As I've mentioned, I knew Attila Kiss as Intone Flux from the old HM website forum, and I have reviewed his Blues Ratz #1, Blues Ratz #2, and Blue Ratz #3 previously.
I saved The Heart for a review until now. Not only because it takes me forever to do anything, but also because it was the one that felt more like a Heavy Metal magazine story, with compelling, sometimes gruesome art, and a dark and murky fantastical story, more on the adult side of the comic spectrum.
The Heart is a story of two stories, one of medieval-times bandits and one of twentieth century nazi occultism. They are tied together loosely by the narrative, and they also use two different artists, so there is contrast as well as continuity. A cave serves as hideout for murderous highwaymen in the first part, and later as the site of Moloch-worshipping ritual sacrifice, which (spoiler) is undone by the frail strength of its victims' humanity.
Greg Woronchak, who also did the art for Blues Ratz, shows a different style for the first portion of The Heart, and it suits the story well, straightforward but dynamic. The "vignette" page layout (I think that's the right word) frames the images and adds to the storytelling. Marie Philippova did colors for this first part, and also does the second part, in a different but complementary style, likewise engaging and enhancing the storytelling, showing the terrible attraction of arcane ritual in the service of evil. The art is the most enjoyable part of this work to me.
Followed closely by the story. Attila Kiss' style comes through, rich and descriptive, sometimes florid, sometimes clever, keeping the reader on their toes by making them work to keep up. The leap between the parts is broad, with little apparent to connect them, but enough to make this a whole story. The story of evil across generations and a brief triumph of compassion, finds disparate points in humans' broad capacity for experience.
If you're like me, with a fondness for exploration of humanity's extremes, with exciting and stomach-turning (and sexy! even) graphic art depictions, The Heart is for you. Go do yourself and Attila Kiss and his cronies a favor and check this out.
1 comment:
Thank You Fred,
for the wonderful and thoughtful reviews you did in the past few weeks.
Sincerely,
Attila Kiss.
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