Bleeding Hearts #3 is written by Deniz Camp and published by DC Comics. Artwork is by Stipan Morian, colours by Matt Hollingsworth and letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Main cover art (left) is by Stipan Morian.
Bleeding Hearts #3 is available from today, in comic book stores and on digital platforms where all good comic books are sold. Grab your physical copy from Forbidden Planet or digitally from Amazon Comixology UK.
Synopsis
Poke returns to his horde after meeting Mama and Rabbit, profoundly changed and a bit confused. He’s experiencing things he cannot explain… things like compassion and sadness. He’s tried his best to convince Mama that he means them no harm and that they should stay hidden, but for Mama, trust is something hard-earned. So how much of a risk is she willing to take? And can Poke keep the latest hunting party from descending upon their hiding spot?
Review
Picking up right where issue 2 left off, with Poke trying to help Mama and Rabbit with a gun pointed at his head. This immediately sets the tone moving forward and paints Poke in a sympathetic and tragic light. He wants to help these humans, but has no idea why or how, yet trying to convey that to them, humans, without coming across as threatening, is the main hurdle in the way.
This struggle is visualised through some simple but effective creative choices that work brilliantly. Firstly, there’s the fact that human speech is perceived as screeching to a zombie, making the mere act of communication harder than it should be. This is a great idea that allows both Poke’s and Mama’s stream of consciousness narrations to drive them in moments that follow them specifically. When Poke is held at gunpoint, we see, in real-time, his thought process to de-escalate the situation, whereas later in the story, Mama’s narration emphasises the fear and panic from her perspective.
Secondly, through Stipan Morian’s artwork and Matt Hollingsworth’s use of colour, we get an expressive, energetic sense of the shifting points of view and the growing threat that awaits our characters. Compared to issue 1, where the zombies were half-creepy, half-comically exaggerated in design, this issue instead plays more into the unsettling nature of the zombie society with their freakishly disproportionate body parts.
Hollingsworth gets a lot of creative freedom with his colour, similar to the last issue, whereby entire pages will be dominated by a singular, recurring colour scheme that reinforces the brooding tone and otherworldly look this new, zombified Earth has taken on. Indoor settings stick to blues and greys, doubling down on the underlying dread of Mama and Rabbit’s situations. The sky outside, on the other hand, uses the same intense pinks and purples that were genuinely breathtaking in the last instalment, creating something both unsettling and fantastical in the process.
The constant back and forth between Mama and Poke’s perspectives also helps build suspense throughout the story as we spend just the right amount of time with each character and their own issues. This leads to a nail-biting sequence outside that doesn’t feel like tension just for the sake of it. Here it is genuinely earned and is even more rewarding when Poke is able to distract the horde of fellow zombies in the opposite direction.
Issue 3 of Bleeding Hearts moves things in the direction I was expecting in a manner that still kept me on my toes. The growth and bond of these characters, both human and zombie, is slowly starting to form and is where the series is really coming into its own. This, mixed with gorgeously stylised art and a palpable sense of tension, brings everything nicely together.
Verdict
Camp and Co. effortlessly balance consistent tension with a truly inventive exploration of themes such as empathy and anxiety that are equal parts heartbreaking as it is fascinating.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
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