Katchoo

Origin

The illegitimate daughter of Sonny Baker and a Chicago prostitute, Katina “Katchoo” Choovanski ran away from her abusive stepfather, only to find herself a pawn in a criminal enterprise that trained young women to seduce powerful men for financial or political power.

While in school she met Francine Peters, and the two become great friends over the matter of a few days before they were separated for 10 years. When Francine broke down over her failing marriage Katchoo returned to help a friend she had missed terribly.

Creation

Following years as a comic strip writer Terry Moore developed a comic book series from a single drawing he made of a group of 4 friends. this one picture led him to think “who are these people” and “how did they come to be in the same room”. An idea that was too grand for a strip, this required a comic book format to contain the scope of the story. One of them was the artist character and combined with the sketch Katina Choovanski was born. The result was Strangers in Paradise published by Abstract Studios

Character Evolution

With the non-liner nature of Strangers in Paradise a characters evolution can be a complex thing as new information later int he series informs the decisions and traits we saw previously. Katchoo starts off as a spunky teenager with a wild streak, to abuse victim, prostitute, to confidant young woman and artist.

She is a strong independent woman with a slightly confused sexual identity that is not helped by a preference for women when the one she loves can’t commit and a man who can doggedly waits for her to accept him.

Major Story Arcs

The illegitimate daughter of Sonny Baker and a Chicago prostitute Katina “Katchoo” Choovanski ran away from her abusive stepfather, only to find herself a pawn in a criminal enterprise that trained young women to seduce powerful men for financial or political power. She and her lover Emma, who died later of AIDS, stole $850,000 from the cartel and escaped.

Returning alone to her old life and the company of her best friend Francine Peters, Katchoo has tried to escape her past, but is still being hunted down by both the criminal cartel and the FBI.

The emotional counter-currents of this series are complex: David loves Katchoo; Katchoo loves Francine; Francine loves other men. And since David is related to the head of the criminal cartel, who wants him back, and Katchoo is related to some of its worst enforcers, who want her back and bearing an heir to the family, there’s a lot of tangled love and pain to go around.

Popular Recognition

Katchoo was ranked 69th in Comic Buyer’s Guide’s 100 Sexiest Women in Comics list.