Wet Moon Book 3: Further Realms of Fright

by Ross Campbell

I'm a little surprised by just how engrossed I find myself getting in the Wet Moon books.  These are manga-ish books about a group of poly-sexual punk, goth, and emo college kids who live in a small town somewhere in the American south.  They go to concerts, hang out, make out, talk a lot, whine in their diaries or on livejournal, gossip, and occasionally lose a pet cat.  And as soon as I start one of these books, I'm barely able to put it down until it's finished.

Finishing this third volume puts me over the half-way mark in the series, as Cleo decides that she is dating Myrtle, and even starts to tell her friends about it, and causes a scene at a concert.  Her friend Trilby starts being nicer, and is revealed as a closet Star Trek fan (in the funniest sub-plot of the whole series).  Some stuff happens with some of the other characters too, but it's all kind of ephemeral.

The real appeal of this series is the artwork.  I think, if Campbell didn't make these girls (and the odd male character) so visually interesting, unique, and representative of real womens' body shapes, that this book would not be so appealing.  Were it drawn by a more conventional comic artist (pick any superhero book from the Big Two off the stand, and imagine the artist drawing this book) I think I would not be able to get through the series at all.  Just now, flipping through this book and imagining it being drawn by someone like Dan Jurgens, is actually a pretty funny thing.

I don't know if this book is based on people that Campbell knows, but his characters feel pretty real, in the way in which they change their minds, go back on their word, or generally interact with others.  There are some very ominous scenes involving Myrtle, and I'm looking forward to finding out what is going on with her.