Kevin and Kell

Kevin and Kell

Kevin and Kell is an anthropomorphic, or furry, 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.) The strip began on September 3, 1995. The strip centers on the marriage of Kevin, the rabbit, to Kell, the wolf. A variety of hilarity ensues.

About the strip

Kevin and Kell features jokes on a wide variety of topics. Many draw humorous parallels between its world (entirely populated with animals) and ours. 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.

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 was once considered for an animated television series, but that plan dissolved. A tabletop role-playing game is scheduled to be released November 2004. The series is also available in dead tree format from Plan 9 Publishing (which was in fact founded in 1995 to publish the first Kevin and Kell book, "Quest for Content").

Setting and characters

This comic is set in a world of animals, rife with hunting and predation. Kevin, Kell, and the most of other major characters live in the city of Domain, which is roughly analogous to Atlanta, where Bill Holbrook lives.

Kevin Dewclaw

Originally Kevin Kindle, he took his wife's name when he married. A rabbit in his late 30s. 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 in charge of security for Herdthinners Inc, a hunting corporation. She has held a variety of positions at that firm, including hunter, webmaven, manager, and corporate recruiter.

The name of the two characters, Kevin and Kell, is a deliberate rhyme with "heaven and hell". 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. Amateur scientist, fascinated with genetics and spaceflight. Insectivore. Named after the island of Lindisfarne, off the coast of England. Lindesfarne's secret ancestry figures significantly in the comic strips of 2004.

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. Initially given as 12 years old, currently at least 14.

Coney Dewclaw

Kevin and Kell's daughter. Carnivorous rabbit, age 2. One of a very few mixed-breeds in their world. As a result of this, she is regarded with suspicion and hope. She's also one of the most formidable predators in Domain.

Other significant characters

• Fiona Fennec the fox is Rudy's girlfriend.
• Fenton Fuscus the bat is Lindesfarne's boyfriend.
• Danielle Kindle, Kevin's sister, died, but her interdimensional counterpart (originally from a human universe) Danielle Kendall, is central to current storylines. She married George Fennec (Fiona's father) in February 2004.

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.

1995

Initial strips established the couple of Kevin and Kell and developed the characters: Kevin, who worked 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 was introduced as a porcupine. Coney, the carnivorous bunny, was born. Ralph Dewclaw appeared with futile attempts to assault/kill/eat Kevin and break up his sister's marriage.

1996

Rudy met and fell in love with Fiona Fennec, initially believing his love to be a curse brought on by the full moon. Kevin hired Candace Canid the border collie as assistant sysop. After Fiona had a major makeover, Rudy finally admitted his love for her at the Valentine's Day dance... just before she was forced to move overseas; they would keep in touch with an email relationship. Lindesfarne, searching for her birth parents, discovered she might be British royalty and gave up the search completely in disgust. Rudy saved Lindesfarne's life, and in return she helped him pass his final exam. Kell was diagnosed with spontaneous domestication. Catherine Aura the turkey buzzard was introduced as Rudy's teacher. Kell discovered that the sheepskin Rudy's friend Bruno carried around on his back was secretly a live sheep, his girlfriend Corrie. Fiona returned from overseas, but found that due to a lack of practice she could no longer talk to Rudy face-to face. After the Internet crashed due to one too many emails to Santa, this situation was resolved. Rudy subsequently got into some trouble with Fiona when he became involved in an online relationship.

1997

Kevin almost failed his scampering test and lost his rabbit license. Lindesfarne met and fell in love with Fenton Fuscus the bat. It was revealed that Dolly the Sheep was cloned from Corrie. Rudy, experiencing serious problems with his hunting skills, was at risk of failing school, so Fiona pretended to be lost in the woods to provide him an incentive for using tracking skills; unfortunately, she was abducted by a UFO while waiting. When she was returned, she had an ear tag which endowed her with the power to repair broken computers. Tech support jokes followed. The tag eventually fell off and Fiona pretended her powers were gone, to avoid attention. Dolly the sheep showed up briefly. Lindesfarne and Fenton began to experience problems with schedules (nocturnal/diurnal). Rudy assisted with the delivery of Miss Aura's chick Nigel (yes, Miss Aura). Fiona met and fell for Vin Vulpen the fox, briefly abandoning Rudy. When she discovered that Vin abused steroids, Fiona left him, but not before Rudy headed off to The Wild and joined a cult. He eventually snuck out with the aid of Kevin, his hostility towards his stepfather lessened considerably, and he patched things up with Fiona. Miss Aura got in trouble with the school board briefly for having a child out of wedlock. Kevin, now homeschooling Coney, began to feel more predatory in nature and developed a relationship on WolfMUCK with a random online wolf who turned out to be Kell (although he did not know this at the time). Rudy joined the hunting team with Fiona (having learned effective techniques in his time in The Wild) in the mixed doubles slot. Fenton had a brief run-in with the law for a trivial offense which was ultimately ignored. Kell experienced problems with domestication. Fiona Fennec's parents showed up and acted like insensitive clods; however, it was revealed that Fiona's father George is a Fennec fox, with particularly long ears, and was in an arranged marriage with Martha, a typical red fox. Kevin had a brief run-in with a loanshark.

