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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: The Late Shift)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
In Right-On By The Sea
One version of Jenny inhabited the picturesque seaside Canadian 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)
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)
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)
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 consciouss 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)
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)
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)
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. (COMIC: 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)
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
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.
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