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Faithless #1-6
Faithless
Faith is bored as hell. And Hell has noticed.
Faith. Sex. The Devil. Faith likes to dabble with magic. Her friends think it’s cute—and not just a little off-putting, but it’s part of her charm and her warped search for purpose in a world that makes too much sense. But she's a true believer and knows there is a power within her reach. She’s right, of course. It just took a while for that magic, that temptation, that unknowable thing to find her . . . In short—Faith is bored as hell. And Hell has noticed.
New York Times bestselling writer Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets, Moonshine) and artist Maria Llovet (Loud) with Eisner Award winning artist Paul Pope on covers coalesce in a story of self-exploration, eroticism, and maybe even love.
Faith. Sex. The Devil. Faith likes to dabble with magic. Her friends think it’s cute—and not just a little off-putting, but it’s part of her charm and her warped search for purpose in a world that makes too much sense. But she's a true believer and knows there is a power within her reach. She’s right, of course. It just took a while for that magic, that temptation, that unknowable thing to find her . . . In short—Faith is bored as hell. And Hell has noticed.
New York Times bestselling writer Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets, Moonshine) and artist Maria Llovet (Loud) with Eisner Award winning artist Paul Pope on covers coalesce in a story of self-exploration, eroticism, and maybe even love.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 8, 2020
25 people are currently reading
519 people want to read
About the author
Brian Azzarello
1,296 books1,106 followersBrian Azzarello (born in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American comic book writer. He came to prominence with 100 Bullets, published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo. He and Argentine artist Eduardo Risso, with whom Azzarello first worked on Jonny Double, won the 2001 Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story for 100 Bullets #15–18: "Hang Up on the Hang Low".
Azzarello has written for Batman ("Broken City", art by Risso; "Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire", art by Lee Bermejo, Tim Bradstreet, & Mick Gray) and Superman ("For Tomorrow", art by Jim Lee).
In 2005, Azzarello began a new creator-owned series, the western Loveless, with artist Marcelo Frusin.
As of 2007, Azzarello is married to fellow comic-book writer and illustrator Jill Thompson.
information taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Az...
Azzarello has written for Batman ("Broken City", art by Risso; "Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire", art by Lee Bermejo, Tim Bradstreet, & Mick Gray) and Superman ("For Tomorrow", art by Jim Lee).
In 2005, Azzarello began a new creator-owned series, the western Loveless, with artist Marcelo Frusin.
As of 2007, Azzarello is married to fellow comic-book writer and illustrator Jill Thompson.
information taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Az...
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 144 reviews
March 10, 2020
This was just ok. Sort of sexy, most definitely kinky. Artwork was nice, but the plot, meh. I guess I am just not into father-daughter-bff love triangles or something.
January 29, 2020
Meh. This reminds me of shitty Vertigo books from the early 90's with your typical poor Vertigo art. A very sexually explicit book about a girl who meets another girl and her artist father. There's lots of steamy sex with weird horror images amidst that don't make any sense. This could have used less focus on the sex scenes and more focus on a plot. It has about as much story as a porno.
February 10, 2020
I should just give up on Azzarello. I keep thinking his books look interesting... but never end up liking them.
What’s it about?
There’s a girl named Faith who meets a girl named Poppy. They start fucking, weird things start happening and that’s basically all I can say without spoilers.
Pros:
Llovett is a great artist and she does a great job in this! I would show an example but most of the entire book contains stuff Goodreads won’t let me show but just trust me, if you decide to read this you’ll see some really good artwork.
This book is very unpredictable which did keep my interest a fair bit.
This is pretty intense throughout.
Cons:
The story is... dumb. It’s like every issue is characters fuck, some weird old woman says something about sin, some weird sex related thing (often a sexual death) happens to someone, repeat. It’s quite stupid.
The characters aren’t good. One of them is bland, one of them is a psycho who apparently thinks raping people with magic is acceptable revenge for cat-calling (wish I was joking, I mean cat-calling is creepy and bad but fuck’s sake, REALLY?) and one of them is a completely obnoxious cunt who’s just creepy and says the most annoying shit that made me wanna go into the book and repeatedly punch him in the face.
Speaking of saying annoying shit, the dialogue in this book is awful!
This book attempts comic relief... and it’s not good.
This book is meant to be a horror and... maybe I’m just desensitized as fuck (which is likely) but nothing in it is scary, creepy or even disturbing (well not in a good way).
So I don’t mind sex or violence in a book at all but the way they’re approached in this book is just so immature. The sex especially because it’s a big part of the story but instead of approaching it tastefully in a romantic and/or emotional context like many great books manage to it just comes across as “hey, look there’s boobies and a dick and now we’re actually showing full frontal nudity and people fucking, aren’t we so edgy” even though most comic fans have seen stuff that are just as graphic and sexual but within better context. The problem is when you take emotion out of it and the plot is focused on it, the comic feels less like mature storytelling and more like hentai that was written in a more pretentious way (because at least hentai admits it’s comic book porn).
I didn’t care for the ending.
Overall:
This book is stupid. Sure, it’s not Azzarello’s worst and there are a few things to like about it (mostly the art) but it’s pretty bad.
Maybe if this book admitted it’s porn instead of trying to act like a deeper story mixing 2 entirely different genres I wouldn’t be as disappointed but I don’t think as many people would have still read it so it gets advertised as a mix of occult horror and erotic romance which is only barely true.
