Heart of the City

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 elementary schoolgirl in Philadelphia; her proudly geeky best friend Dean, and her frequently overwhelmed single mother.

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

This comic provides examples of:

 * 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".