THE HERETIC EXPRESS
reflections on and photos from a fantastic tour
REAL QUICK BEFORE WE START:
Marian Heretic #3 is out New Year’s Eve, 12/31. There’s a page in this issue that was part of the original pitch, I love it so much. I can’t show you yet, but there are some gorgeous early pages at the link showing us a bit of Marian’s past, and it’s all topped off with this dynamite Joe Jaro cover:
But it is the end of December, time for retrospectives, and that’s what I’m here for. A truly wild year for Marian and I, far beyond my expectations, and it would be a disservice to not collect those memories in some form, so here we go.
I can’t tell you what city I was in when someone finally asked: “how did you organize your Heretic tour?”
I’d been shilling the idea of the Heretic tour for months. Back in 2024 when I was planning my next year, I wanted to travel to as many conventions as possible to promote Marian Heretic. I realized that in a bit of con-season kismet, the book was announced at San Diego Comic Con 2025, and released the week of New York Comic Con 2025. I asked my amazing convention agent Kat Fox to send me some convention offers, and I said yes to a bunch of them. I like traveling! I like doing shows.
At some point the idea of the tour started brewing, and I thought ‘let me look at all of the conventions I’ve said yes to, and I’ll see what other dates I can add.’ It wasn’t long before I realized, eh-heh, I’d booked a ton of shows already. Anything else and I’d be back-to-back-to-back, something that seemed a bit daunting to my tender, extensively well-medicated brain. I can be a bit of an orchid. Too long spent outside of my homeostasis (9 hours of sleep, 9 hours of silence, 9 shots of espresso each day) and I begin to wilt, to grow weird, to rot in my own musty humidity.
I realized I’d booked myself - perhaps overbooked myself - but I’d be damned if I was going to let it overwhelm me. 8+ conventions in 4 months? Sounds like you’re on the road, rockstar. Sounds like a tour. So I began looking for public domain paintings of nuns, and got to work.
So to answer the question of the young lady in the Forgotten City - I did it to myself, I asked no permission, and no one stopped me.
I’d do it again. Let’s take a look back together with tons of photos and a bonus round of the best thing I ate in every city.
GALAXYCON NEW ORLEANS (NEW ORLEANS, LA)
The tour’s first stop was still a bit of a mystery. I realized I couldn’t yet announce my book, but I could announce my schedule. Heretic’s just….a word! A word I like. And a nun. Everyone knows I like nuns!
I’d always wanted to go to New Orleans, so this was an instant add to my schedule. One of the nicest places I’ve been to, I made a whole post about it to announce the tour. Back when I had enough energy. I really wanted to make posts like this for each city but I didn’t! So here I am now.