Part of me thinks this was a failed attempt at looking more “adult”. I mean it kinda makes sense when you do the math. Azzarello’s latest “mature” DC project ended up getting slightly censored due to one panel including nudity and BOOM! is usually thought of as a YA type comic publisher so it makes sense that they’d maybe think this is a good way to show audiences that they can do “mature” comics too when in reality no matter how many times the characters say a swear word, find a corpse or fuck it comes across as actually more immature than most previously mentioned YA type comics. Convince Llovett to make the book look cooler and there ya go, big hit!
Honestly I fail to see how this book is anything more than weird porn (and not in an amusing, humorous Rule34 type way). If you want an actually mature horror comic that heavily involves sexual themes and actually works, read Fatale. If you want to jerk off to something weird with bad dialogue, read this I guess.
2/5
What’s it about?
There’s a girl named Faith who meets a girl named Poppy. They start fucking, weird things start happening and that’s basically all I can say without spoilers.
Pros:
Llovett is a great artist and she does a great job in this! I would show an example but most of the entire book contains stuff Goodreads won’t let me show but just trust me, if you decide to read this you’ll see some really good artwork.
This book is very unpredictable which did keep my interest a fair bit.
This is pretty intense throughout.
Cons:
The story is... dumb. It’s like every issue is characters fuck, some weird old woman says something about sin, some weird sex related thing (often a sexual death) happens to someone, repeat. It’s quite stupid.
The characters aren’t good. One of them is bland, one of them is a psycho who apparently thinks raping people with magic is acceptable revenge for cat-calling (wish I was joking, I mean cat-calling is creepy and bad but fuck’s sake, REALLY?) and one of them is a completely obnoxious cunt who’s just creepy and says the most annoying shit that made me wanna go into the book and repeatedly punch him in the face.
Speaking of saying annoying shit, the dialogue in this book is awful!
This book attempts comic relief... and it’s not good.
This book is meant to be a horror and... maybe I’m just desensitized as fuck (which is likely) but nothing in it is scary, creepy or even disturbing (well not in a good way).
So I don’t mind sex or violence in a book at all but the way they’re approached in this book is just so immature. The sex especially because it’s a big part of the story but instead of approaching it tastefully in a romantic and/or emotional context like many great books manage to it just comes across as “hey, look there’s boobies and a dick and now we’re actually showing full frontal nudity and people fucking, aren’t we so edgy” even though most comic fans have seen stuff that are just as graphic and sexual but within better context. The problem is when you take emotion out of it and the plot is focused on it, the comic feels less like mature storytelling and more like hentai that was written in a more pretentious way (because at least hentai admits it’s comic book porn).
I didn’t care for the ending.
Overall:
This book is stupid. Sure, it’s not Azzarello’s worst and there are a few things to like about it (mostly the art) but it’s pretty bad.
Maybe if this book admitted it’s porn instead of trying to act like a deeper story mixing 2 entirely different genres I wouldn’t be as disappointed but I don’t think as many people would have still read it so it gets advertised as a mix of occult horror and erotic romance which is only barely true.
Part of me thinks this was a failed attempt at looking more “adult”. I mean it kinda makes sense when you do the math. Azzarello’s latest “mature” DC project ended up getting slightly censored due to one panel including nudity and BOOM! is usually thought of as a YA type comic publisher so it makes sense that they’d maybe think this is a good way to show audiences that they can do “mature” comics too when in reality no matter how many times the characters say a swear word, find a corpse or fuck it comes across as actually more immature than most previously mentioned YA type comics. Convince Llovett to make the book look cooler and there ya go, big hit!
Honestly I fail to see how this book is anything more than weird porn (and not in an amusing, humorous Rule34 type way). If you want an actually mature horror comic that heavily involves sexual themes and actually works, read Fatale. If you want to jerk off to something weird with bad dialogue, read this I guess.
2/5
May 21, 2021
It looks, at a glance, like most my GR friends sort of dislike this one, and I can see that. It feels, for Brian Azzarello, almost experimental, but that is largely because Maria Llovet is doing the art, which is unique to go with an A-list writer like Azzarello. This has a woman artist, named Faith, who is Faithless, ha, a painter, who falls almost immediately into bed with another woman, who is herself being obsessively painted by some guy, and then also they fall into bed, (is he her father? father-figure?? her "sire"?).
The set-up is early series vague/confusing, horror, with magic, and terrific alt-comix fantasy artwork I really am into. The dialogue is not great, true, but that's in part because of the "romance" but the series looks like it has potential. Maybe not. The sex is explicit, if you're into that kinda thing.
I read it because I had just read into Llovet's worth Eros/Psyche series and took a look again at her Loud (a wordless graphic novel) and am sniffing around for books on women and girls for my summer graphic novels class.
The set-up is early series vague/confusing, horror, with magic, and terrific alt-comix fantasy artwork I really am into. The dialogue is not great, true, but that's in part because of the "romance" but the series looks like it has potential. Maybe not. The sex is explicit, if you're into that kinda thing.
I read it because I had just read into Llovet's worth Eros/Psyche series and took a look again at her Loud (a wordless graphic novel) and am sniffing around for books on women and girls for my summer graphic novels class.
January 7, 2020
I liked this for the most part, though at times it felt 2edgy4me.
The summary for the kindle version of this says this collects the whole series, but I found an article that says this will return in April but will be titled Faithless II, which is cool.
Individual issue reviews: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6
Total review score: 2.5
The summary for the kindle version of this says this collects the whole series, but I found an article that says this will return in April but will be titled Faithless II, which is cool.
