Heart of the City

by Mark Tatulli

Heart is a precocious girl whose adorably energetic presence attracts everyone around her. She loves dressing up, playing with her Karlie and Ben dolls, and dreaming of the day she can finally get her ears pierced. Her best friend, Kat, shares her pal's hopes and dreams-and believes she'll someday marry Leonardo DiCaprio. Heart's mom, an overworked and underappreciated single mother, showers her girl with love, but resolutely resists Heart's attempts to find her a man. Mrs. Angelini rounds out the cast as the matriarch who takes care of Heart while Mom's at work.This first Heart of the City book collects strips from the cartoon's first successful year, a debut that attracted legions of loyal fans. Created by Mark Tatulli, Heart of the City has a gentle presence, exemplifying the sweet and sassy realities of modern, urban child-rearing.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

128 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2000

About the author

Mark Tatulli is a comic artist and film maker, mostly known for his dark comedic newspaper strip Liō. He is the recipient of three Emmy Awards. He works for Banyan Productions. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and children.

Reviews

[Tavia Fortt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful. Oddly reminiscent in spots of Hey Arnold!, in good ways.

[Benjamin Navarro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the book focuses on Heart and her single mom Addy’s relationship at home. In a nutshell, it’s very similar to the relationship between Calvin and his mom in Calvin and Hobbes. What makes this different from Calvin and Hobbes is the fact that Heart, unlike Calvin, is a good-hearted (no pun intended) kid, and while she and her mom get on each other’s nerves frequently, they still clearly love each other and enjoy each other’s company. Heart and Addy are very well fleshed out characters. Tatulli writes his main characters (save for Kat, who unfortunately isn’t really fleshed out much) with unique, memorable personalities that make Heart of the City go beyond the likes of Family Circus. Unlike that strip and similar strips, Tatulli’s characters feel like real people who you would want to spend time with, and the humor is wittier and...well, funnier! Although at this point mostly a gag-a-day strip, there are some storylines, such as when Heart’s teacher suggests she (Heart) has ADHD and when Heart tries to make a girl-centric Star Wars movie with her friends. Even though it’s definitely a humorous strip first, it does occasionally have sentimental and serious moments, such as one storyline where Addy vents to an understanding and compassionate Mrs. Angelini (Heart’s elderly devout Catholic nanny) about how difficult it is not being able to spend much time with her daughter due to her work and a one-off strip where Addy worries that she’s not a good enough mother, as well as Heart’s poem in the Father’s Day strip. The strips in this collection aren’t always perfect, however. There are some times where it feels like it focuses too much on how annoying Heart can be to Addy, and not enough on making Heart herself a likable character with her own thoughts and feelings; this improves as the book progresses however (although it’s still an occasional problem in the strip’s later years). Also, some characters (such as Carmen and Kat) aren’t really ever fully developed, and Tatulli doesn’t do a great job at dividing time between the different characters besides Heart. Nevertheless, Tatulli’s Heart of the City serves as a great post-Calvin and Hobbes example of how a family strip can be done right. I really enjoyed this collection of strips and definitely recommend this to anyone in the mood for casual, sitcom-esque comics.