Bleeding Hearts #5 Review

 

Bleeding Hearts #5 Review

Writer: Deniz Camp

Artist: Stipan Morian

Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth

Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Editors: Chris Conroy & Mathew Levine

Cover Artist: Stipan Morian

Variant Cover Artist: Chloe Brailsford

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $3.99 US/Variant $4.99 US (cardstock)

Release Date: June 10, 2026

 

It can happen without warning. Often, we don't know why. Yet one day, we want something different from what we ever did before. Poke may have been an oddball. Still, he was a valued member of the zombie community and Mush's best friend. Then, without warning, explanation, or desire, Poke started behaving oddly. Or at least, more oddly than he had before.

 

So, Mush gives his friend space. He figures sooner or later, Poke will explain things, and life will revert to normal. Then, Mush discovers the worst thing imaginable. Poke has betrayed his community. What happens when Mush realizes that Poke has been feeding and protecting Live Ones? Can things ever be the same between Mush and his friend again? Let’s leap into Bleeding Hearts #5 and see!

 

Story

Poke, or Mouse-Pokes-Golf-Ball-Out-Of-Hole, tries to immerse himself in Out-Break. The event celebrates his community’s rich culture and commemorates its founder. Out-Break used to be Poke's favorite holiday. But now, something is missing, and he doesn't know what.

 

In Bleeding Hearts #5, Poke shambles through the motions. Yet his heart isn't into the celebration. Partly this is due to his heart, which has started beating in his dead chest. But Poke also misses the Live Ones he saved from the Horde. He knew it was a sin. Poke knew his community could ostracize him for his transgression. Yet when his heart starts beating, Poke changes. And he put the Live Ones above his hunger and the needs of the Horde.

 

As Deniz Camp’s story follows Poke’s struggle to fit in on the most important day on the zombie calendar, Rabbit also faces the consequences of her actions. Like Poke, she ignored the rules of her dwindling society. Instead, she defied Mama and urged her to accept "Flower Boy" into their little family. Now, her mother is dead. And Rabbit looks forward to dying in the ritual hunt so she can reunite with her dead parents in Bleeding Hearts #5.

 

Art

After a close-up of Rabbit in her floppy-eared hoodie, the camera pulls back to show the zombie horde gathered outside the barred shop in the mall. As the community celebrates its holiday, a double-page spread of the gathering evokes an arena. Poke regards an homage to his civilization’s founder with a bemused expression. And as people play music and games, Poke gazes down at Flip, the stuffed animal that Rabbit treasured.

 

As Stipan Morian portrays Poke as an outsider on Out-Break, Matt Hollingsworth adorns the statue of Patient Zero with the same blue-green as Poke’s pants. The zombie guarding the Live Ones wears a violet hat, linking him with the flower growing on Poke’s head. Yet the guard’s indigo jacket evokes Flip, or Flip Flop The Friendly Bunny, which Poke found and returned to Rabbit. Now imprisoned and awaiting death, the girl's orange hoodie links her with Poke's friend Mush and the apocalyptic air that evokes Mama's fears of Judgment Day.

 

Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou places Poke's thoughts in white boxes and uppercase black dialogue in white and beige balloons. The letters grow bold for intonation, and shift to lowercase for lowered voices. As raised voices swell letters and make balloons spiky, heightened spirits turn the words red. Yellow-green shapes bearing squiggles reinforce Mush's argument that he has more in common with the mushrooms nestling at his neck than he does with Live Ones. Yet amid the celebrations, raised voices, and sirens, Poke's beating heart speaks the loudest in Bleeding Hearts #5. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this story with us.

 

Final Thoughts

As the era of the Live Ones nears its end, the zombies rule the world. Due to his mysteriously beating heart, Poke has a foot in both worlds. For all the richness of his culture, he also senses it is stagnating. He would like to bridge the gap between the two cultures and reinvigorate both. Poke no longer knows what he believes. Still, he knows that he risks everything if he challenges his own kind to embrace new ideas in Bleeding Hearts #5.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

To look inside see my preview of Bleeding Hearts #5.

 

For what happened last time, see my preview of Bleeding Hearts #4.

For how this series began, see my preview of Bleeding Hearts #1.