Heart Attack

by Shawn Kittelsen, Eric Zawadzki (Artist), Mike Spicer (Artist)

“10/10...Come for the immersive visual storytelling, stay for a take on dystopia that puts romance and humanity at its center” - Comics Bookcase   Gene therapy has saved Americans from disease―only to give birth to people with powers so unique, the government denies their human rights.   But a new rebellion begins when Charlie North and Jill Kearney learn their instant attraction unlocks powers of mass destruction and forces them to question how far they should go to topple the system!   Acclaimed writer Shawn Kittelsen (Injustice 2, Mortal Kombat 11) and artist Eric Zawadzki present a new graphic novel collecting Heart Attack #1-6 and featuring six all-new chapters concluding their epic story.

Genres: Comics

296 pages, Paperback

Published September 26, 2023

Reviews

[Zedsdead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only discussing the back half here as I tackled the first half in Heart Attack, Vol. 1.

In the aftermath of the Wall massacre and killing of Reverend Gary, the Freebodies look to their upcoming annual Freedonia festival. Face wakes up in a secret concentration camp and finds Nona. Charlie's brother spots Charlie on camera and hunts him down. And unflappable Sefton has a plan that clearly scares him.

The authors continue to capture right wing rhetoric and talking points with uncomfortable accuracy, and it's alarming how well this real-world punditry maps onto a story about American fascism. Kittelsen again mines real world travesties--such as the 13th amendment prison exception for slave labor, and deputy gangs such as the Grim Reapers--for story beats. And just in case Heart Attack 's lessons are too subtle, the TX governor character keeps a ratty old MAGA hat in a glass case in her office.

The faux news reports--left, center, and right--are so well written and the warnings so on point that I can't help but give this 5 stars even though it's closer to 4 star material.


Plot points:
--Face wakes up in the previously-hypothetical variant concentration camp. The inmates are starved, forced to do labor for corporate donors (#thirteenthamendment), kept isolated, and experimented on. The warden's on-the-nose motto is Work Will Set You Free.
--Charlie's brother--a violent, extreme right wing nutcase VCU officer--spots Charlie on camera and violates rights as hard and fast as he can in an effort to hunt his brother down. Sad backstory for Gabriel and Charlie.
--Captain Ruiz of the anti-variant gestapo has a crisis of conscience, reveals to Charlie the existence of the secret concentration camp, and releases Charlie from his role as a forced CI. (Note: I hate the Mr. Smith Goes to Washington solution; if the only way for justice to be realized is for bad guys to spontaneously and dramatically repent of their crimes, then there is no hope for society.)
--Jill and Charlie, masked, use their powers to rescue a friend from the back of a VCU armored truck. The mystery pair become popular on the left and feared on the right.
--A bloodthirsty VCU unit (#deputygangs) led by Charlie's brother breaks into the Freedonia festival to search for Charlie. They hurt people at random. When the crowd gets angry, they fire into the air and accidentally shoot Sefton. Charlie and Jill reveal their identities in protecting the stormtroopers from mob justice. But...
--...Sefton faked his own shooting. He's using his near-martyrdom to launch the first viable new political party in over 200 years and to run for governor of TX. When Jill declines to join his campaign he cuts her loose. Sefton is on the good guys team but he's not a good guy.
--The Freebodies party pulls millions from the youthful ranks of the Democrats and--much less realistically--from the evangelical wing of the GOP. Because Sefton "rose again". .......Okay.
--Jill and the Freebetties (and lone Manbetty) gradually zero in on the concentration camp's location. They're scared but optimistic that they can rescue Face and Nona. And that's Heart Attack ending on a positive note.

[Liz (Quirky Cat) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary:

The world has changed so much over the years. With the advent of gene therapy, there's no longer any real concern for common diseases – they've been chiseled away. That's not the only change. Some versions of gene therapy have given rise to new, unique, and terrifying powers.

As one might expect, the general population struggles to accept this idea. The government refuses to give these people basic rights or protection, causing cascading problems and violence. How long until a full-on rebellion occurs?

Review:

So, we have a superhero book that isn't a superhero book? In truth, Heart Attack reads like a variant on X-Men. By that, I mean that I would fully have believed you if you told me this was happening in an alternate Marvel Universe.

Overall, I would have to say that Heart Attack is okay. It isn't groundbreaking. But it isn't bad either! Mostly, it just is. I was happy to read it at the time, but I can see my lousy memory quickly losing this one; I'm sad/sorry to say.

Highlights:
New Spin on Superheroes
Rebellions and More
Dystopian

Thanks to Image Comics and #Edelweiss for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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[Doreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

10/17/2023 3.5 stars. Felt quite long, tbh, but I suppose there's a good reason for that. Full review tk at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.

10/18/2023 In comparison to most of the graphic novels for grown-ups I've read recently, this felt quite long, but I think there's a good reason for that. The original, published in 2020, only collected the first six issues of the series. This follow-up contains those and six more chapters that round out, at least for now, the story of Jill, Charlie and the (awesome) Free Betties.

