Heart of the City by Steenz for April 27, 2020

Well, that was drastic.

This is going to take some getting used to. Question is, is it possible?

Ok this caught me way off guard

And so it begins.

That’s some serious Zip-a-tone action going on there.

What in blazes? This looks terrible!

This is gonna take some major getting used to

I’m going to miss the old art style

We have to start a new journey somewhere indeed, and this seems as fine a place as any. Welcome, Steenz! I hope this is a long and enjoyable journey indeed.

Is the artist Mark Tatulli or Andrews Michael?

Your guess is good as mine!

Alternate dimension edition today?

I hope this isn’t permeant, cause Mark is still doing Lio, he should still be able to do Heart of the City. Maybe this is a dream arc.

Did I land at the wrong panel? I don’t like it, it’s waaay too polished!

I really don’t like the new look. Not true to the characters. We went from 11 year olds to 18/21 year olds over night.

I also noticed, why are they back in school? They should be at home cause of the virus. This has to be a dream.

Is Mark on vacation?

It was difficult enough to get used to Heart’s new hair style. I really hope this is temporary.

Welcome, Steenz!

If you’d like to know more about the new artist/cartoonist Steenz:

http://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2020/04/26/previewing-the-all-new-heart-of-the-city/

https://twitter.com/oheysteenz/status/1252668733404917765

and

https://www.newsarama.com/49268-the-secret-origin-of-christina-steenz-stewart.html

For Pete’s sake keep her away from Lio

It’s going to take some getting used to but I for one like Steenz’s take here. There were too many times when I couldn’t tell the difference between the two when Tatulli drew them.

Nope.

Don’t like it.

That is not Heart and Dean.

Nope nope nope.

If they didn’t state their names I wouldn’t even realize I was reading Heart of the City.

If this is permanent I’m out of here. And not happy about it.

This is too much of a shock to the system. It is even way more of a departure from Tatulli than when Gilchrist stopped doing Nancy. At least in that case, the new cartoonist reverted more to the original Bushmiller style of humour, but I still left, as Gilchrist was something really special.

As for this? I don’t know what this is, but it isn’t Heart. I’m gone.

I kind of like the new style, buuut… the only reason I read this comic was for the original art style. Does anyone know if this is a permanent change?

GoComics still needs to fix the title panel. It may be unfair to Steenz to start her out with an established strip (established fan expectations). Still, I’m looking forward to her humor and story telling.

I’ve noticed that people don’t distinguish between “bad art” and “not the right art for this strip.” I think the art is good. It’s a drastic change, though, and may or may not work with the strip. But Mark chose Steenz with the full awareness that she would make the strip her own, so I’m certainly going to give it a chance.

Goodbye!

Don’t care for the style. Bye bye Heart…it was nice knowing ya……

If they hadn’t mentions their names I wouldn’t have guessed this was Heart of the City and the website just goofed up. The new artist could have at least tried to emulate the old style.

To all of the “I’m out of here” commenters, I have just one word: WTF?

The art looks a little too “Archie” for me, but I’m certainly going to give the new artist/writer a chance, and I don’t understand the people who won’t. If my favourite restaurant had an “Under New Management” sign, I’d still go in and try it ~ at least a few times.

Best of luck, hon!

Dean looks like a girl.

1. The artwork is crude2. Dean looks like a girl3. It’s not even funny4. It’s a disaster

Mark announced a week or so ago he was quitting Heart, which broke my heart.

We all have times where things change. Considering what is happening in the world, give it a chance. The art work is very good, just different.

https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2020/04/20/tatulli-passes-heart-of-the-city-to-steenz/

Just as bad as the way Nancy was changed. Likely I’ll be out in a day or so.

Signing off on this one… bleah! Good luck to the new artist, but this is not for me any longer… :-(

this is fun. wherever you take it, mark, the goodness endures.

Isn’t it “comics week” where other artists draw each other’s strips?

Let’s give it a chance. Nancy turned out great.

According to Mark’s Twitter, he’s done with Heart. https://twitter.com/mtatulli/status/1252258398705528832

It would’ve been better for the strip to just end and have this just be a new comic series, because there’s no resemblance to the characters that they’re suppose to be at all. The art-style reminds me of the Disney’s “The Replacements” cartoon.

I think Dean looks a little too much like Steven from Steven Universe, but I’ll give this a chance…

This looks too ARCHIE! I want the old Heart Lamarr!

It was very cool to read about you, Ms. Stewart. I’m so excited to see what develops!

