Love Everlasting Vol. 3

Love Everlasting #3

by Tom King, Elsa Charretier (Cover Art), Matt Hollingsworth (Artist)

The next epic chapter of the acclaimed Eisner, Harvey, and Ringo-nominated series! LOVE EVERLASTING goes West, exploring the tropes and thrills of Old West Romance as everything shifts perspective and we discover the Cowboy's secret origin. Following the Cowboy as he follows Joan, we learn how Joan was first trapped in these stories...and how she might finally escape! The answers to the questions you've been asking are here in an addictive page-turner that will make you laugh and cry at the story of Joan and her Cowboy.  Collects LOVE EVERLASTING #11-15

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Romance, Horror, Fantasy, Mystery, Adventure

140 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 3, 2025

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

The secret origin of the cowboy executioner just sucks all the energy out of this series. Quick take: He's a dull, feckless, and pathetic ass.

The last chapter picks up a bit as we get back to Joan's progress in getting out of the everlasting loop in which she is stuck, but it's not enough to offset what has come before.

And then on the last page we're told that the series is going into hiatus. Some online research indicates this is the halfway point in the story and the creators hope to get back to it after more progress is made on production of the planned movie and some other projects wrap up. Rumor mill says it could be several years. I wonder if I'll still care if and when it comes back around.


FOR REFERENCE:

Contains material originally published in single magazine form as Love Everlasting #11-15.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd put off finishing the last two issues for a number of reasons primarily pertaining to my own issues, but unfortunately I do think it's to its own detriment. This was one of my favorite pulls for a while but I'm not sure the last two issues live up to the momentum that the rest of the series has been building up to. I'm still subscribed and will be reading the future issues but I fear what was once a super fun original concept is running its course.

[Anna Quilter · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Cowboy here is my current designated executioner...
Or so he said.
....I sat with it for some time.
I asked if he was supposed to be killing me, then why didn't he?
And he said....because he loved me"

The story of The Cowboy takes some steam out of the story/ mystery...and i have found parts of this repetitive but still interesting.
I guess that's thanks to Tom King...such a polarizing writer.
Due to the last cryptic page..im assuming we're not too far off the finale and some answers.

[SuperWendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The next volume of this should probably be the last one because I feel like we're running out of steam here. This time around we get The Cowboy's origin story (best part for me) and Joan finally learns the truth of what's happening to her - in an endless loop of Quantum Leap-style time jumps falling in and out of love.

[Jayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to come...

(B+) 78% | Good
Notes: Review pending re-read. Individual reviews for included issues can be found here:
- Love Everlasting #11
- Love Everlasting #12
- Love Everlasting #13
- Love Everlasting #14
- Love Everlasting #15

[Alex Sarll]

Delving into the backstory of the cowboy who comes for Joan each time, burning through a mass of romance comic scenarios in a single panel each – this feels a lot like a final volume that will reveal all the answers and then wrap things up. Only for it to turn out not to be. But it definitely crosses a Rubicon where a series that could have run indefinitely is now going to need wrapping up soon if it's not to become frustrating.

[Lauren]

I needed this third volume to give me more than it did. I needed more explanation to Joan's plight and more progress of her getting out of it. It felt that nothing moved forward for her in these issues and because of that, I have to be done with this series. I didn't mind getting to know more about the cowboy's backstory, but even that wasn't deep enough to make me feel satisfied in any way. It's a bummer, I can only hope whatever movie comes out of this is an entire story that I enjoy.

[Chris Gernon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Huh. For some reason I thought this was a completed trilogy. That’s my mistake, but honestly, I might not have started reading this on a whim if I had known it wasn’t finished and might never be completed.

