Comic Book Review: Wet Moon by Sophie Campbell

I'm back to reviewing stuff! That's right, folks...every so often, whenever I feel like it, I review some comics or books or movies or whatever that I think are either really good, really bad, or just important. For my first review in a long time, here's Wet Moon by Sophie Campbell.

Wet Moon
Book 1: Feeble WanderingsSophie Campbell
Oni Press

I was handed Wet Moon Book 1: Feeble Wanderings by a friend with little introduction except a mysterious look, a kind of sidelong glance that could indicate mischief or apprehension. Glancing at the cover, I was immediately struck by the fact that, despite showing its main character, this image and title gave away absolutely nothing. Who is this cute, pudgy goth babe? Why does she appear to be shrinking from encroaching blackness, yet leaning forward with a hungry, curious look? What the heck does "Wet Moon" mean?

Whatever it means, this is one hell of a weird, funny, haunting comic...and gives new meaning to the phrase, "Southern Gothic".

The plot is complicated, so I'll only give a rough outline: Cleo Lovedrop is attending the local college in Wet Moon, Louisiana, and hanging out with her friends Audrey, Trilby, and Mara. Among this threesome of disagreeable outsiders, Cleo is the odd girl out, and never seems sure how to react to their brittle, aggressive behavior. As she attempts to navigate this minefield of drama, she keeps running into her enigmatic ex-boyfriend, Vincent, and mysterious signs claiming that "Cleo eats it". This is a town where weird things and weird people show up every day, but it's ordinary angst which causes our heroine the most unease.

I fell in love with the black and white interior art from page one. The round linework of the main characters gives them a Kewpie-Doll look that's at once girlish, sexy, and somehow grotesque - something in the raccoon circles under their eyes, or the swollen fullness of their lips. The backgrounds are spare linework, but have a crowded, quiet intensity to them. The characters themselves, with their fluid sexual preferences and dubious fashion sense, are endlessly intriguing; every time a new character showed up, I kept wondering, What's her story? What's his story? Campbell plays it coy, teasing us with details and withholding what we really want to know.

What I loved about Wet Moon's writing is its reliance on conversational dialogue: no information is directly given, no narrative boxes tell the reader how to feel. It's somehow objective and intimate at the same time. Each character has their own voice, and their diction is often the only indication that they're about to explode into tears or tantrums. Cleo's bewilderment is often our own - she's our window into this strange world, yet often turns opaque and mysterious as all the other characters.

This story is truly Southern Gothic, both in pun and in plot. Where this story intersects with Faulkner is not just in the stifling, weary, beautiful setting of the swamps and bayous of the Deep South. It's also in the way tiny social interactions seem infused with dark meaning, and strange characters ripple through the narrative as though through a fever dream. The grotesque is only a block away, and every yard of every creaky old mansion has its buried skeletons. The character's Goth style is only an outward manifestation of something at once morbid, sexy, and darkly self-absorbed about the literary American Deep South.

I loved Wet Moon Book 1, and I'm excited to try and find the next volume of this mysterious, weird, and deeply funny graphic novel.

Final Verdict: 4 out of 5.

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The Penguin

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