Main Characters
Casey Grimm
First Appearance:
#1
Casey is a perfect example of a mad scientist bent on global domination. One way or another, all of his inventions have something to do with that goal. He frequently slips into his "Dr. X" persona, wherein he dons a black mask and talks like an evil overlord. He has the technical genius to accomplish his goals, but he is often distracted or unintentionally thwarted by Andy's poorly thought out actions. Also, he seems to be a target for abuse by aliens. His girlfriend, Mary, loves him nonetheless. If there is a leader to the strange assortment of people living in the house, it is Casey.
- Deadpan Snarker: Probably the snarkiest character in the comic aside from Jenn. Most of his snark is directed at Andy.
- Determinator: If Casey has an idea, a goal or a dream, he sticks with it. On the positive side, this means he never gives up, no matter how bad the situation gets. On the negative side, it means he'll never abandon any idea, even if it has repeatedly proved to be a stupid one.
- Evil Genius: Admittedly an Affably Evil Genius, since he's pretty easygoing for the most part, but Casey is quite the diabolical schemer and inventor who is constantly plotting to Take Over the World. This side of him gets less emphasized as the comic goes on, but never quite goes away.
- Mad Scientist: Andy may make equally destructive inventions, but Casey is a far more dedicated Mad Scientist and (mostly as "Dr. X") is more likely to use his inventions for personal gain.
- Secret Identity: Parodied. Everybody knows that Casey is Dr. X, but Casey generally acts as if he's convinced they don't, sometimes going to ridiculous (and completely unnecessary) lengths to protect his "secret identity."
- Straight Man: Often, but far from always, plays this to Andy — but only to Andy, who is the only character crazier than Casey is.
- The Wonka: Contrasting and complementing Cloudcuckoolander Andy, Casey is far more grounded and logical... it's just that he, in true Wonka fashion, follows his own set of logic — and is good at improvising and twisting an unexpected situation to his advantage, which is probably why he's such a good Mad Scientist.
Andy Weir
First Appearance:
#1
Andy is a lunatic. The things he does don't always make sense, even in his own deranged mind. His girlfriend is Satan. He has died innumerable times. He dabbles with dark magic and mad science. His best friend and worst enemy is Casey. He doesn't get along too well with Casey's girlfriend, Mary, and the feeling is mutual. But, while disliking her, he has never actually tried to kill her (except for the punji trap), unlike with Casey. He has repeatedly killed not just Casey, but himself as well, usually by mistake.
- Artificial Limbs: In the final story arc, his right arm is ripped off, and he replaces it with an Arm-O-Mat.
- Author Avatar: He's based on the real-life Andy Weir, who has admitted that the comic's Andy is partly self-parody and partly a wish fulfillment character (mainly his ability to remain happy no matter what.)
- Cloudcuckoolander: As a contrast, to Casey, who's more of a Wonka, Andy has very little grasp on any sort of reality.
- Genius Ditz: He's a genuinely brilliant inventor, but he's also an idiot and a lunatic.
- Innocently Insensitive: While Andy can be supremely offensive and hurtful, it's hardly ever on purpose.
- Manchild: Andy is the endearing kind; he never loses his childlike enthusiasm and wonder.
- Perverse Sexual Lust: Towards Frances Cleveland. Who turns out to be a former form of his current girlfriend, Satan.
- The Pollyanna: You can't keep Andy down for long; no matter how dire the situation, he'll get back up and keep smiling. Granted, sometimes this is because he hasn't quite grasped that he is in a dire situation, but still.
Mary MacTavish
First Appearance:
#10
Mary is Casey's girlfriend. She must really love him to put up with his quirks (trying to take over the world) and his roommate. She is by far the easiest to get along with in the household. She is a normal woman trapped in a paranormal household containing two mad scientists and the Dark Lord of Evil. Still, she seems to take everything in stride, and only feels called upon to set Andy on fire from time to time. Despite hating Andy, she gets along with his girlfriend, Satan, quite well, and the two often have tea and "girl talk".
- Action Girl: Far more of a brawler than either Casey or Andy. Having lethal Wolverine Claws doesn't hurt either.
- Berserk Button: Mary really hates puns.
- Geeky Turn-On: One strip has Casey admit it's hot that, despite Mary's otherwise lack of extreme nerdiness, she knows some obscure Lord of the Rings trivia.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: To Andy, made worse by the fact that they live in the same house.
- Wolverine Claws: Thanks to Andy's unethical experiments. Though Mary is not happy with the experiments, she does admit that the claws themselves are pretty handy — especially since they make it a lot easier to take revenge on Andy.
