''Real Life'' is an American

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

drawn and authored by Maelyn Dean. It began on November 15, 1999, and is still updated, after breaks from December 10, 2015, to September 10, 2018, and again from July 16, 2019, to June 15, 2020. The comic is loosely based around the lives of fictionalized versions of Dean and her friends, including verbatim conversations, as well as fictional aspects including

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

and

mecha In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the mean ...

combat. Characters regularly

break the fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

. ''Real Life'' focuses on humor related to

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

, and references

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

Development

''Real Life'' launched in 1999 and became part of Keenspot shortly after. Dean switched to the Blank Label Comics collective in 2005 before going solo again in February 2010. The ''Real Life'' website is currently self-hosted by Dean. Year one of ''Real Life'' was published as a

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...

Starline Multimedia Starline may refer to: Transport * Starline.kz, a defunct Kazakhstan airline * "STARLINE", the callsign for the United Arab Emirates airline ''Red Star'', see List of airline codes * "STARLINE", the callsign of the defunct Swedish airline ''Swedlin ...

Inc. in 2004, and a second book published by

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

was released in 2008. A German translation of some portions of the webcomic has been made available on the website's archive.

Characters

*Greg / Maelyn (Maelyn Dean) - The main character of the strip, and a fictional representation of the author of the comic. She seems to vacillate between being the voice of reason and the voice in need of reason. She is also very fond of

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...

, to the point of addiction, going so far as to import Mexican Pepsi because it contains real sugar instead of corn syrup. She used to work as a fuel jock at a small airport, but eventually attended and graduated from culinary school. She previously lived in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

and

Rancho Cordova Rancho Cordova is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States which was incorporated in 2003. It is part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area. The population was 64,776 at the 2010 census. In 2010 and 2019, Rancho Cordova was named ...

, both

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, but moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

- and moved again to

Lockhart, Texas Lockhart is a city and the county seat of Caldwell County, Texas, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 14,379. History The city of Lockhart is named after Byrd Lockhart, an assistant surveyo ...

, but moved back to the California area, where she is once again roommates with Dave and Tony. (In June 2020, the author came out as transgender. Older comics before this point will feature Greg, and newer comics will feature Maelyn.) *Elizabeth "Liz" Dean (née Van Buskirk) - Maelyn's wife, and an avid

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...

er; most of the strips have her acting as

straight man The straight man is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically, the straight man is expected to maintain composure. The direct contribution to the ...

in contrast to Maelyn's antics. She started out as "Lizzy" to avoid confusion between the "Liz" that had already appeared in the comic and this new Liz. Eventually, the old Liz was phased out and now the new one is called Liz. Liz and Maelyn married in March 2005. *Tony Flansaas - The comic's resident evil overlord, and the fulcrum on which most of Real Life's more far-fetched story lines revolve. They have made many attempts over the course of the comic's existence to take over the world, and has even succeeded a couple of times. *Dave Reynolds - Resident

powergamer Powergaming (or power gaming or optimization) is a style of interacting with games or game-like systems, particularly video games, boardgames, and, role-playing games, with the aim of maximizing progress towards a specific goal. Other players may c ...

and supernerd. While the real Dave's currently in the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

, that doesn't stop him from showing up and adding some of his cynical, nerdy point of view to a strip. Dave rivals Tony in technical ability. However, whereas Tony seems to be a genius in all subjects, Dave's genius seems to lie mostly in computers. In one of the earlier comic strips, Dave upgraded his computer into a sentient being. The computer, PAL, went on to become a minor character in the strip, and was joined over time by several other technologically improved computers and consoles. *Crystal - Maelyn's girlfriend when the strip started, but they broke up in 2001. She is no longer mentioned or appears in the strip, but was an integral part of the first year of the strip. *The Cartoonist - Cartoonist Maelyn primarily appears in the strip to make an announcement, to answer questions that readers occasionally send her or to complain about a possible lack of ideas for the strip. Her appearance originally was differentiated from her comic counterpart by a change of colours (light brown overshirt, black tee with white stripes), and slightly shaggy hair. When the character came out as transgender, the Cartoonist was differentiated with longer hair and a different outfit. *Harper Dean - a daughter of Maelyn and Liz. Born on July 29, 2011.

Reception

Maelyn Dean won the "Outstanding Reality Comic" category of the

Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards (WCCA) were annual awards in which established webcartoonists nominated and selected outstanding webcomics. The awards were held between 2001 and 2008, were mentioned in a ''The New York Times'' column on webcom ...

four times: in 2001, 2003 (when her webcomic tied with ''

Nowhere Girl ''Nowhere Girl'' is an adult fiction webcomic by Justine Shaw, about a "college student who feels like an outsider in her own life, finding her place in the world and coming to terms with her sexuality". It is named after a song written by Briti ...

''), 2004, and 2005 (when her webcomic tied with ''The Devil's Panties'').

Collected editions

* ''Real Life: The Year One Collection''.

Inc. 2004-08-25. * ''Real Life: The Greg's Notes Edition''.

. 2008

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Real Life (Webcomic) 1990s webcomics 2000s webcomics Webcomics in print Blank Label Comics American comedy webcomics Video game webcomics Science fiction webcomics Reality webcomics Webcomics about fandom Web Cartoonists' Choice Award winners 2010s webcomics 1999 webcomic debuts 1999 establishments in the United States Transgender-related comics LGBT-related webcomics