The origin of the end.
Creative Staff:
Story: Dennis Hopeless
Art: Victor Ibanez
Colors: Addison Duke
Letterer: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
Lupe has run off to meet the monsters. Rico has to catch her or lose her forever, this strange, smiling girl who stole his heart. But what’s Lupe’s story? Where did she come from? And why doesn’t she fear the monsters that ate the world?
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 the first issue of this series definitely caught my attention. 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.
With this issue, we see the fallout from what Lupe was doing with the monsters as she met them outside but that just sends Rico into a panic to try and save her. As observed, he’s not thinking with the right head and is just intent on saving the girl. So when he does come across her and he sees here with the monsters up close and personal around her, it’s something that the mind has a hard time processing. She does her best to try and mitigate it, telling him to not be afraid and that everything will be all right, but there’s no way for Rico to do that. And honestly, this issue seems to make it clear that Lupe is unique in all of this and her not being afraid is not what’s really saving her in a sense. For Rico, the panic is natural, and running makes sense, but it just sadness Lupe as the monsters snake off after him instantly and he’s torn apart in front of her.
What this leads us into is seeing Lupe’s past and the origin of the monsters. It’s a simple tale of being abused and losing most everything as she and her mother end up living and working for a bookstore owner. Her mother dies soon enough and the twisted owner is one who has been looking for a particular book of magic. That’s something Lupe lucked into and it connected both of them to a cult that’s trying to open the gateway between dimensions. Naturally, it doesn’t go as they expect and Lupe’s not fully dead of empathy to the world so they aren’t able to control her completely. But they see her as a useful conduit in the short term to try and figure out a better plan, which we see taking place over several years as Lupe basically runs the bookstore while her “uncle” is slowly devoured. And that, naturally, takes a turn for the worse when she ends up being somewhat befriended by a group of teenagers in a situation that just goes badly in all directions. It doesn’t give us the big event yet as to how the world ended, but you see all the foundations of it here.
In Summary:
Heart Eyes really won me over with the first issue and I’ll admit to hoping for more of that in this issue. We get a small taste of it again before it goes into flashback territory in order to show some of the origins of all of this. Which I expected at some point and I do think there’s some question as to whether it should have been shown first and then gone into the present or not. That said, there isn’t a huge tonal shift or anything as Lupe’s life before the end of the world is likely worse than after in a lot of ways, so it’s still pretty bleak. But there’s a lot to like here in exploring some of the origins and getting some answers so that it’s not just a big mystery box. I’m eager to get back to the present quickly and move forward, however, but I enjoyed getting this part of it and seeing some really strong artwork throughout once again.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: September 28th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