Satan
First Appearance:
#12
Satan is the fallen angel, cast out of paradise by the LORD. She can assume any shape, and she has chosen this one for now. She is the celestial embodiment of evil, and Andy's girlfriend. Despite her job and reputation, she is easy enough to get along with, and actually quite polite. For the most part, she only uses her immense evil powers in small ways, but there's always the hint that she could do more if she wanted to.
- Ascended Demon: Satan briefly returns to her status as an archangel during Azriel's attempted takeover of Hell (which serves as an example of Shown Their Work — according to Christian theology, Lucifer was an archangel before being cast out of Heaven).
- Lady in Red: She mostly wears red, which is fitting, considering who she is.
- Meaningful Appearance: She's Satan, and she has two horns on her head and her orange hair has a red tuft at the front.
- Ms. Fanservice: Satan
- Not a Morning Person: In one strip, Satan is literally a monster until she gets her cup of coffee.
- Playing with Fire: As fitting for Satan, she can control fire.
- Satan Is Good: Or at very least, really adorable.
- Story-Breaker Power: Obviously. Every ongoing story arc needed some reason she couldn't or wouldn't solve the problem with a quick handwave, such as enjoying being tied up when captured, or her past incarnation being the villain.
- Took a Level in Kindness: As becomes evident by the last storyline of the comic, because when the gang time-travels back to 1886 and meet the Satan of that time period, they find that she's a lot more violent and sadistic than the Affably Evil, good-natured Satan of their own time. It's vaguely hinted that her marriage to Grover Cleveland mellowed her out considerably.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Our heroes have been tied up by the bad guy. Satan obviously could break free from her bonds and free them—but she really likes being tied up.
Quantum Cop
First Appearance:
#39
An incredibly smart, talented, and noble officer of the law.
- The Ace: Quantum Cop starts out knowing everything except bovine dentistry. A strangely high number of his solutions to quantum mechanics problems involve hitting people with sticks.
- Can Not Tell A Lie: Quantum Cop can't lie. He eventually gains the ability in the final arc as Character Development.
- The Stoic: Most of the time.
Jenn Brozek
First Appearance:
#117
The neighbor.
- Ascended Extra: Jenn was introduced as a throwaway character, but — likely owning to the fact that she was a (relatively) normal person among weirdoes — she quickly gained prominence and ended up as one of the comic's main characters, with most of the storylines either revolving around or heavily involving her.
Andy Weir (the author) even claims that he came to view her as the comic's main protagonist over time. - Deadpan Snarker: It comes with being the Only Sane Woman in a cast of lunatics.
- I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: Jenn is the Trope Namer.
- Not So Above It All: Jenn, though the Only Sane Woman of the strip, discovers to her frustration that she can't relate to actual normal people because her life is too weird, and that the boys have really been rubbing off on her.
- Only Sane Woman: As mentioned above, this was the main reason for her increased role in the comic. However, she's only the Only Sane Woman compeared to the utter weirdness of the rest of the cast — compared to people who are actually normal, she's the weird one.
- Stalker with a Crush: To Quantum Cop, at first. She once tried robbing a bank just so he'd come to arrest her.
- Weirdness Magnet: Jenn has an "abnormal probability curve".
Cujo
First Appearance:
#8
Andy's pet cat.
- Cats Are Mean: And Cujo is a bastard even by cat standards. In fact, even demons are amazed at how much pure malice can fit into such a tiny form.
- Nearly Normal Animal: Cujo has proved to be capable of near-human intelligence and reasoning, and his Inner Monologue is quite intelligent, but he still has a cat's instincts and concerns... meaning that while he could probably be more than just a normal cat, he plain can't be bothered. At least one strip shows him very plainly Obfuscating Stupidity in order to trick Andy into giving him an extra treat.
The Planet Devourer
First Appearance:
#312
One of Dr. X's failed experiments to dominate the world. Is capable of devouring anything...eventually.
J.J.
First Appearance:
#311
Jenn's time-travelling daughter, who only appears when her future existence is threatened.
Villains
Lord Milligan
First Appearance:
#90
An
Evil Overlord whose base is in Japan. Considers himself Casey and Andy's arch-enemy, though the true reason why (as well as his origin) isn't revealed until the final story arc.
The Mime Assassin
First Appearance:
#90
Azrael
First Appearance:
#138
Satan's #2, who tries to usurp her when her love for Andy has made her vulnerable.
