Review: your heart is a muscle the size of your fist (2023)
30(ish) Comics in 30 Days - I’m reviewing a comic (almost) every day in November. I missed several days but there are no rules here, I can do what I want.
Day 20 - your heart is a muscle the size of your fist by Asia Miller (follow and support their work @punkratkid)
Oh the terror of intimacy!!!
This comic makes me want to hold my friends close but also hurl them far away from me so that I can never be hurt or maybe so that I can never hurt them.
Here's a plot summary for the sickos who like that sort of thing: Nail, a character described as “a little bit of a mess,” goes missing after a house party, worrying some of his friends and angering others.
We remain in suspense about Nail’s whereabouts but only for about half the comic. (Minor spoiler: He hooked up with a guy with “warm eyes.”) The story is really more about exploring the origin of Nail’s messiness and the way it affects his relationship with Beck, a close friend, and how the emotions of this difficult friendship in turn affect Beck’s own burgeoning romance from a rich girl from DC. (It’s a little messy.)
If this comic is about anything, it’s about exploring how far you should go for friends who sometimes drive you crazy and how messy people act out as a way of dealing with difficult feelings.
I can’t say enough about how good Asia Miller’s cartooning is. If anthropomorphic animal comics have no fans, then I am dead, and Asia makes amazing use of the form. My favorite example: Nail is a snake and his near-constant anxiety manifests in the wild gyrations of his snakey body. The panel-to-panel timing is also exquisite; this is a comic that knows how to use silent panels for both comedic and emotional impact.
This was a purchase at ShortBox Comics Fair so as far as I know it is not currently available for sale. But I really hope it will be in the future because it's absolutely worth your time!
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