From Image Comics, Blair Butler, Kevin Mellon and crank!

This is the last issue of Heart and by far the best.  After reading the first issue, this is no where near where I thought the story would end.  But it is where it had to end.  This four issue story of Oren had everything needed.  If Blair and company never go back to tell another chapter in Oren’s life I am satisfied with this ending.

It is one of the best coming of age tales in comic books.  Coming of age used to mean a younger time.  Childhood, high school, Catcher in the Rye, the Breakfast Club.  These comic of age tales don’t necessarily apply in 2012.  We come of age at later ages now.  Mid to late 20s, even early 30s.  Rooster has to reach that age we were all told is the age of adulthood before discovering that he’s not an adult.  This last issue shows that the discovery doesn’t have to take the rest of your life.  Some people find out who they are over a day, months, years, or never.  Oren discovered over the last four issues and he is damn sure what sort of man he is.

All of the care and attention that the entire team put into this series come to the forefront in this issue.  Oren wasn’t let loose in issue one just to see where the story goes.  This story was well planned and thoroughly thought out from page one.  A knee strike in this issue mirrors one from the first issue.  Rooster’s tattoo “broken” is framed just right in order to give it new meaning and significance.

There is so much movement in the panels.  The pacing, the design of them, it really is incredible to see how each creator layers something more to enrich the story.  Even the lettering, which gets often overlooked, is of equal importance.  Watch a fight, or a sport, or the news, without any graphics.  That is how important crank! is to this comic.

Sometimes final issues leave fans feeling empty.  Heart filled its namesake spot in my soul.