A Sense of Doubt blog post #3007 - Love Everlasting - Reviews - Comic Book Sunday on Saturday for 2305.13
I had zero knowledge of this comic or what it was going to be when I ordered it and started reading it. I knew I liked Tom King as a writer and had read his other stuff. That was part of the draw. I had never heard of Elsa Charretier, but I liked the look of the art a lot. Also, when Image puts out a romance book, so different than all its other offerings (and Image is very good with a diverse trove of different types of books), I am intrigued.
I was hooked.
I have collected materials here to celebrate this great comic.
But then, also, I have noticed that my critical reactions have eroded. Not my faculties. My critical faculties are fine. But I am less critical than I used to be. I can like a thing just for the thing as long as there's a level of quality.
Mom would NOT have liked this romance. She wants to believe the dream not the dismantling of the dream.
From superstar award-winning creators TOM KING and ELSA CHARRETIER, comes a new ONGOING SERIES in the tradition of SANDMAN and SAGA. Joan Peterson discovers that she is trapped in an endless, terrifying cycle of “romance”—a problem to be solved, a man to marry—and every time she falls in love she’s torn from her world and thrust into another teary saga. Her bloody journey to freedom and revelation starts in this breathtaking, groundbreaking FIRST ISSUE.
From: https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/love-everlasting-1
https://comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/image-comics/love-everlasting
(Big Head Little Arms and TKCK)
Score:
★★★★★ (5/5)
Yesterday was another landmark day for comic book creators who are expanding their creator-owned distribution prowess by establishing their own Substack newsletters. The tiered-pay channels have been growing in popularity with successful creators like Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Skottie Young, Donny Cates, Saladin Ahmed, and many others. Now joining this trend are Grant Morrison, Jen Bartel, Khary Randolph, Joanne Starer, Brian K. Vaughan, and Niko Henrichon. It's been a creative outlet for these creators as a direct channel to consumers for updates on upcoming projects, work-in-progress, tutorials, and most enticing exclusive comics available only to subscribers. One such exclusive comic was made available for free, Love Everlasting, by Tom King and Elsa Charretier on their new Substack - Everlasting Productions.
The unexpected thing about this release was that it wasn't about superheroes, aliens, or horror. 'Love Everlasting' is a delightful throwback to the popular romance comics that were ubiquitous from the 1950s through the 1970s. They featured the work of future comic legends like Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, Frank Frazetta, John Romita, Wally Wood, and Ric Estrada. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that one of the medium's most prolific writers in King and one of the most talented artists in Charretier would collaborate on such a cool niche title. Along with colorist Matt Hollingsworth and letterer Clayton Cowles, this amazingly bright and colorful romp is not just endearing but absorbing because it's not everything it appears to be.
Joan Peterson left the midwest behind for life in the big city of New York. She becomes embroiled in a love triangle in the first chapter of issue one that is as melodramatic and complicated as you'd expect in a romance comic. Joan's exposition is constant so we know her every motivation and concern throughout. It plays out as faithfully as those 'Young Romance' comics of the 70s before going into the next chapter. This is where things get a little weird. Another romance, another tricky situation yet not far removed from the first. Soon, we realize there's more going on with Joan's life than we can determine. King is setting us up for some mind-blowing mystery.
King is undoubtedly one of the best writers in comics right now but his versatility to pull off a romantic storyline with such ease and confidence is impressive. The language and pacing with all its angst and drama like a soap opera give King a completely different voice. It's not just an homage to those great comics of the past but a modern retelling that snaps and hits all the right notes. Charretier gives the story the look and feels of those comics with beautifully conceived designs that take the reader back to the 50s and 60s. This is a perfect collaboration that surprises with flawless execution, joyous authenticity, and captivating storytelling.
'Love Everlasting' #1 is a masterclass in taking an old beloved genre and not just paying homage through imitation but lovingly bringing it to life with a few new twists. Just when you think this delightful romantic adventure is predictable, it takes an unexpected turn that only draws you in further. 'Love Everlasting' might be free but its value as a wonderful new comic series is immeasurable.
https://comic-watch.com/comic-book-reviews/love-everlasting-1-across-time-and-story
Dustin Gebel
Recap
Joan Peterson discovers that she is trapped in an endless, terrifying cycle of “romance”—a problem to be solved, a man to marry—and every time she falls in love she’s torn from her world and thrust into another teary saga. Her bloody journey to freedom and revelation starts in this breathtaking, groundbreaking FIRST ISSUE.
From superstar award-winning creators TOM KING and ELSA CHARRETIER, comes a new ONGOING SERIES in the tradition of SANDMAN and SAGA.
