Jenny Everywhere
Jenny Everywhere, also known as the Shifter, was an anomaly in the Multiverse: versions of her existed in most every universe and she had the ability to shift her consciousiness or her physical self from one universe to another.
Description
Physical appearance
Jenny Everywhere's physical appearance varied across universes, although certain core traits included short-cropped hair and the wearing of goggles and a scarf. She was, in most universes, human, with no particular physical abilities beyond her ability to shift and to tap into the pool of knowledge of her other selves. (COMIC: Jenny Everywhere and the Crossing Over Worlds)
In most universes, Jenny was of “average size” and appeared to be of Asian or Native American extraction, though she was usually vague about her actual origins. (COMIC: RIP Fourth Wall) Some Jennies wore a flower pin in their hair as a further distinguishing sign, alongside the scarf and goggles. (COMIC: Cars, The Late Shift, etc.)
However, some Jennies deviated quite far from the baseline in looks and, accordingly, psyche. At least one was a cat and Johnny Everywhere was, as his name implied, a man, who identified as such. (COMIC: The Death of Jenny Everywhere)
Personality
Jenny had “a ready smile” and was generally characterized by her upbeat, confident attitude. (COMIC: RIP Fourth Wall) She loved the thrill of adventure, for which reason she often stopped herself from tapping into her dimensional abilities even when it would have been to her advantage to do so; (COMIC: Jenny Everywhere and the Crossing Over Worlds) some versions of her were indeed tired of being treated as a dimensional hero rather than an ordinary person, and wished people would treat her normally for once, for instance by getting her gifts that weren't mystical artifacts of untold power. (COMIC: My Bloody Valentine) However, she did enjoy springing more of her ability on clueless opponents to surprise them. (COMIC: Jenny Everywhere Took My Breath Away)
As her various selves were capable of independent existence and consciousness despite ultimately all being the same person, Jenny was functionally polyamorous, dating several individuals at once across dimensions, including non-humanoids. (COMIC: My Bloody Valentine) In at least some universes, she was interested in sex and unafraid of speaking about it openly, including in rather crude terms; (COMIC: My Bloody Valentine, Soulless Mate) more generally, she could be quite uncouth, having no qualms about sprinkling curse words in her language. (COMIC: Bacterial Lunarversity) Jerry Everywhere told Drew that he was not “gay” but “post-straight”. (COMIC: Holiday Pandemonium) Although she also had long-term, emotionally-charged relationships, (COMIC: My Bloody Valentine, When She's Gone) some incarnations were prone to casual, purely physical affairs, although only with people they at least got along with. (COMIC: Holiday Pandemonium)
Some Jennies also had a violent side to them; the Jenny from Right-On By The Sea admitted to finding fights "fun" even though she granted they were a suboptimal way to solve problems, (COMIC: Name's Not Down) and another Jenny was shown to have no qualms about killing sentient opponents if she held them to be morally bankrupt. (COMIC: Mrs Zirma)
In more than one universe, Jenny had a documented liking for toast. (COMIC: The Late Shift)
Powers & abilities
Jenny's primary ability was the power of shifting: this allowed most versions of Jenny to pop between one universe and another at will, and also to teleport within a single universe. She could take people along on such trips. (COMIC: Soulless Mate) Other facets of shifting included the ability to shift her awareness to that of any other version of herself, (COMIC: My Bloody Valentine) and the ability to shift objects from other dimensions into her immediate surroundings at will. (COMIC: Jenny Everywhere Took My Breath Away) However, she could not always control her shifting perfectly, sometimes finding her consciousness suddenly wandering off due to some minor shock. (COMIC: My Bloody Valentine)
Jenny could read Sanskrit, (COMIC: Soulless Mate) and at least some of her incarnations demonstrated remarkable marksmanship skills both with a bow and arrow (COMIC: Untitled) and with a gun. (COMIC: Graveyard Shift)
Due to being genetically engineered, one Jenny had a variety of superhuman abilities, and kept developing new ones over the course of her early adulthood. Among them were a “super-sensitive endocrine system” and the telepathic ability to feel other beings' ennui. She also claimed that she had “a mental conduit to the invisible plane of ecstasy unobtainable to we average mortals”, although it was unclear whether this was a separate ability from regular mental shifting. This same incarnation also had horticultural and biochemical abilities, having cultivated the Focus Lotus blossom and used it to create a chemical that improved people's ability to focus on a transformative artistic experience. (COMIC: The Freak Issue)
Biography
Origins
Although it was shrouded in mystery, several accounts indicated that Jenny Everywhere had a singular origin story, and had notably had an "original" mother, prior to being splintered across the multiverse. (COMIC: The Late Shift, PROSE: Memories of Nowhere) However, according to one account, none of the Jennies in a telepathic conversation with a young incarnation of Jenny knew how they had originally, collectively come to be. (PROSE: Where Is Everywhere)
The comic book Jenny Everywhere: Secret Origins claimed that Jenny was born to a scientist and his wife on "the oldest and most advanced parallel Earth", located in a universe located at the Edge of the Multiverse. When she was still a baby, her father discovered that a Living Black Hole from another universe was about to destroy their universe. Jenny's parents thus built the Pod, a machine designed to allow their daughter to survive the destruction of the universe. The machine worked, but splintered the child into an infinity of incarnations instead of sending her to a single place; thus, the Shifter was born.
