YA Graphic Novel. Boy gets his heart ripped out by a dark entity, then embarks on epic journey in search of his heart through nightmarish dream world. Dali paintings. Read late 1990's/early 2000's.

[Max]

The boy gets his heart ripped out by a dark entity and then embarks on an epic journey through a nightmarish dream world on the search for his heart. At some point there were elements of Dalí paintings incorporated in this dream world and the boy meets a creepy man in a black suit and a top hat with a loose lid through which one can see his brain.

[Max]

It has to be from the 80’s or 90’s as I read it at a friend’s house in the late 90’s/early 2000’s but weirdly he doesn’t remember the book

[Kris]

Max, I copied some book details to the header/ topic title. Feel free to edit it.

Would you call this a horror story?

Can you tell us more about the boy? Where was he when his heart was stolen? Is there something unusual/ special about the boy?

Are the illustrations: simple or detailed, realistic or cartoon-like, painted watercolors or bold graphics, black-and-white or color? Do they remind you of a similar book illustrator?

[Max]

Thank you for the questions and for editing the topic. I think the boy was in his early teens or younger. I believe he had already been in the dream world when his heart was ripped out, but I’m not sure. Genre-wise I would call it a dark fantasy story verging on horror. The illustrations are pretty detailed, more realistic than cartoon-like and in color. Unfortunately I don’t remember the book vividly enough to compare the illustration style to anyone’s.