Individual issue reviews: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6
Total review score: 2.5
January 18, 2020
Woman having sex with each other. Sleezy devil like guy fucking the main character who is fucking the daughter who transforms into daughter but sometimes father...what is this series about? Basically a painter fucking a bunch of demons and forcing people into sex.
This is some weird shit...the art is okay. I don't know if I'll continue it. But if like a lot of dick sucking, vagina licking, and naked bodies, this one is for you.
This is some weird shit...the art is okay. I don't know if I'll continue it. But if like a lot of dick sucking, vagina licking, and naked bodies, this one is for you.
September 30, 2019
cw: uhhhh everything??
literally what the fuck did i just read??
literally what the fuck did i just read??
February 25, 2020
Eighteen bucks.
Collects six issues.
Read it from cover to cover in less than 30 minutes.
Is this the whole story, or is there more to come...? I really had no clue, because aside from some vaguely supernatural stuff that may or may not be happening, there's really not much to this book but a leisurely (!!) [pace and a lot of people fucking. (Thanks to this book and SAGA, I have seen enough comic book penises to last me a lifetime.)
This story, such as it is, could have been decompressed and told in two issues.
Neither great or terrible, but merely "Meh", this will certainly be a casualty of my growing cheapness if there are any future volumes. This was in no way worth the price. (And I got it for 50% off...)
(And for added crabbyness, Boom made a big deal of having variant covers so dirty that they needed to be polybagged. None of those covers are included in this collection. Grrrr...)
Collects six issues.
Read it from cover to cover in less than 30 minutes.
Is this the whole story, or is there more to come...? I really had no clue, because aside from some vaguely supernatural stuff that may or may not be happening, there's really not much to this book but a leisurely (!!) [pace and a lot of people fucking. (Thanks to this book and SAGA, I have seen enough comic book penises to last me a lifetime.)
This story, such as it is, could have been decompressed and told in two issues.
Neither great or terrible, but merely "Meh", this will certainly be a casualty of my growing cheapness if there are any future volumes. This was in no way worth the price. (And I got it for 50% off...)
(And for added crabbyness, Boom made a big deal of having variant covers so dirty that they needed to be polybagged. None of those covers are included in this collection. Grrrr...)
December 8, 2019
Little chaotic mix of occult and erotic in art circles. Drawing is pretty rough and shaky, but once you get used to it it works pretty well with theme. I'm looking forward how the stpry evolves in next arc, as first one served more like mood and scenery setting.
October 23, 2019
Sex, magie, umělci a takové slabší, neforemné cosi.
Každý prožívá krizi středního věku jinak. Většina mužů si koupí nové auto nebo narazí mladou partnerku. Bendis si napíše komiks o tom, jak vždycky chtěl být tajným agentem (Cover). A Azzarello napsal komiks ve kterém mladou umělkyni (a asi čarodějku) souloží tajemný, postarší týpek celý v černé a jeho dcera. Kdyby si koupil to auto, tak jsme možná i ušetřeni.
Možná jsem jenom moc otupělý, ale šokující scény na konci každého komiksu byly většinu času spíš úsměvné a co mě drželo celou dobu při čtení byla potřeba zjistit, jestli to má nějaký větší smysl a jestli se něco nějak vysvětlí. Bohužel v prvním booku nic. Ani trošku.
Moje naděje se tak přelívají do toho, že snad v druhém booku ukáže něco víc než kůži všech hlavních hrdinů, jinak to bude horší i než taková Blackbird a to je co říct.
Mohlo by se vám líbit, pokud:
- taky zrovna prožíváte krizi středního věku, na auto nemáte a novou přítelkyni vám manželka nedovolí
- čtete opravdu jenom mainstream a doslova nic jiného a chcete něco, co vás šokuje
Spíš vás zklame, pokud:
- tohle není vaše první rodeo, protože to není ani dost porno, ani dost gore, ani dost tajemné, vlastně to pořádně zatím nic není
Každý prožívá krizi středního věku jinak. Většina mužů si koupí nové auto nebo narazí mladou partnerku. Bendis si napíše komiks o tom, jak vždycky chtěl být tajným agentem (Cover). A Azzarello napsal komiks ve kterém mladou umělkyni (a asi čarodějku) souloží tajemný, postarší týpek celý v černé a jeho dcera. Kdyby si koupil to auto, tak jsme možná i ušetřeni.
Možná jsem jenom moc otupělý, ale šokující scény na konci každého komiksu byly většinu času spíš úsměvné a co mě drželo celou dobu při čtení byla potřeba zjistit, jestli to má nějaký větší smysl a jestli se něco nějak vysvětlí. Bohužel v prvním booku nic. Ani trošku.
Moje naděje se tak přelívají do toho, že snad v druhém booku ukáže něco víc než kůži všech hlavních hrdinů, jinak to bude horší i než taková Blackbird a to je co říct.
Mohlo by se vám líbit, pokud:
- taky zrovna prožíváte krizi středního věku, na auto nemáte a novou přítelkyni vám manželka nedovolí
- čtete opravdu jenom mainstream a doslova nic jiného a chcete něco, co vás šokuje
Spíš vás zklame, pokud:
- tohle není vaše první rodeo, protože to není ani dost porno, ani dost gore, ani dost tajemné, vlastně to pořádně zatím nic není
February 2, 2020
It was, at best, unfocused. There are some potentially interesting ideas here about love and art, but for a supposedly "erotic" work, it has some weird and even prudish ideas about sex. It's trying really hard for edgy, bless its heart, but just ends up somewhere in the neighborhood of pretentious. It's even more disappointing because I know Azzarello can do better.
