Comic Review: Lovesick #1

Image Comics

Story and Art: Luana Vecchio

English Adaption: Edward Caio

  Lovesick is a disturbing tale of the dark web, incel culture, and violent eroticism. Luana Vecchio’s art is the ideal complement to the twisted story of Domino, the sad dominatrix and demon mother of the Lovesick Club. Vecchio’s characters are both sexy and soulless, her palette a flush of soft blues and savage red. Domino herself already feels like an Image icon, as instantly recognizable as Invincible or Spawn. Her layouts are as fluid as her work on the magnificent Bolero, each page a work of art. Musical accompaniment snakes across the opening pages, playing Domino’s sinister theme as she dances half-naked, covered in the blood of a more than willing victim. The men of the Lovesick Club are desperate for Domino’s attention, however, piercing and final it may be. Several pages minimize the art to make room for the Lovesick Chat Room, a community that is equal parts Domino worshippers and furious incels demanding her head. For all the shock and style, Lovesick #1 lacks the immediate wonder of Bolero #1. Among the closing pages, Vecchio poses a question: “What [is] so good in the world that could possibly redeem the whole of humanity?” For Vecchio, the answer is art, the act of creation. But if that is a central theme for Lovesick, the artist-writer has a tall hill to climb, and only four more issues to do it. Like so many mini-series, Lovesick must be placed under a microscope from the start. With one-fifth of the story already told, readers know next to nothing about the Lovesick Club, who Domino is as a character, whether the story exists today, in the future, or some Black Mirror parallel dimension. Sex sells, and the season of horror is upon us, but it remains to be seen if Lovesick can amount to more than that. Still, there are truly affecting moments in Lovesick #1. The phrase “Domino noticed me” is haunting. The closing image of Domino spooning a leather gimp is sweet, vile, and mysterious. “Consent is the key theme of this story,” Luana Vecchio writes at the back of Lovesick #1. “I hadn’t realized that even consent had a line that could be crossed.” It’s a distressing thought and an ominous preview of things to come.