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Hollow Heart #04

Vault Comics

By Steven LeitmanPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Hollow Heart #04

Vault Comics 2021

Written & Lettered by Paul Allor

Illustrated by Paul Tucker

Mateo and EL have carved out a good life for themselves. They’re alone. They’re free. They’re in love. They’re happy. But EL begins to suspect that Mateo is keeping terrible secrets from him. Meanwhile, Mateo works to provide EL with the life he needs, desperate to keep EL from discovering the truth and destroying his own happiness.

This issue shakes everything we thought we knew up and twists things till we have no idea which way is up. I am blown away by what we see within these pages. The opening itself really sets things up for something we different that we didn’t know about, sure we knew that Donnie was gay but to seeing Holly at home during breakfast and seeing her wife and her son opens up some new avenues that I had no clue about. Also it just goes to show that not everyone is cut out to be a parent which is interesting to me. I should’ve known with this opening that this was going to be an issue filled with moments that make you think everything you’ve known is wrong!

I’m loving the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is really amazing to see. The character development is phenomenal as we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances that they encounter. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story and all these twists and turns along the way really does manage to draw the reader even further into the story.

How we see this being structured as well as how the layers within the story continue to emerge, evolve and strengthen. It’s here that the good bits really have a chance to shine like the narration or learning about Holly or Donnie running into Mateo as these lead into the larger picture being revealed. There’s also seeing El and what he’s been going through and his own revelations which are proving to be both endearing and foreboding. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story ever forward are achieved amazingly well.

The interiors here are lovely to see. The linework is really rather nice and to see how the varying weights are being utilised to create the detail work is exceptionally well rendered. With how we see backgrounds being utilised throughout makes me a very happy camper and how they work within the composition of the panels to show the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of the book magnificently well. The creativity and imagination that’s on display here is phenomenal and that two page spread that we see really showcases everything I’ve mentioned in just those two pages. Also I found Mateo sitting on El the way we see that is interesting to me as well as it looks rather romantic in nature. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a marvellous eye for storytelling. I still marvel at the colour work here as the choices are incredibly interesting, striking and dynamic. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is really beautifully rendered.

I have to say this would be a great book to spotlight during Pride Month and it’s something that the trade of should be definitely be ordered. This issue really took me there and back again, where I’m not sure but I totally came back a different person than when I left. This issue does exactly what it’s supposed to do and that’s get better with each issue that gets put out. Vault really is home to some of the most innovative and weird cutting edge storytelling.

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About the Creator

Steven Leitman

Just me talking about the comics I enjoy reading, ones that you might not know exist and spotlighting the indie creators that excite me.

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