Jaynie Lain is hot on the trail with her magnifying glass in hand. Multiple people have turned up missing in the Southern town of Knaubleik, and she believes a monster is behind it.

Jaynie is a daring detective and the main character of Shawn Harbin's new comic book "Transfurred," which the Knoxville author and illustrator describes as "Scooby-Doo meets Nancy Drew if Nancy Drew were a 12-year-old transgender girl."

Harbin created the comic book, which has been criticized for its themes, in hopes of giving transgender teens a hero to identify with.

"The other aspect is I wanted 55-year-old white men to love the book," he said. "The idea was if I can get them to accept this character, the acceptance of those people will follow with it.”

People showed interest in trans comic

"Transfurred" all started with a fake ad.

Harbin began creating comic books 11 years ago and has since illustrated posters for the Fanboy Expo. However, most of his focus goes toward his "Dungeon Comic" series.

In one of the digital issues, "Transfurred" subtly appeared in a fake advertisement for Saturday morning cartoons 10 years in the future.

"To get things to pace out when you're reading through it, you don't want your reveal too soon," Harbin said. "Sometimes I'd have to insert a spacer in the page, so I'd create these fake ads. ... I thought, if they're still on the air in 10 years, what would we see that we never saw?"

A 12-year-old transgender girl surely wouldn't have been on TV when he was growing up. Harbin drew the character, paired her with a dog named Jones, and that was that.

"Some people had seen the ad, and they really responded to that one square," he said. "They said, 'If you make this cartoon, I will watch this — I will read this book.' "

But shortly after Harbin sat down to further develop the character, he realized the book would not be another quick project. "Transfurred" opened up his mind, required sensitive decision-making and took on a deeper meaning.

Navigating sensitive topics

The "Dungeon Comic" series is R-rated, but that didn't make sense for "Transfurred," Harbin said.

"I decided there would be no harsh language," he said. "It would be very PG and very OK for everybody. It would not have any sort of political rhetoric in it."

The words "trans" and "transgender" do not show up in the book, aside from the title. His concept is more about putting the story out there and letting people make their own decisions.

As Harbin was creating the book, he let people read it — gay, straight and trans. People thought certain parts were offensive, and Harbin took it to heart.

"It helped me navigate a little bit and be a little more sensitive to things," he said. "One person read it and said they were not OK with any of it but still loved the book. That was what I wanted."

Some people, however, were not so nice.

Receiving a 'hurtful' response

Harbin admits he knows a "thimble's worth" about trans people, lingo and issues.

"I just came up with an idea people were interested in, and it amazed me how many hurtful things people would say to me," he said. "All I did was make a comic book. I can rip this page. She's not real. It's not going to jump off and come and grab you and bite you."

Harbin soon realized that the abuse he received was only a fraction of what trans people experience daily.

"Some of the stuff that I've learned is they're the most abused, most mistreated, most harassed group of people on the earth," he said.

Harbin said the level of criticism he received almost caused him to give up. But it took only two people with trans children reaching out to help him continue pushing.

Parents of trans children are 'thrilled'

Celeste Crotts, of Valdese, North Carolina, originally heard about the cartoon on Facebook. She has two transgender children, ages 18 and 24.

"This would have been so wonderful for them when they were younger," she said. "Every person that is a minority in a group by color or sexual orientation or anything — they are automatically the ones that are picked on, especially if they are someone people don't understand."

Crotts said she has backed Harbin's Kickstarter campaign to raise money for printing.

"He's a very brave person to do this," she said. "There's nothing really for trans children to attach themselves to and identify with. ... I was so thrilled there was going to be some literature out there showing trans kids in a positive light — something that trans kids could emulate and look up to."

Although Jaynie is shy in her home life and uncomfortable telling her family about her identity, the detective character is upbeat and happy.

“The idea of the story is as the girl, she’s a local celebrity," Harbin said. "As the boy she is nobody. Because of her family life, she cannot come out. As she gets more popular, she is kind of contained in that light.”

Harbin said this mindset is common, but his message is clear: "Be who you are."

How to help 'bring people together'

Harbin said he enjoyed the five months it took him to work on "Transfurred."

"If I start making sound effects while I'm drawing it, I'm excited about it," he said.

The sketches have been completed, colored and put onto digital pages with a storyline. The project is nearly complete.

Now, Harbin is raising money to cover the costs of printing and shipping. He hopes to order 1,000 copies — enough to take to shows and sell on Amazon. He anticipates the books will cost around $4.

Harbin is offering various incentives to people who back his campaign, including original drawings, ad space, stickers and magnets. If the campaign reaches its goal, Harbin said he could create another issue.

"I want to try to bring people together, not divide people," he said. "It's really just the adventures of this one person. ... (I hope) the more they get behind that character and want to read her adventures that the cause will slowly come with them and that acceptance will follow."

Keep up with downtown and all things Scruffy City by following me on Instagram @knoxscruff. I also can be reached at 865-317-5138 or by email at ryan.wilusz@knoxnews.com.

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