Creative Staff:
Story: Paul Allor
Art: Paul Tucker
Letterer: Paul Allor
What They Say:
EL and Mateo launch their escape, but it immediately falls apart as Mateo’s meticulous planning clashes with EL’s brutal desire to inflict cruelty upon those who were cruel to him. In the end, EL must decide whether to prioritize his own freedom or the destruction of others.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With a couple of issues behind it, Hollow Heart has made an impression but has left me more and more certain of its path. I really liked Paul Allor’s script and setup overall for the book and the narration in this installment is strong, almost more so than what plays out on the page. At the same time, Paul Tucker’s artwork is a huge draw for the book as trying to figure out what EL is through how he’s designed is half the fun. There’s a lot going on in this issue and Tucker keeps it moving well between the more personal drama mixed in and the action at the facility itself so that it feels like it’s all properly connected.
The general trend that has picked up is that everyone is basically suffering in different ways, some more obvious than others. EL is clearly the obvious one with what the facility puts him through and just his existence in general. We also get this through a pair of narrated stories that talks about people that have coped with issues and how badly it could have gone. The first one with a woman who was kidnapped and held in a basement for a few years before being freed. It focuses on how the containment changed her and the demons she struggled with while trying to get back to a normal life. The other, lengthier, story deals with a wealthy man fighting a kind of odd game with a teacher at the school next door to the house where it played out for years and years. Only when she learned the truth of what the man was suffering from and dealing with did her attitude change over it. The realization of the struggle of the other instead of just ourselves.
The book itself otherwise deals with these issues as well. Donnie’s dealing with not wanting to go back to the facility and what they ask of him there and his pleas to the guy he spent the night with end up being misunderstood with how Donnie mildly overreacts to being told no. Mateo’s attempting to break out EL but everything is going wrong and EL just won’t listen to him overall as he intends to not leave this situation without putting the facility in its place. EL’s ready to move on but has that deep fear that they can’t if the place is left as is. When all of these things meet, however briefly, it’s a moment of opportunity for El as Donni isn’t interested in dealing with him, but EL can’t help himself and has to beat down the man too. With this focused so much on the men in the story, it’s just made clear that for very different reasons, they all struggle with what they’re supposed to do.
In Summary:
Hollow Heart continues to keep me interested in what it’s doing but at the same time, I’m not exactly sure what it’s doing. I want more on EL and his situation with the whole who, what, where, when, and especially why. But I’m enjoying seeing this all taken from the perspective of Donnie and Mateo while they deal with their own issues and attempts and dealing with life. It’s got an interesting look to it and a weird kind of energy I can’t quite pin down that draws me back to see more of it.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: May 5th, 2021
MSRP: $3.99