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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)
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)
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
TBA
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)
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)
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)
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)
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