When asked by Retro if this story had really happened, one incarnation of Jenny replied with a shrug: "Eh, kinda". (COMIC: The Secret Origin of Jenny Everywhere) Indeed, other accounts contradicted the details of the Secret Origins story. One Jenny was able to visit her childhood home, showing it had not been destroyed; she remembered growing up there with her mother at least until the age of six, and having an older sister, who was cruel to her but whose love and approval Jenny nevertheless yearned for; this sister would eventually become Jenny Nowhere. It was at the age of six, in her mother's kitchen, that Jenny tasted her first piece of toast, a taste she would come to love, and associate with her mother ever after. (PROSE: Memories of Nowhere)
According to one account, Jenny somehow existed as "the Defender," a godlike being who opposed the Destroyer at the beginning of everything, fighting over the fate of the embryonic proto-multiverse. She succeeded in banishing the Destroyer into the nothingness beyond reality, but the damage it had dealt to the proto-multiverse was too serious for any of the universes to “blossom”, for lack of energy. Thus, the Defender sacrificed herself; letting go, she let “the personality pattern which formed her armor and her weapons and her self” flow into the “the gaps in the pattern of everything”. (PROSE: Where Is Everywhere)
Shiva once put forward a more prosaic theory: that Jenny Everywhere was actually a “dying child” living out her last days in a delusional, fractured fantasy of a million different, entertaining lives. He meant to unsettle Jenny with this possibility, but she retorted that if that were the case, it would mean she was in fact, functionally, the omnipotent God of the multiverse she inhabited; she thus found the notion empowering rather than dismaying, though she didn't seem to put much stock in it. (COMIC: Soulless Mate)
At the Flat Earth Bar
One version of Jenny lived on Earth in one universe. She often hung out at a bar called the Flat Earth with a human friend who didn't seem to quite believe Jenny meant every word of her fantastical adventure tales. (COMIC: Cars, Tribute)
Karaoke night mishap
Jenny once sang a song in the bar during what appeared to be a karaoke night. The song was flirtatious, and she began focusing on her friend, who was confused about the situation. However, she ended up forgetting the end of the lyrics, putting an end to the moment. (COMIC: Cars)
Legacy
Later, while reading the mind of a different Jenny, an alien ambassador known as the Nommo caught a glimpse of this incarnation. (COMIC: Say The Word)
David's girlfriend
One version of Jenny lived on Earth in an ordinary house in a universe where the supernatural existed but rarely impacted 21st-century humans. She dated an ordinary young man named David, who joined her on some of her adventures.
Valentine's Day
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Some time after meeting David, this Jenny invited him to her house for Valentine's Day. Before long, however, she found her consciousness shifting to what versions of herselves in three other universes were experiencing on their Valentine's Day. Distracted, she claimed to David that she was on her period, and apologetically told him they had better call off the date. David agreed, and hurriedly gave her the present he'd found for her, a copy of the Plasmanomicon. Jenny was disappointed that even David had gotten her a “special” gift rather than something ordinary for a change, and filed the book with the presents received by the other three Jennies, which she had somehow shifted into her reality. (COMIC: My Bloody Valentine)
Captured by Shiva
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Some time later, Jenny and David had planned their actual first date, to a concert. However, as Jenny was distractedly paging through the Plasmanomicon as she shifted to get them to the concert, her close-range teleportation failed, instead shifting the pair of them to another universe, a “Heaven” inhabited by Hindu Gods. The two were captured by Shiva, who cast them out into a “dense”, decaying universe. The two were soon restrained by the demon-like wretches who inhabited it, with David being tortured by a Cactus Demon whose spines tore at his face; however, thanks to Jenny's verbal guidance, he was soon able to reach a spiritual awakening which empowered him enough to frighten away the demons and, seemingly, restore his soul to him. After sharing a first kiss which Jenny, he helped her lead the demon-creatures to rebel against their unjust gods. As they reemerged in Heaven, Shiva congratulated the two, as this was in fact what he had meant to happen all along. (COMIC: Soulless Mate)
The Robbery
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In another universe, Jenny was a glamorous jewel-thief in a relationship with an elegant and talented master-thief. Though he'd originally promised to take her to Paris for Valentine's Day, they had to cancel to make use of an opportunity to steal a huge diamond. Although they ended up tripping the alarm, the master-thief told Jenny not to worry about him, and instead to take the diamond and escape. The Jenny who dated David (to whom she was physically identical) was later shown to have shifted the diamond in question to her house. (COMIC: My Bloody Valentine)
One Jenny believed that this Jenny was killed while trying to get away with the diamond, and was the one being buried in the Graveyard when yet another Jenny first discovered her nature as “the Shifter”. However, other Jennies in attendance believed they were burying a Jenny who'd died in a plane crash or who “had been shot by somebody's wife”. (COMIC: The Death of Jenny Everywhere)
Jenny and the Gumbie Cat
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One universe's Jenny lived with a middle-aged mad scientist in his gothic laboratory-slash-private-museum-slash-castle, though it was unclear whether she harbored any romantic feelings towards him. On one Valentine's Day, he gifted her Jenny Anydots, a genetically-engineered two-headed Gumbie Cat he had created with her in mind; she was unimpressed by his decision to name the creature after her. Like the diamond, Jenny Anydots soon found her way to the house of the Jenny who dated David (to whom she was physically identical). (COMIC: My Bloody Valentine)
A Date in Space
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Yet another Jenny existed out in space, where she was in a committed (though not always smooth-sailing) relationship with a huge alien being. She had to wear a space-suit to visit him on his home-planet, seemingly unable to breathe the same atmosphere. She was gifted a Raggalisk Egg by him on Valentine's Day, with the Egg also ending up in the house of the Jenny who dated David.
