Moist Moon is a cult traditional comedian ebook for a motive – over the course of seven volumes and set within the American south, the sequence superbly tells the tales of over a dozen younger adults rising up in goth, punk and emo subcultures within the 2000s. To have fun the twentieth Anniversary of the sequence in 2024, Oni Press has re-released Moist Moon in deluxe editions with new cowl artwork, further supplies and outsized formatting. The Beat reached out to author / artist Sophie Campbell on the way it feels to look again on the sequence after 20 years.
This interview has been transcribed and edited for readability.
JARED BIRD: Hiya and thanks a lot on your time. The primary quantity of Moist Moon’s twentieth Anniversary Version got here out from Oni Press November twenty sixth, 2024. What’s it been like, celebrating 20 years of Moist Moon?
SOPHIE CAMPBELL: It’s positively type of powerful for me. I feel most artists and writers look again at their older stuff, even from just a few years prior, and go ‘ugh, I want I may’ve performed this higher. I’d’ve performed this otherwise.’ Moist Moon is from 20 years in the past – I used to be a child once I did these first couple books! Once I undergo the proofs to repair errors and test every thing, my fast thought is ‘Oh, I hate this. Why did I draw like this? It’s so horrible!’. I couldn’t draw palms. I nonetheless can’t draw palms! It’s positively not embarrassing, that’s too robust, nevertheless it’s humbling for certain. There’s part of me that doesn’t need an anniversary assortment in any respect, and I would like it to all go away and have nobody ever see it once more!
BIRD: Did you count on Moist Moon to nonetheless have an viewers after twenty years? What do you assume causes individuals to come back again to it?
CAMPBELL: I suppose it’s stunning now, however on the time, particularly through the earlier books, I didn’t actually give it some thought in any respect. What it might turn into. I by no means thought concerning the future in any respect throughout these days. I used to be virtually goofing off. ‘I’m simply doing this goth woman comedian which is about nothing!’. It was me goofing off with all of the stuff I may put into the comedian’s plot and clearly these days I nonetheless get messages from individuals who have simply found it, which is bananas to me to consider.
BIRD: I feel that’s a part of the attraction for me. Once I first learn Moist Moon, I appreciated that it was an unrestrained take a look at discipline of no matter you needed to do. Somebody will get murdered within the first quantity! It’s so out of left discipline – It’s a slice of life comedian about goth women after which there’s a useless physique, and it doesn’t decide up on that thread for fairly some time.
CAMPBELL: Proper, yeah!
BIRD: I like the unrestrained inventive power of it.
CAMPBELL: That was positively a part of it. There have been no restrictions. The editors gave me fairly free reign. I don’t even know in the event that they proofread a number of the stuff, to be sincere! Even these days once I’m engaged on different comics, I’ve to maintain myself , I suppose. It’s an ongoing battle. In Moist Moon, I nonetheless love all these characters, however past the story of the core group and characters I used to be like ‘I actually need to draw somebody getting stabbed.’ or ‘What in the event that they go to a comic book conference?’. That final one appears ridiculous to me now, as a result of I don’t need to draw all these crowd scenes! I’d by no means do this now. ‘What if my buddy Kirk was within the comedian, and received punched by one of many characters? That might be humorous.’ Numerous it got here from that type of methodology. Clearly there was the primary plot with romance and coming of age, however what if there was an enormous boar, or a Casey Jones-style vigilante? Numerous that’s me making an attempt to get enthusiastic about drawing these books. On some degree, I used to be simply seeing what I may get away with.
BIRD: Oni Press each put out the unique Moist Moon and the brand new re-release. What’s your relationship with them been like?
CAMPBELL: It’s been actually nice. It’s actually completely different now, as a result of virtually everybody I labored with on the unique launch of Moist Moon has moved on. My present editor, Bess Pallares, is nice they usually’re all the time very amenable with what I need to do. They’re very accommodating with what the sequence is and isn’t, and there’s no try to make it extra marketable or one thing which I admire. I all the time regretted not doing extra with Oni Press. They’ve all the time been a secure area for me. I all the time know that they’re there. I used to be working with them even earlier than Moist Moon, so that they’ve been there since floor zero of my profession and they’re nonetheless there. It’s comforting.
BIRD: They’ve been placing out nice books this 12 months. It’s actually cool to see them present like to the traditional books of their library and hold them in print as effectively. I actually like that.
