REVIEW: Heartthrob #2

It may be because I will forever be madly in love with Selina Kyle, but I do greatly enjoy a good femme fatale thief. Heartthrob #2 plops one right in my lap, and maybe it“s my love affair with Catwoman talking, but I“m really not sure who to root for with this book.

Callie is woman who has been given a second chance at life, and with that, it would only make sense to abandon her thieving ways and live straight. But of course, that“s not an easy feat for someone who more than dabbles with the thrill of crime. Try as she might to get a regular job and abandon all thoughts that she previously had, real life just isn“t near as exciting.

Christopher Sebela weaves us a sort of romantic story with just a tiny bit of what people traditionally think Bonnie and Clyde is. Spoiler: it“s not that romantic and pretty fudged up, which is why I much prefer Christopher“s tale and the fact that it“s told from a one-woman point of view. Callie is in love with a bad dude, classic, but I really wish she wasn“t so hung up on one guy. As girl-power and as seemingly independent as Callie could be, I really think her fixation with her no-good boyfriend really hinder her, but in a way that doesn“t make her all that likeable. She has some great qualities and really has potential to be a Bad Ass Woman, but at times her personality is straying too hard in an evolved form of a Sexy Lamp. I don“t want to see a story with promise hit a wall because of a classic overused trope, but the series is young, and it has plenty of time to hopefully turn around.

Heartthrob could easily be illustrated and colored several different ways depending on what aspect you want to go with, and what you really want to leap out from the pages. Robert Wilson IV chose to go in a cleaner route without much grit or sketchiness, which seems too safe to me. The story gives so much room to really be adventurous with the illustrations and colors but none of that was utilized. Are the illustrations bad? No, they“re fine and a lot of panels are quite well done. It just needs more. The same goes for Nick Filardi“s muted color palette. Where the pizzazz?

This is no fault of the artist or colorist because they both did their job and did it well. It“s a strange thing but I“m imagining a totally different look for this series, and I feel like the story could handle something more abstract and loud, demanding you know Callie“s story. Instead Heartthrob feels meek compared to what it could have been. I hope I am proven wrong, but we“ll just have to see.

Story: 3 Stars
Illustrations: 3 Stars
Colors: 3 Stars
Cover: 3 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

(W)Â Christopher Sebela
(A)Â Robert Wilson IV
(C)Â Nick Filardi
(CA)Â Robert Wilson IV with Nick Filardi