Transmission

Transmission
Author(s)	Mark Alexander Smith
Website	http://transmission.thecomicseries.com/
Update schedule	Ended
Launch date	February 3, 2011
End Date	November 10, 2023
Genre	Slice of life, Satire, Humour
Rating(s)

The main characters; Russell (right) and Reggie (left) Harvey

Transmission is a webcomic series created by British cartoonist and animator Mark Alexander Smith (FreyFox). It follows the lives of twin red squirrels, Russell and Reggie Harvey, who are English ex-pats now living in Southern California, USA. The comic was launched in 2011 and ended in 2023.

A spin-off comic named Incomplete Control starring the raccoon character Ralf, now college aged, began in May 2023 on Patreon before going on general release after Transmission concluded.

Premise

The series' revolves around anthropomorphic Eurasian red squirrels Russell and Reggie Harvey, twin English car mechanics from Stoke-on-Trent in the English midlands who move to Los Angeles, California after they inherited their deceased great uncle's car garage. The two brothers make a living restoring cars while going through many challenges in their daily lives such as adapting to the American lifestyle, getting involved in risky misadventures, and encountering new friends and sinister figures.

One car, a bright red 1967 Plymouth Belvedere GTX named "Geraldine" belonging to Russell, is particularly prominent.

Characters

Protagonists

• Russell Harvey: an English Eurasian red squirrel who is one of the main protagonists of the comic series and Reggie's identical twin brother. His signature color is dark green. Russell is a mechanical genius who loves to restore classic cars and is usually somewhat easygoing. He is an accomplished Rally racer and owns a 1967 Plymouth Belvedere GTX named "Geraldine". He is married to Linda, and they later gain a daughter named Amanda. By personality, he is modest, though he could also be stubborn and doesn't seem to believe in redemption, nor will he forgive someone easily after upsetting him: when Trevor lost his car in the "A Weekend In Vegas" arc, he refused to so much as say goodbye to him when they took him to the airport, and after their brush with Sasha and Charley Slater, felt they were irredeemable and shouldn't even be befriended just because they were willing to murder, which caused a rift between himself and Reggie after finding out Reggie and Sasha started dating, even when their parents and Linda wanted to give Sasha a chance. He eventually does let go of his hatred of Sasha and apologizes to Reggie in "Way Out West", and while Russel and Sasha have not been shown attempting to bond yet, it can be assumed he's letting bygones be bygones. Even so, "Long Way Around, Part Two" reveals he still harbors a little animosity, which gets him into another (though briefer) fight with Reggie and in trouble with their mom, and it's when he meets Sasha's mother in "Long Way Home, Part Four" that he seems to get over it completely. Ironically he doesn't seem to have anything against his ex-girlfriend Tiffany for cheating on him when he ran into her in Washington D.C., but sees they wouldn't have worked out anyway. In "Epilogue, Part One", he moved back to England with his wife and daughter, and has another daughter named Alexa.
• Reginald “Reggie” Harvey - An English Eurasian red squirrel who is the other main protagonist of the comic series and is Russell's identical twin brother and co-owner of their Auto Shop. His signature color is bright orange and since 2014 he also wears a black peaked cap. Reg isn't mechanically savvy but is skilled enough to mod cars. His car is a black Mitsubishi Evo X. Reg is the more outgoing of the twins but has until recently struggled to hold down a relationship. He's also known to be surprisingly casual about indecency: one arc showed him willing to go in the buff when hot and sweating, even in front of his own brother, and in another he admits to Trevor that he slept with Howard the otter naked. In the Points of Vanishing arc, Reggie starts dating his former rival, Sasha Slater. But when she gets arrested, Reggie is dragged into relocating to Japan to continue Sasha's work as a career criminal, that and he begins falling out with Russell who heavily resented the newfound romance. He finally gets to come out of hiding in "Way Out West" and reconciles with his brother. The next arc has him trying to persuade Sasha to forgive her relatives, especially when her father was dying. He finally marries her in "Epilogue - Part One" and they gain a boy named Richard, plus move to Vermont and have another child on the way.

