Gunnerkrigg Court
Encyclopedia
Gunnerkrigg Court is a science-fantasy
webcomic
created by Tom Siddell and launched in April 2005. It is updated online three days a week, and the first volume of the comic was published in print format by Archaia Studios Press
and Titan Books
(in the UK and Ireland). The comic has been critically acclaimed and has won numerous Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards
, as well as receiving positive reviews for its artwork and storytelling.
The comic tells the story of Antimony Carver, a young girl who has just started attending a strange and mysterious school called Gunnerkrigg Court, and the events that unfold around her as she becomes embroiled in political intrigues between Gunnerkrigg Court and the inhabitants of the Gillitie Wood, a forest outside the school. The comic's style and themes include elements from science
, fantasy
creatures, mythology
from a variety of traditions, and alchemical
symbols and theories; the literary style is heavily influenced by mystery and manga
comics.
in 2007; that book is no longer in print. In August 2008, Tom Siddell explained that the comic had a standard "comic book format" which was useful when he had sufficient pages to print a hard copy. The first fourteen chapters of the webcomic were printed as the first Archaia Studios Press
edition of 296 pages bound in a hardcover collection titled "Orientation".
Despite having been published, Gunnerkrigg Court is not a self-sufficient webcomic. Siddell has stated that he does not foresee Gunnerkrigg Court becoming his full-time job in the near future. Rather, he works on the comic during weekends, and keeps a buffer of comics drawn ahead of time, such that he works on pages about three months ahead of the "current" story online at any given point: as he explained in one interview, "If I was to keel over and die right now, there would at least be another three months of pages for the readers to follow."
. The themes and topics of the chapters vary widely: as one reviewer describes, "You are also not subjected to 400-plus pages of intricate plot movement. While there is an overall story arc, there are also lighter chapters that focus on unusual classes ... or small moments that build the main characters." Each chapter begins with a title page and ends with one or more "bonus pages," which are not integral to the main storyline but often offer ancillary details about the world of Gunnerkrigg Court or about minor characters. The chapters have varied in length from nine pages to over forty. Each page is drawn in traditional (A4; 210 × 297 mm) page format and divided arbitrarily into frames.See, for example, Chapter 19, Page 14 and Chapter 6, Page 5 for examples of different styles. At the bottom of the most recent page is a link to a comments thread for that page, in which readers may comment on and discuss that day's comic.
as a child, and that it has heavily influenced the literary style of his comic. His artistic style is influenced by many artists, among which he cites as his favorites Jamie Hewlett
, Yukito Kishiro
, and Mike Mignola
, as well as the manga
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
and Dragon Ball
.
One notable feature of the comic is the blending of mythological elements from many different cultural traditions, especially from the British Isles
and Native American
mythology.The comic contains characters such as the Black Dog
and the Mallt-y-Nos
of Welsh mythology, for example, as well as Muut
(from Cahuilla
) and Coyote
(a legend shared by many Native American cultures). There are also characters based on Old French
folklore, such as Reynard
and Ysengrin. Siddell attributes this style to his experience as a child: "I moved about a lot when I was younger and had the opportunity to grow up hearing stories from different parts of the world and I've always been fascinated by them." In addition to mythology, Siddell makes heavy use of alchemical
themes; for example, the main character is named Antimony
, after a toxic chemical element
, and many pages feature artistic depictions of alchemical symbol
s.See, for example, Chapter 5, Page 12. The symbol for antimony appears frequently in Gunnerkrigg Court: the character Antimony wears a necklace shaped like that symbol, the character Reynardine has the symbol imprinted on his wolf body, and the symbol is used to mark the end of a chapter.
The artwork of Gunnerkrigg Court has been described as "stylized," with simple character designs. At least one reviewer, on the other hand, has noticed that the backgrounds, in contrast to the characters, are often very elaborate. The comic has also been described as having a "rich" look in spite of its limited color palette,"I love his use of color, too, in particular, because he never has more than like ten colors on the average page, but it looks really really rich." and Siddell himself has stated that he first developed the idea for the comic using only a limited number of colors.Siddell: "I did another sketch right after that of the same girl and, wanting to color it but only having a very limited selection of marker pens, put her in an ugly school uniform with some crazy makeup." The pieces of artwork that Siddell has posted at the end of each printed book, entitled "Treatise" and "Second Treatise," demonstrate many such of Siddell's artistic and storytelling motifs: they integrate alchemical symbols, mythological figures, nature, and technology.
in a country that resembles the United Kingdom
, identifiable from the grey skies and mandatory uniforms. The comic contains other clues about the setting, such as the house system
that is described at the end of the first chapter. This system is similar to that used by many UK schools, including the one the author attended; Siddell has even stated that the school in which Gunnerkrigg Court takes place is modeled after his own secondary school
.
