Nicole and Derek
is a furry Slice of Life Web Comic by Terrence and Isabel Marks. It is a Spin-Offspring sequel to two of the Marks' previous comics: Namir Deiter and You Say It First. The title characters are Nicole Adams (daughter of Brisbane and Kimberly of YSIF) and Derek O'Donnell (son of ND's Tipper and Charles). The comic involves Nicole's adventures as the new girl in town, following her family's move for business reasons, as she gets used to an entirely new world (to her) and the cast of characters within it. Other new characters introduced include Miss Fluffy (a koala girl), Adrian Anneston (son of ND's Cedric and Falco) Cassandra (a cat girl who serves as Derek's foil) and "Magical Princess Shelby" ("Enforcer of Justice!").
The comic is still in its infancy, so there are still many characters (including characters from the previous comics) still to be properly introduced.
Updates Monday through Friday. (Currently on Hiatus)
The comic contains examples of the following tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: We're told early on that Charles is now a school principal and that Derek uses a personal connection with the principal to get away with much of his shenanigans. When we finally see Derek's school principal, It's Joy Telford, nee Satu. Charles is the principal of a completely different school.
- Barefoot Cartoon Animal: The entire cast, just like the predecessor comics.
- Bus Crash: Cedric was killed in an auto accident during the time skip.
- Cliffhanger: "Cerise and Daisy" ends with Daisy being confronted by a clearly angry Twix, Cerise's father.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Shelby, who treats her Study Hall period as her own private "Magical Princess" territory.
- Complexity Addiction: Shelby's scheme to procure copies of Macbeth from Derek, rather than just buy them at the bookstore she visited the day before (before getting spooked by the sight of a then-unnamed JJ). Granted, that was after she was denied use of an e-book copy or a printout of same.
- The Ghost: Despite his importance to certain characters and parts of the story, Issac Telford has yet to appear in the comic proper.
- Hands-Off Parenting: Miss Fluffy's parents let her change her own name at age six. The law says she can't change it again for ten years.
- Lovable Rogue: Derek, in the Ferris Bueller mold.
- Love Dodecahedron: Avery has a crush on Derek and considers Nicole (who was crushed on by Adrian) her love rival (she isn't, and eventually tells her so). Derek has a crush on Miss Fluffy, who thinks he likes Cassandra (who knows about Avery's crush).
- Eventually resolved (or dismantled) when Avery gives up on Derek (See Oblivious to Love) and Adrian starts dating Shelby. Derek and Nicole do start dating, but long after the dodecahedron dissolves.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Shelby is introduced as a lunatic, and even Cassandra and Avery seem to see her as one, but her plans and superstitions tend to prove bizarrely effective/accurate.
- MST3K Mantra: Invoked by Word of God for YSIF and ND readers trying to reconcile the timelines between the comics. The timelines won't line up perfectly and that's on purpose.
- New Transfer Student: Nicole is from an entirely different country.
- Oblivious to Love: Derek has missed every cue that Avery likes him, up to an including having cake together at a cafe. There, Avery's awkward attempts to let Derek know her feelings only made him think she was into girls.
- Retcon:
Word of God is that some characters' ages have been tweaked from their Namir Deiter incarnations to fit the current narrative. For example: Adrian and Derek are the same age, when Adrian should be two years older. Cerise has been aged down to her teens, when she should be only a year or two younger than Daisy, to facilitate a closer relationship between her and her cousin, Derek. - She Who Must Not Be Seen: For the first couple of years of the strip, the audience doesn't see the teenaged Cerise Namir, only hearing from her via texts with Derek.
- The Dec. 21, 2016 strip finally portrayed the older Namir family - Twix, Snickers and Cerise.
- The Dec. 21, 2016 strip
- Spin-Offspring: The title characters are the children of You Say It First and Namir Deiter's central couples.
- Spoiler Title: The chapter "Cerise and Daisy" wasn't named until after it was finished, to avoid giving away the identity of Cerise's mystery lover. Now it's a Late-Arrival Spoiler.
- Team Mom: Miss Fluffy tries to fill this role, but usually just ends up being a wet blanket.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: The first couple of times Blue's bar was featured, the bartender many assumed was a youthful-looking Blue was actually her niece, Daisy Huss (who dyes her hair blue). Lampshaded by the 12/20/2016 strip where Blue, herself, makes an appearance.
- Unknown Rival: Shelby considers Nicole more a Spanner in the Works than a direct rival (for now).
- Wham Episode:
- Comic #477, which reveals that JJ is Isaac's biological daughter, but not Joy's
- The reveal that Cerise and Daisy were lovers.
- Comic #477
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Several important characters from the predecessor comics have yet to even be mentioned in (like Roxanne (Blue's older sister/Daisy's mother) or Gabby).