That version of Jenny was physically identical to David's girlfriend but dressed in a “1960's sci-fi” sort of space-suit, complete with huge bubble-like helmet, black gloves going up to her elbows, and a skirt; (COMIC: My Bloody Valentine) her skirt and shirt were both blue, contrasting with her red scarf.
Later, while reading the mind of a different Jenny, an alien ambassador known as the Nommo caught a glimpse of this incarnation. (COMIC: Say The Word)
In Right-On By The Sea
One version of Jenny inhabited the picturesque seaside British town of Right-On By The Sea, where she usually hung out in the streets with her inseparable group of friends Clea, Lex and Bradley. This Jenny was a fun-loving troublemaker (indeed, the town's only troublemaker) as well as a pop-music enthusiast. She and her friends once forced their way into an exclusive soirée at Club Twart by simply beating up the close-minded Bouncer after the Club's promoter, Nathan, walked back on his promise to Jenny to give them free entrance. (COMIC: Name's Not Down)
Jenny enjoyed hanging around with her three friends at the indie coffee shop the Cuppa Cha Cha Cha, being friends with the barista Lois. When she learned that Apollo Coffee, a heartless megacorporation, intended to drive it out of business to eliminate competition, Jenny decided that very literal “direct action” was called for. She travelled with her friends to Apollo's London H.Q. and found Jez Cock, whom the four tried to bully into relenting. This was delayed by their needing to fight off the horde of Faceless Cyborg Ninjas unexpectedly used as security by Apollo Coffee, but they were ultimately successful.
As they got back to Right-On By The Sea, Jenny confided to Clea that she was starting to get tired of getting into fights all the time, and the two agree on a wish that things quiet down for the foreseeable future. This wish was not to be answered, however, as Jenny Nowhere had just arrived into town. (COMIC: Damn Fine Hostile Takeover) Later, while reading the mind of a different Jenny, an alien ambassador known as the Nommo caught a glimpse of this incarnation, smirking in front of a heavily-graffitied wall. (COMIC: Say The Word)
With Nigel
In one universe, Jenny had become "an Everywhere" through hard work and risk-taking, with the title appearing to refer to a society of monster-hunters. This Jenny had the "standard look" but appeared more ruthless than usual incarnations when dealing with her foes, and was also allegedly prone to drinking too much, resulting in hangovers. One of her partners in monster-hunting was Nigel, an older man who would give her assignments or intel about her targets.
He once sent her to a trailer park to investigate Mrs Zirma, a mysterious old lady who was in fact a living, predatory alternate history. Jenny resisted her telepathic assault using a "password for mental attacks," the mantra “Jai guru deva om”, forcing Zirma to reveal her true eldritch form, and then destroyed Zirma using a Laudomite hand-grenade, “filled with the dreams of the unborn”. (COMIC: Mrs Zirma)
Recruiting Pedro Primavera
One version of Jenny had dark reddish hair and a tendency to call people "darling". Her form of shifting appeared to make her emerge from a foaming rainbow when she appeared in a new universe. Jenny's first trip to her six-billionth reality (and counting) was part of a "special mission" in the context of which, in a race against time, she had to bring a message to Pedro Primavera, whom she found as a confused young man on sitting a park bench. (COMIC: Afrenasia)
The smartest girl in school
As later recalled by someone who had been to school with her, in one world, Jenny, a thin-faced Asian young woman, attended a regular high school where she came across as “the smartest girl in school”. However, she spoke freely of her knowledge of alternative realities, including such things as the Mongol invasion of North America. At some point, she and the person who'd later recall her story became involved in a reality-bending adventure which impressed Jenny's companion to the extent that they never spoke about it to anyone, even their husband. (COMIC: Borders)
As a samurai
At some point, one incarnation of Jenny Everywhere was trained to become a samurai. Another incarnation of Jenny was able to draw on the skills she'd acquired in that life to fight her way through Snow White's Monster Men with Sir Parsifal. (COMIC: Beauty as a Beast)
As a ninja
At some point, one incarnation of Jenny Everywhere was trained to become a ninja. Another incarnation of Jenny was able to draw on the skills she'd acquired in that life to fight her way through Snow White's Monster Men with Sir Parsifal. (COMIC: Beauty as a Beast)
As a barbarian
One incarnation of Jenny Everywhere was a barbarian warrior, with all the fighting skills this implies. Another incarnation of Jenny was able to draw on the skills she'd acquired in that life to fight her way through Snow White's Monster Men with Sir Parsifal. (COMIC: Beauty as a Beast)
Adventure in Hideea
One “clever” incarnation of Jenny with a grouchy disposition and a tendency for strong language had very pale skin and short-cropped black hair. She wore a black parka and yellow scarf, and carried a backpack. This Jenny once shifted at random and appeared in a magical realm called Hideea, much to her dismay, as she disliked these kinds of “magical realities”.