When did Mark leave? Why did he leave not too sure about this

All right, everyone, let’s give it a chance.

I mean, I did abandon “Nancy” after that big change—but the new artwork, as well as the humor, was so spare and dry….I couldn’t adjust.

Anyway, let’s give the new “Heart” a chance.

I’m willing to try it out for a while.I do wish “old Dean” had gotten a better finale.

I hope we get a “Classic Heart” strip so we can get dailies of the old strips like with “Garfield Classics”.

One of my favorite things about the old Heart of the City (sounds weird to say that) was Marks’ lose and fluid drawing style. But I’ll give it a try.

So, this is permanent. From Mark Tatulli himself: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_P8FIRhM99/

Here it is folks, get used to it https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2020/04/20/tatulli-passes-heart-of-the-city-to-steenz/

This “style” reminds me of Archie.

I will give it one week. If I don’t like it, I will drop it from my daily comics feed and replace it with something else. The artwork is only part of it. I dread seeing what she did to Mrs. Angelini! I like Dean and Heart because they were sweet kids who made me smile with the things they did. I loved Mrs. Angelini. She reminded me of all the little old Italian women around me when I grew up. Things change, but I don’t have to follow a comic if I don’t like thechanges. I wish Ms. Sheena well.

I’ll have to get used to this character design. These two seem to lack the slightly world-weary look I associate with Philly kids; they seem more like Lower Merion kids to me.

I vote with CalvinD1102! This just isn’t real ! Bring the old Heart back. Don’t make me unfriend her!

Could be worse. Seen Mark Trail lately?

Good first day, Steenz! Wishing you a long & happy run on the strip.

To Mark: Thank you for the years of fun and adventure you brought us through Heart.

To Steenz: Hello and welcome! I look forward to seeing where you take us.

I always thought Heart’s Mom was a babe. Hope she still is.

Seems like a good time to re-evaluate which comics I follow. This one’s an easy drop.

I’m surprised, but I’ll give it a good shot. Honestly, the strip has bored me for the last year. I wasn’t quite sure how the same guy could do the endlessly brilliant Lio and then get lost in endless mushy dream sequence stuff here. Onward… With an Archie vibe.

Ok — first take: I hate it. Flat, boring characters, completely lacking style. And Dean looks like a girl. I’ll give it the week, see if it improves/grows on me. But I’m not optimistic.

I admit I was a bit shocked at the change, wondering if it was permanent or not, but, having read the comments, I understand. I loved Mark’s style, but knowing he chose who he wanted to carry on with the strip makes me want to keep reading – at least for a while. I hope Ms. Steenz keeps with Dean’s geekiness and Heart’s love of theater – those things that make them unique. We shall see. (I am an Archie’s fan as well so am not displeased with the art style)

I don’t much care for the art style. Putting aside the fact that it’s completely different from the previous strip in style, it just does not appeal to me. If this had been a brand new strip not called Heart of the City, I wouldn’t even give it a second glance. I’ll give it a chance and see, but it’s gonna be on a very short leash.

Odd how the change makes this comic seem trite and childish.

Eh, it was a surprise because I hadn’t heard he was turning it over to someone else, but I’ll give it a shot. New artists are always worth consideration, and who knows, this one might be golden.

I have lost an old friend. (╯︵╰)

Is this an age progression? I could have sworn they were in 5th grade last week?

Hmm. It’d look better if she didn’t use the Zip-A-Tone, it clutters the artwork and makes the lines harder to discern. We’ll see where it goes.

Wasn’t ready for the change, but good luck to Mark as he wants to concentrate on his other projects and it’s nice to see someone get a chance to gain a following, I’ll stick around.

I too am not pleased with the new look. It reminds me of the change of style in the new Nancy, which I didn’t like, either. I will give it a few days. We’ll see. But I kind of think the strip should have just been discontinued rather than given such a drastic makeover.

Sundays comic makes a lot more sense now!

Umm, no. Pass.

Welcome Steenz!

“Cool, I guess. But why do it?”

Well, “Dean” – we’ll just have to see, won’t we? I definitely understand Mark being burnt out and wanting to walk away from this strip, but I’m not sure I’m in favor of it continuing on in this manner. I’ll give it a chance, though. Rooting for Steenz but I’ll miss the old Heart!

I will be very disappointed it this is permanent. I’ve been a loyal fan, but I have also dropped a toon if I find it no longer appealing.

