History ComicBook / LoveEverlasting

* {{Cowboy}}: An assassin who shows up to kill Joan whenever she strays too far from the romance story she's currently living is almost always dressed as a cowboy, complete with six-shooters, a hat and a brown fringe jacket, and is [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep only ever referred to as "the Cowboy"]].

* GenreShift: Even amidst [[GenreRoulette the constant genre-hopping most of Joan's ventures take place in]], the "Just West of Love" arc stands out by heavily toning down the {{romance}} tying everything together and being more of a traditional, gritty [[CowboyEpisode western]]. The basis for this is its protagonist is not Joan, [[ADayInTheLimelight but The Cowboy]], taking place in presumably his native time and following his exploits in finding and falling in love with Joan, [[spoiler:who suddenly vanishes into thin air before him after they agree to marry.]]

* LoveMakesYouEvil: The "Just West of Love" arc [[spoiler:reveals that The Cowboy that had been hunting Joan and enforcing her compliance in her various love stories was himself one of her previous love interests. He was so unable to let Joan go after she promised they'd live happily ever after that he spent three years traversing the west -- [[OneManArmy killing seventeen men, four women]], and ''[[WouldHurtAChild three babies]]'' -- all just for a chance at being with her again. He ends up being discovered by Penny Page, revealing that she employed him as part of [[ThePowersThatBe the unseen system responsible for Joan's situation]], and that despite bluntly telling him that the job she's offering is to find Joan and ''kill her'', he accepts as he realizes it's the only way he will ''ever'' get to be with her again.]]

* ADayInTheLimeLight: "Just West Of Love" focuses on The Cowboy and his true intentions.

* HappilyMarried: {{Deconstructed|Trope}} throughout the "Too Hip for Love" arc, where Joan ends up accepting a marriage proposal, but unlike every other loop [[ResetButton that resets immediately afterwards]], the story continues past it and she ends up living a full lifetime of marriage, seemingly for the first time ever. Joan is massively unprepared for this development and ends up living through her life almost entirely on inertia, though besides occasional appearances by The Cowboy (who pressures her to remain in line, [[FriendlyEnemy but otherwise remains harmless]]) and [[RevealingContinuityLapse the bizarre warping of time keeping everyone in the year 1963]], everything mostly works out, settling down with a sincerely loving husband and raising two sons together... [[spoiler:until one day, [[SanitySlippage she snaps under the pressure and existential despair]], ending up in and out of mental institutions for several years, and having to eventually endure the twilight of this love story with [[TheTopicOfCancer Don passing away from lung cancer]] and growing old. However, when confronted by the funeral home on whether or not she'd approve of being buried next to him with the tombstone reading "Loving Mother and Wife", Joan refuses, [[WhamLine bluntly confessing]] "I ''never'' did ''love'' him." Yes, Joan accepted that Don was a good man, a good father who helped her raise their children even during her times of hardship, and she did miss him when he died... but she didn't ''love'' him, and her entire life and everything that resulted from their marriage was ultimately perfunctory on her part.]]

* GenreRoulette: The various love stories Joan ends up in manifest across various different settings and tones, taking the form of a reserved but sweet OfficeRomance, the lighthearted young-adult hijinx of college students in The50s, a handful of melodramatic tales taking place in [[TheWestern the Wild West]], the somber romantic drama amidst World War I, etc.

* GenreDeconstruction: Of Romance comics.

* RevealingContinuityLapse: The "Too Hip For Love" arc (issues #6-8) follows Joan in a particular life from being a young adult to an elder, yet throughout all of it, it appears to remain 1963 -- she graduated in the Class of 1963, she became married in 1963, she moved into her first house in 1963, and both of her children were born in 1963 (despite being born two years apart). When she actually brings this up to her father, he points out that she was married 10 years ago in 1953, a definite signifier that something is actively screwing with whatever reality she's in.

* {{Postmodernism}}: The series is a play on the StrictlyFormula nature of classic western romance comics, often being simplistic {{Romance Arc}}s intended as WishFulfillment-y fluff, [[RecycledWithAGimmick transposed into various settings with new characters but fulfilling the same purposes]], with long-running romance comics in particular featuring [[StatusQuoIsGod a strict adherence to the status quo]] that can keep the love story continuing for as long as possible. ''Love Everlasting'' features the story of the main female protagonist [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall who is keenly aware that her life is a perpetual series of love stories]] that simultaneously ''keep'' changing and ''never'' change, and her attempts to defy the loop she's in results in [[SurrealHorror dire and bizarre turns]].

* WhamEpisode: Issue #5, "Trapped in Love", finally gives at least some insight into what's going on with Joan. [[spoiler:After defying the loop a few times too many, Joan is sent to a meeting with romance counselor Penny Page, who is actually employed by the system she's trapped in]]. It’s revealed that Joan has a complicated relationship with her mother, who [[spoiler: may be responsible for Joan’s situation.]]

* ArcNumber: In the "Too Hip for Love" arc, [[spoiler:where Joan's story keeps going even after she's married, she remembers all major events in her and her husband Don's lives as happening in the year 1963: graduating college, moving in together, the births of their children, etc.]]

* TheEndingChangesEverything: Issue #3 ends on a bit of a twist that puts Joan's romance in a new light: [[spoiler:the spinster librarian Joan is actually the real one, and the young Joan Peterson we've followed this time is a different one who by some quirk of this loop like her and shares her name. Also, we learn that librarian Joan spent so much of her life travelling the world and never staying in one place too long because she was running from the Cowboy, but ended up drawn back to her original hometown and came back anyway]].

''Love Everlasting'' is a comic book written by Creator/TomKing, illustrated by Elsa Charretier and published by Creator/ImageComics.

* StepfordSmiler: In issue #7, [[spoiler:after Joan marries her current story's love interest, Don, she and him move in together and have children and she becomes a housewife. For the first half of the issue, she seems happy with this existence, but then when she comes home one day, she snaps and trashes her living room]].

* WhamEpisode: Issue #5, "Trapped in Love", finally gives at least some insight into what's going on with Joan. [[spoiler:After defying the loop a few times too many, Joan is sent to a meeting with romance counselor Penny Page, who is actually employed by the system she's trapped in]].

* CruelTwistEnding: The "Too Hip for Love" arc [[spoiler:has Joan's story continue after she gets the apparent love interest, Don, to propose to her after a drunken night out and follows her as they two of them marry, have children and grow old together until Don dies of cancer. Later, when she moves into a nursing home, she becomes friends with another resident there, Ralph, and falls in love with him for real. Right after they both profess their love for each other and kiss, another romance story starts for Joan like so many times before and she is heartbroken and furious that the whole life she just lived was swept away]].