Anyway, this answers a few questions and raises more. Still an interesting premise and story - looking forward to seeing when / if this continues. Sigh.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love Everlasting continues to be stunning to look at without every much selling me on its plot. In this third volume, we get the origin story of the cowboy, and then follow him through several of Joan's romance plots as he's conscripted by Mother to kill Joan when any romance goes sour. Ultimately, he kidnaps Joan out of a plot, declares his love for her, and dies at the hands of Mother, who sends Joan right back into a fresh romance plot. Please, Tom King, just tell me what's going on!

Even as Tom King withholds almost all explanatory information, the book continues to fly by mostly based on Elsa Charretier's artwork. And the various romances, not to mention the brooding new lead, keep things interesting. After three volumes, though, I'd really like some indication of where this is going.

[Jai · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more and more I read about Joan the sadder I become for her. At least I finally realized the “Why” in all of this madness and we get to find out who The Cowboy is and his why as well. I thought the series would wrap up at the end but I was pleasantly surprised that it probably won’t.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good...but I hope the next volume ties things up.

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collects Love Everlasting #11-15. I was hoping this would finish the series, but there's a big "to be continued... in a little while" at the end, so who knows when this will be resolved. But it's still an entertaining enough series. Here we get the backstory of the cowboy who haunts Joan's lives along with some inkling of what the larger story is. King is deconstructing romance comics with a horror motif straight from The Twilight Zone via Quantum Leap. As Joan goes from scenario to scenario, sometimes with but a single panel, her anxiety (and thus ours) multiplies and multiplies. At times it's a slow burn--by now we get the idea, let's see some payoff! Elsa Charretier's artwork has a simple retro style reminiscent of Darwyn Cooke's. Let's hope that we don't all forget about this title by the time the next volume comes out!

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collects Love Everlasting issues #11-15

This is one of my favorite, current comic book series. Whenever the new volume is available from my library, I'm eager to check it out and read it quickly. This volume opens up the world more, shedding new and similar light on things that we started to learn about in Volume #2. I'm very into this story, but it does feel like it is heading towards an ending. In fact, I thought this volume might be the surprise (for me) conclusion, but the volume ends with the ominous words (for readers anxious to read Volume #4), "To be continued...in a little while." To me, that implies that we are in for a wait before we get to read more of this amazing series. Depending on how King wraps up this story, I could see this being one of the series that I would want to buy and keep on my shelf.

[Abigail Pankau · Rating 4 out of 5]

After her love the Sheriff is killed, Joan Peterson finds herself falling in love with the sheriff’s brother Jake instead. But once she admits her love to him, she disappears. So Jake searches for her for many years, only to be recruited for a job. If Joan ever doesn’t fall in love, he is supposed to step in and shoot her, reminding her that “love is everlasting” first. But as she deviates more and more from the script, he finds he can’t do it anymore. So he kidnaps her and explains the situation to her. Can Joan and the Cowboy finally find love together? Or will the cycle continue?

An interesting continuation of this graphic novel series; this time we learn the Cowboy’s story. It’s interesting to see this side of things, and also to learn a little bit more about what is happening with Joan. Curious to see where the story goes next.

[Sarah AK · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been almost two years since I read the last volume, and I didn't remember every detail I'd have liked to going into this (understandably, as I've read nearly a thousand other graphic novels in between these volumes), but I remembered enough to enjoy where this is going. I like the art, which is huge for me these days. I have very much burned myself out on graphic novels and nothing kills my mood faster than art I'm not interested in. But I liked the bold colors and simple vintage-style art. And the story is actually going somewhere (unlike Volume 1)! The ending left me a little annoyed (never-ending carrot dangling), but I'm definitely down for Volume 4... I just hope it doesn't take another two years to get here!

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third volume of this creative, mysterious series about a woman caught in loops of romantic encounters comes with some background about the origin of The Cowboy and his role in this crazy world. The vibe is part femme fatale, part exploration of the genre, part story within story, though she is not seeking destruction of the men she meets. She just wants out from the Everlasting Love loop. All the men fall in love with her, ho hum, and they want to marry here, some repeating the dialogue in quasi-nightmare fashion, so there's a touch of horror, disorientation throughout. Very inventive and not yet entirely clear, a collaboration between Tom King and artist Elsa Charretier, though it appears to be going on hiatus, although there is a plan for 30 issues. I'm down.

