Monsters. It’s always monsters.
Creative Staff:
Story: Dennis Hopeless
Art: Victor Ibanez
Colors: Addison Duke
Letterer: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
Sanity-eating monsters ended humanity. The unlucky few who survived now hide in the cracks of a broken world. And yet somehow, beneath the graveyard that used to be San Antonio, Rico met Lupe, the girl of his dreams. But how did she get here? And why is she smiling? No one survives out in the street. No one smiles where the monsters lurk
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
It’s been a few years since I read anything from Dennis Hopeless but I liked what I’ve read before and seeing something original is definitely up my alley here. What works the best with this book is that while it plays in familiar territory it’s not in a rush to get through things. It actually has some really solid pacing so that you can feel that end-of-the-world atmosphere to it where there’s a kind of stillness and decay rather than just constant action. We do get action, however, and Victor Ibanez delivers really well there with the creatures at hand but also the monster that is humanity. I love the look of the book with all of its details in this area but also just the decaying world aspect which features a lot of neat little moments and pieces that make it feel, well, not lived in but the right kind of end of things look, especially with Addison Duke’s color design.
The premise is straightforward enough in that we see that the end of humanity (not the world) came not from weapons or ourselves but from a crack in the world that allowed monsters to come through. Most look like giant eyeball kind of floaty things but it feels like there’s more to it than that. Most of humanity has disappeared but those that have survived hide in the cracks of the world and in places underground that are easy to defend and simply not be seen. Nature is claiming the world back but it’s steeped in ruins, which is where we meet Lupe. She’s a late-teen person it looks like who has a kind of wanderlust that has her going around places and ending up in San Antonio here. She’s enjoying trying to figure out the world as it is and the kind of loose thoughts and flights of fancy that comes with it as she goes along the river walk.
Lupe ends up being “captured” by Rico, who was under the water and he brings her to the sewers and eventually back to where he and the group he’s with have been living for some time. This does not go over well since trust of others is at an all-time low and she was just wandering out there, which hints at people being taken over or controlled by the creatures. What we get is a kind of teen romance of sorts here as Rico is smitten by her and the way she seems so free compared to the harsh life he lives. Of course, none of this will last long for obvious reasons but there is some good layering in here of how Lupe has survived all this time and why we can see these two getting something of a road trip in their future. There’s a lot to like in seeing how it all comes together here and while you may not click to names for a lot of those people in this place, they’re well-served by their actions and with what’s now imminent.
In Summary:
Heart Eyes has a lot going for it here and while I try to avoid thinking of how it could be adapted into another form, it just screams an easy and interesting adaptation. Ibanez’s artwork is just so good that it makes it all comes alive in its ruin so well that you can visualize it before you. Hopeless does a really good job of giving us some real meat on the characters of Lupe and Rico in a short space while still not making it feel rushed. And that’s on top of introducing the basic concept of how the world ended and that time has passed since then to lead things to as ruined as they are. I’m really interested in seeing where this goes and what the real story is here, beyond the obvious character element, as it could be really interesting even if the thing with the monsters is just the trapping to tell the main story.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: August 17th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
