Faithless vol. 3

Vol. 1 promised us lots of sexy fun, but was bogged down by a conventional, almost moralistic narrative.

Vol. 2 managed to get away from that by suggesting that there are perks and good times to be had by selling your soul to the devil for what you want.

Vol. 3, however, is closer to the first volume than the second as Faith’s bloody return to the real world is marked by the loss of what she had when she left.  That would be her unborn child, which is still in Hell for all she knows.  Louis, on the other hand, does know exactly where the kid is but he’s not telling.  He’d much rather see what Faith creates as a result of her infernal sabbatical while dancing along to the tune he plays.  Faith has had enough of that and she’s now ready to try and beat the devil at his own game.

Artist Maria Llovet tops herself when it comes to displaying over-the-top sexual action with this volume, just from the hellishly derived sequences that kick off most of the issues in this volume.  Really, they’re a smorgasbord of “I didn’t expect to see THAT when I woke up today!” visuals and there’s plenty more sexiness strewn throughout vol. 3.  If only the story was as creative or ambitious.  The struggle and wordplay between Faith and Louis generates a little heat, but not enough to get you fully invested in their story when you realize that it’s headed exactly where you expect it to.  “Faithless” may have been trying to tell supernatural and sex-filled take on the story seen in “A Star is Born,” except it leaves you feeling that Llovet is the real star here while writer Brian Azzarello is using her skills to prop up his fading ones.  I didn’t expect to write that here, but it’s the truth of this series.