Review
One of the most interesting facets of comics working arising from Substack is to see how creators approach the release of material. Thanks to the digital nature of the platform, and regularly scheduled intervals of time, creators are no longer bound to the traditional 22-page monthly issue. Much like webcomics and the vertical scrolling comic paradigm shifts before, Substack has introduced a new wrinkle into the ways the story is communicated sequentially.
So, when Elsa Charretier and Tom King announced Love Everlasting, it was slightly surprising that the comic would be released in that traditional format. Based on the general premise, which is described as “romance comics’ Sandman” the series seemingly lends itself to a smaller, more vignette structured release. But after reading the first issue, I’m thankful it was released in the traditional sense, as it gives the book a unique pace that would have been more difficult in another structure.
Love Everlasting #1 – written by King, with art from Charretier, colors by Matt Hollingsworth, and letters from Clayton Cowles – harkens back to the era of romance comics, the predominant genre in the medium for a large portion of its history. The issue opens as protagonist Joan Peterson recounts the woe of being in love with her best friend’s boyfriend, George, who also happens to be Joan’s boss.
The beats of the story are pretty self-explanatory, with Joan moving to the big city, falling in love with a man she can’t have, kissing said man in a moment of passion, and eventually getting together with him. Where the issue takes its first of many turns is after the two embrace again, everything shifts, and a woman who looks like Joan, and shares the same name, is suddenly in a passionate kiss with another man, in another time. The original sequence had a ‘40s aesthetic and setting to it, while the shift reflects a freewheeling ‘60s/’70s atmosphere.
The issue continues in its embrace of the tropes of the era, and the story is Joan falling for a man her father doesn’t approve of – a beatnik Bob Dylan-esque folk singer who seems her equal match, intellectually – before conceding when it revealed the man is also the son of a stuffed shirt who works with Joan’s father. Joan and the man, Kit, embrace after the misunderstanding is sorted out, and the issue shifts again.
Here, the pattern establishes itself before breaking, and the issue switches to the old west, where yet another Joan is thrown into a perilously love story, this time the classic love triangle on the ranch. Instead of smooching either man, who resembles George and Kit respectively, Joan flees into the desert where she meets a mysterious man before a shocking twist that propels Joan once again into another time and place.
King’s script does an excellent job in how it handles the various dialects and diction that comes with working in four different periods, each one reflecting the present while maintaining an excellent continuity between Joan specifically. Much of that is thanks to a running narration that sometimes encompasses entire panels on its own, giving the story a prose sensibility to it that lends to the genre and time-spanning nature of the issue.
The extremely wordy script, paired with a dialogue cover and four interlocking title pages gives the issue a vignette style structure that feels in line with the mini-series King has done for DC, but in this script, it feels more pronounced thanks to the change in aesthetic and decade. That paired with the foundation of romance tropes does an excellent job grounding the script into something familiar before running with the concept in the back half of the script, and gives an excellent rhythm to the issue.
Charretier’s art matches that rhythm, shifting perfectly from era to era, always carrying with it a romanticized and stylized touch. Her rendering does its best to accentuate that something is wrong across the pages of the issue, and even though the backgrounds, designs, and atmosphere are all spot-on, something is lurking under the surface that feeds into that too-perfect quality. It’s the same attention to detail that gives a Kubrick movie its eeriness, in that the images are too perfect or symmetrical in their composition. For Charrerier’s art, it’s the simplistic style and verisimilitude toward romance comics that gives the issue an uncanniness.
While Charretier’s style lends itself to these various genres, her pencil work feels timeless even in a very specific era – sharing that distinct pleasure with the late Darwyn Cooke’s art – and does an amazing job of the character beats as well. Her expression work is breathtaking, every emotion coming across clear when it needs to while giving a nuisance to a situation neither Joan nor the audience understands just yet. Those expressions paired with the very formal panel composition take what’s best from romance comics, refine them and then offer something new thanks to the genre twist of the script.
Hollingworth’s colors do a great job giving the art an echoing effect, palettes and important hues recurring from decade to decade, associating with certain characters or designs. His coloring also perfectly matches Charretier’s style, adding to the throwback sensibilities of the issue, feeling very simplistic at first glance but giving a level of detail and care upon further inspection. Just as Joan changes and adapts to the world around her when hopping decades, the book’s colors do as well, trading more muted colors in the old west for the vibrant brights of the swinging ‘60s. In an issue of excellent colors, that middle portion may be the best, as the time allows for Hollingsworth to explore an expanded palette and play up the hues thanks to musical performances and eye-catching costuming from Charretier.
