Story reason: They were spliced with animal DNA by aliens. The degrees vary. More than Spider-Man, less than The Lizard, in this case. Ace was 16 when he was spliced and his brother was spliced at 10. Ace and Beaky were originally Karlos and Ben-Isaac but Ace and Beaky are their nick/code names. (Ace=High Flying Ace, but also Ace card, as in "Ace in the hole". Beaky is just Ben-Isaac squished and a reference to the fact he got spliced by bird DNA).
I've had these characters swim in my head since I was 10 ish. They've changed in the background of my work.
Real world version: It's a comic that just happens to have anthropomorphic characters. Lots of comics, do. I already put most of my drawings in the furry place. This one's an actual 2 panel comic with dialogue.
