Tom King’s Love Everlastingis the new release I like best in 2022.
The story is about Joan Peterson who finds herself trapped in a terrifying, endless cycle of romance books.
As in any romance, the story begins with a love problem that must be resolved and ends with a marriage proposal. However, each time Joan thinks she’s found true love, she finds herself thrown into another Harlequin-style romance.
The format and style of King’s presentation are both brilliant.The reader is introduced to Joan by a series mini-stories.
Each time, Joan falls in love and is happy. She then wakes up the following story in a different world. Joan can be in Victorian 1880s or the Old West, and even in the 1960s. Joan’s memories and past loves are causing her to be thrown out of time.
King’s tale is slow in the beginning, but when Joan breaks the cycle at the end of the second issue, we begin to get a hint as to who’s behind Joan’s actions.
Charretier is an excellent artist and his art works well with King’s prose. I love old serialized comics like Popeye from the 1930s. Charretier captures perfectly the look and feel of an old romance novel.
One flaw of Love Everlastingis that even after reading all five issues, you are still in the dark about what’s going on with Joan. I enjoy a slower pace, but by issue 6, I hope King has picked up the pace.
You can’t possibly go wrong by adding this provocative and brilliant book to your list of pulls!
Tom King
Elsa Charretier’s Art
Image Comics