Bleeding Hearts #1 – Deniz Camp, Writer; Stipan Morian, Artist; Matt Hollingsworth, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Vertigo is back, and this is big news for those who grew up with this boundary-pushing line that combined creator-owned concepts with reinventions of darker DC characters. The first new Vertigo title has technically already kicked off, as James Tynion’s brilliant horror series The Nice House by the Sea has returned under a new branding, but this unique zombie horror-comedy by Deniz Camp is the first of many original comics to debut – and they certainly started with a concept that pays tribute to just how bizarre Vertigo could get. Set in a world where Zombies have overrun and killed most of humanity, the protagonists here are…the zombies. They have more intelligence than in most versions, and killing and eating human flesh is almost second-nature to them. One young zombie – who, like every other undead, is defined by one trait about their undead life – is just trying to make an unliving.
With the help of his rude, portly best friend who is much more at ease with his afterlife than our lead character is, they scrounge for human survivors to eat. But our antihero soon discovers something very strange about his undead body. His heart is beating. This is both disturbing because he’s not supposed to have any signs of life – and because the heart is the most prized piece of meat in a human. As we explore this world, with our strange lead zombie trying to conceal this secret from his horde, we learn a lot more about this world. It’s surprisingly functional, with zombies having formed their own society with its own mores and codes of conduct, but it’s also deeply disturbing with a type of normalized violence that can be pretty hard to watch. This is a darkly funny book that has a lot on its mind, but also works as just a bizarre new take on zombies that’s unlike anything else on the stands.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