April 16, 2021
Normally, I'm a huge fan of Brian Azzarello's work, but this graphic novel, billed as "an erotic depiction of faith, sex and the devil in the tradition of the divine comedy" just feels self-indulgent and skeevy.
March 18, 2020
hmmm...what?
It seems like some of the dialogue didn't connect and confused the hell out of me! Sex scenes were good though, Faith is a cutie<3
It seems like some of the dialogue didn't connect and confused the hell out of me! Sex scenes were good though, Faith is a cutie<3
January 31, 2020
Tak takhle ne.
Příběh v prvním čísle je příjemně ukončen a slibuje příjemnou jízdu o pekelných svodech okořeněný trochou té hezké erotiky.
Místo toho dostaneme na sílu tlačený erotický scény dplněný fragmentama příběhu, tkerý by byl fajn, kdyby se na něj autor soustředil.
Kresba je super co se týká výrazových prostředků, ale místy hůř čitelná.
velký zklamání :(
Příběh v prvním čísle je příjemně ukončen a slibuje příjemnou jízdu o pekelných svodech okořeněný trochou té hezké erotiky.
Místo toho dostaneme na sílu tlačený erotický scény dplněný fragmentama příběhu, tkerý by byl fajn, kdyby se na něj autor soustředil.
Kresba je super co se týká výrazových prostředků, ale místy hůř čitelná.
velký zklamání :(
December 28, 2019
More sexy than scary.
I cant tell if this is just the beginning or if it was a quickie. It had a decent plot but not too much story. An artist who toys with magic gets more than she bargained for after a "random" encounter with very pretty girl. After the two start hooking up, the demon girls dad gets involved and stuff starts to get really daring. It gets a little weird, only because the Dad and daughter duo aren't quite explained. Is it his real daughter? are they even really demons?? or is this just some sexy pyramid scheme?? Something bad is going on but there doesn't seem to be enough evidence to prove it. The whole story also kinda just came down to "live deliciously" which is kind of a bummer because I was expecting more magic or demonology. Just something more resourceful overall. With that said, this book gets pretty hot. Definitely not safe for work. It also does this thing, were it'll be sexy and then BAM! You remember that its also part horror and now bugs are eating this girl out. This book tries really hard, and it leaves the ending a bit open for more, but I don't know if you need it.
I cant tell if this is just the beginning or if it was a quickie. It had a decent plot but not too much story. An artist who toys with magic gets more than she bargained for after a "random" encounter with very pretty girl. After the two start hooking up, the demon girls dad gets involved and stuff starts to get really daring. It gets a little weird, only because the Dad and daughter duo aren't quite explained. Is it his real daughter? are they even really demons?? or is this just some sexy pyramid scheme?? Something bad is going on but there doesn't seem to be enough evidence to prove it. The whole story also kinda just came down to "live deliciously" which is kind of a bummer because I was expecting more magic or demonology. Just something more resourceful overall. With that said, this book gets pretty hot. Definitely not safe for work. It also does this thing, were it'll be sexy and then BAM! You remember that its also part horror and now bugs are eating this girl out. This book tries really hard, and it leaves the ending a bit open for more, but I don't know if you need it.
Read
March 11, 2020what the fuck did i just read
May 23, 2020
A Ham-fisted version of Faust that's puts the emphasis on the "fisted".
February 7, 2022
What the f*ck did I read?
Trigger warnings: there were a lot but one of which was suicide. There were a lot of nudity and sex. To add to that, if you're a religious person, this might not be for you as it contains a lot of occultism and, you know, stuff that'll make a lot of people uncomfortable.
I kind of got what was happening in the story and who might some of the characters really are, but the way the story is being told, I'm not a big fan of. I dunno what it was because while I feel that this had a lot of potential, it just didn't hit home for me. Will I read the next one? Maybe, out of curiousity.
Trigger warnings: there were a lot but one of which was suicide. There were a lot of nudity and sex. To add to that, if you're a religious person, this might not be for you as it contains a lot of occultism and, you know, stuff that'll make a lot of people uncomfortable.
I kind of got what was happening in the story and who might some of the characters really are, but the way the story is being told, I'm not a big fan of. I dunno what it was because while I feel that this had a lot of potential, it just didn't hit home for me. Will I read the next one? Maybe, out of curiousity.
October 21, 2019
Najhoršie. Vyhodené. Peniaze. Ever.
January 12, 2020
So this graphic novel was definitely that very graphic. I still don’t know what to even say about this book.
Okay so it was a lot. I have so many questions. I will say if you are heavy in faith don’t pick this up. Some scenes where very sexually graphic so I don’t suggest kids read this. I gave this graphic novel 3 stars because the story was interesting enough to want to finish but the constant sex scenes were a lot.
Okay so it was a lot. I have so many questions. I will say if you are heavy in faith don’t pick this up. Some scenes where very sexually graphic so I don’t suggest kids read this. I gave this graphic novel 3 stars because the story was interesting enough to want to finish but the constant sex scenes were a lot.
April 16, 2022
All 3 stars were given due to the art- the color palette was incredible.. I’m not really into a bunch of sex (especially someone sleeping with both father & daughter) so the prevalence of that definitely lessened my appreciation for the story. It’s the cover that drew me in and I’m definitely not mad I read this but it’s not something I’m likely to remember or reread in the future.
