Young and apparently friendly Lupe has a direct connection with the monsters that have destroyed the world. But someone has been watching her all this time. Who are they and what are their intentions? Find out in Heart Eyes #3 from Vault Comics!

HEART EYES #3

Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Victor Ibáñez
Colorist: K. J. Diaz
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Editor:Adrian F. Wassel
Publisher: Vault Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: November 2, 2022

Previously in Heart Eyes: Against his sister’s wishes and despite the monsters, Rico goes outside to find Lupe. She tells him the monsters will not hurt him if he stays quiet. Instead, he panics, they kill him, and Lupe is distraught that this has happened…again. We learn that when Lupe was a little girl, her uncle was a cultist, and the cult made her the center of a ritual for summoning them. Instead, she became connected to them, and her life has never been the same.

A LIFE OF CONTINUED TRAGEDY

Heart Eyes #3 opens on a character in a hoodie who lives in a weapons bunker. They get a breakfast of shelf-stable foods and decide that today is the day they are going to review all the footage of Lupe. From the early days of live broadcasts to the lonely days of security cams recording on their own, the lonely girl has a different reaction to the apocalypse from everyone else. It makes me wonder whether she is a monster herself, or is the cognitive dissonance so great that she can only cope by not believing in it?

We see her in earlier days playing with a monster as a group of soldiers runs past. One has been killed by the monster. She can tell something is wrong with him, but she wants him to be okay. Then she meets an older woman who walks among the monsters as though they are nothing to be concerned about. She tells Lupe she has seen monsters forever and she has learned to ignore them. It is apparent to us that she is mentally ill and has had problems with hallucinations. She knows medication can help control them and offers to share some with Lupe. Lupe thinks she has found a friend, but all too soon a military drone with a bomb arrives, the monster pulls Lupe away, and the older woman is killed in the detonation.

The observer watching the footage asks the question of whether or not Lupe killed the woman. She did not directly harm her, but if she had not been there, would the drone have come? And then we see a montage of situations where Lupe has tried to make connections with people only for them to die every time.

In the present, Lupe flies out of town with her monsters but makes them set her down when she spots a school bus and two small children playing. They live there with their mother who is armed and getting ready to go out for a while. The kids know her rules – they are to stay locked in the bus playing quiet games only.

Lupe meets the woman on the road and makes it clear that she was watching them. We do not see if anything else happened, but in the next scene, Lupe gets on the bus and starts talking to the kids. She claims their mother asked her to watch them. These kids may be young, but they are suspicious. The girl, Ginny, draws a knife and her younger brother starts crying. They are both making noise and Lupe tries to calm them down.

INNOCENT OR MONSTER?

We do not know who the mysterious watcher is in Heart Eyes #3. The hoodie shadows their face and is loose enough to disguise any distinctive body shape. We do not know if they are young or old, although the fact that they have access to a missile silo makes me suspect they are an adult. Whoever they are, they have been following her for some time and are trying, as we are, to figure out how responsible she is for everything. I like the way we can see their uncertainty even though we do not see their face.

Lupe continues to be an enigma. When she plays with the monsters, she is relaxed and childlike. When armed soldiers push past her, she reacts as though they are rude, not like she is either afraid of them or relieved to see them. She talks to dead people as though they must certainly still be alive. And then she has moments where it looks like reality is about to break through her defenses and force her to face the world. She is the only one who lives every time. After each event, she looks as though she is in pain, but every now and then another expression crosses her face – a sly smile.

BOTTOM LINE: STRANGE

Heart Eyes #3 is strange and disquieting. We know Lupe has a connection to the monsters, and we know at least one other person in the story knows. But just what it remains a mystery.

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Heart Eyes #3

80%

80%

Strange

Lupe wants to make friends, but every time she tries, death follows.

• Writing

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• Art

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• Coloring

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