Living in Greytown

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Living in Greytown
Author(s)	Dave Kelly
Website	http://www.livingingreytown.com/ (subscribers only)
Update schedule	Concluded
Launch date	January 10, 2000
End Date	January 10, 2002
Followed by	Lizard!

Living in Greytown is a completed webcomic by Dave Kelly. It ran for exactly two years from January 10, 2000 to the same date in 2002. On January 10th, 2001 and thereafter, the strip was hand colored. The strip started as a silly and "gross-out" comic but quickly progressed to more weighty issues. It never completely lost its love of the bizarre, strange, and somewhat offensive. Characters were killed off with alarming frequency.

[edit] General plot

Greytown is a city run by a minor devil named Phil. It is a place that people come to but (almost) never get out of. It isn't quite Hell (hence "Greytown"), but it is a prison run by a demon. The people in it try to live their lives as normally as possible. The strip contains anthropomorphic animals -- a common device -- but here their status with humans and "interbreeding" becomes a parallel for racism and other class hatred.

"The Wall" is Living in Greytown's most serious and intense story arc. It starts with Joe (a human) marrying Kari (half-rabbit, half-human). Since Kari is seen by some as a "half-bred", this is a mixed marriage in some eyes. Terrorism ensues and soon a law is passed forbidding humans and animals -- including "partial" humans. A wall is erected with all the animals on one side the humans on the other. This rips apart many relationships and marriages.

The parallel to racism is evident, in particular the Nazi movement in Germany in the 1930's and 40's and the dividing of Berlin after World War II.

[edit] Characters

• Phil is a demon with an inferiority complex. His status as "bad guy" slowly changes as the strip progresses. His bosses are Hysteria and Zealiuss. The relationship with Phil and Hysteria slowly changes too.
• Joe is the most normal of the group. His name may be a play the phrase "average Joe."
• Lizard is the only thoroughly good character in the comic. He doesn't even swear (although he came close once). He turns out to be a good husband and father. His adventures are furthered in the completed strip Lizard!.
• Zoë is Lizard's girlfriend and later wife. Sweet, sexy, and a little more worldly than her husband, she makes a good counter-balance for Lizard's nerdiness.
• Lizzy is Zoë and Lizard's child.
• Razor, a teenage lizard; rebellious, but good-hearted.
• Bea or "Bitch" as she often calls herself, is externally the angry lesbian, but has deep internal struggles and addictions. She meets her life partner, Dr. Almonds, at the hospital where her former lover has died. Bea's first interaction with her it to punch her in the face.
• Boy Anger aka "Angry Boy" would be your typical angry youth except that he is ten when we meet him. Both his parents meet untimely deaths and he is taken in by Fred Astagio, his biological father.
• Nancy, the nude puppeteer.
• Ned, one of the few people to escape from Greytown, although not entirely successfully. He gets turned into a sausage.
• Johnny Gregg and Patrick the cat. Johnny is the first black (human) character in Greytown.
• Susan we first meet disguised as a "Chinese man" living with Lizard and Razor. She is actually a secret agent of some kind.
• Guy and Goil, a typical dysfunctional couple.
• Kari, Joe's girlfriend. Since she is half rabbit, she looks like a Playboy bunny, but her ears are real.

[edit] External links

• Living in Greytown
• Lizard, a sequel
• Jumpy, Joe's dog; a kind of prequel