Little Dee
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| Little Dee | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Christopher Baldwin |
| Website | http://www.littledee.net/ |
| Current status / schedule | Monday-Saturday |
| Launch date | June 7, 2004 |
Little Dee is a webcomic by Christopher Baldwin about a little girl lost in the woods who is befriended by three animals. The animals talk; Dee doesn't.
Begun on June 7, 2004, Little Dee is the most recent of several strips created by Baldwin in hopes of syndication. His popular and long-running strip Bruno was never intended to be syndicated, but Baldwin turned to creating more family-friendly and accessible comics.
Each strip is accompanied by a "Buy This Artwork!" link. The art is offered for sale in its original form, without its final shading, usually in two rows (which are combined into one on the web version), 7.75"x10.75" on vellum 100 lb (45 kg) bristol sized 9"x12". Once purchased, the name of the buyer replaces the "Buy" link, accompanied by the date and time of purchase.
On May 30, 2006, Little Dee began appearing on Comics.com, beginning with two weeks of "reruns" to initiate new readers. Comics.com is a service of United Media. On his website on June 13, 2006, Chris Baldwin stated that the deal is a developmental deal, for "a year, give or take, possibly leaning towards syndication depending on how things go." As of August 8 (possibly earlier) the strip is no longer available on Comics.com.
[edit] Characters and general plot
The strips starts with Dee lost in the woods. Lonely, she hugs the first thing she can find, a bear called Ted. Ted can't find it in his heart to eat such a cute girl, so he adopts her, much to the chagrin of his friend Vachel, a vulture. Blake, a domesticated dog who has become feral, convinces the others that they should look for Dee's parents, which they do periodically. The four live together in a cave inexplicably equipped with furniture, running water, and electricity.
Dee's real name is not known; it is the name Ted has given her. Some of their time is spent searching for Dee's parents; much of the rest is spent in the cave or on other adventures.
- Dee is an archetypal child: young, cute, innocent, and fearless. She represents all that is simple and cheerfully adventurous. That she does not speak adds to her childlikeness and seeming naïvete, yet she often is the boldest of all the characters.
- Ted is sensible, a parent, a mediator. Dee is most often seen hugging him. He is fiercely protective of her. The only thing that rattles Ted is Dee's misadventures. Ted is very fond of chocolate.
- Blake is the link for the other animals to the human world as he is domesticated, yet now lives in the woods. He is good-natured and somewhat naive and gullible — not the brightest of the characters.
- Vachel is the cynic and the curmudgeon of the group. He is the most likely to make snide remarks or see the dark side of things. He acts the least attracted to Dee, but she sometimes wins him over, especially with her fearlessness. It is sometimes hinted at in the comic that Vachel actually has a strong hidden fondness for Dee. Atypically, one of his hobbies is knitting.
- Pudú is a pudú, who lives in Chile and is constantly visiting Dee and her friends in the United States. Pudú has an easygoing, naïve personality. He is also highly energetic (as if hyped up by caffeine), and is quite a pushover. Series concerning Pudú's visits usually result in him offering to go home and fetch something to help with the current situation, only to return three to six months later and find that the object he has fetched now has nothing to do with what's currently happening.
- The alligator is an alligator who has a very strong crush on Blake (a feeling Blake does not reciprocate), and is unwilling to accept Blake's lack of feelings for him. Ted often kicks him out of the cave when he visits Blake (due to his fear that he will eat one of his friends), so he has taken to visiting in secret (despite the fact that Blake is agitated by this.)
- A couple of fish appear from time to time, usually chattering away while one of the main characters is about to drown. They eventually end up saving whoever is in trouble at the last possible second, by such methods as "poking him in the bum with a pin".
[edit] Little Dee in Print
| Title | Cover art | Publication Date | Contents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Little Dee: Volume One |  |
April 11, 2006 | All strips from the beginning of the strip on June 7, 2004 to the beginning of the hiatus in October 2005. |
| Little Dee: Volume Two | not yet available | September 24, 2007 | All strips from the end of the hiatus in January 2006 through June 16, 2007. |
