Sweet Heart #1 is available online and in print now. — **Sweet Heart #1** is available online and in print now.

By Zack Quaintance — If I can recall correctly (always a big if), I read the first issue of Sweet Heart more than a year ago, before this horror series from writer Dillon Gilbertson and artist Francesco Iaquinta was picked up by publisher Action Lab. At that time, I was right away struck by how this was a well-crafted horror comic, but more than that, it was a well-crafted horror comic that engaged in quite a bit of mythos and world-building.

There are, to be sure, scary things happening in Sweet Heart, in the fictional town of Ellicott City where this story is set. As the solicit text for the first issue points out, Ellicott City is “designed to make life comfortable for citizens...while being actively stalked by the eerie, insatiable creatures that live among them.” That’s the central conceit of Sweet Heart — that there is a city out there somewhere (I believe it’s the mid-Atlantic region), wherein for generations the townspeople have been stalked by monsters. It’s just the reality they live within.

Now, it should be noted here that to date the book has only had it’s first issue go to print due to the industry-wide new comics distribution stoppage caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. All five issues, however, are available digitally, and they tell a complete story. It’s that completed story that we’re reviewing here today. Although, I won’t give away anything that could be considered a spoiler. That’s all a preface to my pointing out that within the pages of Sweet Heart, Gilbertson and Iaquinta go all-in on the world-building, extrapolating their idea of an entire community where every individual is stalked by a monster into different ways that extend to working, law enforcement, and the school system. It’s great stuff, and it’s the type of world-building I often wish more horror comics would engage in.

This world-building isn’t the heart of this story though; no, it’s more in service of a different creative interest and a different, more compelling metaphor. Sweet Heart at its center (or would it be its beating heart? nah, I’m not going there) is a generational story about what passes between members of a family over the course of many years, about fighting to resist some qualities and embrace others, about essentially breaking a chain. That’s the broad strokes of this thing, and it makes for a compelling story.

In addition to that, Iaquinta is an expert horror storyteller. He’s colored here by Marco Pagnotta, and together the duo create five issues of eerie artwork, often unsettling readers with not only monster designs (that’s the easy part), but the way they frame the threats on the pages, the way they depict threats lurking in the shadows, and the ways they find to convey violence when it does break out. Really, none of this should come as a surprise — if you’ve seen the five covers for the first Sweet Heart arc, you’ve already been impressed with the finely honed horror visuals of these artists.

Overall, Sweet Heart is one of those original comics gems that combines a fresh idea with traditional compelling character-driven storytelling. We’re all facing scary times outside, but if you want to forget all that and get scared by something else, I highly recommend Sweet Heart.

Sweet Heart #1 - #5
Writer: Dillon Gilbertson
Artist: Francesco Iaquinta
Colorist: Marco Pagnotta
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
Publisher: Action Lab - Danger Zone
Being hunted is an everyday risk in Ellicott City and the town itself is designed to make life comfortable for its citizens while being actively stalked by the eerie, insatiable creatures that live among them. But when Ben is chosen by one of the creatures near his home, his mother struggles to cope with the certainty of her son's death.
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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.