CAFFEINATED HEARTS (ONE-SHOT), from Source Point Press on October 26th, 2022, presents a pick-me-up in every sense of the phrase when a waitress in a futuristic coffee shop experiences hope, generosity, danger, and love.
The Details
- Written by: Jonathan Hedrick
- Art by: Stefano Cardoselli
- Colors by: Stefano Cardoselli
- Letters by: Stefano Cardoselli
- Cover art by: Stefano Cardoselli
- Cover price: $3.99
- Release date: October 26, 2022
Is It Good?
CAFFEINATED HEARTS (ONE-SHOT) will surprise you as it did us. Jonathan Hedrick’s charming tale about the day in the life of a waitress in a futuristic coffee shop has more heart and thoughts about the human experience than most novels can muster in a thousand pages. When art and story work together well, this comic is the result.
Hedrick’s script focuses on a series of scenes (some complete, some only form vignette) where Anarella, the coffee shop’s unflappably cheery waitress, serves a hot cup of coffee to a collection of eclectic customers, each with their own story. It’s not the details of each scene that matter but the raw, brewing emotion bubbling up from each customer’s circumstance. Emotion sells a story, and Hedrick gives you bucket loads.
Hedrick’s heartfelt script is enhanced and elevated by Cardoselli’s wistful art style. To be fair, Cardoselli’s suggestive line work and casually applied watercolors may not be for everyone, but it works like a charm in this issue.
What Cardoselli’s style lacks in richly detailed polish, it makes up for in interesting perspectives and faces that capture what the character is thinking. If an artist can nail facial expressions, the potential to get the story’s point across is practically done. Cardoselli nails the facial expressions in this issue.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
We begin with Amarella, a waitress in a levitating coffee shop sometime in the future. Elle, as she likes to be called, serves an array of different customers who’ve come to get coffee as life plays out in an infinite number of directions.
Elle helps a man who hit rock bottom when a ray of hope takes a seat, a line of drive-thru customers who mostly get the concept of “paying it forward,” and an unruly customer with an unruly order.
We conclude the issue with Karma ending the day on a high note.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.
Final Thoughts
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CAFFEINATED HEARTS (ONE-SHOT) is an achingly good shot of heart, drama, and whimsical charm spotlighting a day in the life of the galaxy’s most cheery waitress. The range of human experience and emotion is inspired, and Cardoselli’s stylized art elevates Hedrick’s script by leaps and bounds.
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