#heartless comic

[myrastuff]

Happy ace week! I wanted to draw a spooky Clara for that and Halloween, but ran out of time to get it lined and coloured properly :|

[heartless-webcomic]

Chapter 6, Page 34

In which the Baron vanishes.

[gaycomicreviews]

Books I’m Looking Forward to in 2017:

Extremity - March

Paper Girls, Story Arc 3 - February

Heartless - TBA

Threadworlds - TBA

Grass Kings - March

Snotgirl, Story Arc 2 -Summer

Shutter, Conclusion - Summer

Royal City - March

[heartless-webcomic]

Chapter 6, Page 33

In which the property damage continues.

[bgb16999]

In Emily Griggs’ Heartless, it seems that vampires are fundamentally the same people they were during human life.  At first glance, this seems to be in contrast to vampire lore in many other works of fiction, where the vampire is a different person from the human whose body they inhabit.

But maybe vampires in Heartless really are different people from their human counterparts, and the appearance to the contrary is due to Clara being an unreliable narrator!  

Clara is the only person in the comic whom we see as both a human and a vampire.  From what we see, Clara as a vampire is essentially the same person as Clara as a human was.  But Vampire Clara is the narrator, so she could be deceiving the audience into thinking she is the same person even if she isn’t.  

[bgb16999]

I just finished re-reading Heartless, a Webcomic about an asexual vampire in 1852 London

Heartless is a completed webcomic by Emily Griggs @sweetingenuityart.  Featuring a mostly queer cast, the comic follows Clara Adams, and asexual/aromantic woman living in 1852 London.  When Clara dies and comes back as a vampire, she gets caught up in a conflict between two factions of vampires fighting for control of the city.  

The comic originally ran from January 2015 to September 2017.  The archive is fairly short, because it only updated once a week.  More than two years after it ended, I decided to reread the whole thing.  I think it still holds up well.

Aside from the queer themes, the main thing that distinguishes Heartless from other stories about vampires is that all important characters are vampires.  There are no humans who are somehow able to operate on the same level as vampires.  There is no Abraham Van Helsing.  There is no Buffy Summers.  Clara is a human in the beginning, but once she becomes a vampire, the next most important human character isn’t even named.  

When Heartless ended, the author stated her intention to release a sequel eventually.  She also said that there would be a Kickstarter to compile the current online pages into a book.  So far, neither of those things have happened.

Note to iOS/Android users: The comic has its own domain: heartless-comic.com.  However, it uses Tumblr as a backend.  Hence, when you go to that website, you might be asked if you want to open it in the Tumblr app (or be redirected there automatically).  The Heartless archives do not work correctly on the app.  You can still read the comic, but you have to do it on the website, and ignore any attempts by Tumblr to send you into the app.  You can also set your browser to tell websites it is a desktop browser (”request desktop site”).  That way you will be shown the “desktop” site for Heartless (which runs fine on a smartphone), and won’t get pesky pop-ups telling you to use the app.

[heartless-webcomic]

Chapter 5, Page 20

In which our heroine says a final goodbye.

This is the last page of Chapter 5! Chapter 6 begins next week with the title, as always :)

[heartless-webcomic]

Chapter 4, Page 21

In which the exposition continues.

Script:

Elizabeth: Vampires without lusts of their own are immensely rare. Their mere existence calls to question the story that our nobility tells, that the purity of their affections grants them the right to rule. At best, others of our kind will see you as an anomaly. At worst, and much more likely, they will see you as a threat. Clara: I... I'm sorry. Elizabeth: Don't be. Traditions are meant to be questioned, and those that no longer serve a purpose are meant to be destroyed. You are going to be a very important weapon in that battle, Clara.