The Class Menagerie is an anthropomorphic web comic written and illustrated by Vince Suzukawa. The series ran from 1998 to 2002 on Keenspot. The story is a college life comedy with a developed background story. Most of the installments are done in traditional funnies style, but deeper and more serious story arcs unfold towards the end, which make TCM a drama as well as a comedy.
TCM takes place on the third floor of Richter Hall in Redwood Dorm at fictional DeMontfort University in California. It centers around the lives of nine university students who live in the rooms of this floor.
The furry fandom is the primary audience. TCM and its characters continue to be a popular, years after the series finished.
Characters
Tony
Anthony Marcus Durham is an 18 year old bull morph, considered to be the narrator of the story. Tony has a polite and gentle personality, but suffers from years of poor self-esteem. Originally an obese child who still enjoys sugary snacks, Tony has since gotten rid of his excess weight, but still carries psychological baggage from his years as a "fat kid". He and childhood friend Kevin came to DeMontfort from their hometown, finding out on arrival that they would have to share their room with Brad, the third roommate.
Kevin
Kevin Makoto Nekohashi is an 18 year old male housecat morph, and provides the principle jokester role of the cast. A constant wisemouth and avid computer geek , Kevin is also physically inactive and out of shape. While this doesn't bother him, he is bothered by the fact that women appreciate his opinions, but generally find him undesirable to date.
Kevin has an antagonistic relationship with roommate Brad. Kevin frequently teases or makes fun of him, and Brad typically gets angry and retaliates. Despite this, Kevin and Brad do respect each other.
Kevin's surname 猫橋 Nekohashi, which means "cat bridge" in Japanese, is a pun of common Japanese surnames ending with -hashi ("bridge"), such as Takahashi.
Brad
Eric Bradley Hawthorne, Jr. is an 18 year old male jayhawk morph, and fills the role of the introverted antisocial grouch of the group. Having moved to DeMontfort from his native Texas, Brad is forced to share a room with Tony and Kevin. Having an easily-provoked short temper, Brad also has a severe caffeine addiction, revolving his life around his daily coffee-drinking rituals. He is also a techno[klutz]], and rarely ever works well with household appliances. Brad always wears a baseball cap. He also originally always wore a light tanktop that accentuated his muscles, but this was replaced later in the series with a flanel shirt.
As one of the more introverted characters, Brad never flirts, dates, nor gives much thought to such activities. The author has stated that Brad is actually an unblossomed gay man, but never awakens to this during the course of the story of TCM. Brad's personality is largely copied into the character Cody Frost in the new parallel comic book series i.s.o., a story set on the first floor of Richter Hall, where Cody falls in love with a man and eventually comes out of the closet for the first time in his life.
Mikey
Michael Bernard Hopkins is a 17 year old male kangaroo morph, and fills the role of the overachieving pragmatic workaholic of the group. He lives with roommate Scott in room 305. Mikey is the personification of the perfect student, complete with a 4.0 grade point average, and involved in countless school activities and hobbies. He endeavours never to give into laziness, sloth nor vice, and is critical of others who don't try to meet these same standards. That said, Mikey is not an unfriendly person, but is always busy and rarely stops to enjoy himself.
Uptight and easily startled, Mikey is frequently pounced by Lisa, a girl hopelessly infatuated with him. But Mikey never acknowledges her advances, as he is actually in the closet and quite gay. He doesn't think much about romantic interests, but is afraid of stigma and stereotype if he were ever to be outed.
Mikey has since appeared (with the approval of Vince Suzukawa) as a crossover character in John "The Gneech" Robey's The Suburban Jungle as romantic interest for Wally, another kangaroo morph. In this story, Mikey and Wally go out on several dates, but Mikey still refuses to come out of the closet to his friends in Richter Hall.
Cindy
Cynthia Nicolette Rydelle is an 18 year old mare morph from England. She lives with roommate Lisa in room 304. The resident epitome of politeness and manners within the group, she brings a calm rational mind to the third floor of Richter Hall. Shrewd and well-educated, she also keeps in excellent physical shape and is actually quite strong, though this is not immediately obvious by her appearance.
Cindy and Tony have a romantic interest that develops very slowly through the course of the story.
Lisa
Elisabeth Victoria Dodson is a 17 year old female interracial fox/dachshund morph. She lives with roommate Cindy in room 304. Always optimistic and perky, Lisa loves to spread joy to those around her, and will often flirt with the guys. Though she notices men around her, she doesn't give much attention to self-absorbed men or men with mood issues.
Lisa is consistently interested in Mikey, finding him something of an enigma. As a result, she likes to occasionally pounce Mikey, much to his terror. The two also sometimes work together, as they are both involved in the performing arts, something that Lisa deeply loves.
Scott
Scott Douglas Sorrell is an 18 year old male iguana morph. He lives with roommate Mikey in room 305. Scott is friendly, affable, relax, and manages to be everyone's friend. Masculine, attractive, well built and straight as an arrow, he tends to be rather obsessed with typical male interests, women most of all. In this regard though Scott is extraordinarily vain. Though getting a date is easy for him, both women and friends alike inevitably discover how self-absorbed he really is.
Dani
Danielle Rosalina Murrieta is a 19 year old female mouse morph. She is the Resident Assistant of the third floor, and lives alone in room 301. Organized and committed to college life, Dani strives to maintain a good dorm environment and promote school spirit among her neighbors. She frequently schedules festivities and activities intended to help everyone attain and maintain this goal. Unfortunately, most of the rest are not nearly as enthusiastic as Dani is, and this is a source of frustration, driving her to work even harder to meet the goal. She is often seen holding a clipboard, and is known to slap people with it.
Biff
Persival Aloysius Kingston is a 20 year old male lion morph, filling the role of the stereotypical boorish dumb jock. He lives alone in room 302. A spoiled child from the wealthy Kingston family, Biff attends DeMontfort as quarterback of the school's college football team. He has a highly inflated ego, and isn't afraid to let everyone know that he thinks he's better than them.
See also
External links