January 2, 2020
#1. This book is very good at capturing that dead time we all experience with friends and strangers in life. Most of the book focuses on Faith’s day starting at a coffee house where she’s friendly with who seems like everyone. She soon meets a mysterious and alluring girl who is being chased by an ex-boyfriend. Their adventure leads to intimate moments and moments of sharing and learning about each other, culminating in intimate moments. The thing is, the book opens with a sunny morning of masturbation but ends far differently. This issue is also very good at some subtle clues. One has to wonder if Faith is evil, or wants to be due to the ritualistic symbols she likes to draw. She seems like an overall nice person and there’s evidence of such at different points of the story. That leads one to believe the final page is a sign of things going badly for Faith and should effectively get you interested in where the story goes from here.
The art by Maria Llovet is very good, capturing the detail of backgrounds well. There’s a honed chaotic feel to the art that reminds me of Jim Mahfood’s work. It’s much more refined here, but that undercurrent of flair is ever-present. Sexual scenes are done tastefully and in no way are exploitive. In fact, I’d argue this is less an erotic story and more of an adult one. We’ll see if the series ramps up the erotic nature since they’re selling that angle so hard, but this issue is somewhat tame especially compared to series like Saga. The colors by Llovet do well to keep the book looking realistic, but with a pop of color just under the surface. It’s a subdued palette but still mixes in various colors to keep your attention in the right place.
A great first issue that introduces readers to Faith and delivers on a wicked cliffhanger. It’s a triumph of character building and brooding magic. The true magic of the series is the patient's pacing and well-crafted characters. Faithless proves the devil is in the details.
#2. As the cover seems to suggest, the main plot of issue #2 is about Faith going to the club and cutting a rug. Well, at least she makes it to the club. The issue opens where we left off with Faith in bed after having sex with a mysterious woman named Poppy. Spoiler alert, Poppy turned out to be a pile of maggots. She appears to be gone, save for a vision of a wolf-bird hybrid that blinks away. The weirdness fades away however and allows Faith to get ready and chase down Poppy who has hit up the coolest club ever. The creative team is doing just enough to remind us there’s a bit of magic in the world, but things generally are about as normal as can be. That allows for the shock of incredible moments to really zing.
As the story progresses Azzarello introduces interesting supporting characters that are like ships passing through the night. There’s just enough color to give you a taste of who they are, but not enough to establish their purpose in the narrative just yet. It also continues to layer realistic elements into what appears to be some heavy fantasy. I don’t want to spoil it, but the series leans heavily into the erotic angle later in the issue that involves a fantastical element. It puts into question who Faith really is and should be fun to follow up on in the next issue.
Llovet’s art continues to impress in graphite, rougher sort of look. Color is exceptionally well done, like in the detailing of sunglasses of a stranger in one scene, or background of a friend’s apartment. The club scene is electric thanks to an interesting use of lines conveying sound and the hum of the crowd in backgrounds via silhouette. The erotic scene in this issue continues to keep things tasteful without a single genital in sight, although there is a certain something on panel that might shock you.
I enjoyed this second outing with Faith thanks to the subtle weirdness layered into the realism of the story. There are dark things at work in Faith and Poppy and I’m dying to see how they manifest further.
The art by Maria Llovet is very good, capturing the detail of backgrounds well. There’s a honed chaotic feel to the art that reminds me of Jim Mahfood’s work. It’s much more refined here, but that undercurrent of flair is ever-present. Sexual scenes are done tastefully and in no way are exploitive. In fact, I’d argue this is less an erotic story and more of an adult one. We’ll see if the series ramps up the erotic nature since they’re selling that angle so hard, but this issue is somewhat tame especially compared to series like Saga. The colors by Llovet do well to keep the book looking realistic, but with a pop of color just under the surface. It’s a subdued palette but still mixes in various colors to keep your attention in the right place.
A great first issue that introduces readers to Faith and delivers on a wicked cliffhanger. It’s a triumph of character building and brooding magic. The true magic of the series is the patient's pacing and well-crafted characters. Faithless proves the devil is in the details.
#2. As the cover seems to suggest, the main plot of issue #2 is about Faith going to the club and cutting a rug. Well, at least she makes it to the club. The issue opens where we left off with Faith in bed after having sex with a mysterious woman named Poppy. Spoiler alert, Poppy turned out to be a pile of maggots. She appears to be gone, save for a vision of a wolf-bird hybrid that blinks away. The weirdness fades away however and allows Faith to get ready and chase down Poppy who has hit up the coolest club ever. The creative team is doing just enough to remind us there’s a bit of magic in the world, but things generally are about as normal as can be. That allows for the shock of incredible moments to really zing.
As the story progresses Azzarello introduces interesting supporting characters that are like ships passing through the night. There’s just enough color to give you a taste of who they are, but not enough to establish their purpose in the narrative just yet. It also continues to layer realistic elements into what appears to be some heavy fantasy. I don’t want to spoil it, but the series leans heavily into the erotic angle later in the issue that involves a fantastical element. It puts into question who Faith really is and should be fun to follow up on in the next issue.
Llovet’s art continues to impress in graphite, rougher sort of look. Color is exceptionally well done, like in the detailing of sunglasses of a stranger in one scene, or background of a friend’s apartment. The club scene is electric thanks to an interesting use of lines conveying sound and the hum of the crowd in backgrounds via silhouette. The erotic scene in this issue continues to keep things tasteful without a single genital in sight, although there is a certain something on panel that might shock you.
