When Tini Howard talks about Marian Heretic, you can tell this isn’t just another project — it’s a book she’s been waiting to make for several years.
Set in the shadowy, gothic city of Vespers, the series follows Sister Marian, a powerful witch hunter, revered Mother Superior, and heretic guided by a forbidden goddess. When the Church brands her order as blasphemers, Marian makes a desperate bargain to become their holy enforcer, delivering judgment night after night. But each execution takes a toll — not just on her victims, but on Marian’s very soul.
Howard first brought the concept to BOOM! Studios through editor Jon Moisan, hoping it would be the perfect project for the pair to finally work together.
“Jon liked the idea of starting with Sister Marian already established,” Howard said. “She looks cool, she’s the hero, she’s the person on the cover. That’s part of the sell.”
After years of high-profile runs at the Big Two, Howard says she was ready to return to creator-owned work for the first time since Euthanauts in 2018.
“I wanted to do my own thing again, and now I’m doing that in a few different ways,” Howard said.
And that’s part of why Marian Heretic is so perfect. It’s one of those rare projects where the balance between story and style just came together so naturally.
“Honestly, I didn’t have to do too much finding the balance,” Howard said. “This book is one of those beautiful things where I’m leaning into my desire, into what feels right and good, what looks amazing. Listening to my inner rule of cool, what sounds good, what’s a good time? ‘Is it scratching the itch of my own tastes’ is a question I ask myself, and if it isn’t, then it’s wrong. That’s all you can do as an artist, right? Feed something inside yourself and hope it’s to someone else’s taste.”
Thematically, Marian herself acts as both both savior and outcast — a duality Howard finds inherently resonant.
“That’s very Christ-like, isn’t it,” Howard said. “The messiah has to be tested and rejected, or no one believes them.”
It’s a weighty setup, but Howard admits the writing process is never exactly effortless.
“Getting things onto the page is a wrestling match with my soul,” Howard said. “But the only thing worse than the cringe act of writing stories and hoping you’ll buy them is the feeling of dying with that story untold. So, my soul fractures, and on I write.”
Courtesy of BOOM! Studios
Vespers itself plays a starring role. Howard calls it “a gothic Vatican” of endless buttresses, thick-treed parks, and spires reaching into the heavens.
“I love a custom-built city that tells part of the story,” Howard said. “In comics, you can literally bend it to your will, and [artist Joe Jaro] just does it so well—you can feel the city closing in on her.”
Marian Heretic also marks Howard’s return to writing with full creative control, from gore and profanity to title treatments and typography.
“When I came onto Catwoman, I learned you need to define the book your way,” Howard said. “I want to see ‘every slider,’ like in a video game character creator. I don’t have to tweak everything, but I need to know what can be tweaked. Every aspect tells part of the story, and on a creator-owned book, that’s doubly true.”
That visual language extends even to the variant covers, and Howard and Jaro actively reviewed each at the sketch stage.
“When you’re introducing a new character, you want to make sure the visual language is right,” Howard said. “People really get her — some of the variants are amazing. Our editor, Elizabeth Brei, pitched an idea today that has me cackling. It’s perfect for this book.”
Ultimately, Howard hopes readers come away thinking about vocation — not as fate, but as the work that quiets an inner hunger.
“What can I do on this planet that will ease the yawning in my soul?” Howard said. “For me, it’s telling stories.”
She pauses before quickly adding, “And, hopefully, your vocation involves asking your local comic shop to reserve you a copy of Marian Heretic #1 on October 1. [Editor’s Note: The FOC is Monday, August 25.] That would be cool — for me.”
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