DC's new original graphic novel, Galaxy: The Prettiest Star, shines the spotlight on a new hero, Taelyr, Galaxy Crowned, a trans intergalactic princess who is pressured to pretend to be someone she's not: a boy named Taylor Barzelay. The Jadzia Axelrod and Jess Taylor OGN tells the important story about the trans princess hiding on Earth and her journey of self-discovery of finding the strength to live as her true self.
We spoke to writer Jadzia Axelrod about the journey Galaxy goes through in Galaxy: The Prettiest Star, the character's struggle with identity and balancing her life from two different worlds, and why it was important to make the new DC original graphic novel unapologetically queer.
Who is Taylor/Galaxy and what kind of journey do they undergo in this graphic novel?
Taylor Barzelay is a 16-year-old boy living in the small rural town of Ozma Gap. No wait, I’m sorry, Taelyr Ilextrix-spiir Biarxiiai is a princess of the far-away planet Cyandii, who was saved from certain death when her planet was conquered by an intergalactic empire, and was forced to hide on Earth in the form of a human boy Taylor Barzelay. Wait, wait, let me start again: Galaxy is the superhero identity of Taylor Barzelay, a space-princess in exile who has been hiding out on Earth in male body she never chose, who slowly claims her power and her identity over the course of the book, thanks to help of her girlfriend Kat Silverberg. You think you’re confused? Imagine how it feels to be Galaxy!
Galaxy: The Prettiest Star is a slow-burn superhero origin story, where Galaxy comes to grips with who she is and realizes the power and beauty of her true self. And she gets to kiss a cute girl along the way.
What kind of challenges does she face in a world that she has to pretend to be someone else?
Part of the delight of working within the language of superhero comics is that you can take average everyday difficulties and anxieties and blow them up to huge, frightful proportions. Every teen feels that they can’t be themselves, that their parents control their lives, that their social situation is minefield. Galaxy feels all of that, but it’s literal and insurmountable. She physically cannot be herself. The adult in her life does control everything she does. She could actually die if she says or does the wrong thing. Galaxy faces the same problems everyone has had at one time or another, but they’re much, much worse, with much, much heavier consequences.
What made Jess Taylor the perfect artist for this story? What was it like seeing the first batch of art for the book come in?
For starters, Jess is amazing. Anyone looking at their work would say “I want to work with them.” They are just immensely talented.
But as far as what sold me, Jess has a particular talent for taking quiet, still moments and infusing them with drama and emotion, even if the characters are just standing there. There is such artistry and skill in every one of their pages that I couldn’t not want to have them illustrate this story.
The first art I saw was character designs, and I was amazed how Jess had just nailed every single one of the characters’ looks. Just nailed them to the wall. Everybody looked exactly like how I imagined, filtered through Jess’s incredible style.
How important was it to include the opening message "for the girl who needed this book ages ago, and couldn't find it." I thought that was particularly touching.
That was always going to be the dedication. In part, because this book was written for the teenager I was, and desperately needed a book like this. But also to all the kids who needed something real, something that they could hold their hands and tell them they weren’t alone. Something that could tell them that aren’t the only one who feels the way they do, that they weren’t destined for sadness and misery, that they are who they’ve always believed they are.
There are so many who that never got that message, that their future could have been one of happiness and one of love. That the things that set them apart also make them great. And their others learned it much later in a life than they would have liked. I hope that the ones that are still with us, who need this book, find it, and see themselves in the story Jess and I have created. I hope they feel a little more understood, a little less alone, and a little stronger to face the world.
What can you say about Katherine Silverberg and her role in the story and Taylor's life?
Kat’s the best girlfriend. Also, possibly, the best character? She’s great. I love her.
Kat shows Taylor that her true self can be loved, can be desired. It’s a valuable lesson. This book is about how being trans is beautiful and how queer love is transformative, and Kat establishes those themes in every scene she’s in. Kat’s an artist, she knows beauty when she sees it, so when she says Taylor is beautiful, we believe her. She also loves Taylor for who she is, not the mask she presents. Queer love is so often stigmatized and forced to hide itself—which means that when you find someone who can love you so openly and without shame it becomes a transcendent experience.
Kat is also not your usual love interest. She not thin. She’s not white. She uses a prothesis. She has a serious problem with any and all authority. She doesn’t feel anything lightly, be that anger or frustration or love. She starts the book as someone who is defined by her sadness and the adults in her life and is able to leave all that behind by the end.
I could write a whole ‘nother book about just her. She’s a delight.
How important was it to make this book unapologetically queer?
Incredibly important. That’s the whole point of the book.
So often in media—and especially in superhero comics, of which Galaxy is a part—queerness and transness is treated as something to apologize for. Something which gets in the way, which causes difficulties that can only be solved by straight cis characters having to be brave. Or its presented in a “nudge-nudge, wink-wink” sort of way, a character detail that dare not speak its name. I wasn’t going to write one of those stories. I was going to write one where the queer love is clear and celebrated and held up as the gorgeous act it is. No caveats. No subtext. No apologies.
Galaxy is here. She’s queer. Get used to it.
Thanks so much to Jadzia Axelrod for taking the time to talk with us about the new original graphic novel from DC Comics. Galaxy: The Prettiest Star is available in comic book stores now.