I enjoyed this second outing with Faith thanks to the subtle weirdness layered into the realism of the story. There are dark things at work in Faith and Poppy and I’m dying to see how they manifest further.
Read
November 15, 2020At first Faithless recalls writer Brian Azzarello's underrated Hellblazer run in its low-key everyday magic, the way the protagonist can just...nudge people into doing what she wants. By the end, the plot has fractured in ways I'm not convinced were entirely intentional, becoming more of a parable about the costs, Faustian and otherwise, of success in the arts, woven around a sinister love triangle. But the real attraction here is Maria Llovet's art, coming in somewhere between Azzarello's frequent collaborator Eduardo Risso, and the breathy allure of Milo Manara's work. The blurb massively overstates the comedy element here – even early on Faithless is warm rather than funny, albeit with sudden chills too whenever more obviously supernatural forces show their hand. Or other parts, because yes, there is a lot of sex in here, and for me Llovet does an excellent job of making it sexy, at least until it isn't, when she also pulls off the requisite body horror. This is Cronenberg, Clive Barker stuff, except sneakier, because it looks much more appealing for longer before things start deforming.
Of course, the whole thing gains an unintended extra dimension from being read now*. Obviously all those orgiastic bohemian parties are a thing of the past, but more than that, as with Pierre Menard's Quixote, lines which could have read as platitudes before the Event now provoke much more thought. "Life...it speeds by so fast, anyway. Best not to waste it but spend it like there's no tomorrow." Ah, but surely life drags incredibly slowly, a massively devalued currency which we're all legally obliged to hoard, even though there's nothing on which to spend it anymore and there is no tomorrow?
*Plus, otherwise, it might not have ended up as a number ending in -69 on my Read shelf, and that would not be nice.
Of course, the whole thing gains an unintended extra dimension from being read now*. Obviously all those orgiastic bohemian parties are a thing of the past, but more than that, as with Pierre Menard's Quixote, lines which could have read as platitudes before the Event now provoke much more thought. "Life...it speeds by so fast, anyway. Best not to waste it but spend it like there's no tomorrow." Ah, but surely life drags incredibly slowly, a massively devalued currency which we're all legally obliged to hoard, even though there's nothing on which to spend it anymore and there is no tomorrow?
*Plus, otherwise, it might not have ended up as a number ending in -69 on my Read shelf, and that would not be nice.
September 23, 2020
What the f*ck did I just read?
August 4, 2020
NOTE: I read this in the original monthly issues, and commented on them individually . . . .
FAITHLESS #1 (Boom! Studios, April 2019) I’m a fan of the writing of Brian Azzarello, especially his straight-up crime stories (100 Bullets). I also enjoy his steps off the proven path into arty and/or experimental work (Spaceman) but not as much. His name on the banner and some enticing cover art by Paul Pope was enough to make this an impulse buy when I saw it on the comic shop shelves. Issue #1 provoked enough curiosity to persuade me to pick up the rest of the series.
FAITHLESS was billed as ‘an erotic depiction of faith, sex, and the devil in the tradition of the divine comedy.’ We’ll see. That’s a tall order to follow.(I’m acting as if this is my first reading of this series in order for us to explore it together). I should also mention right now that there is lots and lots of sex (all varieties) here, so if that puts you off stop reading now and move on.
The first thing that caught my eye is the very good art (pencils, inks, and colors) of Maria Llovet. There’s a great flow from panel to panel and facial expressions and body language are spot-on. Very important for this type of story. Main character Faith is artistic, young and lovely. We also learn on the opening pages that she has difficulty achieving orgasm while masturbating. She hangs out at a coffee shop where her friends encourage her to keep sketching her magical/Satanic-influenced images. To Faith, magic is all about “connecting to energy and influencing things.” She strikes up an impromptu friendship with a pretty stranger (Poppy) after causing a coffee spill all over her clothing. Poppy is in the middle of a rough break-up with Michael, and her first act after learning of his suicide is to put the moves on Faith. (Ugh. I am definitely not warming up to this character!) Faith and Poppy end up at Poppy’s apartment, where after learning a little about each other, they end up in bed. Faith finally has an orgasm, but her new love may not be exactly who she seems (as revealed in a shocking final panel). This is promsing. I’m disturbed but also curious enough to continue. More to come . . . . . FOUR STARS.
FAITHLESS #2-4 (Boom! Studios, May-July 2019)
ISSUE #2: The storytelling of Azzarello and Llovet will turn most readers into voyeurs. Faith gets invited to an exclusive celebrity party (open sex and drugs) by Poppy, and gets nabbed by security when she attempts to take a photo, depositing her outside on the fire escape. There she meets a dark, seedy looking man sitting and smoking, blocking the stairs down. Poppy recognizes him as Mr. Thorn, an apparent celebrity. He grabs her ankle violently so that she loses her balance, and he can then pretend to save her from falling off the fire escape. Poppy appears to rescue her before his aggressive nature can take things further.
There’s an unexpected scene in an alley on their walk home, where Faith becomes the aggressor when three young men mock and taunt them, persuading them to do unto themselves what they intended to do to others. I was on the fence about continuing with the title, until the very last panel threw out another cliff-hanger: the mysterious Mr. Thorn is Poppy’s father. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
ISSUES #3 and #4: This marks the point where, after the cast of characters has been introduced, the supernatural and horror elements start to creep into the story. For my money, that just made it a bit more exciting. Issue #3’s cover is a spoiler- - now we can stop wondering if Faith will have sex with Poppy’s dad (full name revealed as Louis Thorn). But what does that reverse image of a winged demon indicate?