1998

Rudy almost discovered Bruno's relationship with Corrie, but was misled at the last moment. Lindesfarne revealed that Kell's boss R.L. and Rudy also suffered from domestication. Rudy panicked, but a placebo from Lindesfarne helped him feel better for a long time. Fiona, facing some bad publicity, underwent a second major makeover (to her original appearance). Kevin, attempting to fix the Y2K bug, temporarily threw the entire family into a time warp to prehistoric days; nothing significant was different.

Fenton met Tammy the moth, and missing Lindesfarne's company due to aforementioned schedule differences, became somewhat close with her. Lindesfarne therefore decided to switch from a porcupine to a hedgehog, becoming nocturnal, later making friends with Tammy; the two faked Tammy's death in a scheme to make Fenton feel bad. Fiona got an apprenticeship as a stalkerazzi. Her first case was that of suspected English royalty in that very suburb: Lindesfarne. Lindesfarne did some DNA tests, confirmed she was indeed royalty, then engaged in a scheme to make it seem that one Chertsey Ealing (in Britain) was really the lost princess; this succeeded. A run-in with the insurance company re-revealed Rudy's domestication. Miss Aura revealed (to the audience, not the cast) that birds secretly rule the world. Corrie got herself adopted by Candace, but couldn't stand the complete and total lack of flexibility; when Dolly showed up briefly they exchanged places. Vin Vulpen tried to get Rudy and Fiona and friends in trouble with a hate group, but the group collapsed. Tammy experienced hazardous relationships with various light sources. During a hunting competition, Vin Vulpen mysteriously disappeared, believed eaten. Kell's father died, and Ralph planned to sell all the family heirlooms, so Kevin got a temp job as Santa to buy them back, during which his ex-wife made an appearance (with her 20 adopted skunk children, including Gweneth). Lindesfarne experimented with role-playing as a human, a creature of her own imagination.

1999

Kevin had a brief run-in with Kell's old boyfriend at the gym. While seeking the missing Vin Vulpen, Fenton disappeared... he had interrupted a secret meeting of the birds and was sent to work at Microtalon in a "witness protection program," where he also found Vin Vulpen. Fiona realized her powers of technological repair were sent to her to fix the Year 2000 problem; a world tour ensued, and Rudy got lonely. Lindesfarne and Tammy met Ray Flambeau, the firefly. The birds apparently had a time machine. Corrie obtained a wolfskin (after an inept attack by Ralph). Kevin found a semi-intelligent daisy, named it Daisy, and kept it as a pet. Rudy realized Fiona was rapidly becoming rich, and battled his inner demons, such as Greed. Kevin launched "Flea-Bay". Dolly, experiencing rapid aging, ran off briefly, was accidentally zapped by the time machine and became an infant. Ray was accidentally zapped with an intelligence beam, and was moved to work at Microtalon. Lindesfarne baby-sat Gweneth and siblings for Angelique. Kell's mom, who lost her inheritance day-trading, moved into the attic. Nigel and Coney briefly played with the aging functions of the time machine. The Y2K and so-called Great Bird Conspiracy wound down...

