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''Skin Horse'' was a
webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...
written by
Shaenon K. Garrity Shaenon K. Garrity is an American webcomic creator and science-fiction author best known for her webcomics '' Narbonic'' and '' Skin Horse''. She collaborated with various artists to write webcomics for the Modern Tales-family of webcomic subs ...
and Jeffrey Channing Wells, and drawn by Garrity. The storylines centered around the misadventures of the staff of a little-known government agency working on "Project Skin Horse". The strip started on December 31, 2007 and ended on June 26, 2022, and was updated every day of the week (although the Sunday updates consisted of fan art, sketches, and background). ''Skin Horse'' was part of the now-defunct webcomic hosting platform
Webcomics Nation Webcomics Nation was a webcomic hosting and automation service launched on July 29, 2005 by Joey Manley. Unlike Manley's previous webcomic sites, Webcomics Nation was based on user-generated content and relied on online advertisement revenue, wh ...
, where it was free to read. It is also syndicated on
GoComics GoComics is a website launched in 2005 by the digital entertainment provider Uclick. It was originally created as a distribution portal for comic strips on mobile phones. However, in 2006, the site was redesigned and expanded to include online st ...
, where the past month's updates are free to read, with further archives available to subscribers.


About

"Project Skin Horse” was a secret Federal
government agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...
, a non-human advocacy bureau responsible for rescuing and resettling non-human sapient beings created by
mad scientists The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" or " insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly amb ...
. For example, in the "Cowardly Lion" story arc, a lion augmented with human intelligence was roaming loose in a zoo. Skin Horse
field operative In espionage, a field agent or field operative is an agent who works in the field as opposed to one who operates at the office or headquarters. A field agent can work alone or in a group but usually has a case officer who is in charge. Field agen ...
s subdued, transported, and resettled the lion in a sanctuary for sapient
large cat The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus ''Panthera'', namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard. All cats descend from the ''Felidae'' family, sharing similar musculature, card ...
s. The rescued sapient beings were referred to as "clients". With the exception of the character Tip, the employees of the agency were themselves rescued former clients. An informal name for the organization was "
Black Ops A covert operation or undercover operation is a military or police operation involving a covert agent or troops acting under an assumed cover to conceal the identity of the party responsible. US law Under US law, the Central Intelligence Ag ...
Social Services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...
". They tended to cross paths with a rival
black ops A covert operation or undercover operation is a military or police operation involving a covert agent or troops acting under an assumed cover to conceal the identity of the party responsible. US law Under US law, the Central Intelligence Ag ...
military research organization known as "Anasigma". Unlike Garrity's earlier comic, ''
Narbonic ''Narbonic'' is a webcomic written and drawn by Shaenon K. Garrity. The storylines center on the misadventures of the staff of the fictional Narbonic Labs, which is the domain of mad scientist Helen Narbon. The strip started on July 31, 2000, and f ...
'', mad scientists did not play a central role. Rather, their monstrous creations did. Although the strip was conceived by and was drawn by Garrity, she and Wells co-wrote and brainstormed ideas together, with some scripts written by Garrity and others by Wells.''Skin Horse''
(official site)
The title was taken from a character name in the 1922
children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...
''
The Velveteen Rabbit ''The Velveteen Rabbit'' (or ''How Toys Become Real'') is a British children's book written by Margery Williams (also known as Margery Williams Bianco) and illustrated by William Nicholson (artist), William Nicholson. It chronicles the story of ...
'', where one passage reads: "'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse, 'It's a thing that happens to you ... Then you become Real.'"


Cast


Tip

Dr. Dennis "Tip" Wilkin, a relatively new field operative and the only fully human employee of Project Skin Horse, was a decorated former captain of the U.S. Army, a trained
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...
, a passionate
cross-dresser Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...
and an almost supernatural seducer. Tip was essentially a research psychologist, but in an emergency he could wield therapy puppets.


Sweetheart

Captain's Fancy Valentine Sweetheart was a
genetically modified Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including th ...
sapient dog, created by a mad scientist. She came to work for Project Skin Horse as a field operative. She was generally the most clear-thinking and rational team member, but periodically exhibited feelings of insecurity.


