Damn Fine Hostile Takeover (comic story)

Damn Fine Hostile Takeover was a standalone Jenny Everywhere comic story written by Joe Macaré and drawn by Nelson Evergreen. Released in two halves, it thus managed the feat of both being #4 and #5 in the official reading order of the original thirteen Barbelith Jenny Everywhere stories.

Reusing Jenny's friends Clea, Lex and Bradley and the town of Right-On By The Sea (from Macaré and Evergreen's earlier Name's Not Down), it also introduced Jenny Nowhere as a last-page sequel hook. Oddly, Macaré and Evergreen never wrote a Jenny Nowhere story past that point, but the character was picked up by later creators and became one of the main recurring elements in Jenny Everywhere media.

When an evil megacorp threatens to drive their favourite indie coffee shop out of business, Jenny Everywhere and her friends Clea, Lex and Bradley decide that some “direct action” is called for, and force their way into the local Apollo Coffee skyscraper to demand they back off. Unfortunately, although the corrupt executive himself is nothing formidable, he turns out to be evil enough to have a literal army of Faceless Cyborg Ninjas for bodyguard, and things get heated.

Worldbuilding

Jenny Everywhere

This story once again features the incarnation of Jenny Everywhere who lives in Right-On By The Sea.

Jenny Nowhere

Jenny Nowhere appears as a short-haired, blonde woman in a black catsuit. She has a grim expression, smokes a cigarette and appears to have just arrived in Right-On By The Sea.

Universes

This story entirely takes place in the universe home to the coastal city of Right-On By The Sea.

Other

Bradley, when being awoken, briefly confuses Clea's voice with a certain Eliza's.
Jenny and the gang's favourite coffee shop is the Cuppa Cha Cha Cha. Lois works behind the counter, although it's unclear whether it's her business or if she is simply employed there.
“Swinging London” is located “just over an hour away from sunny Right-On By The Sea, assuming the buggerin' train's on time”.
Clea notes that she has a PhD in Queer Theory and in Pop Culture Studies.
Lex hints at Fourth Wall Awareness, noting when Bradley complains about how violent their adventures always get that “it's what the public wants to see”.
The Faceless Cyborg Ninjas appear to be vat-grown.
Lex has an unrequited crush on Lois.

Continuity

Jenny, Lex, Clea and Bradley's adventures were first shown in COMIC: Name's Not Down.
A different incarnation of Jenny recounted having once fought Faceless Cyborg Ninja to the Koala Bay Bares Naturist Resort's residents in COMIC: Ghost Story.
The introductory panel of Jenny Nowhere was recreated by Jack Harvey as a flashback in COMIC: The Legend of Jenny Everywhere when Grandmaster Awndisk, among other references to early Jenny Everywhere stories, recalled how she had “borne true duality”.

Behind the scenes

After its release on August 31st, 2004, Nelson Evergreen eventually recolored part two, giving it a "greyscale sheen" and reuploading it on June 10th, 2005. The original, non-greyscale versions of these pages are not known to be extant.

Homages

Paul Hoppe, creator of many works featuring Jenny Everywhere and Jenny Nowhere, created a portrait of this story's iteration of Jenny in 2013.

Read online

Damn Fine Hostile Takeover was originally available in two parts on Nelson Evergreen's personal website], as well as on the original Jenny Everywhere website. However, all these pages are now offline. Consequently, we reproduce the twenty pages of the story below.