Heartbeat Written and Drawn by Maria Llovet
**NSFW**
What does it mean to be innocent, and when exactly do children lose that which makes them innocent? Heartbeat by Maria Llovet is a five-issue BOOM Studios comic book series that illustrates a dark, erotic tale of a girl who desires to escape from her broken life and falls in love with death.
The short series highlights mental health issues in teens and the choices they make when they are misguided and left to their own devices. Written from the perspective of Eva—a rejected and lonely high school girl—the first issue conveys the idea that sometimes, innocence is taken, like the life of an endangered elephant by selfish hunters. But what of the choices the innocent ones make which lead them down the path of chaos where their innocence is ripped away? Who is really to blame for their erroneous decisions? In the argument of nature versus nurture, Heartbeat depicts Eva as the victim of the hand she has been dealt and karma carries the hammer used to drive the nails into her eagerly awaited coffin.
Eva is alone, her mother works long hours to pay for her to go to a prestigious school, and she has no friends to speak of. Her school days are filled with verbal and physical abuse from her peers and she feels trapped in a hell she will never escape from. Her bruises bandaged; she enters the schoolyard as prey, aware that every face around her is a mask that conceals the true nature of the wearer. No one is who they seem, and she is at their mercy as a member of a lower rung in society. So, it is no surprise that she maintains her silence when she both witnesses and photographs Donatien drinking the blood of one of her tormentors. Equal levels of shock and curiosity plague her as she returns home and commits to what seems like a nightly ritual. Drawing red lines on her wrist and neck and daydreaming about death she lays in bed and wishes for release.
Donatien is not a vampire, but he is a murderer, and he has developed a taste for human blood. He is aware Eva saw him with the lifeless blood-soaked girl in his arms, but he does not pursue Eva when she runs. Ironically, Eva is not afraid of Donatien, but she is envious. After all, he gives into his desires and does not hold back out of fear or weakness. Eva begins to question reality but throws caution to the wind as she falls for Donatien; a macabre fallen angel that shares her desire to be free of human constraints. When Donatien returns Eva’s affections the erotic fantasy becomes real and Eva feels as if she belongs.
Their twisted love affair is resemblant of that of Harley Quinn and The Joker or the infamous Bonnie and Clyde. With each issue of Heartbeat, the story escalates, and the erotic esoteric images crafted by Llovet imitate the art often seen in a deck of tarot cards. Her cryptic story intertwined with intoxicating art leaves the reader questioning who really was to blame for the events that followed.
When a teen that fantasizes about suicide is granted death, but not her own, and enters a lustful relationship that encapsulates blood-drenched revenge, all bets are off. Not even her mother can save Eva from herself.
*If you or someone you know is considering suicide you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255