Unity

Unity was a "necrotic" being: dead tissue animated through a secret military process. A field operative for Project Skin Horse, she was Sweetheart's best friend. Unity was developed to be a bio-weapon, but proved to be too hard to control and was therefore moved to Project Skin Horse. Unity was good-natured, liked guns, and was inclined to use gratuitously unnecessary violence. Her safety phrase, "Blueberry waffles", to suspend her aggression patterns, was only revealed by Anasigma after Project Skin Horse had spent a fortune on obedience classes. Unity as a creature was actually a nanotechnology ooze that controlled the body it inhabited, as seen in the "Once and Future" story arc. As such, she could be transferred (with help) into another body or creature, although living bodies would reject her after a time, usually by vomiting her out. Her “normal” body was an amalgam of various human corpses of varying ethnicities, and several times throughout the series, she was seen to add, remove, or adapt to new body parts. Unity was also seen to gain intelligence proportional to the amount of brains she consumed, although social graces were not included with this increase. During the story arc "Railway Children," she consumeed a vast quantity of artificially produced brains, and with it gained superhuman intelligence levels. She repeated this during the events of "My brother Sam is Dead," only to use her insight to make comments about her teammates' behavior that left them distrusting of her in this heightened state.


Gavotte

The administrative leader of Project Skin Horse, Gavotte was a collective being consisting of a swarm of
bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...
s that thought with a single female mind. Most of the other agency employees were nervous around her—Tip in particular since he was fatally allergic to bee stings.


Moustachio the Thinkonium

A 19th century wind-up
automaton An automaton (; : automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions. Some automata, such as bellstrikers i ...
of destruction with a
clockwork Clockwork refers to the inner workings of either mechanical devices called clocks and watches (where it is also called the movement (clockwork), movement) or other mechanisms that work similarly, using a series of gears driven by a spring or wei ...
brain, Moustachio was the
receptionist A receptionist is an Employment, employee taking an office or Business administration, administrative support position. The work is usually performed in a waiting room, waiting area such as a Lobby (room), lobby or front office desk of an organ ...
at Project Skin Horse. He had a limited long-term memory and needed
wax cylinder Phonograph cylinders (also referred to as Edison cylinders after its creator Thomas Edison) are the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their heyday (c. 1896–1916), a name which ...
s from
cold storage Tim Wright, known professionally as CoLD SToRAGE (stylised as CoLD SToRAGE), is a Welsh video game music composer best known for his work on ''Wipeout 2097''. His compositions for the game drew on 1990s UK big beat and electronic music trends ...
to remember his earlier days. His legs were removed by the
British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
as a safety precaution. He thought and spoke like a 19th-century gentleman and had little regard for or knowledge of new technology.


Nick Zerhakker

A young adult, introduced in the "I Can Fly" story arc,
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
obsessive Nick was unknowingly co-opted into "Project Whirligig". The
black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
military program intended to weaponize him by secretly installing him in a
virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...
, then removing his brain and implanting it in a
black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
V-22 Osprey The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-use, tiltrotor military transport aircraft, military transport and cargo aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities. It is designed ...
–a military
tiltrotor A tiltrotor is an aircraft that generates lift (force), lift and thrust, propulsion by way of one or more powered Helicopter rotor, rotors (sometimes called ''proprotors'') mounted on rotating shaft (mechanical engineering), shafts or nacelles ...
aircraft–and finally subconsciously training Nick to control the Osprey as if it were his own body. In spite of Nick's love of shooting virtual bad guys, he abhored the thought of killing real people, and so he joined the Skin Horse team.


