Heroism comes in many different forms. Mainstream comic books have a tendency to work with a very narrow range of heroic archetypes. Writer/Artist Luana Vecchio explores a darker, more affectionate form of hero in Lovesick. Set in a world of S&M on the dark web, Vecchio’s story lashes out against page and panel in an idiosyncratic opening issue that leaves plenty of room for narrative improvement as the series progresses in the months to come. The series began as an initial three-issue arc on Comixology but is now being picked up by Image Comics and has been planned out through issue #7.

Domino is a dominatrix. She’s got quite a following online. Those paying for a membership get a box with polaroids and a few other things. She also does live streams. People may not know exactly what they’re seeing, but there’s a darkness to it that is coated in the kind of blood that could exorcise so many inner demons through the ghostly glow of the internet. It may feel cruel and sinister, but there’s a love underneath it all that seeks to heal the darkness within. Domino is hunting the dark corners of the human psyche.

There really isn’t much to the story for Vecchio’s first issue. There doesn’t have to be. The author introduces Domino with broad and compelling strokes. Domino is a loving dominatrix with a cruel streak that pours powerfully out of a warm and caring heart. Vecchio does not attempt to over render the moment. Domino says very little. Much of the dialogue comes in the form of people responding to the live feed of a torture session. The world Domino inhabits is much more heavily rendered in the narrative than Domino is herself. She’s the mystery in the center of the panel.

Vecchio’s conception of the series is much stronger than the art that she’s summoned to the page in the first chapter. With black and blues and splatterings of red, it’s all murky and largely indecipherable on a visual level. Domino does manage to make something of an impact on the page. For the most part, though, she’s swimming around in the bloody formlessness of Vecchio’s visuals. There needs to be a greater contrast between the hero and the world she inhabits if Vecchio is to develop a more dynamic story.

There’s real potential in a hero like Domino. She can go places and do things that most other comic book heroes can’t. Vecchio has an excellent opportunity to explore an extremely unique perspective on love and violence with Lovesick. A story like Domino’s could go in quite a few directions, and only a few of them are really going to live up to the potential of the premise. As of the first issue, she’s only peering into a relatively superficial level of a theme that could reach deep into the core of human consciousness.

Grade: B-