Danielle Connor’s makeup sets are often branded with comics she’s drawn or written for, like ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.’ disabled with nerve damage in her hands and feet – ending her professional drawing days. But the side effects also changed her body — she looked more feminine and was more in line with who she had always seen herself as. “I noticed the breast development after my chemotherapy and it was kind of like a big moment because I was like, well, if my body is changing then there is no more hiding,” she said. But her new body faced the same old bad luck: Connor lost her house when the divorce was finalized. Her first experience in homelessness included renting a hotel room in Denver for a few months in 2021. She then made a desperate choice when she ran out of options: she moved into her uncle’s old RV, a free home on wheels. Her original plan was to park the RV on the streets of Denver at night to sleep, but safety and the police made her look eastward. In 2022 Connor drove her RV to Chadron, Nebraska, where she thought it would be more affordable. She also started wearing women’s clothes and makeup full time. She carried her Ninja Turtles makeup kits with her everywhere, proud that she had contributed to the series and was now shading her eyes in the brand’s palette. “My family tried to talk me out of it. My daughter would be like, that’s a woman’s jacket,” Connor said. “I was like, ‘That’s punk rock. I’m different, and it’s punk rock to be different.’” Connor quickly found acceptance in the world, though, when she began making appearances at comic and pop culture conventions as Danielle at the end of that same year. “I asked [the convention staff], ‘Would you change my badge to Danielle?’ And they said yes. That was a really freaking big thing for me then,” Connor said. “Then it went further. The fans lined up to get my signature or to have me draw something for them and they didn’t care that I was wearing makeup and being a woman. Some even told me I looked cute and it was amazing.” Connor signs books around the country at major conventions like Comic-Con International in San Diego and MegaCon in Orlando, but she makes special trips to Denver as frequently as possible to sign comics and meet fans at Mile High Comics. Chuck Rozanski started Mile High Comics in 1969 when he was 13. He has built his store from his parents’ basement into what he says is the largest comic book store in the country. Rozanski began exploring his gender identity in his 50s after his brain swelled following a bout of West Nile Virus encephalitis and now identifies as gender fluid. He also strongly believes that comics can help make space for people from all backgrounds. “I think the comics are a medium that allows for expression of pretty much any idea or any worldview,” he said. “And I think that sometimes that gets focused a little bit too much on the sort of ‘Iron Man Tony Stark billionaire’ who makes himself into a hero kind of a thing. And it’s not that way in America. In America, there are people in every economic group that have a story to tell and comics can tell those stories too.” Rozanski said comics work differently than other media. Danielle Connor signs comics for fans at Mile High Comics in 2024. DENVER VOICE OCTOBER 2026 7
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