'The Heart of Shadows' by Marco Cosimo D'Amico and Laura Iorio with illustrations by Roberto Ricci is a graphic novel about a kid with lots of fear who meets the boogie man (actually, lots of them).

Luc is a boy full of fear. A lot of it is imposed by his mother and grandmother. It doesn't help that his older sister disappeared years ago either. So, when Uomo Nero, the Italian boogie man, shows up, he takes Luc to the land of Shadows because his fear can be useful to the dark creatures that live there.

It's a weird story, and if it's for kids, it's either probably too scary or too boring for them. I liked its dark nature, and the unusually nice illustrations.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Tim Burton-esque art and appearances by all kinds of fun monsters from a variety of world mythologies are the plus sides. A thinkly veiled rail against helicopter parenting and "the media" are the negatives. It could have been a very interesting story, but as tends to happen a lot in kids graphic novels, the lead up to the conclusion was fine while the actual conclusion felt super rushed and out of left field. Also, the mystery and big reveal at the end can be spotted from miles away, so the story ends up being mediocre at best.

I love the whimsical art and the Tim Burton-esque landscapes. You can tell right away from the cover that it’s going to be full of mythical creatures and fantastical adventures. At the beginning, we meet Uomo Nero, a creature of the night, an entity so fearsome and made of the evil our mothers always warn us about when we were kids. The main character is a frail and easily scared kid. He is someone you’d want to protect like a little brother.

We are transported to the Kingdom of Shadows where darkness reign. The artist used marvelous technique with the color scheme and paneling to differentiate space and time. The creature design is simply stunning! A curious style is also used on fonts to indicate sound effects.

This started really good and I was so engaged, however things got somewhat confusing for me at the middle. I am unsure if it’s just lost in translation but some of the lines seemed stilted. The purpose of the journey is lost to me, and there are too many characters and dialogues that I had difficulty following. I adored the artwork but I really don’t know what’s happening anymore. I am failing to understand what the conflict is, and this stops me from investing emotionally to any of the characters.

At the end, what I could understand is that the story is a bit reminiscent of the animated film Monsters, Inc. but with a lot of influence from various folklore. It’s an essay on how humans are haunted by their own creation. It would have been a better experience if the writing also spoke to me. I do love its message that we must always learn how to face our fears, and that we all have our own light within us to fight the darkness—we just need to trust ourselves to find it.

*I have received this book from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review*
I'm giving this book 1,5 star. The story itself it's bit odd, slightly magical, spiritual, but it lacks something I can't exactly put my finger on. Drawings are sometimes all right and sometimes they are too chaotic. Text "clouds" are often hard to read, too. I was tempted by the cute cover, but reading the novel was a chore. Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't say I liked this story.

Somewhat appropriately Marco Cosimo d'Amico and Laura Iorio's Heart of Shadows occupies a shadowy region of comic art that isn't quite so easily defined or categorised. It is a kind of children's bogeyman tale with a rather storybook feel to the artwork, but it also has a Neil Gaiman-iike sensibility for viewing old myths and tales with a rather more modern and enlightened perspective that manages to explore them for darker undercurrents.

In Italy L'Uomo Nero (The Man in Black) is the equivalent of the bogeyman in the UK and the USA, the figure of a rather sinister and disturbing nursery rhyme. Unfortunately for Luc, a young French lad, it's a favourite bedtime rhyme of his Italian grandmother. Nana has already been told off by Luc's mother, who is particularly sensitive about the issue owing to the disappearance of her daughter Claire 10 years ago. For Luc, it means that he is tormented by visions of Uomo Nero leaping out of his closet every night. Actually, pretty much everything frightens Luc. He's a nervous child, not good around people, friends or teachers, jumpy and afraid of the dark.

One night however something exceptional happens that points to Luc being an exceptional child. Instead of vanishing into the air after leaping out of the wardrobe, the Uomo Nero clashes with Luc and leaves a bump on his head. That shouldn't happen, so Uomo Nero drags Luc over into the Kingdom of Shadows where creatures even more terrifying than Uomo Nero exist, all of them however equally terrified of a human child as much as Luc is terrified of them. Well, almost all of them...

There are some familiar ideas in here that make Heart of Shadows feel like a cross between Neil Gaiman's Sandman and Monsters Inc., but there are other ideas developed here in the notion of a scary creature that is common to many countries in the world, as well as some exploration of the relationship those other places have with ideas of fear and death. With L'Uomo Nero, Luc visits other places with a more traditional closeness with spirituality, with the relationship between the living and the dead, consulting Tibetan monks, shamans celebrating the Day of the Dead in Mexico, and delving into the dreamworld of Australian Aborigines and their music.

