Jane's World
Jane's World is a comic strip by cartoonist Paige Braddock. Debuting on March 25, 1998 it stars Jane Wyatt, a young lesbian living in a trailer with her roommate, Ethan, and follows the life of her and her circle of friends. The ensemble cast features many lesbian or bisexual characters.
Comic strip
Braddock created Jane's World so that women, particularly lesbians, would have a comic strip character that they could relate to, though it's meant to be accessible to a wider audience. Braddock devised Jane in 1991 but never actually put her onto paper until 1998, and began publishing on the Internet in late March. In 2001 United Media's Comics.com website picked up reprints of Jane's World, making it the first gay-themed work to receive distribution by a national media syndicate.[1] They began publishing new works in 2007.[2] In addition to web and newspaper publication, Braddock publishes the strip in a comic book format through her own publication house, Girl Twirl Comics. The trade paperback versions feature covers created by different artists.
Characters
Jane's World characters are all friends of Jane, to various degree, along with the occasional ex-girlfriend and, coworker, or boss in the mix.[3]
Jane
The main character of the strip, Jane Wyatt was driving on a road in central Oklahoma in 2001 (although Paige Braddock says it was 1991) when she discovered aliens on the road. When she arrived home she discovered that her then-roommate had moved all her things to the garage. Since, she has moved into a trailer with Ethan and worked a series of mid-level, low-income jobs. In 2003, Dorothy hired her a life coach. Her full name is given as Jane Tiberius Wyatt, because her dad was a Star Trek fan.
Rusty
Jane's mixed-breed dog. He has a brown ring around his left eye.
Dorothy
Jane's best friend, and occasional crush. Dorothy is bisexual, but she usually doesn't admit it. Unbeknownst to either of them, their mothers arranged for them to get together for the night on one occasion, though they did not continue their relationship because Jane was still involved with Skye and has been indecisive about which one to choose.
Ethan
Jane's straight male roommate. Jane complains that she doesn't like "chest hair before coffee", meaning that she is grossed out when she sees Ethan shirtless before she has a chance to drink her morning coffee and eats her cereal.
Chelle
Chelle (pronounced shell) Archer is a dark character with a special ops background. She and Jane were once an item, but broke up upon independently reaching the conclusion that the other was more and more the kind of person who annoyed them. In 2003, Chelle blew her cover at the local newspaper, being revealed to be an operative of a private detective or intelligence agency. A secretly nice person, she arranged for Jane to take her job at the newspaper.
Talia
An ex-girlfriend of Jane's that pops in and out of the strip. She's been described as a "geek" when she and Jane knew each other.
Dorrie
An African-American character in the strip. She is one of Jane's friends and works at the newspaper with her.
Shallow Breast Guy (Abbott)
Based on cartoonist Stephan Pastis, creator of Pearls Before Swine, this character appears only occasionally as a breast-obsessed, straight male. Shallow Breast Guy is drawn to look like Pastis. He once took control of the strip and drew Jane's World in the style of Pearls Before Swine, endowing the women with large breasts and portraying them as hyper-sexualized, thereby earning his nickname. In a later strip, he is referred to as Abbott.[4] In turn, Pastis has featured Braddock's wiener dog Andy (and, less frequently, Olive) in his strip.[5]
Skye
A red headed waitress at a health food diner (The Garden of Vegan) and an ex-missionary. She is currently Jane's girlfriend, however Jane is still drawn to her friend Dorothy. An avid vegan, Skye is always trying to get Jane to eat healthier, much to Jane's chagrin. In one instance, when Jane was not home, Skye threw out all of Jane's sugary cereals and junk food.
Jill
Chelle's on-again, off-again girlfriend, and former partner when they were both on the police force. Prior to being a cop, Jill was a United States Navy diver.
References
- ^ "Paige Braddock". The Free Library. 2001-08-14. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
- ^ "Current Storyline". PaigeBraddock.com. 2007-06-06. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
- ^ "Characters". PaigeBraddock.com. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
- ^ http://www.gocomics.com/janesworld/2016/07/15
- ^ Braddock, Paige (2008-03-13). "Shallow Breast Guy honors my wieners". Jane Blog. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
External links
- Jane's World at Comics.com
- The Digital Jane's World Archive (1998-2001)
- Interview with Jane's World creator Paige Braddock, Part I at The Daily Cross Hatch, from March 22, 2007
- Interview with Jane's World creator Paige Braddock, Part II at The Daily Cross Hatch, from April 4, 2007
- Review of Jane's World, Volume 7 at The Daily Cross Hatch, from May 22, 2007