Very different, but promising. Let’s give Steenz a chance.

The humour and poignancy of this strip was often rooted in our understanding of the characters’ personalities. I feel this is now gone … shockingly in an instant this morning. I will give it a try, but I only find a dozen comic strips interesting and am not hopeful this will be one of them.

This looks new.

Look, this transition is far too jarring. This is a completely different art style. Heart doesn’t look like Heart, and Dean doesn’t look like Dean (does Garfield work if he suddenly looks like Felix?). The writing in this one is OK, but…the last daily strip is Heart being depressed in her bed because the coronavirus lockdown makes each day the same, and then we go to Heart and Dean starting the next semester of school as if nothing happened? I think the fans deserve better treatment, honestly.

A “new” toon. I’m game. A little warning in the toon itself might have been nice, but hey, I’ll take it.

the depiction of the characters is what made the comic; they fit their personality; these do not, disappointed and hopefully not a permanent change.

I like this new transition’s style. My grandchildren are in this age range, and I’m looking forward to the secrets of this age group, both girls and boys… The journal’s admonition is so true, because my own granddaughter showed me the first page of hers. She brought it with her when they were here for a visit. Later on she wrote in it too… I saw her draw pictures as well…

As a (former) Philly Boy, I’m concerned by (among a million other things) whether a St. Louis-based (according to the ABOUT tab) artist will maintain a credible Philly connection in the strip.

This looks like “Archie.”

Working Daze has had several different artists and writers over the years. It’s still good!

I’ll add to the general cacophony: Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Say it ain’t so!! Okay, carry on. I’ll keep reading for a good year to see how the transition goes.

I would have preferred a Heart that at least felt like the original Heart. Here she and Dean look like twins. The doughy look, I fear, doesn’t reflect the original edginess and nonconformity of our main two characters. I’ll keep watching, seeing how the story goes, but if you can’t keep even the feel of the original style, why bother keeping it going at all?

Noticed the change in our city newspaper.Really weird.

Mark, has left HEART to do Graphic Novels and Lio. Supposedly he has approved this new approach. It’s not to my taste and hopefully the artist will define the character better as she finds he way.

Um, hmmm. I have read that this artist has bona fides, but I have to say this looks like a tweenager’s attempt to draw pokemon.

Not a fan of the style if this is permanent.

Sorry, but this is coming off my list. Not even gonna give it a try. A replacement artist should use the same style as the original; that’s just how it’s done. This isn’t the Heart of the City we’ve enjoyed for years and I don’t care to swallow a totally new dish. When I order a hamburger I don’t want soup. Seems Tatulli has been making questionable decisions lately (numerous readers have strongly complained about some poor-taste comics on Lio). If I want a new comic to read, I’ll read a new comic. This art style and total change in characters crosses the threshold of believable for me. All respect to the new artist, but nope nope nope. This is Tatulli’s decision… and mine. ; )

No! Just no! I mean…was it really so hard for the new artist/writer to just do her own strip with her OWN character names?! I’d be more inclined to read this strip if that were the case. This is NOT Heart & Dean! Doesn’t matter that it’s officially sanctioned by original artist. Just lost this reader! Sorry, not sorry!

Terrible…

One of the reasons to turn this strip over to a new young artist is to start aiming the comics to young people rather than us old folks who still have most of the newspaper comic page to read. HEART IN THE CITY is an established strip and gives her a head start in papers that carry her than if she started with zero papers. While some here will leave because of their own opinion and tastes, NANCY has proven there is a large number of readers seeking change, people who don’t share your opinion, people who may out-number the old readers.

I guess I missed the warning that this was coming. I’m not one to dismiss without a trial, but to me it wasn’t just the drawing but the character development as well, so it’s a wait & see for me

But… when was the last time Heart got over 60 likes and over 200 comments? :)

I’ll give it a shot.

It’s not like Mr. T. is gone.

We still have Lio.

What the heck is going on?!

Everything changes. I’ll try it for a couple of weeks.

Well Day 1 of the new artist. Very different, but as long as the whit and humor stay consistent as Mark’s then we will get used to her style. Welcome Steenz!