Gunnerkrigg Court, the fictional school around which the story revolves, is a mysterious and vast establishment that many characters suspect hides much more than just a school.See Chapter 8, Page 27 (Antimony: "This isn't just a school, is it?") and Chapter 19, Page 8 of Gunnerkrigg Court. The school appears to actively recruit many talented or extraordinary students.The characters Zimmy and Gamma, for example, were approached before the opening of the main story by mysterious men who offered to take them to the school. See Siddell, Tom. Chapter 11, Page 11. Gunnerkrigg Court. As the story progresses, it is soon revealed that the school is inhabited by a wide variety of both supernatural creatures—many of which become characters involved in the story's plot—and ultra-modern technology. One character explains that "the Court was founded on a union between technological and etheric design." Another describes it as "man's endeavor to become god."
The court is built on the edge of a wide chasm, on the other side of which lies the Gillitie Wood, which is inhabited by "etheric" or magical creatures. At the time when the main story takes place, the two sides exist in a kind of truce, with the Court as the realm of science and technology and the Wood the realm of nature and the etheric.
Coyote: "With my mighty paw I scored the earth and so the court and the forest were divided!" The denizens of the Gillitie Wood do not allow technology in the Wood, and the rules of the Court forbid students from leaving school grounds.
. The main story is that of the protagonist, Antimony Carver, and her deepening involvement in the intrigues between Gunnerkrigg Court and the Gillitie Wood, the forest outside Gunnerkrigg Court; she is accompanied throughout the storyline by her friend and classmate Katerina Donlan and her companion Reynardine, a demon living within her stuffed animal. As the story progresses, Antimony and her companions also slowly learn more about their surroundings, the relationship between Gunnerkrigg Court and the Gillitie Wood, and the beings they encounter.
The story begins when Antimony builds a robot to transport a mysterious shadow into Gillitie Wood, the forest outside Gunnerkrigg Court. Several chapters later in the comic, and apparently several months later in the story's timeline, the robot reappears on the bridge outside Gunnerkrigg Court; being controlled by a malevolent creature from Gillitie Wood, it pushes Antimony off the bridge when she goes out to it. Antimony spends a night at the banks of the river below the bridge, and encounters a ghost, before she is rescued by Kat and taken back to the school. Her brief time outside Gunnerkrigg Court, though, sets off a dispute between Gunnerkrigg Court and the Gillitie Wood. Not long after Antimony's return, the Court is visited by Coyote, a god from the Gillitie Wood, and General Ysengrin, the being who caused the robot to attack Antimony at the bridge. They express anger over the robot's visit to the forest, and over the damage Antimony caused when she left the Court.
Ysengrin: "This was recently found on our side of the Annan Waters."
Mrs. Donlan: "It's one of those birds!"
Ysengrin: "It had been there several months. By the time I discovered it, it had already rooted itself into the shore and caused considerable damage to the cliff face."
Headmaster: "Where do you wish to begin, General?"
Ysengrin: "Perhaps with the death of one of our people. At the hands of Sir Eglamore, no less."
During the time that the robot is gone, Antimony meets a creature named Reynardine, who tries to take over her body but, by accident, instead becomes trapped in the body of a stuffed animal she carries; and becomes subject to her command. Because of her relationship with Reynardine and the events with Coyote and Ysengrin, Antimony is nominated to begin training to become a medium, one of the individuals who moderate disputes between the Wood and the Court and communicates with etheric beings, and she decides to return to the woods to speak with Coyote. When Antimony visits Coyote, she learns that in the past Coyote had travelled across the sea to find Reynardine and Ysengrin
and make them into "powerful being[s]" like himself.
Antimony: "Why were you looking for Renard in the first place? Why bring him here?"
