- Caffeinated Hearts
- Written by Jonathan Hedrick
- Illustrated by Stefano Cardoselli
- Letters by Jérôme Gagnon
Follow a beautifully tattooed barista named Amarella across four vignettes that are blended through this slice-of-life comic book set in a coffee shop with a cyberpunk backdrop. These robust tales will warm your heart like a fresh batch of java poured into your favorite morning mug. Step inside and enjoy!
“It’s a great day at the Café. What would you like to fill up your cup?”
There have been days when it’s seemed the single thing to look forward to has been a hot cup of coffee. Whether pulling an all-nighter, stuck out in the cold & damp, or just plain worn out after a late night followed by a too-early day. If you’re not a coffee drinker, I do forgive you and respect your life choices… even if I don’t understand them.
Elle gets it. She’s the barista at the Café, a hopping place where all and sundry are welcomed. She is, by all appearances, the calm center in a boiling sea of chaotic activity. It’s that conflict that sits at the core of Caffeinated Hearts, a slice-of-life anthology set in a cyberpunk world. While some of the panels would look perfectly at home in something like The Fifth Element, all heavy traffic and frantic activity, the setting is the start and end point of that comparison.
Circling back to Elle, she’s our POV character throughout the four very short vignettes that make up this comic. We’re following her, and by extension her customers, through what seems like a very typical day. And that’s where writer Jonathan Hedricks pulls the rug. A typical day for one person is very much anything but to someone else, and everyone has something going on beneath the surface. A stranger waiting impatiently for a late appointment might lend itself to a certain line of thought… shady dealings in a busy diner… but those expectations are going to be dispelled. Hedricks replaces them with some of the most earnest, thoughtful, and just plain nicest story beats I’ve ever seen.
Stefano Cardoselli’s artwork, looking all stream of consciousness across the page, has the sophistication of the very best from Heavy Metal or Metal Hurlant magazines. What it lacks is the gratuitous sex, violence, or even a hint of cynicism. Cardoselli uses watercolor to lightly fill in the gaps of the world while leaving it with an airy, almost other-worldly quality. In every way possible, Caffeinated Hearts is an example of what can happen when writing and art are perfectly in sync to deliver a specific tone.
I dunno… this one kinda snuck up on me, hitting the right spot at the right time. It’s not often I come across a comic that reads as a breath of fresh air, so listen up when I say that Caffeinated Hearts is the relief you need right now. There aren’t many things you can count on in this world, but it looks like a hot cup and a smile from Elle are on the list.
Final Score: 13/13