The unifying force of the issue falls to Cowles’s lettering, working to join the various design elements and stylistic choices, while still revealing the baseline of Joan’s character and awareness of the situation. The choice to keep the font and balloons the same across genres is another indicator that something is awry with the issue, and the consistent use of the caption box to intercut panels creates the frame of the story. Without that consistency, the issue wouldn’t have the hint of something amiss and would feel like four disjointed stories of a young woman experiencing romances across time. But by serving as the connective tissue, the lettering ensures that the issue maintains its consistent yet foreboding rhythm as the romances unravel into something much more tangled.
Final Thoughts
Love Everlasting #1 is a breathtaking read from cover to cover, bringing out the best in each member of the creative team to create a story that spans time, space, and genre. There’s something in the alchemy of each creator's style and voice that perfectly meld to deliver this intriguing deconstruction of the romance genre while matching multiple design aesthetics and utilizing simple techniques for masterful execution.
This is a book that feels like it’s going to quickly escape the orbit of the romance genre and move into something more sinister and cosmic, whether that be in a philosophical, literal, or technical way is yet to be seen. Fans of works that transcend genre and twist their form will love this issue, and with an issue this strong, it's hard not to sign up for the Everlasting Productions newsletter for more of the story immediately.
Writer: Tom King
Art: Elsa Charretier and Matt Hollingsworth
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: August 10th, 2022
Tina Turner once sang “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”. With Love Everlasting #1, everything! Yep, and like love, this book will try your patience. It’s a bizarre combination of “Groundhog Day” and every sappy romantic 1950s film you’ve ever seen. And I’m not talking about good sappy romantic films like “Roman Holiday” or “Born Yesterday”, I’m talking about the real schmaltzy stuff that makes you roll your eyes and fidget, praying for the film to mercifully end. But what’s the dark menace buried within this seemingly innocuous love story?
If you’re interested in this comic, series, related trades, or any of the others mentioned, then simply click on the title/link to snag a copy through Amazon as you read the Love Everlasting #1 Review.
The Story
Love Everlasting #1 is the comic book equivalent of washing your hair. Wash, rinse, repeat. Wash, rinse, repeat.
That’s what we get throughout the 3 and a half short stories in the book. Why 3 and a half? Because the last story is abruptly cut off as it begins.
The main character of the book is named Joan Peterson, which is a hilariously generic name for her, the equivalent of “John Smith” for a man. She’s the one constant throughout the 3 and a half stories in the book, and frustratingly, we never learn anything else about her other than her name.
As each romance story ends, a new story begins, with Joan being the main character in each. The stories always involve Joan pining for a man that fate seems to keep her from having. This repetition of stories grows to be a bit annoying, but what’s also interesting about them is Joan remembers what happened in the previous stories.
As Joan becomes more bewildered throughout the book, and occasionally calls a man in the current story the name of a man from a previous story, we’re confused as well. It’s like the book is dragging us kicking and screaming along with Joan as she’s tossed from one tale to the next.
What saves the book from the jaws of total monotony are the dark moments towards the end, particularly when Joan runs off into the desert, rattled by what she’s going through, and some pretty bad things happen. It’s here that we get the tiniest fraction of a hint of what might be going on, something that hopefully will be expanded on more next issue.
I read the issue twice in an attempt to understand what Tom King was trying to accomplish here. At first, I thought he was parodying the old romance comics of the 50s and 60s, but there’s more to the book than that. I feel ultimately it’s going to turn into a “Twin Peaks” type story that may always be as bizarre and puzzling as this first issue. Time will tell.
The Art
Elsa Charretier’s art on Love Everlasting #1 is her usual wonderfully unique style, reminiscent of classic artists such as Steve Ditko and Ramona Fradon. Her art fits the retro story in the book perfectly, and as the stories jump from time period to time period, Charretier’s art captures the feel of each period, with my favorite part of the book being the first story, set in the 1950s. The hairstyles and fashions make the time periods come alive.
Final Thoughts
Love Everlasting #1 is a frustrating read, with a lot of repetition as we follow Joan’s story. There’s a sinister level beneath the main story, though, that hints at a grander over-arching plot to come, and those hints are just enough to keep interest for what happens next.
7.3/10
‘Love Everlasting’ Vol. 1 review
While Tom King continues to deconstruct the DC universe, he uses Image to pull apart the whole idea of romance.
If there is one word that can sum up the work of Tom King, it would be “deconstruction”. Taking cues from Alan Moore, though not as cynical, King is always interested in pulling apart his fictional heroes, usually through a flawed, psychological lens. The Moore comparison definitely looms large with his DC titles, such as Mister Miracle and Strange Adventures, both of which domesticate the titular characters and tell stories that blur the line between what’s real and what isn’t. King applies his usual bag of tricks to his Image Comics debut, Love Everlasting.
