A Girl and Her Fed (AGAHF) is the story of a nameless Girl who finds that she is being watched by government agents. She and the Fed assigned to watch her form a partnership and attempt to untangle one hell of a knotty conspiracy.

This covers any of the following questions:

(1) Why don't the Girl and the Fed have names?
(2) Is the Fed in the FBI, the CIA, or some other agency?
(3) Where does this take place?
(4) (my personal favorite) Oh my God, why don't they have eyes?

Some of these details are intentionally excluded because I don't want to represent any specific person or organization, and I started with very little in the way of artistic ability. I ask that hat readers treat the comic as an illustrated book from which a new page is released three to five times a week. Also, please keep in mind that books don't answer every question as it is asked - it's a long-term project so if there's something that isn't immediately resolved, it will probably be answered later. For example, we've recently learned that the Fed started his career in a top-secret branch of the Post Office.

Those are the earliest comics. I'm gradually replacing these so the archives have a uniform look to them and to improve the flow of the story. I've been trying to do one per week but I also work and have an online comic as a hobby, so someday I'll catch up.

There are four main characters: a Girl, a Fed, the ghost of Benjamin Franklin, and a koala bear named Mr. Speedy.

The Girl: We don't know her name. We do know she's in her mid-twenties, independently wealthy (thanks to Ben and gaming the stock market), is "employed" as an intern at a newspaper where she has an antagonistic relationship with her boss, and is pretty darned good at judo. She has a close relationship with Ben, having bonded with him seven years previously: it is only after meeting the Fed that she realizes Ben is actually a ghost and not a drug-related flashback.
Benjamin Franklin: Not much is known about Ben, and he probably wants to keep it that way. He's tight-lipped about the Afterlife and thinks the living should stay out of the affairs of the dead. However, he apparently doesn't feel the same restrictions apply towards the dead themselves, as he was the one who put the Girl on a watchlist.
The Fed (AKA: Sparky): We don't know his name, either. He's a large man in his early thirties, and he has spent the last five years in a psychological and emotional fog thanks to the Pocket President. He is one of five hundred federal agents who participated in an experimental data networking program, and has only recently been able to shake off some of the negative effects of the Pocket President. He's now wondering why so many of the other agents in the Pocket President program have simply up and died...
Mr. Speedy (AKA: Speedy): A genetically-engineered koala who is exceptionally good with problem-solving, particularly language-based problems. He was befriended by the Fed and his mentor, Rose, eight years ago.

Mike, Josh, and Helen are minor characters:

Mike: A master martial artist and practitioner of zen Buddhism. He also sees ghosts, and recognized the same ability in the Girl.
Josh: An agent in the Pocket President program and a good friend of the Fed's.
Helen: The mysterious housewife.

There are also some bad guys too, but we don't know much about them yet. Here's what we do know:

The Pocket President (AKA: Bitty Bush, Damned Bitty Bush, The-Fucking-Thing-That-Lives-In-My-Skull, etc.): A personal digital assistant hardwired directly into the user's brain. The device automatically loads when its host experiences certain emotional states, such as doubt, and can be manually activated to search any number of databases at a prompt from its user. Ostensibly, it was designed to improve communications for undercover field agents who couldn't safely carry phones, computers, or other devices. No one can even begin to guess why it looks like George W. Bush.
Agent 146/Clarice: A petite female agent in the Pocket President program. She does not suffer the negative side effects of the chip to the same extent as the other agents.
Rudy: An agent in the Pocket President program who does most of Agent 146's dirty work. He does not appear to enjoy his current lot in life.
Asst. Director Smithback: The head of the Pocket President program. Meets with some very unusual friends behind closed doors ...

There are plot-related reasons for choosing Franklin.

Check the date stamp in the title of the comic. I introduced the idea of using ambient technology as a form of sonar in February of 2008, five months before The Dark Knight opened. It might be found in other works of fiction and could actually exist somewhere out there, but I don't know of these and I put it in the story long before the movie.

It makes for a wonderful story. There are a lot of things about living in America that we identify as ever-present and unchanging, and our civil rights are one of them. The fact that they aren't as stable as we think allows for a lot of speculation in terms of plot options and characterization.

In the interests of full disclosure, I should also point out that I thought up the idea one night while drunk and extremely pissed off at U.S. Customs for going through my international mail.

The same reason that other folks base their strips off of video games, werewolves, or music. The current political environment interests me and I saw the potential for a story in it.

I don't talk about my personal politics in the Notes section. They aren't relevant to the story. I do appreciate any articles you send to me, and I read (and usually enjoy) them.

It's not. In retrospect, I should have chosen to use Richard Nixon as the face of the Pocket President: I get far too many emails from readers who are hung up on the idea of a sitting president playing an active role in the strip. But what's done is done (I really liked the way the phrase "Bitty Bush" sounded) and I'll go on the record here by saying that the Pocket President is not actually Bush himself. While Ben Franklin is the honest-to-goshen ghost of Benjamin Franklin, the Pocket President merely wears Bush's face.

Thank you kindly but the plot for the comic is planned through late 2010 and will cease at this time.