No Parking

No Parking Web Comic is a webcomic created by J Sheehan, started on March 13, 2006. It chronicles the exploits of a group of talking animals and a ranger at the fictional Chaney Park. At first it was run of the mill gag-a-day with animals type comic, but has taken detours into science fiction, time travel and some emotional stories about the characters.

The main characters are Amanda, the human ranger who talks to the animals; Barney Duck, a self professed anarchist and trouble maker; Pax, a hippy rabbit who seems stoned all the time; James T. Kaat, the unoffical police officer of the park; Mouse, who is a Catholic mouse who watches religous tv shows; and Penny, a ranger trainee who is into the goth lifestyle.

J Sheehan, the writer and artist, is new to the web comic scene and is very guarded about his privacy. Even on his MySpace blog he says, "I'm not into pouring my heart out into cyberspace, that's what I have my strip for. No Parking is my voice and face to the internet.  Anything I have to say I say in the comic."

Amanda Sommers
Amanda Sommers, is the park ranger at Chaney Park. She is in her early 20's and loves helping animals. At first she doesn't know she can talk to animals, until her first day of work she encounters Barney Duck. Unable to make her understand he needs to the bathroom, he shocks her into hearing him by telling her, "Tom Cruise is overrated as an actor".

She plays the straight man to the hijinx of the animals most of the time, which balances the zaniness of the strip. She does have her own quirks, like her love of dirty Japanese comics.

Barney Duck
Barney Duck thinks of himself as a anarchist, but his antics are little more than harmless pranks. At times he seems to be the leader of the rest of the characters, other times he is just a trouble maker.

A future version of Barney traveled back in time to stop Penny from becoming President Tom Cruise's Secretary of Parks and ruining the future. This version of Barney was more prone to violence, which the present Barney is opposed to. This version of Barney seemed to disappear after the future was changed, and hasn't been seen since.

A early version of Barney appeared in J Sheehan's high school newspaper.

Pax Rabbit
Pax Rabbit is a happy go lucky rabbit who seems to be stoned all the time and is on the look out for a ghost who puts mustard in his ears when he sleeps. Pax is immediately recognizable in his peace sign tee shirt and by his eyes; one is normal the other is small, round and has a yellow pupil.

Besides being Barney's sidekick, Pax has had storylines of his own. In one series an obsessed girl tried to take over his life, so the park made them play a tv game show called Pax or No Pax to decide who got to be Pax.

Little is known of Pax's background, but it is known his mother left him to be raised by his many brothers and sisters.

Penny
Penny is a goth pre-teen who came to the park as a ranger cadet. Penny was to grow up to become an evil Secretary of the Parks under President Tom Cruise, but when a future version of Barney waved his arms, it created a butterfly effect that made a egg fall into her hands. She cared for the egg, even when the two Barney, while fighting, knock out the power to the light keeping the egg alive. Through her caring for the egg through the cold night the baby bird hatched and the future was changed so she became a friend to all animals and helped them.

She continues to go care for the baby bird, who has taken to calling her mommy.

Penny is drawn always in black and white, even in the Sunday color strips.

James T. Kaat
James T. Kaat is the unofficial law officer of the park, a kind of Barney Fife character. A orange tabby cat, his is usually seen wearing his trade mark police hat and enforcing what he deem to be the law of the park.

When Amanda left for a time to take care of a sick friend, James' took over the park renaming it Furdonia and making it a rogue nation. His plan was to have robot army and ninja monkies steal the park down the streets roach couch. The United Nations, the national media and the Army got involved in the crisis his nation caused, before Amanda came back and put a stop to it. As punishment he had to clean out the caves of the bears.

He redeemed himself by saving Mouse from a burning first aid cabin, showing courage in putting his friend's life before his own safety.

James was thought to be blown up by a failed science experiment Pax Rabbit was doing, but it has been revealed he is living in another dimension as a Conan like warrior. The other characters still think he is dead.

Mouse
Mouse, as the name says, is a mouse. She is religious and can sometime be seen talking to God or watching sermons on TV. She sometime seem to be the voice of reason in the park.

Other Characters
There has been a collection of minor characters that have appeared in the strip. They include:

The Robots from when James ruled Furdonia.

Crazy Grrrl, a woman who tried to take over Pax's life and become him.

Future Barney, more violent Barney from an alternate time line.

Baby Bird, the bird Penny saved and cares for. He/she has been seen a nubmer times, but has not been given a name as of yet.

The Time Wizard, The leader of the Department of Time and Punishment in the future, the Time Wizard, for some presently unknown reason, has it in for Barney Duck and wants him dead. He is assisted by a green, pointed ear and horned alien in a purple jumpsuit.

Plot
The basic plot of the strip is the adventures of some talking animals at a park, and alternates between gag-a-day strips and long form storylines that sometimes don't end in a joke. The comic has taken some weird detours at times.

Quite a few strips have featured time travel, with future versions of Barney and Pax coming back in time, Barney Duck taking on a 9-11 conspiracy nut and even a storyline set on November 22, 1963 the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. These detours taken the strip from being an ordinary joke of the day and has given it more depth.

Major Story Arcs
To date, there have been three major story arcs in No Parking.

Empire of the Park (April 12th thru May 7th 2006) While Amanda is away helping her sick friend, James T. Kaat takes over the park and declares it "Furdonia", a rogue nation he is the dictator of. Assisted by robots he bought on Ebay, he plans to use three fearless ninja monkeys to steal the nearby park's roach coach.

A Tale of Two Barneys (June 25th thru July 26th 2006) In the future, Penny has grown up to be evil and has ruined the parks of America. A future version of Barney travels back in time (in a time machine that also makes soft serve ice cream) to stop her. Only he wants to kill her, and the present Barney won't let him harm her.

November 22nd 1963 (October 22nd thru November 22nd 2006) A version of Pax from an erased time line is causing time to collaspe into itself. The Department of Time and Punishment sends Barney, Pax and the gang back to November 22nd, 1963 (the time and place of the Kennedy assasination) to mend the rift. Only Pax has other ideas...