CAMPBELL: Yeah, me too! They didn’t must put out these new editions of Moist Moon, they might’ve simply reprinted the earlier editions. It feels prefer it’s received a great residence. Another indie stuff I’ve performed through the years hasn’t had that. Shadoweyes has jumped from writer to writer, however Moist Moon has all the time been with Oni. They’re good at what they do, they usually know what they’re doing. It’s good.
BIRD: One thing I like about Moist Moon is how messy and flawed the characters could be. Rereading the primary few volumes, I used to be struck by how terrible they are often to one another. They’re messy. What suggestions would you give creators trying to make nuanced characters?
CAMPBELL: Don’t shrink back from that stuff. It’s powerful, as a result of I see individuals speak about ‘unlikeable’ protagonists, or criticizing reveals the place everyone seems to be a bit of shit. There’s one thing to be mentioned for that! You want an entry level, and if everyone seems to be obnoxious off the bat, you won’t connect with it. For me personally, I wish to see when characters are type of fucked up, with good qualities and unhealthy qualities. Real unhealthy qualities, not simply passive flaws like ‘oh, they’re too formidable!’. Is {that a} flaw although? That’s partially a great factor. Assume extra alongside the strains of somebody who doesn’t contemplate the emotions of others. That’s a real flaw. I discover that stuff type of endearing. Generally even when a personality has little to no redeeming qualities, there’s nonetheless one thing compelling about that. I prefer it when different writers lean into that. You don’t see it tremendous usually, so when it does, it’s actually attention-grabbing, whether or not or not there’s even an arc. Generally individuals don’t get higher, they worsen! There’s a actuality to that which I like.
BIRD: That’s one thing I actually like about Moist Moon. Characters will make a mistake, know that they’ve made a mistake, and they’re going to do it once more sooner or later. They don’t magically cease having a difficulty with it. They consciously have to have interaction with it and work on it. It’s so true to life, and it’s not simply ‘by the top of this quantity, they’re a very completely different particular person!’
CAMPBELL: Individuals don’t actually be taught something! Properly, they do, nevertheless it’s an ongoing battle. Numerous the time individuals recognise flaws in themselves they usually’re positive with it. They don’t really feel the necessity to change. In Moist Moon, there’s a voyeuristic high quality to it. There’s nonetheless modifying, and I can’t present each single second of a personality’s life, nevertheless it’s type of such as you’re sitting in on any individual they usually don’t have the chance to wash themselves up. You get to see them at their worst, and at their greatest in the event that they do have a greatest. That was the core concept of Moist Moon in numerous methods. I needed to point out the vary of what any explicit character might be.
BIRD: The condominium they dwell in is so soiled, all the time. You don’t actually see that in numerous tales. You don’t see what actual mess appears like.
CAMPBELL: I completely agree! A part of that’s that I like drawing rubbish. Within the first couple books there’s a sub-sub-subplot of the custodial employees on the college, and a part of that was me liking to attract piles of rubbish. Shadoweyes is all about rubbish too. They dwell in a dystopian metropolis coated in trash which I like to attract. Numerous that stuff can be based mostly on my expertise in Savannah for faculty. I lived with one of many messiest individuals I’ve ever met in my life. We didn’t get the deposit again for that. Not deliberately, she was only a messy particular person. Moist Moon had numerous that type of stuff. I used to be reflecting on it just a few years after I graduated, wanting again and going ‘God, we had been disgusting!’. I don’t know if it’s nonetheless like that, nevertheless it was simply nasty.
BIRD: Do you ever get tempted to make an eighth ebook of Moist Moon?
CAMPBELL: Yeah, positively. Again within the day, I all the time mentioned Moist Moon would simply hold going till I received sick of it or Oni didn’t need to publish it anymore. It received to a degree the place I needed it to be twelve books, then eight, and at seven I made a decision it might be the final one. I don’t know the way a lot is basically resolved within the seventh ebook, however I positively take into consideration doing an eight ebook or some type of spin-off. A one-off factor, like visiting the characters of their 30s or one thing. I positively give it some thought. I’ll get a message from a very enthusiastic fan, and that can get me going once more, and I feed on that pleasure. What would the characters be as much as? I positively give it some thought typically.
BIRD: I do like that it simply type of stops. You’re seeing their lives, and you then cease. their lives will stick with it.
