Heart Transplant **

By Andrew Vachss (writer) and Frank Caruso (illustrator)
Copy right 2010 by Andrew Vachss  and Frank Caruso.
Published 2010 by Dark Horse Comics, Inc. Miwaukie, Oregon.
98 pages.

This book was a quick read so I'll attempt to make quick work of it.  This is a story of a boy who is bullied by everyone in his life including his step father and his negligent mother.  He is left an orphan but the father of the boy's stepfather comes by and adopts him.  This old man is hard nosed but tender at the same time.  It is this old man who finally teaches the boy to stick up for himself.

I think one of the weaknesses of the story is that in the beginning of the book, the writer makes a big ado about how the leads character life is NOT like the movies because the nerd doesn't really get the beautiful girl in the end, but then it has the standard generic pap ending where the kid does learn not to be bullied. Sure the  lesson in how he learns to stick up for him self and the ones he loves does have a slight twist, but it still ends with a happy ever after.

The illustrations I really like.  They have that modern expressionistic quality that is found in so many of today's comics.  Especially those of Dark Horse. There are lots of strong high contrast blacks and whites with washes of color to brighten the palette a bit.  Faces are almost blurred and merely suggested in a sinister way.  Beautiful really if not a bit de la mode.