Includes triggers. Not for under aged 14 (and even then, know your reader).
I’m rating Heart Attack by Shawn Kittelsen, Eric Zawadzki and Mike Spicer a 4 for several reasons: It is a strong take on what is happening today. It is an interesting story about family (biological and found) and how friendships and love shapes us. It talks about how power and greed corrupts both good and not so good people. And we see how things are not perfect, but humanity does try to make something out of the crazy.
It is also a 3.5 (round up to four) because, WHAT???? That ending???? Why? Why? Why!?! (SPOILER) I need more! Don’t leave me up in the air! (Literally in the case of Jill and Charlie.) Tell me what happens to Face (does she lose her faith? Not only in God but her friends and the cause?), Charlie, Jill, Ash, Nona (I mean she has a pretty big piece of information that could really upset the apple cart), that witch of a governor, Captain Ruiz, and even Gabe. I NEED to know! I did not want a realistic ending (which is what we got). I wanted my Happily Ever After!
There is fantasy action, violence and things are realistically presented in the busy detailed and color illustrations. There are scenes that are sexual (I mean they are nakey and you almost see the goods) and other mature situations/language. Needless to say, this isn’t for everyone. And despite the cliche factors, which is what I liked about it, this is a “Read Me!” read. I liked knowing what was happening so I could just quietly enjoy the journey. I knew that eventually Jill and Charlie would hook up, I knew that Ash (Jill’s kid sister) would like Charlie, that Jill and the FreeBetties (her BFFs) would leave Sefton’s “cult of opulence.” It helped balance any of the surprises or didn’t expect (and there are just as many of those as familiar).
I didn’t expect the MAGA hat in the display case, but I should have. I mean the governor is just a Trump wannabe or Trump in a skirt. Or at least every GOP “flunky” right now (no confusion about the contributors being anti-GOP/pro-freedom). I mean it might be “in the future a bit” so that the 1990s are the “oldies of history” and the millennials are now their parents, causing the problems and their kids are the ones fighting the “good fight,” but it is 2024 no question. The interesting thing was I really didn’t see a Biden and/or Democratic counterpart. I don’t think Sefton fills that position, as he’s just as bad as Trump/GOP/the current administration of the story (then again, maybe that is the Biden/Democrat/second party nod as The Two Party System isn’t working), but instead of being obvious about it, Stefon hides behind velvet ropes, smokescreens and the most decadent music festival there is.
Take history: concentration camps, internment camps, experimentations on people who are “other”, pandemics, religion, immigration, any “Us vs Them” theme and toss in those charismatic leaders and you have Heart Attack. That’s not a bad thing, it is just what it is. It is a graphic novel/comic that combines the original six stories and new ones (according to the publisher description) and makes a “Look at this!” story. If I do have one complaint, there is a bit too much pro-drug/drinking to extreme use. But that is just a personal taste thing and keeps things probably more real than not.
Read via an online reader copy.