CAMPBELL: There’s not a decision in quantity seven, however I needed there to be a shift that you may really feel. The core forged meet within the snow, they usually’re all hanging out, and one thing has shifted, even when you don’t know what it’s. Cleo lastly confronts Vincent after seven books. It does type of draw back and simply finish, such as you had been saying.
BIRD: You talked about earlier that you just put quite a bit into Moist Moon which was simply belongings you discovered attention-grabbing. Is there something you want you set in Moist Moon, however didn’t get to do?
CAMPBELL: In Savannah, there was this story about an undetonated warhead off the seaside. That was all the time one thing I needed to place in there. It explodes or one thing, and takes a bit out of Moist Moon. I all the time saved that in my again pocket, however I by no means did it. Quantity seven went via numerous adjustments. I had a complete different storyline thumbnailed, and the ebook was twice as lengthy. There was a complete part concerning the characters going up north for Christmas break. They stick with Martin’s household. An entire plotline that was set in upstate New York. There’s shades of that, however initially it was quite a bit longer. I nonetheless remorse not doing it. It might’ve been an enormous endeavor, which is a part of why I minimize it, however a part of me needs I buckled down and drew it. It’s principally remorse in that sense, not ‘I want I put a vampire in it.’ Although that may’ve been cool although! I principally want I’d spent extra time on sure characters, like Penny and Fern. I want I’d finessed a number of the extra problematic parts higher, like Audrey’s roomate having intercourse with an adolescent. I had a complete backstory concerning the stain on Cleo’s flooring, and I minimize it out, as a result of I assumed the thriller was higher. There was extra stuff with the alien ghost in Martin’s condominium. There was a complete different storyline involving a serial killer Agent Wolfe was monitoring, and sooner or later I minimize all of it out as a result of it was turning right into a police procedural. I simply had extra of every thing, I suppose!
BIRD: You talked about earlier that you just may return to Moist Moon for a brief story. If you happen to did a two web page comedian on the origin of the stain, it might be type of good.
CAMPBELL: There could be no option to match it into two pages! I’ve heard some bonkers theories from readers through the years. The spot is a can of worms. One in every of my favourite reveals is Twin Peaks, which you’ll be able to most likely inform. There’s quite a bit in Twin Peaks which is ambiguously supernatural, and there’s quite a bit concerning the residual psychic harm of any occasion that happens. There’s a complete undercurrent of that in Moist Moon, which I shied away from in order that I didn’t overly clarify it.
BIRD: Moist Moon is a time capsule of life within the 2000s, a decade which is sort of coming again into style now. What’s a style assertion that you just need to keep within the 2000s?
CAMPBELL: Nothing! Carry all of it again. It’s all nice. Massive saggy pants, low rise denims, girls with their underwear poking out being trendy and sloppy. It’s all cool.
On second thought, there may be truly one factor I do hope stays within the 2000s – shitty, pencil-thin eyebrows. Once I appeared again at Moist Moon for the anniversary launch, I noticed I drew all of them with actually skinny eyebrows! I’m an enormous fan of the ‘instagram eyebrow’, the type of extremely maintained thicker eyebrow form, so if we may mix the 2 it might be good.
BIRD: I feel jorts can keep within the 2000s too.
CAMPBELL: Jorts! Ahaha. These can keep too then.
BIRD: What would you like readers to remove from Moist Moon in spite of everything this time?
CAMPBELL: I would like them to remove no matter it says to them. Moist Moon, greater than any of my different initiatives, is one the place I’ve a ‘demise of the writer’ method. I like seeing readers have their very own theories, and what characters individuals love and which they hate. A part of the explanation I ended Moist Moon was that there have been so many characters, which is why the forged of quantity seven is so trimmed down. After each quantity launch, I’d have individuals asking why sure characters didn’t get extra pages, and I didn’t even realise individuals appreciated a few of these characters! I’ve all the time appreciated seeing the ideas of followers and readers. I’m all the time stunned by what individuals take from it, and I’d by no means need to say ‘it’s a must to take this particular message from it.’ It’s as much as the reader to resolve what they take away.
BIRD: If you happen to needed to suggest considered one of your different works to followers of Moist Moon, what would it not be?
CAMPBELL: I suppose Shadoweyes, as a result of that’s my different huge creator-owned challenge. You would learn my run on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as effectively, which I simply wrapped up just lately, or Jem and The Holograms.
BIRD: Have a beautiful day.
CAMPBELL: You too!
