Jan's Atomic Heart

Jan's Atomic Heart is something I stumbled on quite by accident in my local comic book shop, and I'm glad I did. This short work by Simon Roy recalls the best days of Heavy Metal magazine in the 70's and 80's, before it degenerated into sci-fi porn. Moreover, Roy's watercolor-based technique, somewhat reminiscent of the Italian creator Gipi, is dense, beautiful, and surprisingly effective even when printed in black-and-white (I'm guessing that the original pages were probably full-color). If the author's note at the end of Jan's Atomic Heart is to be believed, Simon Roy is only is his early twenties, which means we have a lot more to look forward to from this young artist. That's good news for sure. ( )