21st Century Fox

Jenny convinces Jack to enter a dance contest

21st Century Fox: Romantic Comedy of the Future is a webcomic that debuted (in its current form) on February 14th, 1999. It currently updates on Monday.

The strip is written and drawn by Scott Kellogg, and follows the exploits of Jack Black, a fox, Cecil Stuart, a giraffe, and various other anthropomorphic animal characters in the high tech future world of 2066. Jack is a traveling engineer, roaming from one assignment to the next, repairing equipment for TLATech in his high powered 2066 Thunderbird.

• Addresses:
  • Website: http://techfox.keenspace.com/
  • High-resolution mirror: http://www.hirezfox.com/21cf/
• Ran from/to: 14 February 1999 - current

The strip sometimes makes use of animated GIF files for special effects.

The Story So Far

Main article: Storyline of 21st Century Fox

Characters

Main characters

Jack Black

• First appearance: February 14, 1999 [1]
• Species: Red Fox

Jack and Cecil work for TLATech as field technicians, traveling all across the country on various assignments. Jack is a mechanical engineer, fixing hardware problems for customers. His prized possession is his 2066 Thunderbird. He is currently developing a relationship with Jenny.

Cecil Stewart

• First appearance: February 14, 1999 [2]
• Species: Giraffe

Cecil is Jack's partner at TLATech. Cecil's specialty is software. Cecil is married to Barb and Beth

Barb Kendall and Beth Regina

• First appearance: January 18, 2000 [3]
• Species: Giraffes

Barb and Beth are both programmers at Lockheed-Martin-Textron Skunkworks, where they work with Jenny. They are married to Cecil, and worked to get Jenny and Jack together.

Jenny Curtis

• First appearance: February 14, 2000 [4]
• Species: Red Fox

Secondary Characters

Joe Maus

• First appearance: November 29, 1999 [5]
• Species: Mouse

Dr. Nikola Tangent

• First appearance: April 10, 2000 [6]
• Species: Poodle

Technologies Mentioned

This is a list of science and technology that is currently being researched and developed, or a theory, that can be seen in 21st Century Fox.

Buckytubes

• First mentioned: December 1, 1999 [7]

Buckytubes are tiny tubes of carbon atoms that are incredibly strong, as well as having special thermal and electrical properties.

HUD Glasses

• First mentioned: April 10, 2000 [8]

Heads-Up-Display (or HUD) Glasses project a computer screen directly in front of the users eyes, over the field of vision.

Trivia

• The name "21st Century Fox" is reminiscent of the name of the film corporation "20th Century Fox".
• The comic archive also includes a special section for very early comics. The art is not fantastic, and sometimes the dialogue is difficult to read, but the comics are worth the read if you want to know more about Veronica and Slick Willy Nixon.
• In 2002, a reader contacted Scott about the possibility of hosting high-resolution copies of 21CF on his server after seeing original art from the comic and realizing how much detail was lost when the comics were compressed to make them download-friendly. Scott agreed, and HiRezFox was born. In addition to 21CF, HiRezFox is now home to almost a dozen artists, authors, and musicians.
• In her earlier appearances, Veronica Desmond is about as tall as Jack. However, when she shows up on Tombaugh Moon Station, she is the size of Joe Maus. Between these appearances, Scott was informed that vampire bats are not very large, as he initially believed. In her later appearances, Veronica appears her normal size.
• 21st Century Fox has featured cameos by characters from several comics, including Freefall, Kevin and Kell, and Newshounds. Likewise, the characters have also appeared in several other comics, including Cross-Time Café and the alternate-universe spin-offs Of Mouse and Moon, Pirates of Penumbra, and Carry On drawn by Scott’s wife Kathy Garrison.
• Several items from science fiction and pop culture have appeared in 21st Century Fox, including a map of the London Underground, HAL’s eye from 2001, the sonic screwdriver from Doctor Who, and Col. Scobee’s test plane accident is reminiscent of The Six Million Dollar Man.
• The author may or may not have attempted to rig the 2003 Californian recall election in favor of Gary Coeman
• The web comic's characters often use the exclamation "Jonny Freakinouter!", usually to express surprise.

Quotes

• Jack: "You can’t build a 300 kilometer tall tower in a hurricane."
• Jenny: (about America) "I’ve lived pretty much my entire life there, without once seeing a gunfight."
• Joe: "Better to have never loved at all than to have an unrequited love suck all the blood from your soul."

This stub about a comic could be expanded.