Coyote: "I sought to make him into a powerful being such as myself!" He had given Ysengrin "power over the trees" and given Reynardine the power to take bodies, but bodies that Reynardine took always died after he left them
Coyote: "For some reason, when Renard had the ability [to take bodies], any body he took that was not his own would die when it was used up." and Ysengrin was hardly strong enough to stand without the help of Coyote's tree armor. Reynardine had been in love with Antimony's mother, Surma,Coyote: "I wouldn't be surprised if he cared very deeply about you, [Antimony]! You see, Renard fell desperately in love with Surma!" and had used his power to steal a young man's body and woo Surma; the man died, however, and Reynardine was imprisoned in Gunnerkrigg Court until the events surrounding his first meeting with Antimony.Coyote: "[Reynardine] soon runs away! He steals the body of a young man and disappears into the Court, looking to woo the fiery Surma. We heard he was captured, tricked! ... and I did not see him again until last summer."
In addition to this plotline, the story includes several additional plot arcs interspersed with the main story. One concerns two girls from the Court, Zimmy and Gamma, who communicate with one another telepathically
. Zimmy sees hallucination
s of monsters, which she relies on Gamma to dispel.
Zimmy: "Yer gonna have ta take Gamma's place.... Gettin' ridda these guys." In one chapter, Antimony and another student, Jack, also become trapped briefly in Zimmy's hallucinatory world, and escape after they "find" Gamma there. Another storyline revolves around Antimony's attempts to repair her robot (which had been temporarily taken control of when it pushed her off the bridge), during which time she discovers a set of highly complex robots that she speculates are related in some way to the ghost she encountered at the river.
, Gunnerkrigg Court has been critically acclaimed in a number of online reviews, and has a large readership and an active forum. Author Tom Siddell has been interviewed about his work numerous times, mostly by non-mainstream online magazines such as ComixTalk. Kevin Powers of the Comics Bulletin
and Graphic Smash listed Gunnerkrigg Court as one of the series he "respect[s]," and ComixTalk (then called Comixpedia) listed Siddell as one of the twenty-five "People of Webcomics" in 2006.
The comic has received praise for its artwork and use of color, dark mood, slowly revealed mysteries, and pacing. Al Schroeder of ComixTalk has called Gunnerkrigg Court' s setting "marvelous" and "unique," and said the comic is "delightfully fun" in spite of its moody backdrop. Some reviewers, on the other hand, have criticized it, calling it "depress[ing]" and "dreary," noting that many details of the story and characters are not revealed, and pointing out the fact that none of the characters seem to be surprised or impressed by the strangeness of the world in which the comic takes place; others see this feature of the comic as a plus, explaining that "Annie's world is a place where it's given that anything—truly anything—can happen."
In 2006, science fiction author Neil Gaiman
praised Gunnerkrigg Court in his blog, which brought the comic to the attention of many more readers.
. Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation won a 2008 gold book of the year award from ForeWord
magazine in their graphic novel category. Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation was nominated for a 2009 Cybils Award
in the graphic novel
category.
Science fantasy
Science fantasy is a mixed genre within speculative fiction drawing elements from both science fiction and fantasy. Although in some terms of its portrayal in recent media products it can be defined as instead of being a mixed genre of science fiction and fantasy it is instead a mixing of the...
webcomic
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
created by Tom Siddell and launched in April 2005. It is updated online three days a week, and the first volume of the comic was published in print format by Archaia Studios Press
Archaia Studios Press
Archaia Entertainment, LLC is an American comic book publishing company established by Mark Smylie in 2002.-History:Mark Smylie formed the company as a home for his comic Artesia because the publisher, Sirius Entertainment, wanted to print the third series in black and white...
and Titan Books
Titan Books
Titan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
(in the UK and Ireland). The comic has been critically acclaimed and has won numerous Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards
Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards
The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards are annual awards in which online cartoonists nominate and select outstanding webcomics. The awards have been held since 2001, were featured in a The New York Times column on webcomics in 2005, and have been mentioned as a tool for librarians.The WCCA represent a...
, as well as receiving positive reviews for its artwork and storytelling.
The comic tells the story of Antimony Carver, a young girl who has just started attending a strange and mysterious school called Gunnerkrigg Court, and the events that unfold around her as she becomes embroiled in political intrigues between Gunnerkrigg Court and the inhabitants of the Gillitie Wood, a forest outside the school. The comic's style and themes include elements from science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...
, fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
creatures, mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
from a variety of traditions, and alchemical
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
symbols and theories; the literary style is heavily influenced by mystery and manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
comics.
Production
Gunnerkrigg Court was first posted online on April 4, 2005, and was originally updated two days per week. The comic began updating three days per week on December 25, 2006. The end of the seventh chapter in May 2006 marked the end of the "first book,"See the author's comment on Chapter 7, Page 23, in which he identifies that chapter at the end of the first book. Bonus Page 7, the last page in that chapter, was posted on May 22, 2006. which Siddell published through Lulu.comLulu.com
Lulu is a company offering publishing, printing, and distribution services with headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina. Since their founding in 2002, Lulu has published over 1.1 million titles by creators in over 200 countries and territories and adds 20,000 new titles to their catalogue a month...
in 2007; that book is no longer in print. In August 2008, Tom Siddell explained that the comic had a standard "comic book format" which was useful when he had sufficient pages to print a hard copy. The first fourteen chapters of the webcomic were printed as the first Archaia Studios Press
Archaia Studios Press
Archaia Entertainment, LLC is an American comic book publishing company established by Mark Smylie in 2002.-History:Mark Smylie formed the company as a home for his comic Artesia because the publisher, Sirius Entertainment, wanted to print the third series in black and white...
edition of 296 pages bound in a hardcover collection titled "Orientation".
Despite having been published, Gunnerkrigg Court is not a self-sufficient webcomic. Siddell has stated that he does not foresee Gunnerkrigg Court becoming his full-time job in the near future. Rather, he works on the comic during weekends, and keeps a buffer of comics drawn ahead of time, such that he works on pages about three months ahead of the "current" story online at any given point: as he explained in one interview, "If I was to keel over and die right now, there would at least be another three months of pages for the readers to follow."
Format
The Gunnerkrigg Court webcomic is told in a series of episodic chapters such that each, while forming part of the overall storyline, also functions individually as a stand-alone plot arcStory arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
. The themes and topics of the chapters vary widely: as one reviewer describes, "You are also not subjected to 400-plus pages of intricate plot movement. While there is an overall story arc, there are also lighter chapters that focus on unusual classes ... or small moments that build the main characters." Each chapter begins with a title page and ends with one or more "bonus pages," which are not integral to the main storyline but often offer ancillary details about the world of Gunnerkrigg Court or about minor characters. The chapters have varied in length from nine pages to over forty. Each page is drawn in traditional (A4; 210 × 297 mm) page format and divided arbitrarily into frames.See, for example, Chapter 19, Page 14 and Chapter 6, Page 5 for examples of different styles. At the bottom of the most recent page is a link to a comments thread for that page, in which readers may comment on and discuss that day's comic.
Influences
Siddell has stated that he enjoyed reading Alfred Hitchcock & The Three InvestigatorsThree Investigators
The Three Investigators is an American juvenile detective book series first published as "Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators" but also expanded in Germany. It was created by Robert Arthur, Jr., who believed using a famous figure such as movie director Hitchcock would attract attention....
as a child, and that it has heavily influenced the literary style of his comic. His artistic style is influenced by many artists, among which he cites as his favorites Jamie Hewlett
Jamie Hewlett
Jamie Christopher Hewlett is an English comic book artist and designer. He is known for being the co-creator of the comic Tank Girl and co-creator of the virtual band Gorillaz.-Biography:...
, Yukito Kishiro
Yukito Kishiro
is a Japanese manga artist, born March 20, 1967 in Tokyo, Japan.-Works:*Hito **Kikai **Kaiousei **Hito **Dai-Majin **Mirai Tokyo Headman **Uchukaizokushonendai...
, and Mike Mignola
Mike Mignola
Michael Joseph "Mike" Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer who created the comic book series Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics. He has worked for animation projects such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the adaptation of his one shot comic book, The Amazing Screw-On Head.-Career:Mignola...
, as well as the manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (manga)
is a post-apocalyptic manga written and illustrated by acclaimed anime director Hayao Miyazaki. It was serialised intermittently from 1982 to 1994 in Japan...
and Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995; later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. Dragon Ball was inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the...
.
