Hey, Mary!
Writer: Andrew Wheeler
Artist: Rye Hickman
Colorist: Hank Jones
Letterer: Frank Cvetkovik
Publisher: Oni Press
Publication Date: April 2025
Andrew Wheeler and Rye Hickman’s Oni Press graphic novel explores the complexities of coming out as gay as a Catholic and the heartbreak that the Church you love may never love you back. In a time of transition in the Catholic Church, particularly a reactionary swing in the US, Hey, Mary! feels tragically timely.
Talented artists find universal truth in the specific. In Hey, Mary! that truth is the tension between our personal sense of morality and the ideas we were taught as children. Mark, a Catholic high school student, is not just dealing with his sexuality in an eschatological context but in the personal. What will his parents say? His friends? Can he find the courage to live into his true personhood? The book is not autobiographical but Wheeler has expressed that it is inspired by personal experiences. By diving into personal betrayals and doubt, Wheeler and Hickman craft a story relatable to anyone who has tried to balance what they believe is right with their institutional religion.
Religion can be empowering and joyful, it can bring meaning and inspire people to selfless action. But all too often it becomes a tool of the powerful to ostracize or manipulate. Hey, Mary! offers a queer reading of Catholic theology and history, presenting different interpretations of centuries of historical figures and stories, shining a light on the complexities of religious practice.
The script is occasionally too explanatory or unnatural. Characters sometimes feel more like actors in a very special episode of television than fleshed out individuals. But it feels appropriate for the intended audience of young people going through the difficult work of reconciling their identity with their faith. It also serves as something of a work of Catholic education for those less familiar with its tradition. Wheeler offers introductory biblical exegesis that clarifies common misinterpretations often used to justify bigotry. There is an earnest thoughtfulness to the book that papers over any awkward dialogue.
Throughout the book, Mark speaks to imagined embodiments of the saints. “We exist to help people understand their relationship to God and their commitments to the faith…we are stories, not histories,” one tells him. It’s an idea core to the story. The Church may have its long-established doctrine but it is still malleable. These conversations also offer a powerful and real portrayal of prayer as I’ve always understood it—as honest conversation open to response in the quiet and the unspoken. This is a work that is authentically Catholic with a nuanced understanding, not a half-remembered or stereotyped caricature.
That clear affection, tinged with raw anger and hurt, makes Hey, Mary! far more interesting than a screed against religion. It aims to explore the nuance and contradictions. The sense of community and connection that spans millennia, the message of hope, liberation, and compassion. To those raised in a faith it can be impossible to extricate it completely from one’s identity. It is what makes the betrayals hurt so badly. Mark clearly loves and acknowledges all the good being Catholic has brought him. His friend Luka, an out gay teen, argues the other side, the Church and its history of hypocrisy and cruelty. That history is undeniable, but is rejecting Catholicism outright instead of standing within and presenting a better, more just way the correct decision? These are big, real questions.
Mark’s friend Jojo, a coworker and unwitting queer mentor, gets to the heart of it when she tells Mark, “Mama thought I turned my back on the Church, but that’s not true. The Church turned its back on me.” Jojo is Latina, whose devout mother’s dying wish was to see her daughter return to practicing her faith. Jojo is torn between respecting that wish and a justified sense of persecution. Letterer Frank Cvetkovik particularly shines in one sequence with Jojo narrating her interpretation of biblical history, dancing along the story with captions punctuated by small Hickman-drawn doodles representing the speakers. That type of playful lettering furthers the endearing earnestness of the book. Likewise, colorist Hank Jones helps define the mood, keeping the tone hopeful even as Mark struggles.
Rye Hickman’s art brings the story to life with dramatic imagery. Hickman does not ape any religious style but draws on Catholic iconography, capturing its sense of grandeur and awe of Catholic through evocative layouts, including wide open shots of churches intercut with close up details. One page depicting various interpretations of the Virgin Mary made me literally gasp. It is a stunning reminder of the complex, universal, and personal power of religious imagery. That evocation of Catholic tradition is part of the book’s structure itself, with chapters built around the Stations of the Cross and header imagery that deliberately echoes the passion of Jesus Christ. In this way, Wheeler and Hickman link the human struggle of betrayal, belonging, and acceptance to the divine.
The book’s ending is not tidy, Mark is hurt, his place uncertain. No concrete answer is given except for the call to love without condition. Rounding out the book is informational back matter, including further writing on the lives of saints identified by queer scholars as possibly being queer or representing queerness.
Hey, Mary! is brave and honest work that tackles a profound challenge facing many individuals, whether it is directly about their own sexuality, those they love, or other issues like reproductive rights or abuse. Few, if any, are perfect in keeping to the letter of Catholic doctrine. But one of its great gifts, in its ideal state, is reconciliation between imperfection and idealism. Perhaps it can go both ways and the church can yet reconcile itself to those it has harmed. Hey, Mary! offers both hope and commiseration in a moving story about faith and self-acceptance.
Hey, Mary! is now available from Oni Press!
Read more great reviews from The Beat!