Several decades in the future, gene therapy to prevent pandemic deaths accidentally brought into being children known as Variants. Their altered DNA gave them usually very small-time superpowers. Jill Kearney is an influencer/anchor on the Austin-based Freebodies HQ News, and has a tactile telekinesis (and no, I don't fully understand what that is, either. Like she can move things with her mind that she could ordinarily move with her hands? Not sure, tbh.) Charlie North has hands that go hot. Both are perfect examples of the vast majority of Variants: possessed of an unusual but honestly quite limited extrasensory ability.

But when Jill and Charlie touch, something inexplicable happens. Their powers amplify, turning them into the Powers of Mass Destruction that Texas Governor Ann Pritchard warned of and won election on in a fear-mongering landslide. Because, people being people, the very existence of Variants terrifies the average voter, leading to a new strata of entirely legal discrimination against the mostly harmless. The Freebodies movement is a necessary reaction against the government and social oppression of Variants, with their founder and CEO Sefton Smith promoting nonviolent resistance against the fascism encroaching on their existence.

Ofc, not everyone agrees with Sefton's "softly, softly" approach, that also somehow manages to monetize the cause and provide Sefton himself with a cushy lifestyle. Jill and her best friends are the Free Betties, an organization that wants to take more hard-hitting action. With Charlie on board, will they finally be able to point the spotlight on the disproportionate force used on Variants, or will they only end up making things worse for the very people they're trying to protect?

So like I said, this is a surprisingly long book, with lots of details that I've barely touched on here. It's honestly a fairly comprehensive view of political discrimination, with a lot of interesting interstitials written from the perspectives of various news outlets patterned after ones we have in real life, as well as a surprisingly deep amount of history on Austin, Texas. The book doesn't end quite as neatly as I'd like plot-wise, but does finish in a good place.

The development of the art over the course of the story was also interesting to see. I'm not sure how much time Eric Zawadzski had to develop what was happening here, but the evolution of the figures from oddly proportioned to John Byrne-esque was quite stunning in the end.

This was an interesting read that draws from contemporary politics to depict a more realistic version of superpowers in the populace. It's smart and kinda depressing, but ultimately hopeful.

Heart Attack by Shawn Kittelsen, Eric Zawadzki & Mike Spicer was published October 3 2023 by Image Comics and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

You have to admit it's a fairly brave book to say that it's not the X-Men, when it really is. This is a post-covid X-Men, as an idea of corralling sick people (and potentially sick people) behind a wall has allowed for (a) the author to yack on about racism and exclusion, and (b) for characters who have a genetic freakiness ("Variants" – oh, how witty) to be suppressed by the powers that be. They don't like that idea, much, don't the Variants, and so use famous people, and Internet streaming, and so on and so forth, to counter both the cops and a rictus-grinning harridan of a governor.

What follows is over-long, and under-novel. We've seen it all before, the two MCs not wanting to fall in love but doing so, the burgeoning of their powers, the Pride-styled festival that acts as a climax to a lot of things here. Like The X-Men, pretty much any excluded group can find this an analogy for their lot, whether it be gender, race, sexuality, class… It never gets horrifically bad – far from it, but it never really sparks into giving us something new or unexpected. I'm sure the end result is pretty forgettable – if the sequel that seems heralded does come my way, I shall look back on this write-up with no real surprise at being correct.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

An OK update of the X-Men in a post COVID world. 30 years in the future variants were created due to some gene therapy or the like. It's only vaguely explained. The powers don't really matter either. It's about the disenfranchised in Austin and some wall that was built around a section of it. None of the setup makes a lot of sense. The storytelling gets better after the initial setup is forced to tell the story the creators want to tell. The main two characters fall in love out of nowhere after one night together. It mainly an extension of the politics that have taken place since Trump came on the political scene, just expanded and extrapolated for vague superpowers. This version is expanded with extra chapters but still no real ending. There's obviously room for further stories as there is still a ton unresolved but I'd be surprised if we ever get there.

[Sharon Mariampillai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay Read

I received a copy from Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Shawn Kittelsen for the opportunity to read your book. This was an alright read. I thought the story was good, but I found it to be predictable as well. I think the reason for the 3 star rating is the characters. I thought the characters were okay. I didn’t like them nor dislike them. I just did not find the characters interesting in this story. It might be because I couldn’t relate to them at all, but I thought the characters could have been more developed and more relatable. I thought the ending of the story was okay. I will see how other Shawn Kittelsen books are like. Overall, an okay read.

[Raven Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm rating this a 4 for several reasons: It is powerful take on what is happening today. It is an interesting story of family and found family. How friendship shapes us. How power and greed corrupts. And how things are not perfect, but humanity does try to make something out of the crazy. It is also a four because, WHAT???? That ending???? Why? Why? (SPOILER) I need more! Don't leave me up in the air! Tell me what happens to Face, Charlie, Jill, Ash, even the governor, Ruiz, and more. I NEED to know! I did not want a realistic ending, I needed my Happily Ever After! There is fantasy action, violence and is realistic. There are scenes of an extreme sexual nature and other mature situations. Not for everyone, but worth the time. Read via an online reader copy.

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.

[Roger Gaboury · Rating 4 out of 5]

This starts slow, but once it heats up it is great. Nice exploration of outsiders and fighting oppressive powers with “super powers”.