One notable feature of the comic is the blending of mythological elements from many different cultural traditions, especially from the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
and Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
mythology.The comic contains characters such as the Black Dog
Black dog (ghost)
A black dog is the name given to a being found primarily in the folklores of the British Isles. The black dog is essentially a nocturnal apparition, often said to be associated with the Devil, and its appearance was regarded as a portent of death. It is generally supposed to be larger than a normal...
and the Mallt-y-Nos
Mallt-y-Nos
Mallt-y-Nos , also known as the Night Mallt, is a crone in Welsh mythology who rides with Arawn and the hounds of the Wild Hunt, chasing sorrowful, lost souls to Annwn...
of Welsh mythology, for example, as well as Muut
Muut
Muut was the personification and messenger of death in the Cahuilla Native American culture, and was usually depicted as an owl or as the unseen hooting of owls...
(from Cahuilla
Cahuilla
The Cahuilla, Iviatim in their own language, are Indians with a common culture whose ancestors inhabited inland areas of southern California 2,000 years ago. Their original territory included an area of about . The traditional Cahuilla territory was near the geographic center of Southern California...
) and Coyote
Coyote (mythology)
Coyote is a mythological character common to many Native American cultures, based on the coyote animal. This character is usually male and is generally anthropomorphic although he may have some coyote-like physical features such as fur, pointed ears, yellow eyes, a tail and claws...
(a legend shared by many Native American cultures). There are also characters based on Old French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
folklore, such as Reynard
Reynard
Reynard is the subject of a literary cycle of allegorical French, Dutch, English, and German fables largely concerned with Reynard, an anthropomorphic red fox and trickster figure.-Etymology of the name:Theories about the origin of the name Reynard are:...
and Ysengrin. Siddell attributes this style to his experience as a child: "I moved about a lot when I was younger and had the opportunity to grow up hearing stories from different parts of the world and I've always been fascinated by them." In addition to mythology, Siddell makes heavy use of alchemical
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
themes; for example, the main character is named Antimony
Antimony
Antimony is a toxic chemical element with the symbol Sb and an atomic number of 51. A lustrous grey metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite...
, after a toxic chemical element
Chemical element
A chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. Familiar examples of elements include carbon, oxygen, aluminum, iron, copper, gold, mercury, and lead.As of November 2011, 118 elements...
, and many pages feature artistic depictions of alchemical symbol
Alchemical symbol
Alchemical symbols, originally devised as part of alchemy, were used to denote some elements and some compounds until the 18th century. Note that while notation like this was mostly standardized, style and symbol varied between alchemists, so this page lists the most common.-Three primes:According...
s.See, for example, Chapter 5, Page 12. The symbol for antimony appears frequently in Gunnerkrigg Court: the character Antimony wears a necklace shaped like that symbol, the character Reynardine has the symbol imprinted on his wolf body, and the symbol is used to mark the end of a chapter.
The artwork of Gunnerkrigg Court has been described as "stylized," with simple character designs. At least one reviewer, on the other hand, has noticed that the backgrounds, in contrast to the characters, are often very elaborate. The comic has also been described as having a "rich" look in spite of its limited color palette,"I love his use of color, too, in particular, because he never has more than like ten colors on the average page, but it looks really really rich." and Siddell himself has stated that he first developed the idea for the comic using only a limited number of colors.Siddell: "I did another sketch right after that of the same girl and, wanting to color it but only having a very limited selection of marker pens, put her in an ugly school uniform with some crazy makeup." The pieces of artwork that Siddell has posted at the end of each printed book, entitled "Treatise" and "Second Treatise," demonstrate many such of Siddell's artistic and storytelling motifs: they integrate alchemical symbols, mythological figures, nature, and technology.
Synopsis
Setting
Gunnerkrigg Court is set in a boarding schoolBoarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
in a country that resembles the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, identifiable from the grey skies and mandatory uniforms. The comic contains other clues about the setting, such as the house system
House system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
that is described at the end of the first chapter. This system is similar to that used by many UK schools, including the one the author attended; Siddell has even stated that the school in which Gunnerkrigg Court takes place is modeled after his own secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
.
