wears to meet with them has boots.
• On February 13, 2004, Lindesfarne suggests that "having more than one (human) here could've caused a crucial tipping point to occur." However, she later suggests that "the presence of FOUR humans somehow set (instinct loss) off on a massive scale," which is more likely to be correct, given that reports of instinct loss came in while Nick and Ki were present.
• On October 6, 2002, as Vin Vulpen is reading a newspaper that is folded open in front of him, the headline "HERD THINNERS ENGULFED IN SCANDAL" is on the left side of the fold. As it is most likely intended to be a front-page headline, it should be on the right side. This happens on other instances with books and magazines.
• On March 12, 2006, Dorothy Kindle, a rabbit, checks a box to request Social Security on her online civilization re-entry form. However, on February 11, 2003, Bruno claims that if he comes out as an herbivore, he will not be able to get Social Security when he retires, as herbivores are not expected to live long enough to claim it (Dorothy, one of the oldest herbivore characters, is only 62 years old).
• On March 11, 2002, Fiona, injured after the cougar attack, is wearing her right arm in a sling. On March 13, though, her left arm is in the sling.
• On September 21, 2003, George is wearing a green suit (his typical outfit in the strip and what he was wearing during his infiltration of Rabbit's Revenge) when Danielle is hit by the stake aimed at him. However, in the other panels of the strip, he is wearing a green polo shirt, blazer and blue jeans.
• On October 17, 1997, Lindesfarne, on her way to Fenton's house, passes a mailbox with "Fustus" on it just before reaching his house. It is most likely a mistake, as Fenton's last name is Fuscus.
• Corrie is initally portrayed as about thirteen years old on September 10, 1996 (it is implied, then revealed, that she had set up the fake Herd Thinners web site). However, Martha refers to her as Ralph's "fourteen-year-old daughter" on October 17, 2001. This change may have been meant to drive home Martha's hypocrisy in dumping Ralph, since while Martha mentions his having Corrie as the reason for the breakup, Fiona glares at her and is labeled "fourteen-year-old daughter."

Books

• Kevin & Kell, volume 1: Quest for Content ISBN 0-9660676-0-6
• Kevin & Kell, volume 2: Seen Anything Unusual? ISBN 0-9660676-1-4
• Kevin & Kell, volume 3: Accepting Domestication ISBN 0-9660676-6-5
• Kevin & Kell, volume 4: Run Free! ISBN 0-9660676-9-X
• Kevin & Kell, volume 5: For the Birds ISBN 1-929462-18-2
• Kevin & Kell, volume 6: Election Night Fever ISBN 1-929462-29-8
• Kevin & Kell, volume 7: Booth Bunnies ISBN 1-929462-26-3
• Kevin & Kell, volume 8: Carrots & Sticks (Hardcover & Softcover) ISBN 1-929462-30-1
• Kevin & Kell, volume 9: Straight Outta Computers (Hardcover & Softcover)
• Kevin & Kell, volume 10: Oh, the Humanity
• Kevin & Kell, volume 11: Iron Rabbit

External links

Kevin and Kell comics online

Kevin and Kell is published in three primary locations. All contain an archive of the entire strip:

• Herd Thinners Inc. — Referring to the fictional company. The first Internet site to syndicate Kevin and Kell (original updates were via a CompuServe forum), this site also was the original host of the mailing list and IRC channel (now moved to other sites). It updates at about 11:00 EST every night.
• Kevin and Kell.com — The "pretty" site for Kevin and Kell, it features several "extras" such as additional images (Sunday strips once run in Boardwatch Magazine) and related material. It updates shortly after midnight, EST, every night. This is usually given as the official site of the comic strip.
• Kevin und Kell.de — A German translation of Kevin and Kell. The site went on-line in 1999, beginning with the very first strips. Kevinundkell.de has been playing catch-up ever since. It features daily updates from Monday to Friday. Currently, the site is serializing the 2004 strips.

Other resources

• Plan 9 Publishing publishes the Kevin and Kell books.
• The first strip in the series is available.
• A mostly unofficial FAQ exists.
• There is a mailing list for the Kevin and Kell community.
• The Kevin and Kell IRC chat is available: channel #kk on irc.nightstar.net
• The Virtual Quill is a fictional blog run by Lindesfarne. There are many topics which cross over between Domain and our world.
• A role-playing game based on the strip has been published by Comstar Media.