Needle in a [Comic] Haystack #6: ‘Heartthrob: Season Two’
Hi! Welcome to Needle in a [Comic] Haystack, which you are loyally reading because, well, we’re friends. Folks, it’s that time again where I tell you what comics you should be spending your hard earned cash on. Look, you let Wall Street cronies do it, why not a random girl on the internet? After all, we’re both about as reliable. Plus, they’ll just get you stocks, I’ll tell you all about the cool comics no one else is letting you know about. Because we’re pals.
Today we’re going to be talking about a comic by one of my personal favorite writers, the always excellent Christopher Sebela. You might recognize him from some of his comics he’s written: including Demonic, Escape from New York, We(l)come Back, Dead Letters, and more. Of course, you might also recognize him from his stint staying at a clown motel in the middle of nowhere – for a month! – and writing about it. Either way, you’ll probably dig this book.
Heartthrob: Season Two, by Sebela and Robert Wilson IV (who you might recognize from his work with Kelly Sue Deconnick on Bitch Planet) is a sequel (or second season) to their earlier comic, Heartthrob, about a woman in the seventies named Callie who receives a heart transplant and becomes haunted by its owner’s ghost, Mercer… who she falls in love with. Oh, and who teaches her to lie, cheat, and steal her way into becoming one of the premier robbers. By the end of that series (spoiler alert), she’s on the run, and her and Mercer have had a falling out. The first series ends with its future wide-open. Thank god there was a second one.
This series picks up a few years later with Callie, a bit begrudgingly, being the pseudo-mother to a group of Canadian thieves and rebels, trying to keep them out of trouble, and herding them like very ornery goats, as she does her best to have a normal, simple life, with a normal simple job, and then everything goes wrong. Her crew is in trouble and she’s being drawn back into the life again, only this time her friend and lover Mercer isn’t going to be there to help her. But she’ll be fine… right?
This series has just begun, with its second issue due out next month, but from the first issue alone you can tell it’s going to be one to watch out for. (And then, of course, there’s the fact that its prequel was so freaking good). Now, while the first series is good and you should read it, if you just want to jump on with the first issue of Heartthrob: Season Two, then feel free. It’s great and you won’t feel confused. After this season ends, you can always go back and read the last one, when you feel that ache in your heart.
The series is filled with fun, heart, romance, and humor. If you dig the seventies, you’ll want to grab this. If you want to see one of the most interesting takes on love in awhile, this is the book for you. If you like car chases, heists, female protagonists, good writing and excellent art, then man you do not want to skip Heartthrob.
Heartthrob: Season Two is available wherever cool comics are sold, which includes most comic shops, and Comixology (where you can snag the first season, too). You can find the first volume, collecting the first series, in most book stores and at Amazon.