Gunnerkrigg Court, the fictional school around which the story revolves, is a mysterious and vast establishment that many characters suspect hides much more than just a school.See Chapter 8, Page 27 (Antimony: "This isn't just a school, is it?") and Chapter 19, Page 8 of Gunnerkrigg Court. The school appears to actively recruit many talented or extraordinary students.The characters Zimmy and Gamma, for example, were approached before the opening of the main story by mysterious men who offered to take them to the school. See Siddell, Tom. Chapter 11, Page 11. Gunnerkrigg Court. As the story progresses, it is soon revealed that the school is inhabited by a wide variety of both supernatural creatures—many of which become characters involved in the story's plot—and ultra-modern technology. One character explains that "the Court was founded on a union between technological and etheric design." Another describes it as "man's endeavor to become god."
The court is built on the edge of a wide chasm, on the other side of which lies the Gillitie Wood, which is inhabited by "etheric" or magical creatures. At the time when the main story takes place, the two sides exist in a kind of truce, with the Court as the realm of science and technology and the Wood the realm of nature and the etheric.
Coyote: "With my mighty paw I scored the earth and so the court and the forest were divided!" The denizens of the Gillitie Wood do not allow technology in the Wood, and the rules of the Court forbid students from leaving school grounds.
Plot
The story of Gunnerkrigg Court involves several different ongoing plot arcsStory arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
. The main story is that of the protagonist, Antimony Carver, and her deepening involvement in the intrigues between Gunnerkrigg Court and the Gillitie Wood, the forest outside Gunnerkrigg Court; she is accompanied throughout the storyline by her friend and classmate Katerina Donlan and her companion Reynardine, a demon living within her stuffed animal. As the story progresses, Antimony and her companions also slowly learn more about their surroundings, the relationship between Gunnerkrigg Court and the Gillitie Wood, and the beings they encounter.
The story begins when Antimony builds a robot to transport a mysterious shadow into Gillitie Wood, the forest outside Gunnerkrigg Court. Several chapters later in the comic, and apparently several months later in the story's timeline, the robot reappears on the bridge outside Gunnerkrigg Court; being controlled by a malevolent creature from Gillitie Wood, it pushes Antimony off the bridge when she goes out to it. Antimony spends a night at the banks of the river below the bridge, and encounters a ghost, before she is rescued by Kat and taken back to the school. Her brief time outside Gunnerkrigg Court, though, sets off a dispute between Gunnerkrigg Court and the Gillitie Wood. Not long after Antimony's return, the Court is visited by Coyote, a god from the Gillitie Wood, and General Ysengrin, the being who caused the robot to attack Antimony at the bridge. They express anger over the robot's visit to the forest, and over the damage Antimony caused when she left the Court.
Ysengrin: "This was recently found on our side of the Annan Waters."
Mrs. Donlan: "It's one of those birds!"
Ysengrin: "It had been there several months. By the time I discovered it, it had already rooted itself into the shore and caused considerable damage to the cliff face."
Headmaster: "Where do you wish to begin, General?"
Ysengrin: "Perhaps with the death of one of our people. At the hands of Sir Eglamore, no less."
During the time that the robot is gone, Antimony meets a creature named Reynardine, who tries to take over her body but, by accident, instead becomes trapped in the body of a stuffed animal she carries; and becomes subject to her command. Because of her relationship with Reynardine and the events with Coyote and Ysengrin, Antimony is nominated to begin training to become a medium, one of the individuals who moderate disputes between the Wood and the Court and communicates with etheric beings, and she decides to return to the woods to speak with Coyote. When Antimony visits Coyote, she learns that in the past Coyote had travelled across the sea to find Reynardine and Ysengrin
and make them into "powerful being[s]" like himself.
Antimony: "Why were you looking for Renard in the first place? Why bring him here?"
Coyote: "I sought to make him into a powerful being such as myself!" He had given Ysengrin "power over the trees" and given Reynardine the power to take bodies, but bodies that Reynardine took always died after he left them
Coyote: "For some reason, when Renard had the ability [to take bodies], any body he took that was not his own would die when it was used up." and Ysengrin was hardly strong enough to stand without the help of Coyote's tree armor. Reynardine had been in love with Antimony's mother, Surma,Coyote: "I wouldn't be surprised if he cared very deeply about you, [Antimony]! You see, Renard fell desperately in love with Surma!" and had used his power to steal a young man's body and woo Surma; the man died, however, and Reynardine was imprisoned in Gunnerkrigg Court until the events surrounding his first meeting with Antimony.Coyote: "[Reynardine] soon runs away! He steals the body of a young man and disappears into the Court, looking to woo the fiery Surma. We heard he was captured, tricked! ... and I did not see him again until last summer."