Minor characters

;Konstantin :Russian
black op A covert operation or undercover operation is a military or police operation involving a covert agent or troops acting under an assumed cover to conceal the identity of the party responsible. US law Under US law, the Central Intelligence Age ...
s agent who joined the American police force after "very accidental and surprising death of
Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...
." He was introduced in the "Cowardly Lion" story arc and later became an Annex One security guard. ;Dr. Virginia Lee :Introduced in the "I Can Fly" story arc as a mad scientist wannabe and member of a secret organization known only as "Anasigma". She was involved in the creation of both
U.N.I.T.Y. "U.N.I.T.Y." is a song by American hip-hop artist Queen Latifah from her third studio album, '' Black Reign'' (1993). The single was released by Motown on November 9, 1993, in the United States, and on January 6, 1994, in the United Kingdom. "U ...
and "Project Whirligig". Dr. Lee was specifically hired by Anasigma to reverse engineer Mad Scientist technology into "sane" technology, which she could do with moderate success. Unity was her first successful project, but others included the Brain-O-Mat that produced brain matter to feed zombies, and prevented them from feeding on living humans. :Dr. Lee had an ongoing romantic interest with Nick, but neither party was willing to discuss or admit to this for years — even to themselves. ;Captain Bram :A Canadian mad scientist who created Sweetheart and her pack mates and developed a virus to afflict humans with
lycanthropy In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...
. When his application to the
American Kennel Club The American Kennel Club (AKC) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit breed registry, registry of purebred dog pedigree (animal), pedigrees in the United States. In addition to maintaining its pedigree registry, this kennel club also promotes and sanctions eve ...
to recognize the "Genetically-Engineered Super Battle Dog" as a recognizable breed was denied, he vowed to force the organization to change its position by conquering the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
using said dogs. Bram died before accomplishing his goal, however, and his corpse was reluctantly eaten by his creations. ;Chris and Marcie :Two
nerdy A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted, or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly te ...
scientists working for the Department of Irradiation in Annex One, Chris and Marcie were often found gaming with (and within) Nick. Tip and Marcie briefly dated until she dumped him for Chris in the "Tin Soldier" story arc. ;Dr. Berenice "Tigerlily" Jones :
Blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...
-themed
mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insanity, insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabas ...
brought in on a
work release In prison systems, work release programs allow certain prisoners to go outside the prison and work at a place of employment, returning to prison when their shift is complete. It is granted only to prisoners who are sufficiently trusted or can be su ...
program to repair Moustachio during the "Brave Little Toasters" story arc.''Skin Horse'' Chapter 43677
at WebComics Nation ;Gold Bug :The mysterious benefactor of Project Skin Horse, who was known to Gavotte.


Reception

''
Io9 ''io9'' is a sub-blog of the technology blog ''Gizmodo'' that focuses on science fiction and fantasy pop culture, with former focuses on science, technology and futurism. It was created as a standalone blog in 2008 by editor Annalee Newitz under ...
'' praised Garrity and Wells for "piling absurdities onto absurdities without overcrowding their stories".The Black Ops department that’s on the monsters’ side
by Lauren Davis, at
Io9 ''io9'' is a sub-blog of the technology blog ''Gizmodo'' that focuses on science fiction and fantasy pop culture, with former focuses on science, technology and futurism. It was created as a standalone blog in 2008 by editor Annalee Newitz under ...
; published October 23, 2010; retrieved October 7, 2020
''
Comic Book Resources ''CBR'', formerly ''Comic Book Resources'', is a news website primarily covering comic book news, comic book reviews, and comic book–related topics involving movies, television, anime, and video games. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publicat ...
'' (reviewing the first collected volume) called it "delightful" and "laugh-out-loud funny, in the way that the
Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act known for their anarchic humor, rapid-fire wordplay, and visual gags. They achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures. The core group consisted of brothers Chi ...
were funny", and lauded it for "deliver(ing) a gag every day and also build(ing) up a larger storyline", comparing the "easygoing" and "simple, cartoony" art to
Walt Kelly Walter Crawford Kelly Jr. (August 25, 1913 – October 18, 1973) was an American animator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip ''Pogo (comic strip), Pogo''. He began his animation career in 1936 at The Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney S ...
, but faulted Garrity's "tendency to crowd the panels with text: "the dialogue really sparkles, but it also takes up a lot of space on the page."Unbound Reviews: Skin Horse
by Brigid Alverson; at ''
Comic Book Resources ''CBR'', formerly ''Comic Book Resources'', is a news website primarily covering comic book news, comic book reviews, and comic book–related topics involving movies, television, anime, and video games. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publicat ...
''; published September 8, 2009; retrieved October 7, 2020


Awards

* Outstanding Small Press award at the 2008 Stumptown Comics Fest.


References

{{Reflist


External links


''Skin Horse'' home page''Skin Horse'' page
on
GoComics GoComics is a website launched in 2005 by the digital entertainment provider Uclick. It was originally created as a distribution portal for comic strips on mobile phones. However, in 2006, the site was redesigned and expanded to include online st ...

"Nick Zerhakker"'s
LiveJournal LiveJournal (), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, as a way of keeping his high school ...
2000s webcomics Science fiction webcomics American comedy webcomics