After facing Dwarves and Monster Men and befriending the knight Sir Parsifal by helping him defeat a Dragon, she made her way with Parsifal to the Sorcerous, the evil queen who ruled Hideea and had every woman prettier than herself executed. She discovered that the Sorcerous was in fact a middle-aged Snow White who had taken after her stepmother after her husband “ran off with a bar wench”. Jenny talked down the conceited Queen Snow White anded ended up punching her, giving her a black eye that marred her ever-so-prized “beauty”. (COMIC: Beauty as a Beast)
Ms Everywhere
One Jenny Everywhere lived long enough to age into a mature-looking woman who wore a trenchcoat and served as a mentor to younger versions of Jenny just beginning to figure out their power, when they first came to the Graveyard. She notably officiated the funeral of a different Jenny who'd died. This Jenny, who had younger versions call her “Ms Everywhere” for clarity's sake, was knowledgeable about the nature of their collective powers and of the Graveyards, and also knew the details of several incarnations' lives. (COMIC: The Death of Jenny Everywhere)
Discovering her nature
One young version of Jenny Everywhere lived in a a largely mundane universe in a flat of her own. She was a thing young Asian woman with a pixie cut and usually wore a striped sweater. She grew up aware that she could “do things others could not”, but only with a very dim, subconscious sense that there were “others like her” in other worlds. She discovered the truth after she was transported to the Graveyard for the first time, where Ms Everywhere took it upon herself to explain things to her and introduce her to a few other incarnations of Jenny. Upon returning, she forgot the specifics of her stay in the Graveyard but retained her knowledge of her nature as “the Shifter”, and delighted in the fact that she would never be alone again. (COMIC: The Death of Jenny Everywhere)
Blonde Jenny
One Jenny had shoulder-length blonde hair and wore a black leather jacket. Uniquely, she did not appear to wear a scarf, or at least not all this time. Though all incarnations of Jenny had a “ready smile,” this incarnation was particularly prone to such, even at a funeral. She was one of the Jennies to whom a young Jenny was introduced by Ms Everywhere while in the Graveyard. (COMIC: The Death of Jenny Everywhere)
Earrings Jenny
One black Jenny had short hair, a quieter attitude than her blonde counterpart, and wore large earrings. She also appeared to wear large, square glasses in place of the traditional goggles. She was one of the Jennies to whom a young Jenny was introduced by Ms Everywhere while in the Graveyard. (COMIC: The Death of Jenny Everywhere)
As a cat
One version of Jenny Everywhere was a largely ordinary-looking cat, albeit one wearing a small scarf and goggles. She was introduced to the young Jenny by Ms Everywhere, answering the greeting with a placid “Meow”, while in the Graveyard. (COMIC: The Death of Jenny Everywhere)
Short-haired Jenny
A Jenny with a bob-cut was among the many Shifters who were mentally transported to the Graveyard. She lacked any visible goggles. She heatedly discussed the identity of the Jenny who'd died with a few of her other selves; she had “heard” that the Jenny who'd died was one who'd been killed while trying to steal a huge diamond, while others believed she had died in a plane crash or been murdered by somebody's wife. (COMIC: The Death of Jenny Everywhere)
Johnny Everywhere
One male incarnation of Jenny Everywhere went by the name of Johnny Everywhere. He had short brown hair, kind eyes and strong eyebrows. Johnny wore the traditional goggles and scarf as well as a frock coat, which he wore over a waistcoat with narrow vertical stripes. He also smoked a pipe. Johnny was trans, and was once mentally summoned to the Graveyard; although, in accordance with his mental identity, he appeared as a man within the Graveyard, he had, at the time, not yet undergone reassignment surgery in the physical world, a fact of which Ms Everywhere was aware, giving him grief over it. (COMIC: The Death of Jenny Everywhere)
Adventures with Trip
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In one universe, Jenny was apparently created by mad scientists as “a prototype for a superior human species”. She had various idiosyncratic superpowers, mostly revolving around increased senses, such as an “ultra-sensitive endocrine system”, “a mental conduit to the invisible plane of ecstasy unobtainable to we average mortals” and the ability to feel other people's ennui.
Although aloof in her demeanour, she was explicitly and outspokenly heroic, always looking for occasions to champion goodness and fight gloom and wickedness. She had a non-powered best friend and sidekick in the form of Trip. Jenny particulary championed mutant humanoids and other personages on the fringe of society like herself.
At some point, this Jenny Everywhere, who had horticultural abilities, cultivated the Focus Lotus blossom on “a remote antipodean island” and distilled residue from into a chemical which “shifted one's brain properties from a state of funfair-induced erratic grasping-for-immediate-sensory-pleasures to an uncharacteristic stateof constant and sustained focus”, ideal for experiencing a particularly great circus performance.
The Shifter once encountered the plight of Dromedary Man, a telekinetic hybrid who was being exploited as a circus freak at the funfair on the pier of a seaside town. After meeting up with Trip, she determined that the problem was that the unbalanced Mr Haffalife, builder and owner of the pier, was privileging unsatisfying, ephemeral but instantly-satisfied attractions rather than the art of the circus. After helping to recover Haffalife's beloved Giant Panda (a stuffed toy whose loss had turned him even crankier than usual) as well as Ani's journal, Jenny organised a dazzling circus performance that inspired a change of heart in Haffalife. Some time later, she and all the people she had met during the adventure got together for a dance party. (COMIC: The Freak Issue)
A frustrating holiday
In one universe, a skinny and foul-mouthed Jenny took a holiday to Greece, staying at the Illyria Inn and taking a guided tour of the ruins in the area. She found the tour disappointing, but one of her fellow tourists, the photographer Drew, caught her eye. She attempted to entice him to sleep with her, but he ignored her clear attempts to initiate a flirt. Sulking in a nearby forest, she came across the god Pan, who agreed to help her by temporarily transforming her in the form Drew would find most attractive.