2000

...with everyone returning to normal, and going home to their loved ones. All time machines, intelligence beams, and similar advanced technology were destroyed. Fenton proposed, but Lindesfarne wasn't ready yet. Angelique married Kell's boss, RL, who she met on Flea-bay. Kevin had a run-in with the rabbit council, but revealed that it was not him but Angelique who was leaking secrets. Angelique's Rabbit License was revoked; she changed to a Long-Eared Rodent (rat) and got cosmetic surgery. Angelique bought out Kevin's business, but it was in turn later bought out by Fiona shortly before Angelique's evil scheme came to fruition. Rudy had a run-in with Vin Vulpen, which he defused by identifying Vin as domesticated. Fiona's parents divorced due to mutual infidelity. In late June, the strip switched to color and added large Sunday strips. Lindesfarne had a stint with NASA, which Rudy almost messed up. Rudy, temporary cured of domestication, started messing around with someone online, who turned out to be Corrie. This eventually led Corrie, disguised in the wolfskin from earlier, to join Civilization and pretend to be a wolf (calling herself Dale). Kevin launched the Hare-Link ISP, switching away from Flea-Bay and the Herbivore Forum. Kevin ran for election, lost, got what he wanted anyway. Vin fell in love with Dale. The comic had a brief Christmas pageant.

2001

RL disappeared, Angelique took over Herdthinners, RL came back. Ralph goes to work for Kevin, soon becomes really fat. Kell got a promotion, found mere management "empty", and eventually got to work as a corporate recruiter instead. Off in the woods, she meets three vegetarian grizzlies, who turned out to be long-lost relatives of friends. Rudy started a webcomic (Rondo and Viola) about humans. Ray and Tammy married. Ralph completed a change of heart, accepting Kevin as family. Rudy and Fiona accidentally set up a relationship between Ralph and Martha, but accepted this as a good thing. Rudy's comic about humans was found to be causing instinct loss, so Miss Aura became his coach and, under pressure from school and sports, Rudy quit writing it. Lindesfarne had a brief run-in with a scheme set up by Vin. Bruno, wearing a sheepskin on his back as usual, was captured by some moles after who were after Dolly, and before escaping learned that Corrie was secretly the half-wolf daughter of Ralph. Corrie introduced herself to Ralph, and Ralph introduced Corrie to Martha (as "Dale", with the wolfskin). Martha immediately experienced, but later dismissed, second thoughts about her relationship with Ralph. Kell, dressed up as a rabbit, had a brief trip into the Rabbit Warren, ran into trouble, and was rescued with the aid of Kevin's (sleazy) dad, Pop Kindle. Angelique experienced A Christmas Carol parody to convince her to spend more time with Gweneth.

2002

Tammy and Ray had a baby (egg) named Angstrom. Pop Kindle was hired as a security consultant for Herd Thinners. Facing pressure from Martha, who had just proposed to Ralph, to seriously alter the way the Hare-Link ISP is run, Fiona (the owner) sells the business to her father. Rudy starts a new comic about a sheep with a wolfish personality, and as in indirect consequence, Dale is finally revealed as Corrie. Fiona experiences a growth spurt of the ears (to fennec-like proportions), almost has them shortened, has a run in with a Fennec Pride group which changes her mind, but soon falls out of favor with the group, finally retaining the ears. Vin loses his tail in an accident; in the search for a tail donor Lindesfarne discovers Rudy is Vin's half-brother. Fiona donates her pigtails for use in tail extensions for the two, changing her hairstyle significantly.

Ralph and Martha are married, honeymoon in Bermuda, encounter a dimensional portal to the human world, which was being used by a random (human) garbage scow for disposal purposes. Due to technical reasons, Martha returns home transformed into a human. Jokes ensue, including a parody of Beauty and the Beast, 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, and only her immediate family (Ralph, Fiona, Corrie) know of the situation.

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. An e-mail relationship ensues. Kevin holds "Rabbit School" to teach George how to act like a rabbit; George 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. Angelique and RL have a run-in with the law, but they were framed by Vin, who runs off into The Wild when discovered. A cute Christmas story featuring Coney rounds off the year.