Supporting characters

• Linda Harvey (ne Hogarth)- A female ferret who is an inventive genius and Russell's girlfriend, later wife. She works as an electronics saleswoman and is a passionate model maker. In issue 442 of the British Vacation story arc, Russell proposed to Linda and the two married during the Hitched story arc. In "My Name Is Willow", she actually becomes pregnant, and gives birth to a hybrid named Amanda in "Baby Delivery". She moves to England with Russell in "Epilogue, Part One" and gained another daughter named Alexa.
• Jason Glover - A reclusive platinum fox who as a teenager was rescued by the twins, from the hands of his abusive Uncle Eddie. He lived with the twins for a couple of years afterward and began college initially unsuccessfully studying culinary before he then joined the college hockey team where he made new friends. In the story arc, Tenacious J and the Puck Of Destiny, Jason was spotted by a recruiting scout joining the Seattle Thunderbirds hockey team. Since then Jason has only featured in the comic sporadically but still makes the occasional appearance. He does make a comeback in "The River Runs Wild" arc where he goes rafting with the twins and Howard. He doesn't appear again until a year later in "Enter the Vulpine", where he shows signs of being haunted by his uncle, to the point where he gets a hockey suspension, sending him on a downward spiral. Assisted by Nick, he gets his life back together and confronts his demons, entering a karate tournament to help Nick save his dojo from a takeover. He then decides to leave hockey life in favor of firefighting and finally gets closure over his past. During his service in his new job, he saves Tim and Willow's son Ralf and they become best friends of sorts. In "Epilodue, Part One" he and his new girldfriend Jenny are married and have two kids, and take up residence in the twins' house after the squirrels moved out.
• Trevor Harvey - The twins' younger brother who still lives in England with their parents, Tony and Belinda. He is the frontman and bassist in the Alternative rock band, Zombie Korma. Trevor is shown to have a wild and reckless personality, just like a stereotypical rock star, but has matured considerably over time.
• Jack Randall Jr - A slightly psychotic coyote whose a friend of Russell and Reggie. He is an ex-national guard sergeant who owns an outdoor retailer and is a scoutmaster of a local Cub Scout troop. He loves camping and blowing things up. He is also seen to be very violent, considering his wife cheated on him with their Gym instructor and Randall castrated him for revenge. He has a teenage daughter called Jess. His army jacket previously belonged to his father Jack Randall Sr, and it is suggested that his father was also a national guard sergeant before him. He makes a camoe in the spin-off Incomplete Control (the first Transmission character to do so).
• Timothy Schouten - A raccoon LAPD detective and former traffic cop who is one of the Harvey Twins' friends. He is a relatively friendly and easy-going police officer, more so than average LAPD officers, most likely because he's Canadian, but has stepped up to the mark when it is called for. He is married to Willow, a fellow raccoon, and the father of their two children, Rebecca and Ralf. He and Willow were formerly the main characters of FreyFox's short-lived comic series, Willow and Timothy, and starring in a few animated videos about them, before becoming supporting characters on Transmission since they had a cameo in strip #99, though Timothy actually appeared earlier, in strip #80. During the "Point of Vanishing" trilogy, he unwittingly turned the squirrel-twins against each other by informing Russell of Reggie's association with Sasha when Reggie intended to explain himself, though amazingly Reggie doesn't seem to blame Tim for it at all, especially after deciding to spend a night at Tim's house after fighting with Russell (and Tim was apologetic anyway). He later gave Russell tips on fatherhood.
• Willow Speed - Tim's wife and mother of their children, Rebecca and Ralf. She is a live wire and a total tomboy who was pulled over and arrested by Tim during a street race she was involved in, starting their relationship. Willow loves her children but resents how family life has kept her from enjoying her old hobbies, which gets severe in the "My Name is Willow" arc where she began drinking behind her husband's back. When caught she goes to rehab and makes a full recovery. Like her husband, she was one of the main characters of FreyFox's short-lived comic series, Willow and Timothy and starred in a few animated videos with him created by Frey.
• Howard Kowalczyk - A handsome, buff, surf instructor otter who taught Russell, Reggie, and Linda during a trip to Santa Monica beach in The Otter Side of Reggie story arc. Reggie struggled with sexually attractive feelings for Howard due to his handsome physical appearance, leading to the two having a one-time encounter in his beach hut. The two parted ways as friends. Howard returns in the story arc, Let's Go To War, joining Nick in Reggie's strip poker party which Reg wins. It is later said that Reggie and Howard are considered "friends with benefits". In "Baby Delivery" he begins displaying interest in Linda's sister Jeanette, which became so popular that the author made them an official couple. They marry off-screen and get three children (one being adopted, according to Mark) in "Epilogue, Part One".
• Nick Knox: an accident-prone skunk who is also a black belt in martial arts and a friend of the Harvey twins. He owns his own dojo and likes to dabble in philosophy. In strip #303 his absence in more recent strips was explained as him being on a sabbatical in Nepal. He returns for a brief appearance at the end of the 'Let's Go To War' story. His first big role comes in "Enter the Vulpine" where his gym is lacking in finance and its custody is being threatened by a tiger named Blanco. While helping a miserable Jason lose weight, he finds the money he needs to pay off his finance in a martial-arts tournament. Jason though wasn't pleased as he was having flashbacks about his evil uncle, which Nick knew about, but not how Eddie came to be a lowlife. Nick was stunned, but sympathetic, though Jason believed Nick would just use him for his own gain and almost abandoned him but stays at the last minute. Both Nick, Jason, and Jessica compete under the name "Black Thunder", and when Blanco tries to enhance his senses by blindfolding himself, Nick easily beats him and wins the money and Blanco's servants.
• Ralf: Tim and Willow's son who appeared in the midst of the comic. He later gets his own spin-off Incomplete Control.

