History Webcomic / AGirlAndHerFed

'''Rachel Peng Novels:'''

* [[http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Divide-Rachel-Peng-Book-ebook/dp/B00C5QP5V6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1428508607&sr=8-3 Digital Divide]]
* [[http://www.amazon.com/Maker-Space-Rachel-Peng-Book-ebook/dp/B00IQILU4S/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1SJQSSR9EFG4E56FR8ZQ Maker Space]]
* State Machine (coming May 2015)

* [[http://www.amazon.com/Russians-Came-Knocking-Glassman-ebook/dp/B00E6F1WDY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1374929251&sr=1-1 The Russians Came Knocking]]

a singular war correspondent, and that he was later instrumental in the [[RedScare McCarthy Trials]].

* GeniusBonus: Early on in the strip, it's revealed that Ben joined up with Lincoln in 1830 or so, and the second one who called on him came a century or so later. Fans of history know that Edward R. Murrow was highly active in the 1930s, a singular war correspondent, and that he was later instrumental in the [[RedScare McCarthy Trials]].

* OurGhostsAreDifferent

* RedRightHand: Clarice Finch with her arm.

An unnamed woman who works as a journalism intern finds she is on a terrorist watchlist. When she confronts the unnamed Fed who is set to watch her, things get seriously, fantastically weird. There's a good deal of humor thrown in. And did we mention the forty billion undead pixies? And the talking super-genius koala? Once the fantastic elements are accepted by the reader, we then see [[GovernmentConspiracy how deep the rabbit hole goes]]. Much, much better than it sounds.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted. The Girl went to one and "blew twenty grand" when Ben first popped up. Also played straight and subverted with Abraham Lincoln. In the afterlife he has completely lost his mind due to stress from the Civil War, but no one has been able to help him- partially because he seals himself off from almost everyone, Frederick Douglass being one known exception. But apparently getting somebody in hasn't been tried, or if it has been tried, it has...not worked. When Lincoln is finally introduced, it became pretty clear that anyone who tried to get through to him would would be ejected from his presence the moment they hit a sensitive subject.

* ShoutOut: Check out the occupant of Suite A4 [[http://www.agirlandherfed.com/1.1116.html in this Brisbane office building]]. Wanna bet the address is [[FindingNemo 42 Wallaby Way]]?

** Also, whatever happened in the Fed's college days with a walrus. Mentioned a few times, so it's a BrickJoke.

* ActionGirl: The girl. She's one of the best in the world at judo.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Agent 146/Clarice deals with ghosts on a near-daily basis, but refuses to believe that [[spoiler: The Girl is an [[{{The Empath}} empath]]]].

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: The Fed asked George Washington - who had made his disapproval about the Agents' ongoing plans clear - what he would've done in his place. When Washington tries to duck the question, The Fed asks him point blank [[http://www.agirlandherfed.com/1.1093.html "Would you have run?]] Washington, to his credit, answers honestly, "Yes."
* ArousedByTheirVoice: Hope apparently [[http://www.agirlandherfed.com/1.183.html enjoys the sound of Vin Diesel]].

** Notably, the first dramatic art shift happened after a significant meditation event undertaken by the girl. She opened her eyes and from that point on, the world is drawn in full color and with more details (including characters having visible eyes whereas before, it was a case of EyesAlwaysShut). [[BrokenBase Slightly undermined]] by the art style reboot...
** The 'EyesAlwaysShut' bit was broken at various different points - the meeting with Mike, the flashbacks with the Fed and [[spoiler: Dixon's wife]], et cetera. The real art style change happened when the artist decided to do so for one reason or another...and the fact that she's bringing the whole strip into a more realistic style makes one wonder what it'll look like regarding those flashbacks.

--> Ben: "I came back from the dead for this Country. I will not sit passively by while what I fought to forge is CORRUPTED and DESTROYED!"

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Fed, whom The Girl [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname refers to as "Sparky"]]

** [[spoiler: And The Girl's name is revealed to be Hope Blackwell.]]

* ISeeThemToo: Originally [[http://www.agirlandherfed.com/2.747.html Twice simultaneously]], since {{RetCon}}ned to once, nonverbally, [[http://www.agirlandherfed.com/1.748.html when The Girl meets The Fed.]]

* InVinoVeritas: the Girl gets a lot less cynical after a fair amount of vodka.

-->Girl: Damn, we're juggling a load of [=MacGuffins=]. And I've heard [=MacGuffins=] are insanely high in calories... [[{{AWorldWidePunomenon}} Get it? Muffin? MacGuffin?]]
* MagikarpPower: The chips were considered abject failures until Ben unlocked The Fed's. Turns out they were crippled on purpose, but the trope still stands.

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: The girl. She has a day job, albeit a really sucky one.
-->"Sometimes when we're bored, the ghost of Ben Franklin and I get hammered on old scotch and he goes five hours into the future to cherry-pick high-yield stocks for day trading."
** Averted as of the TimeSkip, where Hope has her medical degree and is working at a hospital.

* TheSociopath: Hope outright calls Clarice one, and she admits that she's not far from one herself.

* TakeThat: To the Franchise/StarWars prequels, when The Fed [[http://www.agirlandherfed.com/1.346.html mentions that he wants to finally see them]], as he loved the original trilogy.

--> '''Girl''': ''We're gonna... go to the restroom and check on our drinks.''
--> '''Mako''': ''Great! Get me a for god's sake, separate your sentences. [[DeadpanSnarker With a twist of lime]].''

