Words/Letters: Paul Allor
Art/Colors: Paul Tucker
Publisher: Vault
I know I should judge a book by it’s cover. Especially a comic because there are at least 37 different covers and I can only get so many of them. But it’s so hard with Hollow Heart because this cover is so enticing. Why is there a dude staring at me? What is the dude staring at me from? How do the eyes go all shiny like that?
All of that aside, I’m loving what I’m seeing in this first issue.
As the story opens you see what is presumably a guard chasing after a robot, but no context for it at all. No indication about which we should be pulling for to prevail. No reasoning at all for why the chase is happening. Just a story about a young boy and his pet fish overlaid upon the chase scene.
But to me Hollow Heart is a lot more than that.
It’s a story about finding what others are actually working towards and helping them get there instead of thinking that you know that answer already and helping them get to where you think they want to go. Even if that place doesn’t make any sense to you at all, just accepting that you can’t always understand the motivations behind what someone else is doing.
It’s a story about giving people a chance to show you who they are instead of forming that set in stone opinion for yourself based on first impressions and what other people have told you. Knowing that even if you’ve seen someone being a monster that doesn’t necessarily make them a monster.
It’s a story about how the person that you present to the world isn’t always who you really are. How sometimes you have to put that mask on just to get through the day or get the job done and how there’s nothing inherently wrong with that.
I’m going to be totally honest with you, I’ve sat on writing this review for way too long. I’ve restarted it so many times. There’s just something about this book that keeps tugging at me. Why do the characters treat each other like they do? What does this fish story overlaid across the first few pages have to do with anything?
Allor’s writing keeps sucking me back in to try to figure out what’s going on here. It’s a mystery and he’s not giving anything away in this first issue. But I keep getting something else out of it every time I’ve read through it.
Tucker’s art captures so many nuances about the characters and situations here. I don’t need to be told how the characters are feeling. And I get the feeling that there are some clues hiding in plain sight that I’ll be kicking myself for not picking up on as I read further in the series.
So yes I did add this one to my pull list based on the cover. Which I guess is kind of ironic with the whole first impressions bit. But I’m glad I did it and I really think this is a series I’ll be seeing a lot of people talking about.
Other bylines include:
Gate Crashers
- Superman the Man of Steel with Doc Issues (Capes on the Couch) - October 30, 2024
- Hiatus Tech Update - October 15, 2024
- Why the Hiatus? - October 3, 2024
