WORK IN PROGRESS: Our Lady of Winnipeg, a serial comic
My fascination with the Blessed Virgin Mary has persisted since childhood, especially the culture around Mary sightings, and the influence of Marian symbolism on popular culture. I’m keenly interested in the space where two women overlap: the idealized all-in-one Goddess we’re familiar with, and the actual woman who lived over 2,000 years ago. This is a space where – I submit – insidious gender and environmental issues continue to thrive.
Our Lady of Winnipeg is a serial comic that asks: If the Blessed Virgin Mary were to show up in Winnipeg today, what would happen? And what’s she been doing for the last 2,034 years?And, in an era of increasing polarization, when even a common crisis becomes a ‘wedge issue’, is unconditional love possible? Would it make a difference?
Enter: the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Mary of our story is an immortal super-hero. Her 2000+ years of experience has given her keen insight, physical and mental discipline, and wisdom beyond our mortal understanding. Her super power is unconditional love (she is the only person alive who can, in fact, do it). But her super power is also her fatal flaw; a life of service and intercession is often a lonely and exhausting one.
At the outset of our story Mary needs to lay low for a while; there are those who have recognized her true identity and seek her. Three individuals pursue her; one out of love, one to settle an old grudge, and one who would harness her power to serve his own nefarious purposes. She chooses Winnipeg as a likely place to disappear, but soon after arriving finds an unexpected ally in a woman named Beth. The developing friendship between these two women is a vehicle for exploring not only Mary’s back story, but the current issues that harm and polarize the community that surrounds them.