In addition to this plotline, the story includes several additional plot arcs interspersed with the main story. One concerns two girls from the Court, Zimmy and Gamma, who communicate with one another telepathically
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
. Zimmy sees hallucination
Hallucination
A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
s of monsters, which she relies on Gamma to dispel.
Zimmy: "Yer gonna have ta take Gamma's place.... Gettin' ridda these guys." In one chapter, Antimony and another student, Jack, also become trapped briefly in Zimmy's hallucinatory world, and escape after they "find" Gamma there. Another storyline revolves around Antimony's attempts to repair her robot (which had been temporarily taken control of when it pushed her off the bridge), during which time she discovers a set of highly complex robots that she speculates are related in some way to the ghost she encountered at the river.
Main characters
| Antimony "Annie" Carver | The protagonist of Gunnerkrigg Court, she came to the school after her mother's death. Has a way with the "etheric" or magical beings that inhabit the Court and the Gillitie wood. She is able to see and communicate with the "guides Psychopomp Psychopomps are creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply provide safe passage... ," Mort: "You mean you could see the guides just like that?" spirits that lead humans into the afterlife. Antimony: "Kat, do you remember I told you about psychopomps? Kat: "Uh, those guys who escort dead dudes to the afterlife?" Acts as a medium between Gillitie Wood and the Court. Antimony: "Yes... Lessons in mediation sound interesting." Jones: "Very good. We will begin today." |
| Katerina "Kat" Donlan | Antimony's closest friend. Daughter of two teachers at the Court, Mr. and Mrs. Donlan. Whereas Antimony has close contacts with the supernatural, Kat is gifted in the formal sciences. |
| Reynardine Reynardine Reynardine is a traditional old English ballad; in versions most commonly sung and recorded today, Reynardine is a werefox who attracts beautiful women to him so that he can take them away to his castle... (Or interchangeably, Renard Reynard Reynard is the subject of a literary cycle of allegorical French, Dutch, English, and German fables largely concerned with Reynard, an anthropomorphic red fox and trickster figure.-Etymology of the name:Theories about the origin of the name Reynard are:... ) |
A demon that can take others' bodies, he is now trapped in the body of Antimony's doll and is subject to her command. Reynardine: "This stupid toy is hers, so now I can't do anything without her permission." In addition to inhabiting Antimony's doll, he may also take the form of a white wolf. He is very protective of Antimony, Kat: "That was pretty cute how you got all defensive about Annie before." which one character claims is because Reynardine had once been in love with Antimony's mother. Reynardine is a former companion of Coyote's, but has been confined to Gunnerkrigg Court because he killed a young man in the past. Antimony: "But why is Reynardine being held at the Court?" Coyote: "Why, he killed that young man, of course!." |
| Sir James Eglamore | The instructor for physical education classes, and protector of the Court. He shares his name with a dragonslaying knight from a Northumbrian folk song, and some characters have referred to him as a "dragon slayer", Eglamore: "Formal attire. You know how it is" Antimony: "For a dragon slayer?" Eglamore: "Haha! Well, that's just an official title." He also was in the same class at the court as Annie and Kat's parents. |
| Zeta "Zimmy" | A student at the Court. Zimmy claims that she never sleeps. She frequently travels to a dreamlike world recreated from scenes in her past, and sometimes other characters accidentally end up there as well. |
| Gamma | Zimmy's friend. Gamma is able to calm Zimmy when she is seeing things or in the dream-world (as is Antimony, to a lesser extent). She and Zimmy share a telepathic link. Speaks only Polish Polish language Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries... , and communicates with others by allowing Zimmy to translate for her. |
| Shadow 2 | A second shadow Shadow A shadow is an area where direct light from a light source cannot reach due to obstruction by an object. It occupies all of the space behind an opaque object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, or reverse projection of the object blocking the... that began to follow Antimony when she first came to the Court. Kat and Annie have taught him how to speak English.Kat: "We could probably teach him English real fast." |
| Robot | An anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s... robot Robot A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or... Antimony built. He is a model S13, with S standing for "Seraph Seraph A seraph is a type of celestial being in Judaism and Christianity... " in the comic. His original body was a highly complex design; he was later destroyed by Mr. Eglamore. Replacement bodies have included a robotic mouse. |
