Cape Verdean–American creator Ravi Teixeira’s an up-and-coming talent in the burgeoning field of LGBTQ+ comics, a contributor to the anthology Becoming Who We Are: Real Stories About Growing Up Trans, and the artist on A Quick and Easy Guide to Coming Out (written by Kristin Russo). In their first solo graphic novel, Heaven, West Virginia (Oni, Nov.), a young gay man named Lamont returns to his rural hometown after the death of his homophobic father, in order to face his childhood demons. He also reconnects with his nurturing, tea-brewing aunt—charming mixtures of lavender and other herbs to steep are included as drawn recipes throughout—and finds love when a handsome goat herder strolls in the front door. PW talked with Teixeira about dealing with grief, finding beauty amid hate, and what goes into a perfect cup of tea.

What inspired you to tell this story?

Heaven, West Virginia started out as a happy-go-lucky romance about escaping grief. But what I learned while making this book, and while experiencing grief in my own life, is that’s not how that works. For anyone. That could have been a good story, but it wasn't a real story.

I wanted to show a character feeling everything that grief comes with, while also experiencing love and joy, and finding himself, because the reality of grief is that it doesn't exist in a vacuum. The world doesn't stop for your broken heart, as the great poet Reba McEntire once said.

How did you get familiar with the Appalachian setting?

During the lockdown of 2020 and onward, I visited the state of West Virginia.

At that time, we were all consumed with death and grief. While I was there, I experienced a heartbreak as well. I was staying at a cabin with a group of friends, and I looked out the window at these beautiful rolling hills and forests all around me. And there was, no kidding, a family of deer. The mother deer looked up at me and I looked at her. And I was like, Oh, crap. I'm in love with this place.

West Virginia is full of these beautiful vistas, and yet also full of stereotypes and insularity. How could anyone live in such a beautiful place and yet think hatefully? I wanted to write a story where hate and beauty mesh together.

How did you come up with the tea recipes?

In West Virginia, there are so many natural plants that to make stuff from that you can just straight-up find in your backyard. My character, Lamont, experiencing a massive loss while also creating something reflects my own experience making art. Even if it’s just a cup of tea, it’s something you can do with your hands.

The recipes come from blogs on Appalachian folk culture, as well as my own old family recipes—where I replaced ingredients with stuff that you can find in West Virginia, because I'm from Cape Cod. And for release day, my partner made me one of the teas.

What do you hope readers take away?

If you feel like you've inherited hate, or you've inherited the angry man, or you've inherited something that you can't get out of, you can. The number one thing that I want this book to get across is that you actually get to beat that. You get to decide who you are. That was something that it took me a really long time to learn.