It inevitably gets a little bit hallucinatory in places, and the artwork - storyboarded by Roberto Ricci, drawn by Laura Iorio and coloured by Ricci and Iorio - is fabulous for capturing a unique blend of a nightmarish, hallucinatory children's storybook. The figures are beautifully rendered, capturing worlds of light and shadow, colour and darkness, looking in places like Dave McKean with the more European feel of Lorenzo Mattotti. Visually it's very striking, visiting not only many exotic locations but also the darker recesses of the mind, exploring the nature of fear, where there are some more ancient horrors even greater than the bogeyman.

Luc is a frail child who’s afraid of anything and everything, no thanks to his Italian grandmother and her dark bedtime stories. So when he disappears from his bedroom one night, everyone fears the worst. Has he been kidnapped? Did he run away like his sister once did? Little do they know, Lue has travelled to a mysterious land filled with monsters and strange creatures named shadows and is about to embark on a terrifying journey around the world where he must learn to conquer his fears if he ever hopes to return home. Accompanying him on his journey is the mysterious Uomo Nero, the bogeyman from the nursery rhymes his nana used to sing to him.

Now this is a graphic novel I can get on board with!

Verging on the edge of horror, The Heart of Shadows really puts itself in its own genre. We're following a young boy as he experiences his childhood fears. In keeping with the dark, morbid tones of the art which is so freaking stunning by the way! It is honestly kinda frightening, in a way that gets under your skin. A way that whispers in your ear that you won't sleep well tonight. The story takes things you were afraid of when you were a kid, and reminds you you're still afraid now.

It is a coming of age kind of story and you'll be rooting for the main character. I definitly was.

Luc is afraid of everything and everyone especially monsters hiding in the bedroom. One night one of those monsters takes him to land of shadows, where he has to go on the journey to overcome his fears if he ever wants to go back home again.

The story has good potential but was at times to fragmented and made it hard to follow along. I still enjoyed reading it. The style of artwork wasn't my favorite.

Illustrations were amazing. I really liked the atmosphere and color scheme. But story was okay for me. It was an interesting world and as a child's graphic novel it was good. But i wanted to learn more of the shadow world and grandmother's story too.

On the strength of the artwork alone, I would give this a solid 5. I love scary+ugly+kawaii character designs and this has many in abundance. The dark tones perfectly matched the mood of the story and the brighter, colorful sections felt joyful and full of life

The plot, which is all about FEAR, imaginary or otherwise, is not exactly new but the authors were still able to put enough twists and tweaks to make it feel somewhat different from other stories offering similar fare. But even with that bit of difference, overall, I felt the delivery lacked oomphed and while I liked the Uomo Nero, El Cucuy and the other Shadows, it was hard to feel sympathetic towards the humans because they were not that likable.

I think the weakest part might be middle part where they went on a journey all over the world visiting shamans and seers which didn't seem to have much effect on Luc since he remained a scaredy cat throughout almost the entire comic. I felt his enlightenment couldn't come soon enough and when it did happened, it suddenly ended. The authors left the conclusion open.

Anyway, I wasn't really into the Chosen One part of the story, I was more interested in the Shadows, their land, their society and why they have to nullify themselves. It would have been nice if Luc spent more time in the land of the Shadows or maybe scratch Luc and just have the Uomo Nero and the other creatures going about their business. This is me hoping for another comic about the Shadows.

The Heart of Shadows is suitable for all ages. It is an enjoyable enough story with lovely illustrations. I think some readers would enjoy it even more for its themes. For me, it didn't really blow me away but I liked it.

P.S

I received a copy of The Heart of Shadows from Europe Comics via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

SOUNDTRACK
Boogeyman
Motorhead
Rock n' Roll

The Heart of Shadows is a graphic novel brought to life by Marco Cosimo d’AMico (Red Harlequin Series, Moksha), Laura Iorio (new artist), and Robert Ricci (Red Harlequin Series). It’s one part horror and one a coming of age story, though in its own way.
The series addresses childhood fears, from the most basic and primal ones to the ones taught to us by our elders. It never actually says that fear is harmful, but it does address the concerns of an excessive amount of fear, and how that easily a person can be trained to resort to fear before any other emotion.
The journey that the Heart of Shadows makes is a beautiful, if slightly twisted one. I love the message that it was trying to convey, and how well supported it was by the artwork. Using all sorts of fears personified was an interesting choice. Yes, that concept has been done before, but the way this was handled didn’t read like any of the others I’ve seen.
I think it’s safe to say that Luc would have been a fearful child regardless of how he was raised. The real question is would he have exceeded the normal levels of fear, had that behavior not been encouraged by his parents? It’s hard not to look at how the mother worried at Luc and feel a connection – no parent wants to see their child harmed, but sometimes pointing out each and every potential danger for even the slightest thing…it can cause more harm than good.
In a way I would have liked to see the story continue. I think it left off at the right point…I’m just very curious to see how Luc and the rest of his family do from here on out. But in the end I’m glad they made the choice they did, in leaving things a bit more open ended. For me that was just further proof of some of the metaphors I believe they were using.

