Susy Clemens and The Devil's Panties

Her biography of her father was published in 1988 in its entirety as Papa: An Intimate Biography of Mark Twain, a volume which also included a biography of Susy Clemens and her correspondence with her father.

Contents 1 Life 2 Death 3 Popular culture 4 References 5 Notes and sources 6 External links

Life Susy Clemens was the inspiration for the character of Joan of Arc in her father's novel Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc.

Born in Elmira, New York, Clemens was largely raised in Hartford, Connecticut, but went abroad with her family to England in 1873 and again in 1878–79. At age thirteen, she wrote a biography of her father that Twain later included in his Chapters from my Autobiography. The biography described her impressions of her father and her happy family life. Her father wrote: "I had had compliments before, but none that touched me like this; none that could approach it for value in my eyes." Like her father, she was interested in writing, and wrote her own plays and acted in them during her childhood and adolescence. Twain later described his favorite daughter as intelligent, thoughtful, sensitive and vivacious and said he had regarded her as a prodigy. "She was a magazine of feelings and they were of all kinds and of all shades of force; she was so volatile, as a little child, that sometimes the whole battery came into play in the short compass of a day," he wrote after her death. "She was full of life, full of activity, full of fire, her waking hours were a crowding and hurrying procession of enthusiasms ... Joy, sorrow, anger, remorse, storm, sunshine, rain, darkness -- they were all there: They came in a moment and they were gone as quickly. In all things she was intense: in her this characteristic was not a mere glow, dispensing warmth, but a consuming fire." He based the character of Joan of Arc in his book Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc on his eldest daughter as he remembered her at age seventeen.

In the fall of 1890, Clemens attended Bryn Mawr College, where she was given the starring role of Phyllis in the play Iolanthe, began calling herself by her real first name "Olivia" and developed a close friendship with fellow student Louise Brownell that some biographers have speculated may have been romantic in nature. Clemens left the college after one semester, possibly because of her family's financial difficulties, because she found the studies too difficult, or because of her relationship with Brownell.

As she grew older, she became frustrated with her father's fame, which sometimes left her in the shadows. She was annoyed by her father's reputation as a "mere humorist" and felt he should represent himself as a serious writer instead of just as a funny man. She was embarrassed when Twain performed the ghost story The Golden Arm for an audience at Bryn Mawr. She had begged him not to tell the story, thinking it too unsophisticated for her worldly classmates, and ran out of the hall crying when her father told the story anyway. She later accompanied her family abroad and attended schools in Geneva and Berlin, where she took language and voice lessons, though she was disappointed when a voice teacher told her she had a lovely soprano voice but didn't have enough lung capacity to project her voice from the stage. In Europe she was at loose ends, bored by her family's evenings at home and annoyed by her father's frequent temperamental outbursts. She wrote to her friend Brownell that she sometimes had trouble finding a reason for existence. She was also frustrated by society's refusal to see her as anything other than the daughter of Mark Twain. In Florence, the then nineteen-year-old Clemens became infatuated with a married Italian count. Her physical and mental health suffered, and she sought cures ranging from "mind cures" to hydrotherapy. Death

Clemens chose not to accompany the family to Europe on Twain's lecture tour of 1895–96, citing seasickness and a desire to recover her health and become an opera singer. She stayed in Elmira, at the home of her aunt Susan Crane. In August 1896, while visiting her former home in Hartford, Clemens developed a fever that turned into spinal meningitis. She developed delirium, at one point clutching an article of her mother's clothing and crying because she thought her mother had died, and at another looking out the windows at the traffic and singing, "Up go the trolley cars for Mark Twain's daughter. Down go the trolley cars for Mark Twain's daughter." Eventually she lost her sight and lapsed into a coma. On August 18, 1896, she died at age twenty-four; her family was devastated.

Clemens was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira. The poem on her headstone was adapted from a poem called Annette by poet Robert Richardson: "Warm summer sun shine kindly here, Warm southern wind blow softly here, Green sod above, lie light, lie light – Good night, dear heart, Good night, good night." Popular culture

A children's book, The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy), features excerpts of Susy's biography of her father with smaller journal-style pages inserted between the main pages. "Mark Twain: Words & Music" is a double-CD that tells the life story of Samuel Clemens in spoken word and song and features segments about his family. The project was produced by Carl Jackson as a benefit for the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum. The story line was written by Cindy Lovell and is narrated by Garrison Keillor with Clint Eastwood performing as Twain and Angela Lovell performing as Susy.

The Devil's Panties and Susy Clemens

Contents 1 Overview 2 Characters 3 References 4 External links

Overview

It is based widely on her own life experiences and interactions with other people. The humour contained within it draws from a decidedly eccentric and slightly exaggerated view of the creator's surroundings, sometimes leading to surrealistic moments and other slightly absurd events transpiring throughout the course of any given strip of the comic. Breeden also produces another webcomic, Geebas on Parade, which centers around a live action role-playing game. The comic seems to abandon a continual story in lieu of offering up a series of experiences conveyed into the comic style format based on what happens to Breeden in reality.

It is updated daily except under special circumstances. Typically, weekday comics are multi-panel comedic pieces, Saturday comics are single-panel comedic pieces, and Sunday "comics" are non-comedic artwork, usually in ink or watercolor.

The comic addresses a wide array of subjects throughout its run, making it often hard to attach any single recurring theme to it. The style of humour also tends to vary, ranging from the more blatant and widely recognised jokes to more subtle attempts at humour mixed in with social satire and related candor regarding subjects intended to inject a dose of seriousness amidst a punchline.