--> The Fed: "Oh good, the ghost of Benjamin Franklin has arrived. Now things can get back to normal. That's the sound of a mutant conservative koala bear in a screaming fight with an EXTREMELY pissed-off Liberal wanna-be journalist. To the best of my knowledge, it's a first for the record books."

* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: The Girl, in spades.

* SmallAnnoyingCreature: The Bitty Bush is a [[StrawmanPolitical not-so-subtle jab]] at former U.S. President GeorgeWBush, who is famous for his [[{{Malaproper}} verbal flubs.]] As a result, half the things it says are [[NonSequitur non-sequiturs]] and the other half are a result of it misinterpreting the Fed's commands. In addition, the Pocket President activates whenever the chip holder feels a particularly strong emotion, which means it's constantly activating against the Fed's will, and even occasionally ''while he's sleeping.'' Suffice it to say, the Fed takes the first chance he can to get rid of the Bitty Bush.

** The major exception is the Bitty Bush, which is one long TakeThat at GeorgeWBush.

* ABoyAndHisX

* BattleCouple

* WeaksauceWeakness: Agents in the program get instant, debilitating migraines when exposed to bright light.

* TimeSkip
* TooDumbToLive: The Bitty Bush is a [[StrawmanPolitical not-so-subtle jab]] at former U.S. President GeorgeWBush, who is famous for his [[{{Malaproper}} verbal flubs.]] As a result, half the things he says are [[NonSequitur non-sequiturs]] and the other half are a result of it misinterpreting the Fed's commands.

** [[spoiler:His real name is eventually revealed to be Patrick Mulcahy.]]

* TooDumbToLive: The Bitty Bush is a [[PoliticalStrawman not-so-subtle jab]] at former U.S. President GeorgeWBush, who is famous for his [[{{Malaproper}} verbal flubs.]] As a result, half the things he says are [[NonSequitor non-sequitors]] and the other half are a result of it misinterpreting the Fed's commands.

An unnamed woman([[spoiler:Hope Blackwell]]) who works as a journalism intern finds she is on a terrorist watchlist. When she confronts the unnamed Fed([[spoiler:Patrick Mulcahy.]]) who is set to watch her, things get seriously, fantastically weird. There's a good deal of humor thrown in. And did we mention the forty billion undead pixies? And the talking super-genius koala? Once the fantastic elements are accepted by the reader, we then see [[GovernmentConspiracy how deep the rabbit hole goes]]. Much, much better than it sounds.

** A completely straight example, when [[http://www.agirlandherfed.com/1.1187.html Coolidge asks Mare, "Do you think it will be enough?"]] -- "it" being their security measures, and not [[DoomedMoralVictor continuing to fight even in the face of possible failure]].

** A completely straight example, when [[http://www.agirlandherfed.com/1.1187.html Coolidge asks Mare, "Do you think it will be enough?"]] -- "it" being their security measures.

An unnamed woman who works as a journalism intern finds she is on a terrorist watchlist. When she confronts the Fed who is set to watch her, things get seriously, fantastically weird. There's a good deal of humor thrown in. And did we mention the forty billion undead pixies? And the talking super-genius koala? Once the fantastic elements are accepted by the reader, we then see [[GovernmentConspiracy how deep the rabbit hole goes]]. Much, much better than it sounds.

* BrickJoke: [[http://agirlandherfed.com/1.426.html Sparky and the group use Ben as a relay to record a meeting.]] [[http://agirlandherfed.com/1.447.html Sparky meets his ghostly security detail and realizes they've watched him have sex with the Girl. Several times.]] [[http://agirlandherfed.com/1.467.html Sparky and the Girl have sex in an elevator with no ghosts watching.]] Whoops.
** [[http://www.agirlandherfed.com/1.937.html Hope discovers that Ben was involved with Abraham Lincoln]] and says they'll start a club and make matching hats. [[http://www.agirlandherfed.com/1.1146.html 150 or so strips later, he seems awfully disappointed Hope didn't come.]]
* CharacterBlog: Speedy's Twitter

* DontExplainTheJoke: During a showdown with Clarice, Hope makes a joke about juggling MacGuffins, and how they are high calorie. She then explains "muffin? macguffin? geddit?"

** [[spoiler:His real name is eventually revealed to be Agent Patrick "Pat" Mulcahy.]]

* NoNameGiven: Both title characters, initially. WordOfGod had this was intentional. Their real names are eventually revealed as [[spoiler: Hope Blackwell and Patrick Mulcahey]] respectively.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted. Hope went to one and "blew twenty grand" when Ben first popped up. Also played straight and subverted with Abraham Lincoln. In the afterlife he has completely lost his mind due to stress from the Civil War, but no one has been able to help him- partially because he seals himself off from almost everyone, Frederick Douglass being one known exception. But apparently getting somebody in hasn't been tried, or if it has been tried, it has...not worked. When Lincoln is finally introduced, it became pretty clear that anyone who tried to get through to him would would be ejected from his presence the moment they hit a sensitive subject.

* StopHelpingMe: Bitty Bush. Played horribly, nightmarishly straight.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted. Hope went to one and "blew twenty grand" when Ben first popped up. Also played straight and subverted with Abraham Lincoln. In the afterlife he has completely lost his mind due to stress from the Civil War, but no one has been able to help him- partially because he seals himself off from almost everyone, Frederick Douglass being one known exception. But apparently getting somebody in hasn't been tried, or if it has been tried, it has...not worked.