DC Pride 2023 #1: Love’s Lightning Heart

Love’s Lightning Heart is a multiverse story about love that, in Grant Morrison fashion, might come off a bit heady. Despite the alternate worlds and jumps in time, the story’s core remains: The willingness of two people who love each other to take on all odds to reunite.

Centered around Hank Hallmark, aka Flashlight, readers witness as he journeys to find a radiation output in the hardest places to reach in space to honor Ray, aka Red Racer. It’s clear there is an emotional connection and the end of this story gives a nice payoff to Flashlight’s efforts. On this journey, he faces multiple worlds and begins to age at an alarming rate. This issue takes full advantage of the various worlds within the DC Omniverse, making for a twisty and colorful read.

A challenge for comic book readers can sometimes be an assumption made by creators that readers are aware of every character and Elseworlds. This story has an epic love-centric tale; however, it is designed in a way that might isolate new readers. This isn’t a bad thing. The DC Omniverse is so vast that utilizing a location other than Metropolis or Gotham is refreshing.

The message is beautiful, and the art done by Hayden Sherman and Marissa Louise is well done. The contrast of colors and shift to black and white makes for beautiful page designs, and the eccentric design of space creatures and space travel gives readers a sight to behold. The lettering by Aditya Bidikar is well done, and it’s always great when a writer’s story allows different types of letters to specify different voices.