Hearts Like Fists Review: Natalie Zutter, Tor

(Photo: Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Doctor X. Post: August Schulenburg)

I got a lot out of Natalie Zutter’s thoughtful review of DEINDE on Tor, but wondered what she would make of Hearts Like Fists, a play of decidedly more comic intentions? Happily, she digs it, and brings some fascinating comic context to her review:

The mood is also reminiscent of Silver Age comics. Whereas many present-day comic book tales strive to incorporate social media and the internet, there is a refreshing lack of computers or other technology to ground this in a specific date. In look and speech, the Crimefighters bring to mind ‘50s bombshells; they communicate over wrist comlinks; and while a quick Google search would help them uncover Doctor X’s identity, instead they go undercover as nurses at the very hospital where he used to work.

She deftly captures here one of the exciting things we played with in design: a marriage of that Silver Age spirit layered over with a gritter urban spirit, like finding a classic comic outlined in graffiti and set to dubstep. How did you experience that mingling of styles?

Or perhaps you haven’t experienced it yet? In which case, make haste to the theatre.