Umlaut House

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The original Umlaut House was a Furry Comic that started out with grad student Saundra Bifrost's bickersome friend Volair Lee moving in to replace her roommate, their mutual ex-boyfriend Jake Miller, when he begins working for, and before long, seeing quasi-Flamboyant Gay Mad Scientist Rick Hundecoph, whom Volair is tracking in his job as an international spy.

The comic could be said to mix a number of genres. Other characters are:

• Liz Parker, Volair's partner and general voice of reason. Also the straightest cast member. Really. She swears.
• Amanda Cartwright - "Queen of weird," Volair's Distaff Counterpart plus some grade points and dignity and minus some international espionage.
• Calvin Gauss - A nerdy classmate of Saundra's who develops a crush on her.
• Ascii - You don't want to know. He's an amnesiac android created by Rick, by UH 2 he's gone rogue and is attempting to create a Hive Mind using Eye-Fi's

In 2004, the comic ended after four years, and after some randomness, gave birth to a sequel, UH2, set some time later and moved from grad school to high school, primarily about Volair's son, Jake's daughter, and Rick's protégée. Yes, that's vague, but this is a sequel comic, so for the more detailed character list (aside from, of course, the ones above), spoilers.

• Pierce Lee, son of Volair and Saundra. Recently realized his bisexuality.
• Rhonda Hundecoph, daughter of Jake and Rick.
• Eliza, Rick's apprentice.
• Alice and Lain Gauss, classmates of Pierce and Rhonda, twin daughters of Amanda and Calvin.
• Alex, a football jock, Pierce's boyfriend.
• Dr. "Sissy" Sisyphus, a Mad Scientist, target of Rick (well post-Heel Face Turn) and Eliza...the latter in more ways than one.

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This comic provides examples of:

• A God Am I: Let's just say that by UH2, Saundra and Sissy are playing on another level.
• Alternate Universe: Where everyone's sexuality is reversed, except Volair's.
• Anything That Moves: Volair Lee, who cheerfully claims he's only bisexual to score 5% more nookie."
• Art Evolution (compare the first strip of UH to the corresponding first strip of UH2, a little under five years later.)
• Artificial Gravity: Invented by a transsexual horse named Peggy, uses gyroscopes with ridiculously precise control circuitry.
• Artificial Limbs: Rick Volair and Eliza.
• Brain-Computer Interface: Casual cybernetic implants are commonplace in UH2, especially the "Eye-Fi".
• Cerebus Syndrome: UH2 is substantially plottier than UH1, though most of the time he still remembers a punchline.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Even before reforming, Rick had made a fortune off of his patents.
• Dating Catwoman: Eliza and Sissy (just look at their Halloween costumes), Sappho and Liz.
• Designer Babies: Rhonda, according to the Word of God.
• From Beyond the Fourth Wall: The author will occasionally interact with the characters. In continuity during the first series but largely just in filler strips with the second.
• Gender Bender: Volair, briefly and accidentally; the same technology has been put to good use, particularly with minor character Dr. Pegasus.
• Heel Face Turn: Rick, future Sissy.
• Hive Mind (Ascii has created a gestalt consciousness formed from the unconsciousnesses of over 800 people, unfortunately their combined Ids have created a monster)
• Homosexual Reproduction: Rhonda, apparently there are genetic engineering companies that can make kids for gay couples.
• Huge Schoolgirl: Lain.
• Kid From the Future
• Mad Scientist: A mad scientist convention.
• Meaningful Name: Hundecoph means "dog's head"
  • Some have suggested that Dr. Pegasus' real last name (Seus, one letter removed from Zeus) is a hint to the outcome of Sissy's attempt to seize the Staff of Time from her.
• Nanomachines: A specialty of Dr. Lyse in the second series, he even replaced his cells with foglets.
• NGO Superpower: The agency that Volair, and in the sequel Rick and Eliza, work for. Also Moire Dziva.
• Official Couples: confirmed by Spin Offspring.
• Remote Body: Moire Dziva.
• Science-Related Memetic Disorder: While Rick is reformed from his criminal career, he remains a mad scientist. He's hardly the only one in the main cast, at that.
  • Saundra started on her path to Mad Science after seeing one of Rick's giant robots, lending credence to the "memetic" aspect.
• Screw Yourself: Attempted by Saundra's lesbian Alternate Universe counterpart.
• Swiss Army Appendage: Rick kept several bodies on hand for various purposes before finally getting a new, permanent organic one.
• The Mad Hatter: Volair, Amanda.
• The Power of Love: The Power of Love + Applied Phlebotinum = Dating Catwoman.
• The Singularity: Though not clear what it will mean so far.
• Time Travel: Accidentally invented by Saundra, also Sissy's speciality.
  • Stable Time Loop/You Already Changed the Past: How paradoxes are treated, as explained by future Saundra here.
• Twenty Minutes Into the Future: Sort of; not our future, which lacks the furry animals, but about two decades ahead nonetheless. The sequel is, of course, about two decades further ahead.
• Transsexualism: Peggy Seuss, aka Dr. Pegasus; Rick's Gender Bender Transformation Ray was created on her behalf.
• Wacky College: Quickly abandoned.
• Will They or Won't They?: Volair and Saundra.