GAYTHEIST

The animated evolution of a queer boy from his strict religious upbringing to a liberated adolescence.

Tokyo-based couple Mann and Gatts integrate their illustrative and authorial talents in this debut graphic memoir vividly detailing Mann’s coming-of-age while cloaking his burgeoning homosexual feelings. The author earnestly portrays his Orthodox Jewish indoctrination and his family’s adherence to doctrine; he grew up in an environment in which everything consumed or acted upon had a pious blessing and kosher-strict rules. Throughout his childhood, his devout parents, despite the “odd gaps” in their own religious upbringings, corrected any kind of deviation from their insular expectations. These divergences included Mann’s simmering boyhood crushes on his male classmates, but the consensus between friends, teachers, and parents was to abandon these feelings because homosexuality was considered a religious “abomination.” Eventually, Mann came to the mature realization that in order to be happy and find a boyfriend, he would need to reject Orthodox teachings and live life on his own terms. But that meant keeping his feelings closeted, and he had to hide his feelings and actions from his family and friends. When he did eventually come out, no one understood or accepted it, and they insisted on interventions. The author recounts a boyhood incident involving his father’s indifference to an accidental near-drowning, which taught him that “trusting my parents could be dangerous.” This sentiment returned when he came out to his parents in early adolescence. When Mann finds love in the memoir’s final pages, it’s a well-deserved, significant moment. Awash in dark blue and brown hues, the illustrations are comprised of crisply rendered line drawings made more distinctive with effectively detailed coloration. Both Mann and Gatts contribute to vividly drawn pages of personal history elaborating on Mann’s journey toward the embracement of his queer identity.

A vital, emotionally immersive self-portrait.