Without going on to name each individual, those responsible for the creation of this exciting graphic novel rests with: the writers, storyboard creator, artist and colorists. The prose was brought to life with masterful illustrations. The storyline followed an absorbing tale built along the fear that's housed in many a child's mind - some adults as well.

Another version of the bogeyman, the Uomo Nero is a mythical creature concocted by parents to frighten their children into remaining in bed during the night - shame on them. Wherever parents and children may be found, so lurks this nocturnal creature.

The main protagonist of this horrifying tale, Luc, had being overly protected by his parents, especially, his mother. Previously, his sister had gone missing. She had been thought to be a runaway. His mother thought that one child gone missing was more than enough.

On one fateful night, Luc found himself held captive in the clutches of the Kingdom of Shadows. Escape was not possible. It was there his perilous journey began that took him around the world.

The imagined creatures of the shadows preyed on children's worst of fears. Once these fears had become acquired, it's proven difficult to cast them asunder, even into adulthood.

I extend my gratitude to NetGalley and Europe Comics for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Heart of Shadows is a horror graphic novel that touches on beliefs of monsters, the dead, and other philosophies.. Our main character, afraid of most everything, comes into physical contact with what is the fear-filled remains of someone who died. The boy is brought to a sort of underworld, and we learn that he is an important key for monsters' nefarious plans.
The artwork was good, the plot well laid out, but the font used was substandard. I understand trying to give the letters the horror feel, but they should never be used in a graphic novel, in my opinion. It slows everything down, making for a more frustrating read. Any graphic comic writer should check their works against the major commercial industries, such as Marvel and compare. I am not picking on this book in particular because a number of European comic books come with the same problem. But perhaps someone, someday will take notice and change it. I did like how the speaking balloons were either white or black, helping me to determine who is speaking. Overall a recommended read for those who enjoy horror comics.

Firstly thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of The Heart of Shadows in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't really know what this comic was about, I simply saw the title page, really liked the art style, and made the request. I must say that I didn't really enjoy this graphic novel. Firstly, I had no idea what was going on for the majority of the story, and I found the shadows and shadow world a bit confusing.

What I did really like was the art style, especially on the pages where they are in the 'real' world and not the shadow world. I also really liked the message about how the world's media is spreading fear around, and how some of us are letting these bad stories and negative news pieces grow our fear, turning us into hermits and stopping us from living our lives the way we would otherwise.

Overall, quite a strange graphic novel, and one that takes a long time to 'get into', but with a strong and relevant message.

#theheartofshadows
This is a graphic novel I received from NetGalley. I thought it is a very Interesting book. It's very catchy for a comic book. Most graphic novels can get a bit annoying. But this book had the right kind of storyline. I enjoyed reading this book.

Luc, is a young boy who is afraid of nightmares. Finally is nightmares seem to have taken him to the Kingdom of Shadows. At the end of the journey he gets to learn that his terror is what the demons from the nightmare had been primarily feeding on.

Luc has been raised to be afraid of everything. But maybe some of the things he's scared of are actually real.

Like the bogeyman hiding in his closet.

When the frightening shadow gets out of the closet and accidentally touches him, Luc will be transported into a strange, dark land that is not at all what he had expected. Luc has a peculiar ability, and the land of shadows needs his help.

The Heart of Shadows is an intricately woven, Burtonesque story that fascinates the reader, transporting them to different places. Luc and the shadows will travel to many different places, meeting various interesting characters along the way, and creating amazing adventures.

The story is definitely dark at times, but in a melancholic and utterly attention-grasping way. Accompanied by exceptional illustrations, The Heart of Shadows is a beautiful adventure, strongly recommended for fans of graphic novels and dark fantasy.

A very strong premise for a very short graphic novel. At times it felt a little maudlin but it was ultimately satisfying.

One and a half stars.

Hmmm… There was a great book potentially on these pages, but despite valiant effort it isn't there now. It starts off with a boy in our world, full of fear of everything, partly because his grandmother has made him dead scared of boogeymen, and the stultifying life he lives since his sister disappeared means he gets no freedom. Lo and behold the boogeymen are real, and he goes to their realm. After this all-ages-friendly beginning we seem to get hints of an all-ages-friendly subversion of the expected story, with the boogeyman seemingly worrying about his ecology. Are we going to be caring for him? And while we do end up with an all-ages-friendly moral, which is fine (if expected), the middle is a whole and wholly disappointing mess. It's trippy, oddball, helter skelter and very much weirdness for weirdness's sake. The artwork is pretty decent throughout, but when you're forced to portray such an odd bodged effort it's a bit in vain. I wanted to love it, and some pages really did hold promise, but that mess was too great in the end. Shame.

Very strange book. This is only the second graphic novel i have read. The story was ok, kindle d's hard to follow. Just wasn't for me.

This is a beautiful graphic novel. The story is amazing too. I'll definitely recommend this one to friends and patrons.