As Drew was gay, this turned out to be a muscular young man. In this new form, the Shifter decided to go by “Jerry Everywhere”. After trying out his new body for a few minutes, Jerry headed back to the ruins to find Drew, but once again failed to seduce him, as it turned out Drew had no interest in casual sex in the first place and indeed found Jerry's advances off-putting. After turning back into a woman due to the spell thus being broken (as Drew had rejected the appearance supposedly patterned after his desires), the spited Jenny decided to sleep with Pan instead. (COMIC: Holiday Pandemonium)
Killing Alec Swan
One incarnation of Jenny, who had big, spiky black hair and didn't wear a scarf (but instead a black parka with large white trimming), once accidentally shifted into a graveyard in a universe where a loathsome necromancer named Alec Swan had recently returned from the dead. Bumping into Morrison Moore, an eccentric Scottish “investigator of the weird,” she helped him locate Swan. After Swan attacked them with an army of zombified versions of himself, who managed to kill Moore, Jenny was able to hit the original Swan with a gunshot, ending his evil at last. (COMIC: Graveyard Shift)
Late for her "shift"
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One version of Jenny worked as a retail clerk in some kind of bookshop and wore a short-sleeved checkered shirt. She could only shift in space and through dimensions, appearing incapable of time-travel within her own universe, forcing her to come back from any shifting adventures in time for her shift at work.
She once shifted into the body of her counterpart in the Third Universe, who was facing a firing squad, and began explaining her nature to an unknown audience. She shifted away just in time to avoid being shot at, her consciousness ending up in the body of a different Jenny who was being chased by a T-rex and then in that of an aviator Jenny in the middle of a WWI-style biplane dogfight, before her watch beeped, reminding her that she was late for her shift at work.
Returning home, she finished her introduction from behind the counter, not noticing several other Jennies in the queue. (COMIC: The Late Shift) Later, while reading the mind of a different Jenny, an alien ambassador known as the Nommo caught a black-and-white glimpse of this incarnation, who was seen sitting in front of a computer monitor. (COMIC: Say The Word)
Facing a firing squad
In the Third Universe, Jenny had clearly Asian features but with fair hair. She had rectangular goggles and a flower-pin in her hair, and was seen to wear clothing with a tiger-stripes pattern; first a shirt with matching trousers, and later a dress. While a different Jenny's consciousness had shifted into her body, she found herself facing a firing squad in a burning city. However, the visiting Jenny was able to physically shift away from the predicament before she got hurt, releasing her grip on the local body in the process.
Now under her own power, the Jenny with the tiger-stripes pattern later showed up, alongside several other Jennies, as one of the clients in the store where the Jenny who'd borrowed her body worked. She looked bored with having to wait as part of the queue. (COMIC: The Late Shift)
Running from a dinosaur
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In another universe, Jenny appeared to be a young black woman. She had short dark braids and wore unobtrusive, practical clothing, the flower-pin in her hair her only concession to stylishness. While a different Jenny's consciousness had shifted into her body, she was seen running from a T-rex in a nondescript prehistoric jungle.
It is unclear if this Jenny was in her native universe, in the past of her native universe, or herself on a dimension-crossing adventure. At any rate, now under her own power, the Jenny with the braids later showed up, alongside several other Jennies, as one of the clients in the store where the Jenny who'd borrowed her body worked. She looked grumpy about having to wait as part of the queue. (COMIC: The Late Shift)
Flying a biplane
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In another universe, despite Jenny claiming not to know how to fly a plane (unlike her mother), the local Jenny found herself in the pilot's seat of a biplane in the middle of a World War I-style dogfight. While a different Jenny's consciousness had shifted into her body, she was forced to abandon her burning craft and jump with a parachute. As she was drifting down, her watch beeped, reminding the foreign Jenny that she was late for work in her homeworld, prompting her to leave; it was thus presumably as herself that the pilot-Jenny made her landing. (COMIC: The Late Shift)
Building the Lotus Prime
One incarnation of Jenny, who wore a purple jumpsuit with a “JE” insignia emblazoned on her chest, had a vision while she was meditating of threats to the Multiverse that moved through 5D Space. To combat them, she designed, built and operated an advanced ship called the Lotus Prime, recruiting five other incarnations of herself to help power and man the craft. Although one of her original recruits was killed during one encounter between the Lotus Prime and the Entity, they nevertheless emerged victorious thanks to the help of a new fifth Jenny. (COMIC: Makeshift Multiverse)
The Shifter of the Lotus Prime
One of the incarnations recruited by the Jenny who built the Lotus Prime was a tall woman who wore a black cape and green goggles which she actually wore over her eyes most of the time. She went exclusively by “the Shifter” and was generally grim and embittered; according to the builder-Jenny, her world was “tough”. However, she was still an incarnation of the Shifter, with the benevolence that came with it. (COMIC: Makeshift Multiverse)
Shift
