I’ll admit I’ve long struggled over the concepts of predestination (essentially that the future is predetermined and unchangeable) and free will (there is no destiny and we are free to choose our fate). I find the concept abhorrent that we are, in essence, puppets dancing out to the whims some capricious divinity who decided before the existence of time itself who would do what, who was damned, and who would be saved. Thus when I stumbled across the webcomic Blip, which is about a girl who is born without a destiny in a reality that runs according to God’s Plan, I quickly found myself drawn into the comic.

Metaphysical aspects aside, Blip is a slice-of-life comic where the mundane exists obliviously along side the surreal and supernatural. The comic’s protagonist, a young woman called “K.” by all her friends and associates, is oblivious to the ongoing conflict between the forces of Heaven and Hell over her life. Well, she’s oblivious on a conscious level at least; a fair ways into the comic we learn that K. knows the Devil, whom she calls “Uncle Luc” (and who in the comic is a very attractive and affable gentleman, showing courtesy to both his own minions and to his opponents among the angels) and was mentored by “Luc” in her dreams, being taught how to play instruments, draw, paint, and write. The forces of Heaven try to combat this by discouraging her artistic tendencies and ensuring her life is boring and nondescript. (And no, they apparently aren’t allowed to kill her. It’s against the rules.)

Needless to say, Blip does not ascribe to the notion that the Devil is evil. While it is revealed that he rebelled against God, he is not shown to be the metaspiritual boogyman of Christian mythos. Indeed, even the Devil seems to answers to someone… that being The Adversary, who (according to the Devil) is responsible for “ruining” K.’s life (even if it’s the angels who are doing the footwork). Likewise, we’ve not seen evidence that the comic is using the trope that “God is Evil.” An evil God wouldn’t care about rules and would do worse than ensure that a young woman’s life is uninteresting and uninspiring. While it’s not exactly a nice thing to do, it’s at worse a very vanilla evil.

Amusingly enough, K.’s life is replete with supernatural elements that she is unaware of. Of her two best female friends, one is actually a vampire, and the other a witch. A third former friend whom K. is antipathetic toward is a cyborg (and whose father is hinted at possibly being Dr. Frankenstein). And as I mentioned above, K.’s spiritual/dream mentor is the Devil. Interestingly, K.’s friends were unaware of K. being without destiny (or a “blip”) until the Devil tells K.’s vampire friend; needless to say, the knowledge that K. is anethema to God’s Plan is a considerable shock to them.

Despite the supernatural turmoil surrounding K., her life is fairly mundane with a boring job at a hospital’s medical records department, as well as the ongoing tediousness of K.’s life in general. Eventually she forms healthy relationship that the angels are unable to stop (thanks to the Devil’s minions distracting them until the roots of the relationship grew and the two started dating) at which point we finally catch a glimpse of K. being genuinely happy. Don’t get me wrong; the angels continue to throw monkey wrenches at K. and her relationship (including old exes for both K. and her boyfriend) and there are days which are full of suck. But that could be said for all people.

The mixture of supernatural and mundane elements works. Our frequent glimpses into K.’s life helps us care for a character who has the sort of life we can relate to, which helps anchor the more surreal elements and meta-conflict. What’s more, we end up cheering for someone who traditionally is considered a villain (though he is not necessarily a hero in this incarnation) except for his efforts to give one person a better life. And whether you enjoy a comic that has metaphysical elements that make you think or just enjoy a slice-of-life comic with a squeeze of supernatural lime, you’ll find Blip to be one comic you want to keep on your radar.