Odd things that Faith has been seeing out of the corner of her eyes (a feral wolf, etc) begin to seep into the lives of her close friends. Two of them perish in strange ways in these issues, and Faith starts to see ghosts at the worst possible moments. Unlike Poppy, Faith is devastated by the deaths - and Louis is there to comfort and console her. Although his presence near the death scenes is suspicious. They have many discussions about love and grief, although Louis is more indifferent than sympathetic in his attitudes towards everything. Faith takes a part-time job at his design/modeling agency, and ends up being interviewed on camera regarding a very troubling time in her past. The death of her friend Max at the end of Issue #4 is especially creepy and weird. FOUR STARS each for these two issues.
FAITHLESS #5-6 (Boom! Studios, August-September 2019) Before I review the final issues of this mini-series, I wanted to return to my comment in the Issue #1 review about THE DIVINE COMEDY, Dante’s long narrative poem. FAITHLESS is compared to it in the cover blurb. Just how well does it match up?
While familiar with the classic Italian literary work, I’ve never read it so I can only compare FAITHLESS to its’ themes (as stated on Wikipedia). The main character travels through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise (Heaven), meant to represent the “soul’s journey towards God”. THE DIVINE COMEDY is divided into three sections, beginning with “the recognition and rejection of sin (Inferno), followed by the penitent Christian life (Purgatorio), which is then followed by the soul’s ascent to God (Paradiso).”
Is FAITHLESS meant to be part of a trilogy? The final page of Issue #6 proclaims “Faithless Returns 2020”. FAITHLESS II recently debuted, and two issues have been released so far. The long story might make more senses, as Issue #6 doesn’t so much as end with any concrete resolution, but sort of reaches a stopping point, or intermission.
Let’s revisit that cover blurb: “An erotic depiction of faith, sex, and the devil in the tradition of the divine comedy.” The journey of Dante’s character begins in Hell; so is FAITHLESS following the same path with the first volume representing Azzarello’s erotic version of Hell? Or does it begin with “faith”? - - meaning the next volume will be “sex” and the final in the trilogy will be “the devil”. I don’t have the answers. However, if the first mini-series was ‘faith’, the next series will be off the charts. (Drat. Now, I have to seek it out. I originally passed on pre-ordering this when it was announced in Previews).
What’s that? You were anticipating a description of what happens in Issues #5 and #6? There’s really not much to spoil here, if you’ve been following the series. However, there is enough soul-searching, despondency, confusion, and grief expressed by Faith in Issue #5 to create a lot of empathy for her. I hope she fares well, but fear she is heading down the wrong path here, not so much a journey toward God, but the reverse.
There are plenty of symbolic images here, and references to the devil and his minions to get the point. Before it all ends, Faith ends up further involved with father Louis and daughter Poppy despite repeated warnings from remaining friends and a prophetic old homeless woman who keeps bumping into Faith since Issue #4. And, is Poppy just another representation of the devil, and father and daughter are just two manifestations? The same being?
I’ve done an about-face on this series. After the first read, I sort of dismissed it as interesting experimental fare from Azzarello. After the second reading, I’m going to try and pick up FAITHLESS II and see where this is going. I just hope I’m not on a journey, heading in the wrong direction. New evaluation: FOUR AND ONE-HALF STARS for the full mini-series.
FAITHLESS #1 (Boom! Studios, April 2019) I’m a fan of the writing of Brian Azzarello, especially his straight-up crime stories (100 Bullets). I also enjoy his steps off the proven path into arty and/or experimental work (Spaceman) but not as much. His name on the banner and some enticing cover art by Paul Pope was enough to make this an impulse buy when I saw it on the comic shop shelves. Issue #1 provoked enough curiosity to persuade me to pick up the rest of the series.
FAITHLESS was billed as ‘an erotic depiction of faith, sex, and the devil in the tradition of the divine comedy.’ We’ll see. That’s a tall order to follow.(I’m acting as if this is my first reading of this series in order for us to explore it together). I should also mention right now that there is lots and lots of sex (all varieties) here, so if that puts you off stop reading now and move on.
The first thing that caught my eye is the very good art (pencils, inks, and colors) of Maria Llovet. There’s a great flow from panel to panel and facial expressions and body language are spot-on. Very important for this type of story. Main character Faith is artistic, young and lovely. We also learn on the opening pages that she has difficulty achieving orgasm while masturbating. She hangs out at a coffee shop where her friends encourage her to keep sketching her magical/Satanic-influenced images. To Faith, magic is all about “connecting to energy and influencing things.” She strikes up an impromptu friendship with a pretty stranger (Poppy) after causing a coffee spill all over her clothing. Poppy is in the middle of a rough break-up with Michael, and her first act after learning of his suicide is to put the moves on Faith. (Ugh. I am definitely not warming up to this character!) Faith and Poppy end up at Poppy’s apartment, where after learning a little about each other, they end up in bed. Faith finally has an orgasm, but her new love may not be exactly who she seems (as revealed in a shocking final panel). This is promsing. I’m disturbed but also curious enough to continue. More to come . . . . . FOUR STARS.