“Shift” was the nickname used by another one of the Jennies recruited by the Jenny who built the Lotus Prime. She owed her name to the fact that she was constantly shifting, being unable to stop even if she wanted to. This gave her a “blurry” appearance, although it did not impact her ability to hold friendly conversations, and she was indeed quite cheerful. As a living reservoir of unlimited shifter energy, “Shift” was the living source for the ammunition that the Lotus’s cannons used against the Entity. (COMIC: Makeshift Multiverse)
Armoured Jenny
One of the incarnations recruited by the Jenny who built the Lotus Prime was a friendly-looking Jenny who wore space-age full-body armour. She was also a full head taller than her comrades. (COMIC: Makeshift Multiverse)
Drained to death
The fourth and final Jenny Everywhere originally recruited by the Jenny who built the Lotus Prime had, like the others, been hand-picked for special aptitudes. However, she eventually pushed herself too far and was drained to death of shifter energy while the Lotus crew were battling the Entity, forcing the four remaining Jennies to make an emergency landing on the Earth of the nearest universe to enlist a replacement. (COMIC: Makeshift Multiverse)
Joining the crew of the Lotus Prime
One universe's Jenny, who wore a striped pink scarf, a salmon sweater or pullover that was too short to cover her navel, and blue jeans, and often travelled short distances on a scooter, was recruited by the Lotus Prime as an emergency replacement for their fallen fifth member. After doing her part, Jenny declined the opportunity to stay with the Crew full-time, stating that she found the 5D Space environment too blank for her taste and would rather keep exploring by herself. She had the others drop her off on “the nearest Earth”. (COMIC: Makeshift Multiverse)
Attending the Lunar College of Selene
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In one universe, a version of Jenny attended the Lunar College of Selene, supposedly a school for gifted young students, but in reality a "mental death camp", in Jenny's own words. It was unclear whether or not this universe had a native Jenny, but if it did, this version of Jenny would have originated on the planet Earth.
This Jenny, along with three other students, came up with a plan to overthrow the institution governing the Moon. By swearing at a Video-Bot, she convinced Ms Stern, a teacher at the university, to reassign her to the greenhouse, where she managed to steal a canister of extremely powerful fertilizer. Mixing the bacteria from her saliva with the fertilizer, she allowed them to multiply into the trillions. As her friends created a distraction, Jenny stole a lunar roving vehicle and escaped the university. Looking into a Video-Bot, she poured the bacteria-infused fertilizer onto the Moon's surface in the hopes of kickstarting evolution, saying "Let there be life" as she did.
This version of Jenny was physically identical to the Jenny who dated David, but was outfitted in the NASA-issued suit common to the residents of the Lunar College. (COMIC: Bacterial Lunarversity)
Assisting the Nommo
One version of Jenny, a young woman wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt emblazoned with the number “23”, shifted at random into a moving house in one universe, by the seaside. She briefly hoped that she had shifted into a world suitable for a vacation, but soon encountered the Nommo, an alien being from the Sirius star system, who explained that he had come to Earth hoping to bring humanity “Enlightenment” in the form of the Logos. Realising that, if left to his own devices, the fish-like Nommo would end up as more of a martyr than a prophet, Jenny decided to stick by him and help him plan out the gradual release of his utopian message through a series of art performances in various media. (COMIC: Say The Word)
The Shapeshifter
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One version of Jenny Everywhere was incapable of physical shifting from one universe to another, and instead justified the nickname of “the Shifter” by her ability to shapeshift into other creatures, all the while retaining her human intelligence and the power of speech. She once walked into the headquarters of NASA out of curiosity, and, when close to being caught by security, shapeshifted into an ape to avoid detection. However, she was then confused with the actual test-flight apes and forcibly sent on a rocket flight. This Jenny was last seen reflecting that “no shapeshifting would get her out of this one” as she became seemingly the first human in her world to leave Earth. (COMIC: Untitled)
Facing a monster
In one universe, one version of Jenny, a skilled marksman armed with a bow and arrow, faced off against a multi-tentacled monster on a forested planet. She managed to defeat the creature, sending it spiraling off into space. (COMIC: Untitled)
Max Murdock's friend
One version of Jenny, a thin woman with pale skin and brown hair, was incapable of choosing where she shifted without great effort. She could also temporarily connect people with versions of themselves in alternate universes, allowing them to experience their other selves' lives.
This Jenny shifted into a universe without a native Jenny and began a romantic relationship with Max Murdock, an employee of the Weekly Comet. After shifting out of this universe, she attempted to return, but ended up several years earlier in the world's history than she had last time. Instead of recreating her relationship with Max, she helped him smooth things over in his current relationship, turning Jenny's previous visit into an alternate timeline.
Later, this Jenny visited an alternate universe in which Max and his partner Andrea Campos had been married for fifteen years and wished them a happy anniversary, although neither of them recognized her.
