Heat Seeker: Exposed #1 Review

 

Writer: Charles Ardai

Penciller: Ace Continuado

Inker: Juan Castro

Colorist: Asifur Rahman

Letterer: David Leach

Cover Artist: Artgerm, Lucio Parillo, Bräo, Des Taylor, Photo, Yasmine, Ace Continuado, Tehani Farr & Sozomaika

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: June 4, 2025

 

When Dahlia Racers rescued Evie Parker and Rosaline Priess from Dr. Livonia Cutler, she got more than a CGC copy of The Incredible Hulk #1. The woman who designs acts for magicians and helps people disappear has become part of a family.

 

Their domestic situation isn't ideal. Evie can't feel anything without Dr Bessemer Preiss’ magic formula. Rosaline’s dad made her into a bomb. Dahlia dislikes discussing her past. Will Dahlia and Rosaline get along when Evie visits the man who experimented on her? Let’s slip on our disguises, leap into Heat Seeker: Exposed #1, and find out!

 

Story

Dahlia and her assistant Cesar were supposed to help Rosaline disappear. Evie and her fellow mercenaries were supposed to kidnap Rosaline from Dahlia’s clutches. But when the bullets fly, things get complicated fast. Now, Dahlia is navigating a conventional life. She waves goodbye to Rosaline and hopes her adoptive daughter has a good first day at her new school. Then Dahlia gets a call from Joanna Tan. The Gun Honey she helped disappear has a message for Dahlia. “You know how all the secrets stored in the Yamato vault got put online? Your name is in them.”

 

Some of the people Dahlia has helped disappear, like Joanna, are good people trying to escape the people who want to kill them. But internet reporter Jacqueline McGee doesn’t care. In Heat Seeker: Exposed #1, Jacqueline calls herself the Bitch with a Bone and gets her kicks by making headlines. Nothing gets her more excited than exposing other people’s secrets to her million followers. Dahlia may not turn into a monster like Bruce Banner in Charles Ardai’s story. But even if she did, Jacqueline wouldn’t worry about the Hulk hurting her or smashing up her apartment. All she would care about was getting great footage.

 

Dahlia enjoys helping people disappear. Her clients pay her handsomely. She gets to employ her phenomenal artistry. Then, she plants false evidence to convince their pursuers and the public that her clients died. Heat Seeker: Exposed #1 forces Dahlia to confront her past. Perhaps she helped some of her clients escape justice. Others feared for their lives. None of them want anyone unearthing their past lives. Dahlia was supposed to protect their secrets. Her clients won’t be happy Dahlia let them down.

 

Art

Dahlia hides her appearance beneath a mop of red hair. But when Jacqueline appears with a megaphone outside her apartment, the wig is the first to go. Ace Continuado and Juan Castro demonstrate that Dahlia’s makeover artistry is worthy of Sherlock Holmes or Slippery Jim diGriz. When Dahlia reaches the subway, a colored circle in her palm reminds her that the clock is ticking. As the city's computer did to Logan, Jacqueline's actions could consign Dahlia to Carousel.

 

Joanna Tan stands in a square of yellow light in an abandoned building. The graffiti-marked walls glow green and purple from the sparse light pouring through the glass skylights. Asifur Rahman lavishes a loaded palette on Dahlia's high-flying action and dramatic encounters in Heat Seeker: Exposed #1. Jacqueline's red skirt echoes Dahlia's wig. And when the purple-haired reporter meets with Dahlia later, her green shorts echo Dahlia's trademark jumpsuit.

 

David Leach fires black uppercase words into white dialogue balloons. Joanna Tan’s off-camera dialogue inhabits yellow boxes, while Dahlia’s thoughts dwell in their blue narrative cousins. Sound effects amplify buzzing phones and silenced handguns while a rain of bullets and exploding glass shake the action-packed panels. Thanks to Titan Comics and Hard Case Crime for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Dahlia's new family implodes as her partner abandons her and a ruthless reporter sets her clients against her. Pulse-pounding action leads to an explosive finish in Heat Seeker: Exposed #1.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To look inside see my preview of Heat Seeker: Exposed #1.