Narcissist? (comic story)

Narcissist? was a standalone nine-page Jenny Everywhere comic story. It was created by MixMage, being part of a “wandering notebook” created by members of the Barbelith forums, known as the Blue Book. The story was eventually scanned and put online first at the Shifter Archive, and then by MixMage himself.

In a mental hospital, an unnamed man has a discussion with Jenny Everywhere (who appears to him in place of his reflection in his mirror). He lightly blames her for his predicament: it appears that she is the reason he got into magic, and that it is because of his interest in magic that he ended up in the mental hospital, although he admits that it's not all bad and the hospital has helped him in some ways. Jenny reveals to him that she actually changed the course of history at the request of his potential future self, going back in time to meet him earlier in his life than she originally did. She adds that she has layered a second paradox on top of this one, having just met his “new” future self from after he leaves the hospital, and even bringing the present version of her friend a message from the future self in question, encouraging him to wait it out!

Worldbuilding

Jenny

Jenny Everywhere appears in an incarnation with short, pointy hair.
She appears to shift by putting her foot behind her head, which in her case produces a “SPLINK!” sound effect.

Universes

This story takes place all in one, unnamed universe.

Behind the scenes

Background

When posting the story to DeviantArt in 2009, MixMage reflected about its creation:

My offering to The Blue Book took the form of a Jenny strip I'd already roughed out in my sketchpad. So as not to hog the Blue Book, I decided to make a pull-out folded into five sections. This gave me the nine pages I needed plus one section for sticking it to my page of the Wandering Notebook. Since I was using both sides of a strip of paper, there was no room for heavy erasing and reworking: I only had one shot at each panel and had to run with it no matter what happened. Which is what you see here.

—MixMage

Read online

Narcissist? was first published on the Shifter Archive, which is now offline. MixMage later posted the nine pages on DeviantArt, where they are all still online.