In her future, this Jenny was apparently very strict about the prevention of temporal paradoxes. (COMIC: Jenny Everywhere is Back for the First Time)
In Reality Z-25 31-H
One Jenny who ended up in Reality Z-25 31-H (though she was not native to it) was a thin but athletic Asian young woman, who often wore a crop top and sneakers. She once travelled through an unidentified cosmic landscape with her boyfriend Jimmy Wherever and her friend and imitator Jenny Anywhere, eventually announcing to the others that they had almost reached their destination. (COMIC: Jenny Everywhere and Friends)
Nostalgia
At some point, one version of Jenny returned to her childhood home for the first time in “centuries” and was overcome with bittersweet nostalgia about her mother and about her sister, the one who would one day become Jenny Nowhere. (PROSE: Memories of Nowhere)
Taking a literature exam
In one universe, a version of Jenny aspired to become a physicist and an engineer and create a faster-than-light travel drive, but had to get through her schooling first, including a particularly troublesome 19th-century French literature exam. While taking the test, she accidentally shifted into another universe, in which she was one of the three musketeers. She used this experience to help her on the exam, but received a B instead of an A due to the fact that the universe into which she had shifted contained a Mind Flayer named Cardinal Dracula, a fact which she had included in her description of The Three Musketeers. (PROSE: Preludes and Distractions)
The fifth musketeer
In one universe, a version of Jenny was the "fifth musketeer", alongside Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan. This Jenny was born to a merchant father in China, but ended up in France after a shipwreck of which she was the sole survivor. Disguising herself as a male, she joined the musketeers, and the five often fought with the villainous Cardinal Dracula. After storming his cathedral, Jenny and her companions fought him with the hopes of finishing him for good. Jenny managed to stab him with a wooden bokeh, but he preserved his life by transforming into a dragon and attacking them again. It is unknown whether or not she survived this encounter. (PROSE: Preludes and Distractions)
Gunfight with the Cthulhu Kid
In one universe, a version of Jenny attempted to prevent the oncoming end of the universe by defeating the Cthulhu Kid in a gunfight. Although she managed to shoot the Cthulhu Kid, she was unable to stop the coming of the Old Ones; defiant, she stared them in the eye and stuck out her tongue. (PROSE: Showdown in the End Times)
Pondering her origins
In one universe, a young version of Jenny took an algebra class without being particularly invested in the material. She zoned off and had a telepathic conversation with a number of her other selves, asking them if any of them knew how they, the collective being of “Jenny Everywhere”, had come to be what they were. She was told that none of them knew for sure. (PROSE: Where Is Everywhere)
Elaine's friend
One incarnation of Jenny, who wore a green, short-sleeved T-shirt, jeans, and a reddish-pink scarf, sometimes dropped by a city in her apparent home universe which was also home to her friend Elaine Spratt. Although Elaine did not travel through dimensions herself, she was aware of Jenny's travels. (COMIC: Where the scarf is?) This incarnation of Jenny once gave a public service announcements on demons, both real and metaphorical, in an unclear context which limited her available time. (COMIC: Demons PSA)
She once dropped by Elaine's for an afternoon, being prevented from staying any longer by her being invited to a birthday party in another dimension the next day. She gave Elaine her scarf to be washed and dried, which temporarily made her resemble Jenny Somewhere, although she soon returned to collect it. (COMIC: Where the scarf is?)
Living with Laura
One universe's Jenny, who had a tendency to toss and turn in bed (hence giving, as she quipped, a double meaning to the nickname of “the Shifter”), was in a relationship with Laura. The two started living together, generally happily, although Laura couldn't quite get used to the aforementioned night-time shiftiness. (PROSE: Origin of the Shifter!)
Mixed-race heritage
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One version of Jenny was born to parents who were, according to her, both mixed-race. She naturally had dark skin and bright red hair as a result, and wore blue overalls as well as a small, cravat-like green scarf. This version of Jenny once met up with two others who shared her unusual, “mixed” physical traits. (COMIC: Jenny Redhead)
Dyed hair
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Another, taller version of Jenny with dark skin and red hair dyed her black hair red, instead. She wore a purple tank top, blue shoes and long cream-colored trousers. This version of Jenny once met up with two others who shared her unusual, “mixed” physical traits, during which occasion she noticed that something dimensionally-abnormal appeared to be happening to her right shoe. (COMIC: Jenny Redhead)
Mixed-up outfit
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A third version of Jenny with dark skin and red hair, the third and final guest to the aforementioned multi-Shifter event, wore a silly, “mixed-up” outfit that only nominally fit the commonalities of clothing shared by the vast majority of Shifters: she wore a scarf “around her neck” like a locket, on a necklace, and goggles “on her head” like some bizarre mask. Her bright costume, matched by her beaming smile, looked more like outrageous pajamas than anything else, including with fluffy pink slippers. (COMIC: Jenny Redhead)
Facing Caleb Ketchum
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One version of Jenny was once captured by her archnemesis Jenny Nowhere and her new ally, the evil chemist Caleb Ketchum. She was tied to a chair and fed a truth serum of Ketchum's devising. The two villains then asked her “where the rabbi [was] hiding”; to the evildoers' disappointment, Jenny placidly answered that truth serum or not, she couldn't tell them, as she hadn't the faintest idea. (COMIC: Truth Serum)
At some later point, when she caught Jimmy Wherever feeling blue and humming song lyrics to himself about how much he missed her whenever she was away, she answered with lyrics from a different song, offering him the chance to come with her on her next trip. (COMIC: When She's Gone)
Riding a Bugcycle
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At some point, a version of Jenny, being always up for trying new things, tried to ride a “bugcycle” — which she assumed worked like a regular bicycle or motorbike, but was really a genuine giant bug, with the antennae being what she had taken for the handlebar and no easy way to “start” it. (COMIC: Jenny and a Bugcycle)
Hanging out with Retro
In one universe, a version of Jenny who was skinny, with short-cropped brownish-red hair, green eyes, and pale skin, and wore a blue scarf was friends with the time-travelling android and noted comic fan, Retro. They once hung around in a large room, each in a comfortable green poofy chair, reading comics. After Retro read Jenny Everywhere: Secret Origins, a comic which purported to give Jenny's "true" origin story, he asked her if the story had really happened. Evasively, and seemingly confused by the question, Jenny shrugged and answered: "Eh, kinda".