The Devil's Panties is hosted courtesy of Keenspot; in addition to hosting the section featuring the comic itself and its archive of past updates, it also hosts the creator's online portfolio amongst other sections (a section involving the sale of merchandise related to the comic is also located there as well).

Silent Devil Productions began publishing the graphic novel version of the webcomic in March 2006. In 2008, Archaia Studios Press took over publication.

Misspellings and homonyms often appear in the dialogue, due to the author's practice of phonetically sounding out or spelling words as a way of working around her dyslexia.

Breeden contributed to the Create a Comic Project. Characters

Jennie Breeden - Jennie (the creator of the comic itself) is the star of her webcomic. Her personality in the comic tends to parallel her personality in real life, as do the events in her life and the people she meets therein. Her character is depicted to be a feministic geek who enjoys reading comic books and attending various conventions with her friends. Jennie has also, on occasion, shown a tendency to break the fourth wall by addressing the readers of the comic usually by indicating that a brief hiatus will be taken during the course of the strip and that the readers should expect content whenever the real-life counterpart of Jennie returns. The comic version of Jennie has short brown hair, as the real Jennie had the same hair style when she began the strip. The "Real" Jennie, when appearing in comic format, is differentiated by her longer hair and the fact that she occasionally wears different clothing (comic Jennie is almost always seen wearing a stylized labrys t-shirt and large boots emblazoned with flames)

Will - The boyfriend of both the comic Jennie and real-life Jennie. His life in the comic tends to revolve around video games and he is often depicted to be a source of comic relief. Whether this mirrors his actual life or not remains to be seen. Will and Jennie have broken up, as have their comic counterparts in the early August 2009 comic strips. According to the comic strip, their break up was on good terms and they may still be friends.

DJ - A friend and role model of Jennie who spends most of her time kicking ass and being the "only" lesbian.

Aili - A long-time friend of Jennie. They met when they were children and one might say that Aili was the one who got Jennie into drawing in the first place.

Darcy - Jennie's first roommate. She is characterised by her exaggerated height, extreme attractiveness and her love of shopping (in stark contrast to Jennie's hatred of it). She wears large black boots, a white shirt and a black pencil skirt. Despite her love of gothic apparel and nightclubs, Darcy is a "Squealing girly girl". Much is made of her long legs, highlighted by the short skirt she wears.

Stephany - Jennie's roommate from October 2003 to April 2004. She is apparently known to make an exquisite lasagna.

Lessa - Another one of Jennie's roommates who stayed with her from 1998-1999 and subsequently 2000-2001. She considers her pets, Dash (a cat) and Bixby (a chameleon) to be her "babies".

Chris - Yet another one of Jennie's roommates who stayed with her from 2001-2002. He is constantly surrounded by giggling women. He is based on Chris Daily, the creator of the webcomic Striptease, and the one who got Jennie into doing her own webcomic.

Tracey - Yet another one of Jennie's roommates who stayed with her throughout the course of 2001-2002. Her two pets are named Bailey and Sammy.

Skyler and Summer - Jennie's sisters, whom she fiercely looks out for. Skyler is a poet who also makes very disturbing puppets. Summer, previously considered young enough to be jailbait, undertakes kickboxing lessons. The real Skyler also creates comics.

Jennie's two older brothers, Eric and Christian.

Jennie's niece and nephew — Two cute little scamps who love Jennie very much. Either that, or the candy she gives them.

Karl - A friend of Jennie's since her first year of college.

Jesus Christ - Depicted as a long haired hippy. He is often shown discussing various issues with Jennie regarding matters like the character's choice of religion amongst other things.

Satan - Depicted to be a calm and calculating individual, who, oddly enough, agrees with Jesus Christ on a number of topics. He is also known to exhibit a keen fashion sense. Jesus and Satan are actually drawn as the same basic figure, then augmented with horns or a halo, as well as clothing, to identify them.

The Angel and The Devil - Always trying to protect Jennie or cause trouble for her. They pop up every now and again, and while the Devil tends to get her way more often than not, the Angel is the worst influence of the two. These characters are most likely the embodiments of the opposing sides of Jennie's conscience and are examples of a gag often seen throughout many other venues in which a character is faced with a moral dilemma.

The Princess - A third side of Jennie's conscience, the Angel and Devil tend to dislike the Princess for her excited and overly girly personality. The Princess doesn't make as many appearances in the comic strip as the Angel and Devil.

The Pirate - Smooth and smarmy, like any good pirate. Minus the scurvy of course. I guess he eats his Vitamin C. And drinks lots of rum. You can visit him here: http://www.nigelsade.com/

Betty - One of the lesser known pirates, but she probably causes more damage and mischief than any of her male counterparts.

Obby - Jennie's boyfriend after Will, Obby is first introduced in the January 14, 2010 strip. Obby is illustrated as much more robust than Will and has long curly hair and a short beard. He periodically makes jokes about white people, though his own race has not yet been specified. Obby proposed Saturday September 4, 2011 during a Kilt Blowing event at Dragon Con. Their wedding is shown in the July 10–12, 2012 strips.

Laurell K. Hamilton: This internationally best-selling author of Jennie's acquaintiance has been featured in occasional guest appearances since the two met. One such feature was used as a bonus-type extra feature in a recent 'Anita Blake' novel.

Jonathon Greene: Laurell's current partner, sometimes known online as 'Eridine' was featured in the 'Anita Blake' bonus feature comic. It concerns an episode where they all visit a restaurant where a seemingly gay waiter is left somewhat discombobulated by his attraction to Jon. Laurell then chastises Jon for encouraging him as she wants their food quickly - she is seemingly quite hungry at this point.
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