Villains

Edward "Eddie" Glover: Jason's uncle and the main antagonist of the Jason story arc. He had a short temper, was uncaring, and physically abused his nephew when things went wrong for him, even if it was small or not Jason's fault. He ran a small gang of burglars who tried to rob the Harvey Twins' auto shop with Jason's forced assistance, but failed and left him behind. After being released from the police, due to Reggie's compassion, Jason was beaten with a baseball bat and got his face burned by his Uncle Ed with a grill, leading to Jason to finally leaving his uncle and living with the Harvey Twins. When Russell and Reggie tried to get Jason's belongings from his uncle's house, they got into a fight with Ed and his gang. Ed was soon afterward shot dead by Tim and undercover LAPD officers when he opened fire on them after trying to shoot dead Jason and Reggie. His gang was arrested soon afterward. The later arc Enter the Vulpine reveals he wasn't always bad and was genuinely kind to Jason, but Jason's parents becoming victims of a shooting in a mall Eddie worked at became the reason for Eddie's cruelty: Eddie was on a luncbreak when it happened, and had a newbie takeover, but said newbie was negligent, and the grief and guilt consumed Eddie so much it turned him into a monster.

Slater Siblings: Charley and Sasha Slater are two racers mice siblings who are the defending champions of the Mexican Rallycross race and the main antagonists of the Rallycross Rodents story arc. They go to extreme lengths of cheating in order for them to win, including tampering with other racers' maps, blowing up bridges, putting water in the other racers' gas tanks, etc. They had a duel with the Harvey Twins during the second leg of the race, which lead to Sasha getting hit with a tire iron by Charley's chain, causing them to crash. The two lost the race and are later strip-searched by the U.S. Border Patrol, along with the other racers for crossing an international border. Charley and Sasha returned as the main antagonists in the Let's Go To War story arc, entering as contestants in a Raging Robots competition in San Francisco. They play the competition without resorting to cheating this time as they are in with a good chance of winning until the twins pull off a shock defeat in the final round. Sasha, impressed by their performance, gives Reggie her phone number after the event, as a mark of respect for him. In The Wild Mouse Cafe chapters, it is revealed that Charley is in prison and Sasha is now working in a run-down diner. Sasha has since started dating Reggie. It was also revealed that, like Jason, Sasha and Charley didn't have a good childhood: their mother took to drugs and wound up in prison, their father became an alcoholic and later, sexually abusive, and their older brother Adam, though more decent, perished in the military in Afghanistan, and their sister Ivy, mainly because of their father, all but abandoned them. As a result, both Sasha and Charley turned to crime out of survival, with the last straw being when their father presumably tried to rape Sasha, which got him beaten up to near-death by Charley in retaliation. They both eventually come to terms with their estranged family when their father was dying, and the duo could be considered friends of the squirrel duo as Charley lets Sasha stay with Reggie. She eventually marries him, bears a son named Richard, and they move to Vermont, also having another child on the way.

Charley's personality is highly competitive and is determined to win at any cost, which was shaped by the siblings' past when they grew up in a broken family with an alcoholic father. While not as pushy nor as driven as her brother, Sasha is also quite competitive which sometimes gets her into trouble as well. They had two older siblings, Adam and Ivy.

Imelda and Troy: a geology major tabby cat and black horse who are a couple, and students at Jason's college and the main antagonists of The Rusty Chef story arc. The two discovered what they believed to be an oil well underneath the Harvey Twins' auto shop and tried to get their hands on it by Imelda seducing Reggie and pretending to be his girlfriend. After many attempts, leading to her getting injured, she reveals her plan to Reggie out of anger, leaving him heartbroken. She and her boyfriend were later arrested for their scheme. After being released, she sends an apology letter to Reggie when she and Troy left town. They return in "Long Way Around, Part Six" where Troy is seen working in a diner in Texas, while Imelda started a family together in California and is living in a trailer park, much to Reggie's amusement.