Okay, I assume somewhere in this stack there’s an explanation for this.

if its not broken don’t fix it. pity they tried to fix it now its broken

Mark should have just ended the strip, instead of giving it to someone else. I remember a strip of Lio where Lio was paying tribute to all the good strips that ended instead of just keep going or handing it over to someone else. And they were all awesome strips: Calvin & Hobbes, The Far Side, Bloom County and Foxtrot Daily. At least those guys just ended their steps instead of letting them drag out or ruining them. To me Heart of the City ended yesterday, THIS strip is a parallel universe like bizarro world! I will NEVER read this strip again expect for the old stuff. So as of now I am not following it any more and I will only read the classic years, I just hope the can add the strips before July 1999. This version will turn out bad like every cartoon reboot in cartoon history or all woman version of GhostBusters. Thank you Mark’s version of Heart Of The City, you are the ONLY version for me.

Just call me heartsick.

Hrm. This is… different. The art looks fine, but I can’t see these as being the same characters; they just look way too different. I’ll give it some time to see if it grows on me, though, and to see how the writing compares. (But very jarring when you don’t know it’s coming, that’s for sure.)

this had always been one of my favorite strips….until now. I’m finished with it and its ridiculous (by comparison) artwork!

This is a surprise to me, but I can see where they’re going with it. Here’s an article I found in my research. https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2020/04/26/previewing-the-all-new-heart-of-the-city/

I prepared. I said my goodbyes. I did everything I was supposed to do. And still, this caught me off guard, and it IS going to take me “a while” to get used to it. However, I want to see where this is going and will say this “Welcome, Steenz!” Hopefully, we’ll enjoy your version at least as much as Mark’s.

Story line is acceptable, but the art looks straight out of Archie Comics…

This looks like a cross between anime and some very basic computer graphics.

Well, I’ll be back tomorrow. This has promise.

It doesn’t even look like them. It isn’t Heartn in the City of Philadelphia. I hope this artist at least is from Philly.

I’ll give it a week but I don’t like the look.

I hate it. I’m done. Goodbye.

It’s been done, Heart.

Well, this will be interesting.

This will take some getting used to. Hopefully better than the new Nancy artist. One thing that always bugged me about this comic is how could an adult male write from the prospective of a preteen and now teenage girl? Always seemed strange to me.

Good luck to the new artist, I’ll still read this even as I still read the new Nancy.

If this is what it’s going to look like, I’m done.

I’ll give it a few days, but it sure isn’t about 2 cute little kids anymore.

Can’t wait to see mom. And Spock.

Good luck new kid!

I gotta say, I always enjoyed and respected the two different, yet similar styles of Heart and Lio. It takes talent to write in different voices and Mark always did a great job.

Hate, hate, hate it insantly

Wow, I’m still going to give it a chance, but whatever that dot shadowing is, it does not work for me. Being stylized just to be “different and what I think is artistic” has that “I’m just out of college trying to make an impression” versus a real style choice.

Yikes, they look literally unrecognizable…

Agreed. I don’t like it.

So… this change is permanent?!? Good-bye.

I do NOT like the new style.

Mark should have dropped Lio and kept Heart. This is awful and I won’t be following it any longer.

Gratz Steenz and Mark! I’m excited to see what the future holds for both of you!

I don’t like the new look at all. Buh-bye.

Great punchline. As to the art, well it looks like a snowman in a blizzard. Can’t really tell.

Is it just me, or is the strip gone? All I see now is three empty panel, the last one holding the caption “Coming soon.” Yesterday, there was an actual strip here.

Looks like Steenz already decided to hand over the job to Malevich…

I guess more than anything, maybe a goodbye strip and a hello strip to mark the transition might have helped. At least the New Nancy and New Alley Oop had SOME resemblance to the older strip looks, but this change is complete and utterly different. Even a guest strip sometime in the last month might have helped. Event the story just picks up in the middle of the new arc, no “new” beginning or anything. Might have just as well hit the random button. I kept with Alley, dropped Nancy, will see about this one.

A couple more days andI’m gone if it does notimprove

A little late I guess, but I like the new look. I quit the old one a few years back because it was B&W and messy. Looking forward to teen age Heart!

RIP Heart of the City I will really mis our daily visits

This new style is horrible.

If nobody knows this is a rip-off from Ned’s declassified school survival guide. It’s was a Nickelodeon show in 2004.

Yeah.. And unfollow… New artwork doesn’t fit.. oh well. .another good comic strip dead. So much for revisiting. Should have stayed away.

Why’d they change from Mark Tataulli to Steenze?

R.I.P. to the Heart we all knew.

Ha, funny!

Alright, starting from the reboot origin point. Going by some of the comments, maybe there should be a New Cartoonist Survival Guide.

Stopped reading it after this change.

I’m done with the new one. Another dead comic.