If anyone follows our website or podcast close enough you know I have a strong love for The Recount by Jonathan Hedrick. This love continues with his latest release Caffeinated Hearts on Source Point Press.
The 24-page one-shot was written by the dynamic duo of Hedrick and artist Stefano Cardoselli with letters by Jerome Gagnon. The same artist/writer collaboration of The Space Cadet on Scout Comics’ imprint Scoot as well as Freakshow Knight.
Caffeinated Hearts is the perfect slice-of-life comic with an excellent way of telling multiple short stories with one main character intertwining with random strangers lives.
The main character Amarella, better know as Ellie, is a barista at a local coffee shop who has amazing customer service skills and seems to care a lot about her customers. She goes out of her way to connect with people and impact their day with the simple task of serving them coffee.
Caffeinated Hearts is broken up into four different stories with Ellie as the main reason for these stories to be told. The book starts with “Balance” where Ellie chats with a man down on his luck, next is “Forward” with the typical pay-it-forward style story, followed by “Relax” as we take part in Ellie’s lunch break. Lastly, the book finishes up with the properly name “Finish” which is a climatic end to the long day of working in customer service.
Hedrick’s ability to allow us to care about this characters while Cardoselli’s abstract watercolor style artwork allows you to get lost in the cyberpunk style coffee shop. The book hits a little harder as my life has been intertwined with the world of retail sales and customer service. It hits a bit harder having lived through some of these tales.
Ellie tells us fun and heartwarming stories all in a days work.
Make sure you tell your local comic book shop to order you a copy of Caffeinated Hearts from Source Point Press and read the pick-me-up story when the books releases on October 26, 2022.
Also, read The Recount.
