Bleeding Hearts #5 – Deniz Camp, Writer; Stipan Morian, Artist; Matt Hollingsworth, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: This zombie thriller has almost been lulling us into a false sense of security, with the story of young zombie Poke starting to bond with human child Rabbit being almost heartwarming. You allowed yourself to believe, if only for a minute, that hope could exist in the post-apocalypse. And then Poke’s zombie buddy Mush found the hiding place, and everything changed. This issue is a bleak shift into the darkest moments of the series. Rabbit’s mother is dead. Rabbit is being held in a holding pen for the outbreak, a zombie ritual where they hunt the humans they capture. And Poke has no idea how much danger she – or he – is actually in. There’s still a twisted humor to the whole thing, but now it’s infused with a real sense of dread in every page. And much of the issue is told from Rabbit’s perspective, adding a vibe of innocent tragedy to the whole thing that drives home the inherent horror of this world.
Batman: Gargoyle of Gotham #4 – Rafael Grampa, Writer/Artist; Mat Lopes, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: Black Label has some amazing projects, but it also suffers from serious schedule issues, with creator-driven properties being wildly ambitious and sometimes going wildly off-schedule. It’s been around eighteen months since the third issue of Rafael Grampa’s surreal tale of Gotham class war erupting into a superhero thiller came out, and this oversized final issue delivers some great action and visuals. Unfortunately, I think the narrative does suffer from it being so long since the last issue was released, with the complex power struggle in Gotham being hard to keep track of without references. That being said, I do think it had an interesting angle on how Batman realizes that his current methods aren’t tackling the larger issues lurking under the surface in Gotham. But with a large cast of characters and villains who will likely never appear again, this surreal finish doesn’t quite land every idea it has.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