FAITHLESS #2-4 (Boom! Studios, May-July 2019)
ISSUE #2: The storytelling of Azzarello and Llovet will turn most readers into voyeurs. Faith gets invited to an exclusive celebrity party (open sex and drugs) by Poppy, and gets nabbed by security when she attempts to take a photo, depositing her outside on the fire escape. There she meets a dark, seedy looking man sitting and smoking, blocking the stairs down. Poppy recognizes him as Mr. Thorn, an apparent celebrity. He grabs her ankle violently so that she loses her balance, and he can then pretend to save her from falling off the fire escape. Poppy appears to rescue her before his aggressive nature can take things further.
There’s an unexpected scene in an alley on their walk home, where Faith becomes the aggressor when three young men mock and taunt them, persuading them to do unto themselves what they intended to do to others. I was on the fence about continuing with the title, until the very last panel threw out another cliff-hanger: the mysterious Mr. Thorn is Poppy’s father. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
ISSUES #3 and #4: This marks the point where, after the cast of characters has been introduced, the supernatural and horror elements start to creep into the story. For my money, that just made it a bit more exciting. Issue #3’s cover is a spoiler- - now we can stop wondering if Faith will have sex with Poppy’s dad (full name revealed as Louis Thorn). But what does that reverse image of a winged demon indicate?
Odd things that Faith has been seeing out of the corner of her eyes (a feral wolf, etc) begin to seep into the lives of her close friends. Two of them perish in strange ways in these issues, and Faith starts to see ghosts at the worst possible moments. Unlike Poppy, Faith is devastated by the deaths - and Louis is there to comfort and console her. Although his presence near the death scenes is suspicious. They have many discussions about love and grief, although Louis is more indifferent than sympathetic in his attitudes towards everything. Faith takes a part-time job at his design/modeling agency, and ends up being interviewed on camera regarding a very troubling time in her past. The death of her friend Max at the end of Issue #4 is especially creepy and weird. FOUR STARS each for these two issues.
FAITHLESS #5-6 (Boom! Studios, August-September 2019) Before I review the final issues of this mini-series, I wanted to return to my comment in the Issue #1 review about THE DIVINE COMEDY, Dante’s long narrative poem. FAITHLESS is compared to it in the cover blurb. Just how well does it match up?
While familiar with the classic Italian literary work, I’ve never read it so I can only compare FAITHLESS to its’ themes (as stated on Wikipedia). The main character travels through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise (Heaven), meant to represent the “soul’s journey towards God”. THE DIVINE COMEDY is divided into three sections, beginning with “the recognition and rejection of sin (Inferno), followed by the penitent Christian life (Purgatorio), which is then followed by the soul’s ascent to God (Paradiso).”
Is FAITHLESS meant to be part of a trilogy? The final page of Issue #6 proclaims “Faithless Returns 2020”. FAITHLESS II recently debuted, and two issues have been released so far. The long story might make more senses, as Issue #6 doesn’t so much as end with any concrete resolution, but sort of reaches a stopping point, or intermission.
Let’s revisit that cover blurb: “An erotic depiction of faith, sex, and the devil in the tradition of the divine comedy.” The journey of Dante’s character begins in Hell; so is FAITHLESS following the same path with the first volume representing Azzarello’s erotic version of Hell? Or does it begin with “faith”? - - meaning the next volume will be “sex” and the final in the trilogy will be “the devil”. I don’t have the answers. However, if the first mini-series was ‘faith’, the next series will be off the charts. (Drat. Now, I have to seek it out. I originally passed on pre-ordering this when it was announced in Previews).
What’s that? You were anticipating a description of what happens in Issues #5 and #6? There’s really not much to spoil here, if you’ve been following the series. However, there is enough soul-searching, despondency, confusion, and grief expressed by Faith in Issue #5 to create a lot of empathy for her. I hope she fares well, but fear she is heading down the wrong path here, not so much a journey toward God, but the reverse.
There are plenty of symbolic images here, and references to the devil and his minions to get the point. Before it all ends, Faith ends up further involved with father Louis and daughter Poppy despite repeated warnings from remaining friends and a prophetic old homeless woman who keeps bumping into Faith since Issue #4. And, is Poppy just another representation of the devil, and father and daughter are just two manifestations? The same being?
I’ve done an about-face on this series. After the first read, I sort of dismissed it as interesting experimental fare from Azzarello. After the second reading, I’m going to try and pick up FAITHLESS II and see where this is going. I just hope I’m not on a journey, heading in the wrong direction. New evaluation: FOUR AND ONE-HALF STARS for the full mini-series.
February 13, 2025
This isn't my usual read. It's somewhere between a story from Heavy Metal and a 90s Vertigo book. The art isn't bad, and it's got sex and nudity, which I didn't realize was BOOM! Studios thing. The story is confusing, however, which really reminds of 90s Vertigo. There's some magic involved, and maybe some demons or something? Maybe the next volume will clear things up, but I don't think I'll be reading it.
July 23, 2024
De las cosas más horrorosas que me he leído en la vida. Una trama soporífera hecha para hombres heterosexuales. Puedes hacer algo erótico sin que resulte un cómic exclusivamente para pajeros, digo.
En fin, lo tengo disponible en vinted si hay algún interesado.
En fin, lo tengo disponible en vinted si hay algún interesado.
July 31, 2021
I am so confused about what I just read
September 20, 2022
Has potential if there was more actual plot and the plot that is there is very confusing. It's basically just porn. Would not recommend it.
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