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.