2003

Pop Kindle has a run-in with the mob- er, more accurately, the Bovine Herd, but the Herd is busted by the cops. Bruno is revealed as a "closet herbivore", gets into a big fight with Rudy, situation resolves. 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. The Rabbit's Revenge terrorist movement plants a strikes Herd Thinners, Inc. Kevin and Kell investigate down in the Rabbit Warren, meeting Danielle, Kevin's twenty-ninth sibling. Danielle has the dirt on the terrorists, they're exposed and rounded up. Danielle moves in to the Dewclaws' basement, goes to work as an accountant. She discovers embezzlement, which Lindesfarne first traces to Fenton, but then to Tree. Danielle accompanies George to meeting with Zerda masquerading as his teenage daughter; shortly after Zerda dumps George, he develops a static-electric romantic "spark" with Danielle. When this proves hazardous to electronic equipment, they avoid each other. Bruno experiences hostility regarding his place on the hunting team while he is an herbivore; this is resolved with a little subterfuge. Kevin attends a Star Trek convention. Rabbit's Revenge elements come back for Danielle, who escapes and subsequently embarks on a mission with George and Kevin to destroy their records by means of the electrostatic spark; Danielle dies heroically in George's arms. Meanwhile in a parallel universe, a human with the same hairdo also named Danielle is investigating a garbage scow which was previously involved in the Bermuda Triangle portal business; she is accidentally launched through the portal, is transformed into the spitting image of the other (rabbit) Danielle, and ends up on the Dewclaws' doorstep. Although she initially meets much resentment from George, they later develop a similar romantic spark. Bruno encounters trouble with a pack of coyotes who hate his diet. Danielle engages in un-rabbitlike activities, such as consumption of meat, and fails her scampering test due to an unrabbitlike lack of fear. As she is weeping and knows not what to do, George Fennec proposes, Danielle accepts, and their wedding is scheduled for February. Bruno meets Rachel Einhorn the rhino, who helps save him from another attack by the coyotes. A sneaky plan deals with the coyote menace in a more or less permanent manner. Corrie gets jealous of Rachel, but then Rachel reveals that, due to poor eyesight, she had thought Bruno was a girl; he adds a set of horns to his favorite sheepskin.

2004

Danielle engages in wedding preparation. Rudy begins to suspect Danielle has a secret, finding a coin with a 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, above), she realizes that she is really a human from the other side of the Bermuda portal. After she and Rudy converse with Martha and those who knew about humans, she panics and fears she is causing instinct loss, attempting to flee to the human world, but Fenton pursues and dissuades her.

Suddenly, the comic begins a crossover with General Protection Fault. The characters Nick and Ki stayed and chatted briefly with Lindesfarne and Fenton. When they left, Danielle attempted to go along, failed, and quickly immediately regretted even trying. Lindesfarne and Fenton spoke with Danielle's regarding her humanity, and Miss Aura found out as well. Due to an imbalance in the universes, worldwide instinct loss began to occur, with dire consequences. Danielle and Lindesfarne realized this, so Danielle moved her (imminent) wedding to a cruise ship where she planned to head through the portal to the human world, but Mrs. Aura and Nigel appeared and went in her stead, leaving the cast with the story that they were "caretakers" of the portal. George and Danielle were married, and things returned to relative normalcy.

Kell recognized and overcame a prejudice against cats, with Rhonda teaching Coney how to pounce. Elanor became involved in an online relationship with Pop Kindle. Legislation was proposed to ban carnivore-herbivore marriages, and during the resulting discussions a legal anomaly regarding Kevin and Kell's marriage was discovered; the two were legally wed.

Rudy developed dystraxia, similar to dyslexia, in a manner which was stikingly similar to a storyline in one of the author's other comic strips, Safe Havens, which occurred in early 2000. The strip continues (http://www.kevinandkell.com/).

External links

Kevin and Kell comics online

Kevin and Kell is published in three primary locations. Of these, all but the first contain an archive of the entire strip:

• http://www.reuben.org/holbrook/index.html
  • The official site, it nominally updates at 11pm EST every night. However, the site has not had significant updates in its design or its "extra" content since approximately 1999. Furthermore, its update schedule is erratic: it has been known to skip updating for entire days, or be up to twelve hours early.
• http://www.herdthinners.com
  • The first Internet site to syndicate Kevin and Kell (original updates were via a CompuServ forum), this site also hosts the mailing list and IRC channel. It updates at midnight EST every night.
• http://www.kevinandkell.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.
• http://www.kevinundkell.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 2001 strips.

Other resources

• Plan 9 Publishing (http://www.plan9.org) publishes the Kevin and Kell books (http://shop1.got.net/plan9/Search.bok?category=Kevin+%26+Kell).
• The first strip (http://www.herdthinners.com/index.phtml?current=19950903) in the series is available.
• A mostly unofficial FAQ (http://kevinandkell.com/about/kk_faq.html) exists.
• There is a mailing list (http://mail.herdthinners.com/mailman/listinfo/kevinandkell) for the Kevin and Kell community.
• The Kevin and Kell IRC chat is available: channel #kk on irc.herdthinners.com
  • There is also a Java applet to connect to the chat (http://irc.herdthinners.com/javairc/).