Gordo and T-Bone: a warthog and alligator who are a pair of wanted carjackers and scrapyard owners who are the main antagonists of the Kidnapped story arc. They stole and took apart Reggie's blue BMW 3-series convertible, leading to him trying to get revenge, but left when threatened with guns. Reggie accidentally damages Gordo's Harley bike by throwing a cricket bat over the fence, leading to the two to plot revenge by kidnapping Linda, when mistaking Russell for Reggie, demanding a $100,000 ransom. Linda was rescued by the twins with the help of Randall when about to be crushed by a car crusher. T-Bone was knocked out by Reggie wielding a briefcase, while Gordo was hit in the head by Linda with a muffler and later blown up on his motorcycle by Randall when attempting to escape. The two were arrested by Tim and tortured, twice, when listening to a Jedward album. Reggie receives a black Mitsubishi Evo X, one of the cars Gordo and T-Bone had stolen, as a reward when no one claimed ownership. They later returned in the Randall's Ransom arc as Brett Hudson's hired goons. At one point they got revenge on the Harvey twins by demolishing their garage in the "Points Of Vanishing - Part One" arc (it is unknown if the twins found this out later), then focus on helping Brett get back at Randall. They kidnap his daughter Jessica (initially aiming for Randall Sr.) to ransom for Randall's business. Randall though refused and along with his father went to confront the villains. T-Bone and some other goon named Keller confronted Randall outside after the coyotes had accidentally damaged Hudson's pool and other property, Randall also recognized T-Bone, but before they could have a rematch, the pool water made contact with speakers that were used to torture Jess with One-Direction music, electrocuting T-Bone and Keller to a crisp. Gordo meanwhile, helped move Jess upstairs, but when Lyle went to confront Randall, Gordo disobeyed the Hudsons and tried to strip Jess, possibly to rape her, but this provoked Brett into killing him as he had the same intentions himself.

Crazed Trucker: a homicidal trucker who tried to run down Russell and Reggie during their return trip from San Francisco and the main antagonist of the Duel story arc. When stubbornly refusing the Twins to pass him, Reggie mooned him, making him angry enough to run them off the road and kill them. After evading him multiple times on the road, the trucker drove off a cliff with the Twins' car, after they bailed, killing him. The story arc he appears in is heavily based on the Steven Spielberg movie Duel.

Eddie's Henchmen: Eddie's two goons from the "Jason" story arc, that consist of a Doberman and a Bulldog. Who assisted Edward in his robberies and schemes (and possibly bullied Jason). During the "Geraldine" story arc, they were released from prison and plotted revenge against the Harvey twins for Glover's death. But, they had met their timely demise when attacked by Russell's possessed car.

Brett Hudson: A buff, athletic and spoiled black panther from a very wealthy family, who appears in the story arc "Jason on Ice". He was on the hockey team in Jason's college which caused him to develop the "dumb jock" ego. Brett picked on Jason, and when it gets to a point of sexual harassment, the coach intervenes and Brett is expelled from the team. The twins later have Randall kidnap Brett, and leave him stranded and tied up in the desert in just his underwear. Brett later returned to exact his revenge in the Randall's Ransom arc with Gordo and T-Bone as his henchmen. He had Randall's daughter Jessica kidnapped to spite Randall, but in the end was defeated again, with his father and goons dead, and Randall made sure he wouldn't return again by tying him up and leaving him on train tracks to be run over by a train.

Blanco Zapka: a harsh and arrogant white tiger who leads a troop known as the "Iron Dragons". He gets introduced in the "Enter the Vulpine" arc, where he wants to buy Nick's dojo due to its sudden decline in finance, even though he already has his own dojo. He and his team face off against Nick, Jason, and Jess in a tournament, but when scheduled to fight Nick, he gets cocky and blindfolds himself in the hopes to be unbeatable, which doesn't work. He's an all-around jerk to just about everybody, even his own teammates, who promptly desert him after the tournament in favor of Nick. He also, rather hilariously, eats too many pizzas and fattens up so much that he gets stuck through a doorway, and Jason comes to rescue him! He briefly returns in "SlowBot To China", now antagonizing Howard in a surfing competition, and though he won it, he got rendered naked in doing so.

Blanco holds the distinction of being the only antagonist who stays an antagonist and alive (Charley and Sasha had converted to good, Imelda and her boyfriend are now living separate family-lives, and all the other villains had deceased).

