I don’t often cry while reading a comic book. But these words on the dedication page of “Galaxy: The Prettiest Star” brought me to tears: “For the girl who needed this book ages ago, and couldn’t find it.”
It was as if Jadzia Axelrod, the transgender author of this 2022 graphic novel featuring a transgender superhero, was speaking to my teenage self. A feeling confirmed when I saw the first chapter was titled “Aladdin Sane.”
That reference to a 1973 David Bowie album brought back memories of the concert I saw that year, the queerest event of my teenage life. I was a Bowie acolyte, a fan not just of his music, but also his otherworldly gender ambiguity and brazen flamboyance. My gender-dysphoric self could only dream of possessing such confidence.
I then realized that the title of Axelrod’s graphic novel drew upon the song “The Prettiest Star” from that same half-century old album, and what’s more, his songs from that era provided the chapter headings throughout the book. But why?
“One of my art-class buddies gave me a mix tape of ‘Ziggy Stardust’ and I was just blown away,” Axelrod explained. “I had never heard music that was so unapologetically queer before.”
Born in the Appalachian Mountains outside Knoxville, Tennessee, Axelrod’s family moved to the small town of Hillsborough, North Carolina, when she was 12 years old. And although she now lives in Philadelphia, Axelrod says that she’s still “a mountain girl at heart.”
“On the one hand, it was great to grow up in a place where you were surrounded by nature — I used to wander off into the woods behind my house and pretend I was on some fantastical quest.”
“I obsessively read the comics strips in the newspaper, and when my father got me an old issue of ‘The Flash’ — my favorite character on the ‘Super Friends’ cartoon show — at a garage sale, I was hooked.”
Comics were a passion that Axelrod pursued throughout her young life that would inform her career path going forward.
“When I was in high school, I wrote and drew a six-page comic and submitted it to the Congressional Art Competition, and it won!” she said. “First comic to do that, as far as I know. I’ve been writing and drawing comics ever since.”
Despite her academic achievements, Axelrod secretly bore the pain of gender dysphoria.
“I knew I was queer and was pretty certain I was trans, neither of which were the best identities to have in rural North Carolina.”
Her outlet was hanging out with her best friend — a girl who was also queer. Together, they would secretly attend Pride parades and queer film festivals in nearby big cities.
At 18, Axelrod went off to Guilford College, a progressive liberal arts school in Greensboro. It was then that she came out as gay to her family and friends, who were refreshingly supportive.
At Guilford, Axelrod wrote four plays, was a staff writer for the school newspaper and worked at WQFS, the student radio station. She was best known, though, as founder and active participant in the Industrial Strength Freak Show.
“We would perform at festivals and open for punk bands. I would do juggling, escape art, live insect eating and the Human Pincushion. I was also the ringmaster.”
The star performer in the show was a lithe, remarkably flexible contortionist who became Axelrod’s girlfriend, and later, her wife.
“I later worked in other circuses as a juggler and geek stunt performer. I also had traveling lecture for a short time that talked about the history of the circus that I would perform with my wife,” she explained.
Axelrod’s eclectic, restless spirit led to stints as a puppeteer, graphic designer, professional costumer and cosplayer. She helped found the flash-fiction site “365 Tomorrows” which allowed her the opportunity to exhibit her writing talents. Then, in 2005, Axelrod founded the critically-acclaimed science fiction/fantasy anthology podcast, “The Voice of Free Planet X.”
The program was presented as if it was a broadcast coming from another dimension via Galactic Public Radio. As the show’s main writer and producer, and like a latter-day Rod Serling, she hosted tales of alternate realities, stranded time-travelers and interviewed Lucifer.
If that wasn’t enough, Axelrod wrote and illustrated several online comic series, such as “Frankenstein’s Support Group for Misunderstood Monsters.” And in 2012, she authored “The Battle of Blood and Ink” graphic novel for Tor Publishing.
“My writing previous to coming out was full of transgender subtext,” Axelrod noted. “Characters were always hiding something they were scared of people knowing about that was nonetheless intrinsic to who they were. Or they were scared about taking a new step in life, as something was holding them back.”
Axelrod made her gender transition in 2015 at the age of 36, and rechristened herself “Jadzia,” both for its Eastern European roots in recognition of her ancestral familial roots on her father’s side, and as a nod to Jadzia Dax, a character from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.”
A few years later, Michele R. Wells, vice president and executive editor for DC Comics’ newly-formed Young Readers line, was seeking a writer who was familiar with their lineup of characters and had “an unusual point of view.” She reached out to Axelrod’s literary agent who assured them his client was the person they were looking for.
Axelrod sent them pitches involving Superman, Lex Luthor and other stalwarts of the DC Universe. But it was her last proposal, just a two-line summary, that caught the editor’s attention.
“There is an alien princess on Earth who is hiding out disguised as a human boy and falls in love with the new girl in town and decides to be herself,” recalled Axelrod in a YouTube video.
DC bought it and she was assigned to write a graphic novel which became “Galaxy: The Prettiest Star.” And the fact that Axelrod and her character were transgender wasn’t an obstacle.
The character at the heart of this story goes by several names: Taelyr Ilextrix-spiir-Biarxiiai is her alien princess identity, Taylor Barzaley becomes her human disguise on Earth and Galaxy serves as her superhero name. This layered identity mirrors the complexity many trans people experience navigating different aspects of themselves.