[Estibaliz · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75

Third and last volume, at least for now since the series has been put on hiatus, and I have to say I am even more disappointed that I was expecting.

I mean, I loved the previous volume, so I was already forecasting not to like this one as much, but oh boy, this felt so dull, and tiresome, and pointless, and almost a waste of time.

Yes, we get the cowboy's backstory (or kind of), and see a little bit of Joan's mom. But the fact of the matter is nothing really gets explained here, and the whole repetition of the same pattern just gets boring.

The art is beautiful at least...

I wonder if this series can really pick up again from here... when, or even if, it comes back in the future.

[Mwah Mwah Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do genuinely love the cowboy’s story mostly because I do think it’s such a miserable turn to have to watch Joan go on and on with new people, just to kill her when things turn around. This definitely feels like a middle point and I actually don’t mind the fact that we’ve taken all this world building to really establish the situation Joan is in. We’ve strayed for a bit but this volume gave us more answers and showed us how clueless everyone in this system kind of is. Idk maybe I’m just a d-rider.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is really all about Cowboy, to its benefit. We get to see his secret origin and we get to see how that increasingly affects him as Joan surfs through worlds. And we get the slightest movement on Joan's own plot as well.

This continues to be well-written and intriguing. I would have guessed we jsut had 5 issues left, but apparently the answer is more like 15+. We'll see how that goes!

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joan is still stuck in her endless cycle of love, but now we have the cowboy's backstory! The cowboy was one of her past loves who Mother hired to execute Joan when she rejects people's advances. In the end, the cowboy dies while trying to help Joan escape the cycle. This volume was just okay and paired with the announcement of hiatus it's 4 stars for me. I'd like to continue the series, but we'll see if I am still interested when they start publishing again.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Context! Answers! Explanations as to why this fucked up thing keeps happening to poor Joan! Yessss. Still a bit obscure overall, but compelling as hell.

I'm hoping that this volume finally being released means that the series will be back from its extended hiatus sooner rather than later as well.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok so at this point i gotta ask....where are we going? we gotta have an endgame. but with the cowboy dead...where is that endgame? does she kill her mom? is this a truman show thing? if it was, it would make sense for her to end up with the cowboy since he's the only one who tried to be honest with her.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 5 out of 5]

This crucial third volume pushes the narrative forward, each of its five issues involving the Cowboy’s role, and how he helps Joan begin to glimpse the truth of her existence. It’s also Tom King writing more than twelve issues of something other than Batman or Wonder Woman for the first time, and an original vision and creation at that. So it’s crucial to his legacy, too.

[Peter Holz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still fairly confusing. I had hopes of a resolution and, while we did get a few answers, I still feel very much in the dark and concerned that the finale will be deep, meaningful and totally opaque. There is too much repetition and things are just dragging on for too long. I still don't enjoy the cartoon-like artwork.

[Alex G · Rating 5 out of 5]

King doesn't pull any punches!!! Great read and definitely creates a strangely pained perspective on our (now-not-so) mysterious cowboy.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

finally pulling back the curtain a bit, we get some sense of the story proper, and it feels like we are heading towards a conclusion. also, the art is still amazing

[B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve adored all of these. Beautiful artwork and mesmerizing story. I can’t wait to see where it goes.

[Agnes Silfverswärd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now, how much longer do I have to wait for the next instalment to completely wreck me?

[Fantaghirò · Rating 4 out of 5]

We see a lot of the cowboy in this one, which is very fun. Not sure how much longer they can keep us in the dark though, eventually they'll have to explain what's going on.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has become one of my favorite comic series of all time.

The origins of the cowboy were fantastic! I’m dying to know more about Joan’s mother. I can’t wait for more!