Minor characters

Jessica “Jess” Randall: Randall’s estranged yet rebellious metalhead teenage daughter. They have an OK relationship despite rarely interacting due to her parent's divorce. She gets a big role in "Randall's Ransom" where she gets kidnapped by Brett Hudson and his cronies, who have a grudge against her father and the Harvey twins. Brett had been meaning to rape her, and she almost killed him for it but was talked out of it by Randall. At the end of the story, she receives Randall's jacket from her granddad. In "Enter the Vulpine", her ordeal with Brett has made her take up karate from Nick so to better take care of herself, and she joins Nick and Jason in the martial-arts tournament to win the money for Nick's dojo.

Zombie Korma: Trevor's psychedelic/Alternative rock band. The band's original lineup consisted of Trevor Harvey (lead vocals, bass), Simon Todd the dog (keyboards), Graham Bond the hawk (guitar, backing vocals) and Christian Thom the cat (drums). Having scored several top 40 hits in their native UK, Zombie Korma released their debut album Zombified in 2014 and embarked on a tour of North America in an attempt to draw fans stateside. Afterward, Christian was replaced on drums by Leeroy Evans the dragon and the band released their second album Psychopathic Curry Man in 2016 before embarking on a European Tour to promote the album. Graham later leaves the band and is replaced on guitar by Zara McCluskey, a folf. Zombie Korma's sound has been considered a fusion of Space and Kula Shaker.

Tiffany: a wolf girl who was Russell's long-distance girlfriend whom he met during the Twins' trip to San Fransisco in issue #105, during the Summer Break In San Francisco story arc. She and her brother are from Minneapolis, she's skilled with the guitar and a dedicated environmentalist. She and Russell broke up in issue #158 during an online chat, where he spat out tea onto his computer causing it to explode when he found out she's dating a grey squirrel, which ultimately led to Russell to meet his next girlfriend, Linda. She eventually returns in "Long Way Around, Part Four" where the twins find her performing in Washington D.C. and despite cheating on Russell, he doesn't seem to hate her for it at all, though they find their relationship wouldn't have worked out anyway.

Jeanette Hogarth: Linda's younger sister who appears in the "Hitched" arc, and since then has been making cameos. In "Baby Delivery" she meets Howard and they hit it off, which became popular enough for them to become a couple, eventually getting married and having three children, one being adopted.

Amanda Regina Harvey: Russell and Linda's daughter, introduced in the "Baby Delivery" arc. She is a squerret/fuirrel (squirrel-ferret-hybrid). She gains a younger sister named Alexa in the epilogue duology.

Jenny: A black fox and one of Blanco's lackeys in "Enter the Vulpine", but after his defeat in the karate tournament, she (along with the other lackeys) ditched him for the much nicer Nick and has started dating Jason. After the squirrel twins moved out of Los Angeles, both she and Jason were given the squirrels' house and Russell's Geraldine-car. They later married and have two children.

Lucas: A golden jackal who works with Linda in Electronics World. He accompanies the twins to their robot fighting competition in China as their electronics engineer when Linda stayed at home to look after Amanda.

Richard "Ricky" Adam Harvey: Reggie and Sasha's son introduced near the end of the comic. He is a squouse or muirrel (squirrel-mouse-hybrid).

Legacy

The comic has been one of the main inspirations for Lookin' Bright by Jacob Elmer as well as Daily Needs by Seth Fox.

Books

A series of books containing strips from the comics with bonus artwork has been published and sold by Lulu.com.

• Transmission (2013), comic strips #1 to #115
• Transmission 2.0: Deserts and Duels (2014), comic strips #116 to #235
• Transmission Evo III: Crazy Welcomes Careful Drivers (2015), comic strips #236 to #356
• Transmission Evo IV: Painting The Town Red (2017), comic strips #357 to #472
• Transmission Evo V: Points Of Vanishing (2019), comic strips #473 to #615
• Transmission Evo VI: Separate Ways Far Away (2020), comic strips #616 to #740
• Transmission Evo VII: Long Way Around (2023), comic strips #741 to #945

Gallery

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  Transmission 1st book cover

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  Transmission 2nd book Cover (Deserts and Duels)

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  Transmission 3rd book cover (Evo lll)

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  The Harvey Twins

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  The Twins in San Francisco

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  Transmission Cast X-Mas

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  Jason Glover from Transmission

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  Russell and Linda in Echo Park

See also

• Kat-Venture (a graphic novel series also created by FreyFox).

External links

• Transmission page on Lulu.com