Adventures with the Cupids
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One version of Jenny, who wore a thick red scarf and green parka and had brown skin and eyes, discovered that many versions of her were being lost, or losing their powers, due to the Rifts appearing throughout the multiverse. She investigated, and discovered than an organisation known as the Consistency Imperium seemed to be causing the Rifts to materialize everywhere they went. Even she soon lost control of her abilities, accidentally shifting into the Void itself.
Luckily, she found herself in the back of a Void Ship, specifically the Fog Ship of Pythagoras-858, a Clockwork Cherub of the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids. They traded information about the Rifts, and Pythe agreed to give her a lift as they joined forces to find the home base of the Consistency Imperium and hopefully foil their reality-destroying plans. (COMIC: Jenny Everywhere Meets The Crew Of The Copper-Colored Cupids)
Behind the scenes
Genesis
Creation of the character
Jenny Everywhere's creation was a collaborative effort which took place in 2001 and 2002 on the Barbelith Underground forum, where she was initially thought up under the name of “the Shifter”. Her basic look was unveiled on August the 13th, 2001 by Steven Wintle in a pair of public-domain sketches. He spoke at some length about the origins of the character, whom he had originally conceived (under an earlier form) for a never-materialized comic project.
| This is the Shifter. She has dimensional powers. To her associates, this means she can traverse say 4 or 5 dimensions, whatever taht means. The truth is, she can access all dimensions. Again, not sure exactly what that means (and now you can see why it was abandoned). The part I really liked about her was that she inhabited all dimensions at the same time. Or, to be more accurate, parallel universes. And yes, I was thinking Crisis on Infinite Earths. Basically, she's having an infinite number of adventures on an infinite number of planets. Our story involved her staying on one Earth, but that needn't be the case in this exercise.
Her past isn't necessarily what you'd call mysterious. She doesn't gripe about it, and so no one pries. Essentially, she's your angst-free, fun-loving, adventurer-explorer. No vigilantism here. If I had to compare her to anything, it would be like if Tintin listened to Le Tigre and joined the Fantastic Four. She's excitable, passionate, attentive, curious, and caring. Like Captain Marvel, she's just a really powerful kid. One thing I wanted to do, but would've got shot down by my friends if we pursued this, is that she prefers not to use her powers incredibly often. Part the appeal for her of this ongoing, infinite adventuring is the thrill of the challenge. When she uses her powers, in any capacity, be it big or small, it shouldn't be used often. She'd rather duke it out. Of course, there's no saying what or who she might "borrow" from another dimension, or what knowledge another one of her selves has gained which may come in handy. I realize her powers might seem a little unlikely. For instance, if she was on an infinte number of universes, wouldn't she ahve dies innumerable times by now? Or be bored stiff because she's done it all already? Maybe there's a mystery there, or she actually only exists in many, many universes, not an infinite amount. Regardless, her powers would at least allow the different creators to throw her in any situation they wanted. The sketches in the link are unfinished. Sorry, It's 4:30 here and I can't ink worth shit when I'm tired. I also realize that she isn't what you'd call your iconic superhero type. Them uber-heroes are hard to come by. Hopefully someone else will think of something better suited for an Open Source Hero. Until then… Excelsior! |
| —Steven Wintle |
The sketches were later appended to the following, equally-public-domain “canonical” description.
| She has short, dark hair. She usually wears aviation goggles on top of her head and a scarf around her neck. Otherwise, she dresses in comfortable clothes. She is average size and has a good body image. She has loads of confidence and charisma. She appears to be Asian or Native American. She has a ready smile. |
| —Steven Wintle |
Wintle's first sketch of Jenny.
Wintle's second sketch of Jenny.
The features and name of the character were decided upon in a later thread, with the first proposed name for the character being “Julie Everywhere” rather than “Jenny”.[1]
Further discussion served to crystallize the power-set and basic concept of Jenny as “the Shifter”, as there was initially some debate on the extent to which she'd be aware of her other selves' lives and the nature of her dimensional abilities.
Earliest stories
Steven Wintle began working on a comic story entitled Cars, which was never completed — in fact, Tribute, written for the 10th anniversary of Jenny's creation, would be the only full Jenny Everywhere story ever created by Wintle. Instead, the first comic project featuring Jenny to be completed and released was My Bloody Valentine, and the first to be released was Name's Not Down. Data are difficult to find, but the original Jenny Everywhere website gives the following official reading (and, likely, release) order for the thirteen earliest “Barbelith stories":
- Name's Not Down
- My Bloody Valentine
- Mrs Zirma
- Damn Fine Hostile Takeover (Part 1)
- Damn Fine Hostile Takeover (Part 2)
- The Late Shift
- Holiday Pandemonium
- Graveyard Shift
- Makeshift Multiverse
- Beauty as a Beast
- The Death of Jenny Everywhere
- Bacterial Lunarversity
- Soulless Mate
