Abstract Gender is a webcomic by Aaron R. Stewart and D. Michael Moore that began in May 2005. The comic is written in chapters. Each one, so far, is a day in the story.

The comic is about Brian Parker and Ryan Hawke, two teenagers from a town called Wakefield who have an unusual problem.

Plot

One day while shopping with friends, Brian hears about an abandoned mansion that has some sort of treasure hidden within. Being the dim-witted guy that he is, he believes the story and tells Ryan that he wants to investigate. Ryan is skeptical at first, but he eventually agrees to go with Brian.

After breaking in, the two friends find the place is indeed empty, but they soon heard strange noises and a voice telling them to get out. Brian thinks it is a ghost but Ryan doesn't believe him. The pair, however, agree to explore the mansion further until they end up in a dark room where some mysterious men knock them unconscious.

The two wake up the next day with vague memories of men in medical suits that apparently had used the two as unwilling test subjects. What is even more amazing is that the two boys find themselves changed into girls. While Brian has the ability to change sex at will, Ryan is stuck in his female form. This obviously makes Ryan more nervous as he then has to stick to a back story his mom makes up for him so he can go to school.

From here the story has gone on to Ryan's first day back at school where everyone thinks he is a new student 'Rachel'. It basically goes through his first days timetable and has more character development than actual plot. The comic is now in it's fourth chapter, where Brian becomes a female model (AND, apparently, it hasn't even been a week since the incident!). While Brian(as Brittney) posses in a swim-suit, Rachel (Ryan) and Katie go and see how Brittney (Brian) is doing. The Modeling agency director likes Rachel has a nice butt and says that if she was in a pair of tight jeans. Rachel replies by saying "Don't make me kick your @$$..." and he says that the fiesty ones make the best models and rachel responds by saying "you're aware i'm only 17, right?"

Characters

Brian Parker

Brian is 17 years old, and Ryan's childhood friend. He likes having fun even if it means getting into trouble. Most people find him a bit on the slow side but he has a rather innocent and comical personality. Since the abandoned mansion incident, he has the ability to switch back and forth between genders at will; as a girl he is known as Brittney.

Ryan Hawke====
Ryan is also 17 years old and has lived in Wakefield all his life. He and Brian have known each other since they were 9. He enjoys having a simple life, but it seems that things get complicated when Brian is around. He has been a girl after the abandoned mansion incident, and unlike Brian has not been able to return to his natural, male form. As a girl he is known as Rachel.

==Katie Herring

Katie is 16 years old and a friend of Ryan and Brian since they all go to the same school. She has a happy-go-lucky personality and really just enjoys going out and having fun. She and Brian are especially close friends. She is one of the few who knows about Brian and Ryan's "problem".

Nikki Morgan

A 17-year-old blonde cheerleader at Goldthwait High, Nikki is rather popular around their school. She recently captured the attention of Ryan Hawke. Nikki is also known to be a bit snobbish around people she doesn't know, including Rachel.

William Montgomery

William is the biggest stick in the mud in Wakefield so to speak. He rarely appears in a good mood and he seems to have an enmity towards Brian and Ryan. He was the one who told Brian about the abandoned mansion and the treasure hidden inside as a joke. He currently does not know of Ryan and Brian's "problem" but he might suspect something.

Brett Hawke

Ryan's 14-year-old brother. Brett often tries to wrestle Ryan to the ground, but has little success. He is the second person to be told what had happened, after Katie. A very hilarious moment in one of the comics is when he tries to wrestle Ryan right after the incident. He touchs one of Ryan's breasts and is immediently thrown a lot harder then usual on the floor. Then Ryan tells Brett about the incident.

Rebecca Joanne Hawke

The mother of Brett and Ryan. She is a single parent who tries to juggle her family and her work. She's very intelligent and works as a lawyer. She has had a rough life ever since she became pregnent with Ryan, when she was just out of high school. She works hard to try to support her family, and has gone to many lengths just for Ryan.

Evan Thorn

As Brett's best friend, Evan spends a lot of time around the Hawke family, and manages to figure out what happened to Ryan on his own. Evan is incredibly smart, and takes some classes at Ryan and Brian's grade level. He also seems to have a habit of calling people by random pop culture references, rather than by their actual names.

Andie Rhea

A friendly girl in Rachel's gym class, Andie is an avid lover of volleyball and is on the school team. She convinces Rachel to go to the tryouts and eventually make the team.

Kyle Barton

Kyle is 20 years old and is a model working for the same company as Brittney. Kyle appears to be friendly and happy to have Brittney around, and being more of a senior in the business, Kyle seems much more comfortable in front of the camera than she is.

Travis Right

Travis is a student in Rachel and Katie's history class who first bumps into Rachel at the mall. It would seem he's developing a bit of a crush on her.

Fetch

Fetch is Brian's dog, who has appeared as a anthropomorphic dog in some of Ryan's dreams.

==Trivia

The comic was originally written by Aaron Stewart and drawn by Shawn Ullom, with Michael Moore acting as webmaster. Due to extenuating circumstances, however, Shawn had to stop doing the art for the comic. After a short search for a new artist, Ian Samson took over the art duties, but only for a month. After Ian left to work on other projects, Michael Moore took over the artist duties for the comic.

It is believed by many fans that Montgomery has something to do with the two men who drugged Brian and Ryan. Other fans of the comic think that it was Area 51 that did this to Brian and Ryan. One person on the internet beleves that it was caused by by some guy messing around with DNA experements for an unknown company as a reference to SinTech from SiN.

If you look closely the spray the people sprayed on Ryan and Brian is a perfume bottle.

Ryan's mom, Rebecca, has said that she hired a private detective to check out the abandoned mansion at one point early in the comic. So far, no one really knows who the men in the mansion were. Aside from that particular instance, there has been no further attempts on finding out who the mysterious men were and their intentions in the storyline.

Ryan's mom said in one comic that she always wanted a girl but she got two boys instead. Something else that was kind of odd was that if Ryan was a girl the name would be Rachel (The same name Brian and Katie named Ryan.)

Although the current staff has now established a Tuesday/Saturday update pattern, the original artist (Shawn Ullom/Nightlink) has graciously been filling Thursday updates with simple fillers, loosely concerning the storyline.

Brian's mother appearance is based on Freya, one of Michael Moore's characters.

All the people that work on or have worked on still keep in touch with each other and have nicknames. Michael Moore is Kiey, Aaron Stewart is Rayne, Jason Straw is Lumiere, Ian Samson is Tran and Shawn Ullom is NightLink. Kiey and Nightlink both have accounts on DeviantArt.

External links

Abstract Gender's website