Heaven, West Virginia

Teixeira (A Quick and Easy Guide to Coming Out) combines folksy wisdom, queer romance, and a touch of horror into this affecting drama. Lamont, a young closeted gay man of color, returns to his rural hometown after the death of his father, a right-wing, fearmongering motivational speaker whose grim empire Lamont has no desire to inherit. Instead, he moves in with his kindly aunt Latoya, who raises chickens and brews herbal teas, and flirts with a blonde horseback-riding goat farmer named Coyote. But getting back to nature is hard for Lamont, who was raised to believe that “basically everything in the forest wants to kill you.” His fears take the symbolic form of wolves that stalk him in the woods and in his room at night, and he comes to realize that if he wants to build a future, he can’t run away from the past they represent. Teixeira’s simple, chunky-lined art lays out scenes with the flattened perspective of murals or stained-glass windows. The darker passages are lightened by romance, whimsical scenes of nature, and illustrated recipes for Auntie Latoya’s teas that use the fruits of the land. The result is an intimate and thoughtful tale about working up the courage to face one’s fears. (Nov.)