Selkie

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A webcomic, written by Dave Warren, about adoption...with a twist.

Selkie follows the adventures of an amphibious young girl, and the man who adopts her. No one knows exactly what she is, but somehow she ended up in the municipal orphanage, where she was recently adopted by Todd Smith. The comic follows her trying to adapt to her new life...and Todd and his family trying to adapt to her.

Tropes used in Selkie include:
  • Adult Fear: In-universe. The grown-ups of the story seem much more disturbed when Selkie's shirt gets stolen than the children do. Justified for some of the children, who lived with her in the orphanage and may have known about Selkie's gill routine, which requires her removing her shirt.
  • All There in the Manual: There are several physiology sketches, and Dave was nice enough to actually type up a couple pages of Selkie's case file, print them out and scan them for us. Also, reading through the comments reveals a wealth of information from replies to reader questions.
  • Alt Text: Called Secret Director Commentary, it's basically little facts about either the making of the strip or the continuity. Later altered to be viewable below the comic, because some browsers were having trouble viewing it.
  • Art Evolution: The comic started out with hand-drawn black and white lines. Over the course of its run, it has gained smooth vector lines, followed by color, and then, finally, shading. The skill at which the art is drawn has also increased noticeably.
    • At one point Dave even did an experiment with no outlines, but it was dismissed by both him and most of the fans.
  • Ascended Extra: Thanks to her popularity with both the readers and Dave himself, Jessie the Wool-Mart clerk is now Jessie the third grade student teacher.
  • Big "What?": Amanda's reaction to finding out Heather got adopted.
  • Bilingual Bonus: Anything that comes out of Tony's mouth.
  • Big Eater: Selkie herself, especially when it comes to fish and other seafood.
  • Bi the Way: Although not referring to bisexuals in particular, the author has made references to a polygamous quintet, a gay couple wanting to adopt, and a "where are they now" short sees Jessie at home with her girlfriend.
  • Bizarre Alien Biology: Selkie herself. Blue blood, gills, no external ears, a flattened nose with slit-like nostrils, a carnivore with a healthy appetite for seafood, and poisonous saliva to boot.
  • Bland-Name Product: Apparently Selkie enjoys watching movies on Flixnet. Dave also enjoys a nice cold "Dew of the mountains".
  • Cats Are Mean: The first thing Todd's cat, Crook, does upon meeting Selkie is to bite her.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: George.
  • Cool Old Lady: Lillian--no, sorry, Mrs. Haversham-Zhang.
  • Cool Old Guy: Todd's father, as it turns out. He has parenting advice for Todd, and has no problem trying Selkies rather...odd...favorite food.
  • Enfant Terrible: Amanda. Torments Selkie with the idea she'll never be adopted (before Todd does, which sends her into hysterical anger), and introduces her to a new kid as the school's 'pet monster'.
  • Fish Person: The main character.
  • Fangs Are Evil: Averted. Selkie has a mouth full of sharp fangs prominently displayed when speaking and/or smiling, but is not evil or malicious.
  • Freaky Is Cool: Selkie was always passed over for more "normal" kids by prospective adopters, until Todd showed up and was drawn to her.
  • Genre Savvy: When Todd's father finds out Selkie is a mysterious non-human species, he quickly things to asks whether they need to worry about The Men in Black kicking down their door.
  • Gratuitous Foreign Language: Selkie's currently unknown language has briefly appeared, although so far it's spoken only by her and Mrs. Haversham-Zhang.
  • Happily Adopted: Selkie, of course.
    • And as it turns out, Todd himself. It seems to be a family trait.
  • Hellish Pupils : Subverted She has black sclera and slit pupils, but Selkie is a good girl.
  • Heroic Albino: Not quite heroic, per se, but Jessie is very sweet and understanding, even if she does have a tendency to put her foot in her mouth.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: To help a friend.
    • And later with the hated pink shoes.
  • Interspecies Adoption: Natch.
  • Iron Lady: Lillian Haversham-Zhang. "I study judo for a reason." Kind of crosses over with Mama Bear.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Word of God says he's going to avert this.
  • Long-Lost Relative: As it turns out, Amanda is Todd and Andi's daughter, whom Todd thought had died at birth.
  • Meaningful Name: A selkie is a creature from Irish mythology that can change from a seal into a person and back again-in other words, it can live both on land and in the water. This may also explain why she likes seals.
  • The Men in Black: Todd's father expresses worry about the possibility of them showing up because of Selkie. Todd points out that Selkie has public records, including a medical one, meaning that such an event would be unlikely.
  • Mismatched Eyes: Sandra, one of Selkie's hyper orphan friends, has these.
  • My Friends and Zoidberg: Clyde doesn't count.
  • NEET: Shinji from one of the nearby apartments.
  • Non-Mammal Mammaries: Selkie's species has them. She was also depicted as such in aged-up fanart before Dave posted the physiology sketch that proved it.
  • Noodle Incident: Did ya hear the one about the frog and the cigar? Well, it earned Tony a week with no dessert...
    • We actually get a good idea of what it was, given that the original outline for one strip had Selkie reciting it to Todd as they left the orphanage. Although she got cut off by Todd, it was fairly obvious where it was leading too...
  • Pluralses: A feature of Selkie's speech.
  • Retcon: Originally, in the background of Todd's room there was a book clearly labeled The Secret Kingdom, named so because it sounds like the title of a generic kids novel series, right? Turns out there was a book already written under the same title by Pat Robertson, "the person who blamed Hurricane Katrina and the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks on homosexuality and abortion." Needless to say, a new title was quickly substituted.
  • Shout-Out: Several.
  • Show Within a Show: Selkie wanted Sue and Kathryn shoes, from The Adventures of Sue and Kathryn. They are from a previous comic of Dave's, and are a ten-year-old zombie and wraith, respectively.
  • This Is Sparta: "Ares. Yous. Fulls. Ofs. Craps?"
  • Time Skip: A four month one, during which the adoption process takes place.
  • Too Spicy for Yog Sogoth: Selkie may actually be poisonous to even bite, judging by the reaction of aforementioned cat to biting her.
  • Verbal Tic: Selkie frequently adds unnecessary esses to her words. Considering her dental structure, she might not have a choice in that.
  • Webcomic Time: Ignoring the Time Skip, the entire comic so far has covered just a few days in-universe, with strips released over nearly a year in real time.
  • Wham! Episode: The Reveal that Amanda is Todd and Andi's daughter.
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