Hollow Heart #1 from Vault Comics released today and I’ve been sitting on this review for weeks now.
Okay, so… by the end of this comic I was in tears.
Imagine a world where everyone can scream and be heard.
The first issue of this new comic series is titled Tethered, and it is definitely an apt title as emotion will tether you immediately. This is the story of El. See the cover? That’s El. El is hurting. El wants freedom and is not allowed it, and El knows that freedom is not allowed. You know what is allowed? Your attachment to this creature.
There is so much not being told to you in this first issue, and I think that is good. It works that all you get is the introduction to El and Mateo, and Donnie, though it’s hard to tell just how important he will be later on. This lack of knowledge is probably what makes it so easy to get attached to El so quickly. You empathize with him. Mateo is just as easy to empathize with. He just wants connection. He tries to get it with hookups from a grindr like app, but those clearly leave him still wanting more. Perhaps he doesn’t need the connection to be human? Perhaps that is why he goes back to El, determined to help, even if it’s only a trifle.
Like how this issue doesn’t tell you much background to start off with, it leaves you with more questions coming out than you have going in. I sorta like that about it. It makes you care enough to know what is coming next.
As, not an aside, but as to a different part of this comic, everything I read about it leading up, made sure to call it a “queer horror story” and it does deliver on that. Mateo is seemingly gay, though he could turn out to be a different letter under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. I’m not sure how much focus that will have going forth, but I loved how the writers didn’t make a big deal out of it and just let it be part of who the character was.
I thoroughly enjoyed Hollow Heart and am sure that Vault has a winner on their hands.
