Writer: Charles Ardai
Penciller: Ace Continuado
Inker: Juan Castro
Colorist: Asifur Rahman
Letterer: David Leach
Cover Artist: Kendrick Lim, Megan Lara, Bräo, Ace Continuado, Cosplay
Publisher: Titan Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 8, 2025
Internet reporter Jacqueline McGee doesn't care how many lives she ruins. Then she gets a boon. While digging into the secrets from the Yamato Vault, Jacqueline learns about the clients Dahlia Racers helps disappear.
When Dahlia refuses to discuss her clients, Jacqueline shares Dahlia’s secrets with the world. The reporter blows up Dahlia’s apartment. Police die along with those Dahlia sought to protect. Then Dahlia dies while trying to evade the police. How will Evie Parker, Rosaline Preiss, and Cesar carry on without her? And who will Jacqueline go after next? Let’s slip on our disguises, leap into Heat Seeker: Exposed #3, and find out!
Story
Dahlia makes her living by faking deaths. But unless she can regenerate like Savage Dragon, Dahlia can't recover from falling onto a metal building support. As workers use a hydraulic crane to pull her body off the giant skewer, a paramedic tends to Evie Parker's gunshot wound. The paramedics take her to the hospital and store Dahlia's body in a morgue freezer. Rosaline Preiss cries. Cesar urges her not to, but the girl can't help watching Jacqueline’s final report on Dahlia.
In Heat Seeker: Exposed #3, Cesar cares for Rosaline in Evie’s absence. But Jacqueline doesn’t take time to rue her actions. Elated with her success, Jacqueline races off to find the people Dahlia sought to hide. Like US Marshal Samuel Gerard searching for Dr Richard Kimble, Jacqueline doesn't care about her next victim's guilt or innocence. Nor does she care how they may have served society in their new lives. All Jacqueline wants is to capture them, film them for her followers, and deliver the "justice" her fans demand after condemning them online.
Charles Ardai's story shows his heroes doing what they do best. It demonstrates how easy it is to be popular if you treat people rudely and vilify them. Amid the high-flying action and the twists and turns, Heat Seeker: Exposed #3 reminds us that we all have skeletons in our closets. In an age when society judges our worth by our social media profile, digital records make everyone fair game.
Art
Ace Continuado and Juan Castro open with Dahlia's body spitted on the central metal support rising from a circular platform. After a police officer grabs Jacqueline’s phone, two silhouettes watch it fall with Dahlia’s death on the screen. The paramedics load a body bag on a stretcher into the ambulance. Then, the artists cut to a doctor sewing up Evie’s shoulder. Jacqueline weaves through traffic as she races across a bridge on her motorcycle.
Asifur Rahman lavishes bright and appealing colors on Heat Seeker: Exposed #3. Amid his loaded palette, red hair links Dahlia with Jacqueline. While red seems associated with death, Dahlia's green jumpsuit becomes a symbol of life. Compared with their black body bag, the paramedics wear green stripes on their black jackets. The doctor attending Evie wears green scrubs, while the gray freezer units reside behind a green door. And later, a desperate woman races across a green sea toward a verdant tropical island.
David Leach fires black uppercase words into white dialogue balloons and boxes. Off-camera dialogue inhabits colored boxes, while Dahlia’s thoughts dwell in their blue narrative cousins. Sound effects enhance a dramatic rescue, wailing sirens, and automobile accidents. Thanks to Titan Comics and Hard Case Crime for providing a review copy.
Now, let's take a look inside:
Final Thoughts
Dahlia Racers spends her life burying secrets that could harm her clients. Jacqueline McGee devotes her life to unearthing secrets and exploding people's lives. Amid pulse-pounding action, stunning reveals, and generous fan service, Heat Seeker: Exposed #3 compares how our careers shape their characters, and how our perspective fuels us with hate or love.
Rating 9/10
For how this story started see my review of Heat Seeker: Exposed #1.
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