Wet Moon (2004)

Synopsis

An unusually usual day-to-day story in the Deep South, set in the gothic, swampy southern town of Wet Moon, a place fraught with lousy love lives, teen angst, and shadowy rednecks.

As Cleo Lovedrop heads off for college at the local art school, she’s haunted by her melancholic past: a lost love, a lost child. Friends and enemies live their lives around her, as trouble and dissent brews amongst them: an unseen social assailant spreads slander about Cleo, she is forced to deal with her two brusque roommates, and discovers unsolved mysteries about the girl who lived in her room previously. Elsewhere, Trilby deals with unsettled emotional and sexual issues, and keeping her secret habits hidden from everyone. And Audrey comes to the realization that, despite all her efforts, she always causes her friends distress, while Fern, a peculiar, deformed girl who lives in an isolated mansion in the bayous, begins to notice Cleo and her friends. As the moon grows full and lunar rays shine down, lunacy and moon-calves run free.

Goths, friendship, romance, sex, betrayal, gossip, cats, murder, guilt, a squirrel monkey, and all the terrible and wonderful things people do to each other.

From: Oni Press

Notes on This Title

The first six volumes of this series were originally published from 2004 to 2012. However, beginning in 2016, these volumes were reprinted in new editions. In addition, a seventh and final volume which had not been previously published was released as part of this second run. The first six volumes are in black and white, while the seventh makes use of spot color.

Awards

None.

Reviews

“Wet Moon starts out solidly in “slice of life” territory, following awkward goth teen Cleo Lovedrop as she moves into an apartment and begins her freshman year at a Southern art school. Cleo’s a townie, attending college in the same small town of Wet Moon where her family still lives. Her best friends since childhood, Trilby and Mara, are at the school too, although they’re not rooming together (which is probably for the best, because the three of them mostly bicker at this point). Instead, Cleo rooms with Natalie, who seems mean but may just be shy, and Malady, who always carries pie in her bag.

But from the very beginning, something seems a little creepy, a little off. The setting epitomizes Southern Gothic in the most literal sense—a swamp town of twisting trees, Spanish moss, and rumored giant animals. The girl who used to live in Cleo’s room mysteriously vanished, leaving only a strange round spot on the floor. Unusual people lurk around town: A well-dressed man with an ever-present monkey, an unhealthy-looking girl who almost mirrors the mummy girl from Campbell’s Shadoweyes, and Fern, a bald and unusual-looking young heiress who seems to know more about everyone than she should.” (Source: ComicsAlliance)

 

“I first picked up Wet Moon, a graphic novel series by Sophie Campbell, last year at the recommendation of a friend. When asked what it was about, my friend said, “It’s like, well, hmmm. People at college, with spooky?” After reading it I can better understand her elevator pitch predicament. There is a lot going on in this story. Slice of Life? Horror? Southern Gothic? Sci Fi/Fantasy? What is the genre? What is the plot? Elements from each of these listed make appearances and merge together seamlessly in Campbell’s writing so that it’s difficult to pigeonhole into any one specific genre. What my friend could tell me about Wet Moon is that it’s full of good art and full of goths. And it is now one of my absolute favorite series.” (Source: Women Write About Comics)

Interviews

Autostraddle: “Talking to Trans Comics Creator Sophie Campbell about Rereleased Wet Moon Vol. 1“