| General Ysengrin | A creature who lives in the Gillitie Wood. He is a wolf, but was given a 'suit' of roots and boughs by Coyote, covering his body up to the neck, usually in a humanoid shape, though he can alter it at will through his power over the trees of the forest. He appears to only leave it to eat. |
| Coyote Coyote (mythology) Coyote is a mythological character common to many Native American cultures, based on the coyote animal. This character is usually male and is generally anthropomorphic although he may have some coyote-like physical features such as fur, pointed ears, yellow eyes, a tail and claws... |
A god of the wood. He is also known as the Trickster Trickster In mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. It is suggested by Hansen that the term "Trickster" was probably first used in this... , although Jones claims that he never lies. |
| Jones | The instructor in charge of training mediums. Some characters think she is romantically involved with Mr. Eglamore. Antimony: "I think there might be something going on between him and Ms. Jones." She is incredibly strong, sinks like a rock when she is in water and does not seem to show any emotion, leading some to believe she is a robot, although she denied it when asked. Coyote calls her "wandering eye" when he encounters her, and accuses her of "stealing" the name Jones, implying also that she has done this before with other names -- something Jones does not deny. |
Reception
In addition to being officially recognized at the Web Cartoonists' Choice AwardsWeb Cartoonists' Choice Awards
The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards are annual awards in which online cartoonists nominate and select outstanding webcomics. The awards have been held since 2001, were featured in a The New York Times column on webcomics in 2005, and have been mentioned as a tool for librarians.The WCCA represent a...
, Gunnerkrigg Court has been critically acclaimed in a number of online reviews, and has a large readership and an active forum. Author Tom Siddell has been interviewed about his work numerous times, mostly by non-mainstream online magazines such as ComixTalk. Kevin Powers of the Comics Bulletin
Comics Bulletin
Comics Bulletin is a website with an emphasis on the American comic book industry, updated daily with news, reviews, interviews, and editorial content. Coverage ranges from mainstream to independent/small press comic book and graphic novel publishers.-History:...
and Graphic Smash listed Gunnerkrigg Court as one of the series he "respect[s]," and ComixTalk (then called Comixpedia) listed Siddell as one of the twenty-five "People of Webcomics" in 2006.
The comic has received praise for its artwork and use of color, dark mood, slowly revealed mysteries, and pacing. Al Schroeder of ComixTalk has called Gunnerkrigg Court
In 2006, science fiction author Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
praised Gunnerkrigg Court in his blog, which brought the comic to the attention of many more readers.
Awards
Gunnerkrigg Court has been nominated for and has won a number of Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards, shown in the table below. When the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards were discontinued in 2008 and replaced by The Webcomic List Awards (ran by The Webcomic List Community) in 2009, it won several of those as well. It was also nominated in 2006 for a Clickie award in the "International Clickie" category at Stripdagen Haarlem, a webcomics festival in the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation won a 2008 gold book of the year award from ForeWord
ForeWord (magazine)
ForeWord is a trade journal published six times yearly with the tagline, “Reviews of Good Books Independently Published.” The magazine is distributed primarily to librarians and booksellers to familiarize them with upcoming books from small, independent, and university presses, as well as...
magazine in their graphic novel category. Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation was nominated for a 2009 Cybils Award
Cybils Awards
The Cybils Awards, or Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards, are a series of book awards given by children's and young adult book bloggers...
in the graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
category.
| Wins | Nominations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 2006 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards is an award voted on by web cartoonists. The results of the 2006 WCCA were announced on 17 July 2006. The ceremony was introduced by the characters of Kristofer Straub.... |
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| 2007 2007 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards is an award voted on by webcartoonists. The nominations were announced in January 2007 and the results in February 2007... |
(tie with Inverloch) |
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| 2008 2008 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards is an annual award voted on by web cartoonists themselves. The nominations ballots for the 8th annual award cover webcomics active in 2007 and were emailed to pre-registered voters by 7 January 2008 and closed those submissions on 23 January 2008... |
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| 2009 |
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