Verkild Hart – Comic Book Review
A man experiences an existential crisis and gives himself a month to see what life still has to offer…
The main character is someone who has everything that should make him ‘officially’ happy; a wife and kids, a challenging and interesting job, friends, a house with a garden, time to go on vacation, money to buy everything he needs. And yet, he’s not satisfied.
We follow him through everyday life while he ponders about death and the uselessness of it all. We see him at home doing chores, at work, while on vacation and at the gym. At the same time he’s narrating what he experiences and we literally get a glimpse inside his head.
The writer, Gilles Dal, tries to hold a mirror up to the reader and make him think about his own life. We recognize ourselves in the clichéd reasoning of the main character when he talks about his vacations or when he’s at work, how money isn’t everything but necessary and that he wants to read more. These moments alternate with scenes that show the reasoning inside the main character’s mind that often contradicts or questions what he does and says in real life.
Johan De Moor (La Vache, Gaspard de la Nuit) is in charge of the illustrations and his drawing style fits the theme perfectly. Thanks to the humor and De Moor’s style, the story never feels heavy and is relatively easy to digest.
I enjoyed reading the comic but felt that it was a bit limited, storywise, even though in a way, that was probably the intention. It does not pretend to hold the answers to any of life’s problems. It’s more of a collection of events of one person reminiscing about his life and realizing that nothing really matters.
Conclusion
If you want a typical action/adventure story then you might want to skip this one. However, if you like it a bit more original, both in drawing style and in story, Verkild Hart could be something for you. The recommended price of 19,95 is quite steep but in exchange you get a hardcover with lovely illustrations and a story that makes you think, but not too much.
Verkild Hart - Comic Book Review,
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