T Campbell is an American writer of Webcomics and other Sequential Art works, as well as Crossword Puzzles. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In addition to the works listed below, Campbell has written guest arcs for Sluggy Freelance, Shortpacked! and Clan of the Cats, and provides plotting and dialogue assistance on Gisèle Lagacé's and Dave Lumsdon's Ménage à 3, Pixie Trix Comix, Eerie Cuties, Magick Chicks and Dangerously Chloe.
T Campbell's works include:
Webcomics
- Fans! (with artist Jason Waltrip; original series 1999-2005, Revival 2008-2012). A Speculative Fiction drama, this was Campbell's first and longest-running foray into Sequential Art. Began as an indie comic book called Faans. Completed.
- Cool Cat Studio (created by writer/artist Gisèle Lagacé 2000; co-authored with her 2001-2002, 2007-2008). A Fantasy Kitchen Sink dramedy. Completed.
- Penny and Aggie (with artists Gisèle Lagacé and Jason Waltrip; 2004-2011). A Slice of Life teen dramedy, this has been Campbell's most popular work to date. Completed.
- Search Engine Funnies (with artists Jamie Noguchi and Thor Thorvaldson, Jr.; 2005). A Satire on search engine and content portal trends. Completed.
- Rip And Teri (with artist John Waltrip and colourist David Willis; 2005-2006). A Spy Drama romance. Completed.
- Sketchies (co-authored with Flo Kahn; with artists Ryan Estrada, Edward J. Grug III and Jason Sigala; 2008-2009). A Slice of Life campus comedy. Unfinished.
- Exploding Stills (with photographer Antony Platt; 2008). An Image Macro Photo Comic satire of The War on Terror. Unfinished and no longer online.
- The Versus Versus (with artist Sam Romero; 2008). An experimental pop culture satire comic, written entirely in verse. Completed.
- Guilded Age (co-authored with Flo Kahn; with artists Erica Henderson and John Waltrip; 2009-2018). A Heroic Fantasy dramedy. Completed.
- Widgetitis (co-authored with Dave Belmore; with artists John Waltrip and Doc Martin; 2010-2011). A satire of I.T. trends and
Spiritual Successor to Search Engine Funnies. Completed. - QUILTBAG (with artist Jason Waltrip; 2011-2012). A Slice of Life, LGBTQ-themed campus dramedy and Penny and Aggie Spin-Off. Cut Short.
- Webmasters (with artist Jason Waltrip; 2012). An Alternate History story/Marvel Comics proof-of-concept submission about a Peter Parker Expy In a World… where the Spider-Man franchise pervades every aspect of American life. Completed.
Other
- How to Break into Comics (with artist Jamie Noguchi; 2002). Instructional one-shot Comic Book.
- A History of Webcomics (2006). Non-fiction book.
- "Panegyrich," Giant-Size Avengers #1 (with artist Denis Medri, 2006).
- Divalicious (with artist Amy Mebberson; 2007, 2008). A two-volume OEL Manga about the misadventures of a Teen Idol and her hapless manager.
- Originated as an OEL Manga short story, "Pop Star," in Rising Stars of Manga vol. 5 (2005).
- On Crosswords: Thoughts, Studies, Facts and Snark About a 100-Year-Old Pastime (2013). Non-fiction book.
T Campbell's work provides examples of:
- Betty and Veronica: Penny and Aggie has Aggie and Karen vis-à-vis Marshall; Fans has Rumy and Ally vis-à-vis Rikk; Rip and Teri has Teri and Tatyana with regard to Rip, and Divalicious has a gender-flipped example in Shaquille and Chaddy with regard to Tina.
- Break the Haughty: Katherine in Fans, Penny in Penny and Aggie, Payet in Guilded Age, Zachary in Webmasters.
- Constrained Writing
- The "Crossover" arc in Fans is structured so as to form a crossword puzzle at the end, with dialogue-free frames as the black squares, and the first letter in each square with dialogue as part of the puzzle's solution.
- Each comic in The Versus Verses is written entirely in rhyming couplets, albeit generally with irregular line length and meter, Ogden Nash-style.
- Each chapter of QUILTBAG is named for a letter in the title acronym. Within each chapter, nearly every strip begins with that chapter's letter.
- Crossover: Various kinds, in Penny and Aggie and Fans, with each other and/or with other comics.
- Deconstructor Fleet: Campbell delights in playing tropes any way but straight.
- Fans deconstructs such Speculative Fiction and Fandom tropes as The Cape, The Hero's Journey, Hero-Worshipper and, in a Crossover with Penny and Aggie, the Butt-Monkey / Picked Last aspects of nerddom and geekdom.
- Penny and Aggie deconstructs such Teen Drama tropes as Beautiful All Along, the Bishōnen, the Cool Loser and The Makeover.
- QUILTBAG deconstructs the closely-related Blithe Spirit and Loony Friends Improve Your Personality tropes, although Penny and Aggie had played them mostly straight with the same character (Lisa).
- Guilded Age deconstructs such Heroic Fantasy and other tropes as The Berserker, The Chosen One, and—immediately after playing it straight—Boomerang Bigot.
- Depraved Bisexual: Cyndi of Penny and Aggie, Alisin (in her backstory) and Keith of Fans, Tatyana of Rip and Teri, and Helena of Divalicious. (Note that Campbell's work also features a number of bisexual characters who are not depraved.)
- Four Lines, All Waiting: Large portions of Penny and Aggie, QUILTBAG, Fans and Guilded Age have juggled multiple parallel plots.
- If It's You, It's Okay
- Fans: Meighan for Tim, and Rumy for Ally.
- Cool Cat Studio: Liz for Trent Reznor, and Belinda for Liz.
- Penny and Aggie: Penny for Aggie, Sara for Marshall, and Stan for Rich.
- Rip and Teri: Teri for Tatyana.
- Interplay of Sex and Violence: A major motif in Fans, Rip and Teri, and the penultimate chapter of Penny and Aggie. Instances in Campbell's works range from loving, Safe, Sane, and Consensual BDSM, to Destructo-Nookie, to Cold-Blooded Torture, and in between.
- Letter Motif
- The Fans arc "The Day the Alphabet Died" is punctuated with song verses beginning with each letter of the English alphabet. This dovetails with the arc villains' conspiracy to destroy civilization by magically eradicating humankind's knowledge of letters.
- Each chapter of QUILTBAG is named for a letter in the title acronym. Within each chapter, nearly every strip begins with that chapter's letter.
- Words beginning with "A" are a recurring character motif with Duane of Penny and Aggie.
- My Nayme Is
- Fans: Rikk (instead of Rick), Rumy (Rumi) and Alisin (Alison or Allison).
- Penny and Aggie: Brandi (Brandy), Cyndi (Cindy) and Lynda (Linda).
- On the Next: Campbell often does a strip made up of sans-dialogue panels which serve as teasers for the coming year of one of his comics.
- Exceptions: The 2011 preview for Fans presents dialogue snippets sans images. The final Penny and Aggie "preview" is a parody, "20Never," which features the Crack Pairings of Penny with Archie and Aggie with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, as well as nods to fandom jokes and Crack Fic.
- Exceptions: The 2011 preview for Fans presents dialogue snippets sans images. The final Penny and Aggie "preview" is a parody, "20Never," which features the
- Show, Don't Tell: Campbell prefers, in some of his works, to show only snippets of scenes and conversations, leaving much of characters' motivations and meaning for the reader to infer. Often supplemented with clarifications on the comic's forum.
