The Trans Mind Who Shapes Holograms and Ninja Turtles

Sophie Campbell is a transgender comic artist who got started creating independent comics like Shadoweyes and The Abandoned that feature young black women who are outcasts (often goth lesbians). She's best known for her Wet Moon graphic novel series, which revolves around a similar group of gothic friends in a Southern town where they deal with the typical tumultuous college relationships while weird shit starts going down.

Campbell's illustrations tend to feature young women of various races, body types (there are lots of sexy, big-bottomed girls!), sexualities, gender presentations, and abilities. The first Wet Moon volume hit comic shops back in 2005 and resonated with readers; six more volumes followed. In 2018 came Wet Moon 7, the first new release in five years, and unfortunately, the series ender.

Having worked on Wet Moon for nearly 15 years, Campbell is ready to focus on other projects, including her work with comic book publisher IDW, where she helped redesign and relaunch Jem and the Holograms. The colorful tribute to girl power through music offers more than the usual mainstream teenage girl comics -- as a long review in The New Yorker magazine noted, in the series "serious ideas about performance, identity, and embodiment fit comfortably amid sitcom-worthy teen hijinks." Campbell's influence is summed up in one relationship: Kimber, presented as the girliest Hologram, falls for a member of the band's nemesis, the Misfits -- songwriter Stormer, who is depicted as a beautiful, blue-haired, fat girl.

Campbell also works on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, where her kinetic action scenes and distinctive artwork have been a hit with both fans and critics. Campbell wrote and illustrated IDW's special Leonardo "macro issue" released this fall as part of TMNT's 100th issue celebration. This summer, Campbell -- looking to the future -- told Comicosity she hopes to see the comic book industry provide "more opportunities for women of color, more trans creators, and more comics with trans characters." In wake of #MeToo, she added, she's hoping for a reduction in sexual (and online) harassment and "more men in comics being busted for harassment and fired."