For several reasons, this looks nothing like King’s previous work, not least due to it being his first collaboration with artist Elsa Charretier. The story centers on Joan Peterson, trapped in an endless, terrifying cycle of “romance” as every time she falls in love and gets proposed to, she’s torn from her world and thrust into another tear-soaked tale.
As shown in his Mister Miracle and Batman runs, King can write romance and isn’t afraid to get schmaltzy in showing how his characters show their love for each other. However, despite the instances of numerous men expressing their love towards our heroine, that uplifting resolution never comes true, which is the point of Love Everlasting – and also perhaps the problem.
The first issue is initially promising: Joan jumps from one time period to the next, whether it is the 1950s where she is a secretary or in the 1960s as a hippie, and she is losing her grip with reality that seems to be built on the romances with these men. While a mysterious cowboy appears as a recurring antagonist who takes action when the romances quickly turn sour, this usually happens towards the end of the issue, which is basically the typical romance narrative that you have seen many times.
That is not to say that some of the single issues are not well-written – the librarian-centric #3 or the WW1-based #4 are the standouts on having the best character development, but overall, King isn’t being nuanced with the numerous love stories. As for the numerous time jumps, they fall into a typical problem that the writer falls of being too clever, like in Batman/Catwoman. The final issue certainly delves more into the psychology of Joan, but questions are still raised as we don’t how long this series is going for.
The one true saving grace is the art by Elsa Charretier, best known for her work on another Image title, November, written by Matt Fraction. With a style that evokes the late, great Darwyn Cooke, Charretier’s retro character work fits nicely into all the historical periods, and the climactic moments where the characters get bloodied up. There is joy to be had with the various splash pages that evoke the covers of ’50s/’60s romance novels.
So… I’m reviewing a Romance genre of a comic like this. AND THANK FUCKING GOD IT’S NOT ON WEBTOON because this story turns into a different kind of event from any other webcomic that you’ve read. But this comic is about being trapped in an endless cycle, a story about love with no end. The comic is written by Tom King and illustrated by Elsa Charretier. Tom is an American author and comic book writer who is best known for his novel A Once Crowded Sky, The Vision for Marvel Comics, and some other titles that he wrote for DC Comics. Even though he was an intern for Marvel and DC Comics back then, he also studied both philosophy and history at Columbia University. And Elsa is a French comic book writer and artist who worked for several publishers like DC, Marvel Comics, Penguin Random House, and Lucasfilm publishing, although her art style is probably more based on doing shapes and sometimes it makes something from what you studied on a Design class.
The front cover shows a woman wearing a wedding dress while soaked in blood. Apparently, she’s holding a shotgun as if she’s out there for blood. And for some reason, this isn’t the first time that I’ve seen a female character who has the edgiest mood. And the text bubble shows up on the cover which says “Hello, My Name is Joan Peterson… …And I probably love you.” The whole scenery shows an actual gesture of the character who is about to go out there and kill someone after all the trouble that she went through. This is going to be a short review because I have zero tolerance for reading some romantic cringy story in a comic like this one, but at least I can tell you about her tale.
The story starts when the whole apartment exploded and then the two of them hugged each other and say that they loved each other, but all of that was just a daydream to her. Fantasizing about the most logical bullshit that any human being ever produced. What really happened is when the main character moved to New York to find a job, but then she managed to find one as a typewriter from her friend, she met with her boss and started to go out with each other, until he decides to ghost her after a few days, and then he made a comeback with the most logical bullshit in comic book history. So I can’t keep going on this review because there are so many tales of a romantic relationship between Joan and George in different timelines. But this story is so awkward I MEAN WHAT THE HELL?!
But there’s one part of the story that got me intrigued, there’s this part of the story which is called “The Hunt for Love” where Joan is out there killing those who cheated on her because she had enough of that shit, right until a cowboy shot her to death, and both of them died together at last. Even so, there are so many stories from different timelines which leave everything with a happy, yet bad ending.
I can’t say what to expect from this story, and the human brain can’t take it. I’m not a fan of reading any cringy-ass romance comics like this because you never know what will happen when something defines it in real life. But this comic goes on another journey of messed up moments in life. The last thing I can talk about is her art style, like I said, she is based on doing some shapes from a Design class in college, but somehow you feel like reading some of the retro comics in the 1940s or the 50s during World War II. But her art style almost looks like one of the ad posters that I saw on the train about Freelancers. And once I got used to looking at that, it almost seem that the artist is drawing comics in an old comic art style back then. And once I looked into this comic, it seems that it was too innovative that there are some artists who draw something like this in the modern age. That at least I can explain that, otherwise if you go and watch Batman The Animated Series, you’ll get a deja vu about the character design. So yeah, if you’re into a comic that is something like that, then this is for you.
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2305.13 - 10:10
- Days ago = 2871 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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