Heart of the City

Heart and Dean, from the Mark Tatulli era

Heart and Dean, from the Steenz era

Heart of the City is a comic strip that has been running in newspapers since 1998. Created by Mark Tatulli, who also writes and draws the macabre Lio, it focuses on Heart Lamarr, a high energy junior-highschool girl wannabe-actress in Philadelphia; her proudly geeky best friend Dean, and her frequently overwhelmed single mother.

Christina ‘Steenz’ Stewart took over the strip in April 2020.

The comic, complete with archives since 1999, can be found at GoComics. (Beware of blocker-bypassing popups.)

Tropes used in Heart of the City include:

• Aborted Arc / Left Hanging: Several story arcs often end suddenly with no actual conclusion.
• All Just a Dream: Several arcs end this way.
• Bland-Name Product: Heart is often seen playing with Karlie and Ben dolls.
• The City: Center City Philadelphia, to be exact.
• Comic Book Time: The characters don't age, but the pop-culture references remain current.
• Dead TV Remote Gag: At least it landed on something she wanted to watch.
• Deadpan Snarker: Heart to Dean; Heart's mom to Heart.
• Disappeared Dad: Heart's father left right after she was born to pursue a career in acting.
• Epunymous Title: a girl named Heart who lives in The City.
• Flowers for Algernon Syndrome: One arc had Dean becoming a popular jerk; another had him becoming "mature." In both cases, he nearly lost Heart's friendship.
• Fur and Loathing: One of the comic's recurring themes.
  • Interestingly, Fur and Loathing pops up in Tatulli's other comic from time to time, albeit very differently.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: Dean's comment about the less-than-courageous gang he's formed.
• Give Geeks a Chance: Heart may complain about Dean's nerdy interests, but as the examples from Flowers for Algernon Syndrome above shows, she wouldn't want him any other way.
• Halfway Plot Switch: Subverted for the most part: While the longer arcs do tend to drift a little, they almost always come back around by the end.
• Little Miss Snarker: Heart.
• Mood Whiplash: The Kristallnacht arc.
• Not a Morning Person: Heart.
• Parental Abandonment: Heart's father is absent from her life, pursuing a career as an actor. This accounts for her showbiz fixation and provides some Tear Jerker moments.
• The Ghost: Dean's father is referred to several times, but is never seen.
• Shout-Out: To Salad Fingers, of all things.
• The Un-Smile: Heart's "innocent smile".