“I think my outspoken pro-queer, pro-trans attitude was a feature, not a bug,” Axelrod observed. “I don’t think it was just the trans stuff. There were trans elements in other pitches. I think the Galaxy pitch was just very compelling.”
Still, even before starting work on the book, Axelrod wanted assurances from DC concerning certain aspects of it.
“With Galaxy, I said, ‘I’m not going to change any of the queer stuff. That’s my line,'” she told interviewer Avery Kaplan. “They didn’t ask me to so I didn’t even have to push back. I don’t think I’ve ever done a project like this where I felt so many people had my back.”
Overseeing the project was editor Sara Miller, who worked with Axelrod on developing the structure of the story.
To make sure that the main character Galaxy, aka Taylor Barzaley, acted and sounded like a teenager, Axelrod dipped into her own past. She pulled out journals she had kept when she was in middle and high school and found them to be surprisingly insightful.
“I was pondering being trans, and I just repressed it,” was how Axelrod interpreted her long-forgotten diaries.
Axelrod created a unique alien civilization — the Cyandii — which worshiped Galaxy as its princess. Or, as she was known on her home planet, Taelyr Ilextrix-spiir-Biarxiiai, “the Galaxy Crowned.”
In order to save her from the Vane, another alien species intent on invading her home planet, Taelyr and a group of trusted protectors are sent to Earth and disguised as humans. To give her an added level of disguise, she is transformed into a human boy by way of Cyandii technology.
Taelyr is understandably anguished by this forced transformation and her rebellion against it forms the basis of the book.
If this synopsis reminds you of another story, there is a reason why.
Taelyr and company live in the small town of Ozma Gap. And if you’re transgender, the name of “Ozma” may ring a bell.
In L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” a search is undertaken to find the rightful ruler of Oz, Princess Ozma, whose father was deposed by the usurping Wizard. To hide Ozma from the Wizard, a witch disguises her as a young boy named Tip. In a startling reveal near the end of the book, Tip is transformed back into Princess Ozma.
Axelrod infused Ozma’s tale with unmistakable overtones of Superman’s upbringing as an interplanetary alien raised on Earth and overlaid it with the real-life pain of gender dysphoria. And all of this underlies the love story between Taylor and Kat, her lesbian girlfriend.
Axelrod’s text was brilliant, functioning simultaneously as a powerful story about gender transition and an allegory for that experience.
The script finished, editor Miller reached out to Vash Taylor, a non-binary British artist now living in Canada.
“Working on Galaxy was emotional,” Taylor replied in an email. “I cried the first time I read the script. There’s something indescribable about knowing you’re working on a project that really sees you and knowing in turn, that other people will feel that way too.”
Taylor’s drawing style reflects their training as an animator. “There’s definitely a heavy amount of Bruce Timm idolization in there,” they wrote. The highly stylized, gorgeously colored art was created digitally on a tablet using Adobe Photoshop and, befittingly, is unlike traditional comic book artwork.
Taylor and Axelrod collaborated via Zoom over a period of several years, including some of it during the COVID-19 pandemic. Taylor’s contributions were so integral to Galaxy’s creation that Axelrod willingly credits them as the character’s co-creator.
“Working with Jadzia was one of the best experiences I have had in comics,” Taylor’s email concluded. “Jadzia was so consistently kind, insightful and enthusiastic. She made the comic a joy.”
So enthusiastic was DC with the finished book, that upon its release in May 2022, an abridged version of “Galaxy: The Prettiest Star,” was one of only three comics in their entire line to be given away on that year’s Free Comic Book Day.
Since then, Galaxy has been folded into the larger DC Universe.
When Axelrod was assigned to a six-issue run of “Hawkgirl,” Galaxy became an integral part of the storyline. She also received an entry in the Axelrod-authored “DC Book of Pride” and in the recent story, “I’ll Be Home for Hanukkah.”
Transgender writer and actress Nicole Maines has used Galaxy as a co-star to her trans character, Dreamer, in “Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story,” and in minor roles in “Suicide Squad: Dream Team” and “Absolute Power: Super Son.” Axelrod and Maines team-up as co-writers of an upcoming Justice League Special. And in May 2026, Galaxy once again appears in her own graphic novel titled “Galaxy: As the World Falls Down.”
Galaxy’s impact extends beyond the pages of comic books. In an industry historically dominated by cisgender, heterosexual white characters, Axelrod has created authentic trans representation that resonates with readers who’ve rarely seen themselves reflected in superhero stories. The character has sparked conversations about identity, belonging and the courage it takes to live authentically.
For young trans readers discovering Galaxy’s adventures, she represents possibility — a future where trans characters aren’t defined solely by their struggles but are heroes in their own right. She fights cosmic villains, saves the world, and falls in love, just like any other superhero. The difference is that she also navigates the very real experience of gender transition.
“I get messages from readers telling me what Galaxy means to them,” Axelrod said in a recent interview. “That never gets old.”
It’s heartening to know that Jadzia Axelrod has created a superhero that the trans community can believe in. Current and future generations of trans youth won’t have to wish, as I do, that she had been around when they were young.