- Oh, Crap!: Azrael tries to supplant her by absorbing all her evil, thinking it will make her disappear. Instead, he turns her into the Archangel Lucifer, who proceeds to kick his ass.
Don Cindy
First Appearance:
#153
Mirror Universe
Andi
First Appearance:
#197
Quantum Crook
First Appearance:
#200
Fantasy Universe
Andina
First Appearance:
#223
- Distaff Counterpart: The second of Andy's that is met. Casey notes a trend here: Every alternate Andy they encounter is female.
- Divine Date: She is not only the cleric of the god Zogor, she's also his lover. Andy notes a trend here: Every Andy, including himself, is dating some kind of divine entity.
- Good Counterpart: She has the same friendly attitude as Andy, but where he is amoral and Affably Evil, Andina is not only good but holy.
- White Mage: A classic Dungeons & Dragons-style cleric, she specializes in healing magics and resurrections.
Kasor
First Appearance:
#447
Milligawaine
First Appearance:
#450
- Card-Carrying Villain: His title is "Evil Grand Vizier," and he is in fact required to be a scheming and throne-aspiring villain. It's part of the job.
- Evil Chancellor: Evil Grand Vizier Milligawain, from the Mountain of Mages arc. Except he's really not bad; Court Wizard Kasor is the real villain.
Quantum Ninja
First Appearance:
#452
- Bait-and-Switch: Jenn assumes she's an assassin when they meet, and that she's about to be saved by a Quantum Paladin, which turns out to be a Stygian Zealot after her life.
- Distaff Counterpart: To Quantum Cop.
The Stygian Zealot
First Appearance:
#453
- Evil Counterpart: To the Religious Zealot, who is pushy and annoying but basically well-meaning. This version is a murderous assassin.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He's killed off on the second page he appears. Andina later tries to resurrect him, but it doesn't work.
Queen Jena
First Appearance:
#455
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Queen Jena is not easy to get along with; despite being far better off than the regular Jenn she's far moodier, grouchier and more spiteful... but she's not actually a bad person when all is said and done.
- Royal Brat: Not quite as young as the classic trope examples, but she's spoiled, haughty, unreasonable, petty and temperamental. She does avoid sliding into God Save Us from the Queen! territory, though, as she's basically a decent ruler and generally does the right thing in the end.
Other Characters
Death
First Appearance:
#2
The
Grim Reaper. Often collects Casey and Andy's souls after an invention goes wrong, though he backs off more often after his boss Satan gets involved.
The Religious Zealot
First Appearance:
#25
A door-to-door evangelist that frequently tries to convert Casey and Andy. Ironically, he gets along well with Satan.
- The Fundamentalist: He's a surprisingly subdued example of the trope. Sure, he's an intolerant and overly preachy zealot who thinks that the way to convert people is to angrily pester them until they give in, but he never goes any farther than this; he never partakes in any sort of Activist-Fundamentalist Antics, and he never crosses the line to Well-Intentioned Extremist.
- I Choose to Stay: In the final arc, the LORD convinces him to stay in 1887, since everyone is just as concerned about morality and evangelism as the Zealot.
- No Name Given: We never learn his name. Even the GURPS roleplaying game only refers to him as "Religious Zealot."
Mabel
First Appearance:
#127
The head of the local homeowner's association. Occasionally harasses Jenn, but outright avoids her neighbors.
Wellhung of the Hunkinites
First Appearance:
#159
The ambassador of an attractive, muscular alien race that make Jenn their queen. However, it is mostly just a title, as she's "rescued" before she can go with them.
The Bug Fairy
First Appearance:
#167
A small fairy that specializes in programming bugs...
causing them, that is, rather than debugging.
King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden
First Appearance:
#419
The King of Sweden. After personally delivering a peace prize to Quantum Cop, he decides to spend the rest of his days on Casey and Andy's couch instead of returning to his kingdom.
- Generation Xerox: In the epilogue, his daughter takes both the crown of Sweden and the spot on Casey's couch after Carl's eventual death.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: Despite all attempts, he refuses to return to Sweden, to the point that Sweden's citizens actually send him back to his "rightful place" on the couch after he's sent home.
Grover Cleveland
First Appearance:
#515
Andy's most hated president. Thanks to fortunetelling, the feeling is mutual.
Land Pirate
First Appearance:
#598
Bob
First Appearance:
#517
Bob was there, too.
- The Omnipresent: Bob has the ability to "be there, too". Meaning that any sentence can be affixed with "Bob was there, too." In essence Bob is (or at least, can be) everywhere.
