I Will Survive
is a particularly infamous fan-comic for Disney's Zootopia. It was written and drawn by William Borba, a professional artist from Brazil.
The comic deals with Judy revealing to Nick, her boyfriend, that she is pregnant. Nick is overjoyed, but Judy doesn't want the child. The two get into a heated argument that ends their relationship, and Nick walks out on Judy.
Borba has said that the comic was intended to show that even a One True Pairing can break up, given the right circumstances. However, he chose an unplanned pregnancy as the rock upon which their relationship crashes. As a result, a large portion of the audience focused on Nick's pro-life vs Judy's pro-choice positions. This caused the general public to come to know it as the "Zootopia Pro-Life Comic" or the "Zootopia Abortion Comic", even though the term abortion or pro-life is never used in the story.
In February 2019, Borba completed a sequel called Born To Be Alive which picks up a year after the events in this comic. He has said that I Will Survive and Born To Be Alive will make up a series called The Trilogy of Life. A third installment, titled Never Say Goodbye, was finished in November 2021. A story set between this and Born to be Alive titled The Longest Night would be released the following year.
I Will Survive contains examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Response: Nick to Judy, which results in her being taken aback, then slapping him.Judy: You know who I am! You know what's at stake for me since we first met! And you know full well that I did everything for my career!
Nick: Yes, I do know. It seems like you could even kill our baby for your career. - Bold Inflation: Borba peppers the dialog with words in bold typeface. However, the words in bold seem to be randomly chosen, to the point that it loses its value.
- Career Versus Family: Despite the fact that the movie showed that Judy was focused on making the world a better place and being a police officer was a means to that end, the webcomic portrays Judy as being very career-focused. She believes that some things, like her being a role model for other small mammals and her upcoming promotion to lieutenant, should be prioritized over having children. Nick disagrees.
- Dark Fic: It's a sad portrayal of the relationship of two individuals breaking down because each side has opposing views on how to deal with an unplanned pregnancy and neither side is willing to compromise or seriously consider the other's side.
- Death by Childbirth: Because there has never been a predator/prey hybrid before, Judy is concerned that their child could be way too big for her to safely carry to term.
- Double Standard:
- While the animal duo are dressed casually in the webcomic, Judy is considerably more sexualized. Nick is wearing a Hawaiian shirt and loose pants like he did in the movie. However, Judy is not wearing her gingham shirt and jeans but rather a tank top and notably tight shorts instead. In addition, throughout the comic, Judy is drawn in positions that show-off a considerable amount of hip, thigh, butt and crotch which seems very out-of-place given the serious discussion they are having.
- During their ensuing argument, Nick is portrayed as keeping his emotions more or less under control, while Judy becomes so overwhelmed by emotion that she slaps Nick hard enough to leave claw marks on his cheek.
- Downer Ending: Nick leaves Judy over her decision to not keep the child. She's heartbroken, and he's not happy with her decision, but as neither side was willing to compromise or even agree to keep talking, a breakup was inevitable.
- Emphasize EVERYTHING: Random words are in bold text to be emphasized.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The entire story takes place over the course of approximately twenty minutes in-universe. Critics have pointed out that the story was particularly heavy-handed in the portrayal of a relationship tearing itself apart over such an important issue without any attempt at taking time to calm down or having multiple discussions once the argument got heated. Essentially, the story shows that Nick and Judy have one and only one shot at working things out and failure results in the total breakdown of their relationship.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: A variation. Judy wakes up Nick by calling him by his unabbreviated first name. Even though it's not his full name, his reaction lampshades this trope.Judy: Nicholas! I am serious!
Nick: Geez! When you call me Nicholas it means I'm in great danger.
Judy: You bet! - Informed Attribute: The final panel informs us that Nick and Judy represent an "everlasting love that has triumphed over the odds and many challenges". However, neither Nick nor Judy are ever shown demonstrating the qualities of a mature, loving relationship such as bringing a sense of compassion to their argument, making a real effort to understand the opposing viewpoint of their partner or being willing to compromise for the sake of their loved one. Both Nick and Judy are portrayed as seeming to only care about themselves and focus only on what's at stake for them.
- Let Me Get This Straight...: Nick does this after Judy relates her fears about being pregnant with a fox/rabbit hybrid.Nick: So what you're saying is... "Hey, Nick! Even if you can get me pregnant, I don't want to have any children with you." Did I hit the mark, Judy?
- Love Bubbles: Subverted. There are hexagonal bubbles in the background when Judy appears to be inspired by Nick's speech and might be considering keeping the baby, however in the next panel Judy shuts that down with the proclamation "my body, my rules."
- Mix And Match Creature:
- It's shown that the offspring of separate species looks like a mix of the two. For example, a sheep/goat cross looks like a fluffy goat.
- Deconstructed with Judy's argument. In this comic, there has never been a prey-predator hybrid, so Judy has no idea what the baby would look like. She worries that the child would be some sort of freakish fox/rabbit hybrid or that it could be too dangerous to carry to term.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Judy immediately regrets slapping Nick, but the damage has been done.
- Poe's Law: Some people have argued that Borba did the comic as an intentional and deliberate Stealth Parody. It's hard to say for certain whether they're right, but certain particularly strange parts of the story (like the fact that Nick and Judy's apartment is directly modeled◊ after Jerry's apartment from Seinfeld) seem difficult to explain as the work of a legitimate fan.
- Promoted to Love Interest: Judy and Nick are just friends in the original movie, although here they are a couple. (Or at least they have had relationships)
- Pubescent Braces: When Nick asks what would have happened if Judy's mother never gave birth to her, a collection of pictures of Judy's childhood are shown, among them a shot of an adolescent Judy with braces.
- Self-Deprecation: In early 2018, Borba posted his own meme of the original comic. Judy and Nick sit calmly on the couch and both are playing on their smart devices. Judy sends an IM announcing her pregnancy and that she doesn't want the child. Nick responds back with "Yeah whatever".
- Ship Sinking: Even though both characters were Promoted to Love Interest, the end of the story ends up separating the couple definitively.
- Soap Opera: Borba is a native of Brazil where the telenovela is quite popular. The style of the web-comic follows the style of the typical telenovela with its focus on excessive gestures, over-the-top facial expressions, and melodramatic dialog ultimately leading to a painful and overly dramatic breakup of the main characters.
- Surprise Pregnancy: The comic centers around Judy finding out that she is pregnant with Nick's child. Nick is ecstatic upon being told the news, while Judy is... less than thrilled, to say the least.
- Title Drop: Nick quotes the title when he walks out on Judy.Judy: Nick! Where are you going?
Nick: Don't worry. I will survive. - Titled After the Song: This comic takes its name from Gloria Gaynor's popular 1978 disco song.
