Callie and Mercer are reaching their figurative and almost literal end of their honeymoon stage. Moving to Manhattan and pulling jobs here and there, the grifting couple and their crew have found their groove in the big city. That is until Callie’s jobs are starting to go better than Mercer’s. Heartthrob #4 's wonder is players only love you when they’re playing, and what happens when the fun and games are winding down. When this series began, the first question I asked myself about this comic and the relationship between Callie and Mercer was “what is going to happen once they don’t love each other as much, yet they’re still stuck with each other?” Issue four begins to answer that question at the same time as provide new twists and turns as to what the answer really is. What is really happening at the bank? What is Mercer doing with Callie’s body? All these questions are brought to the forefront of this issue to be answered as the next one closes this arc. What Heartthrob #4 also does is reflect back on everything that’s transpired throughout the last three issues and continues to give it a new perspective. As Callie could see as setting herself free from her former life, she wonders which (or whose) life she has stepped into now and how much control does she have over it.

Wilson IV’s art depicts realism. A true to form New York in 1978, with its version of cool kids roaming around CBGB thinking they’re better than a rotten band playing there. He manages to slowly raise the tension in this issue from what has been fun and games to the stakes being higher than ever before and the twists coming in at a perfect time wrapped up with a nice thematic bow. One of the more interesting things has been seeing Mercer slowly lose his smile throughout these issues, where he barely shows it now. Wilson IV portrays the second face of Mercer as comfortably as the first one and with the addition of such genuine dialogue, a very exposed Callie is confronted by a Mercer whose guard and pettiness couldn’t be any higher.

Heartthrob #4 continues a great Fleetwood Mac theme that challenges our protagonist to go her own way, if only she could. The falling out of their relationship is felt through and will make for an intriguing conclusion.

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