The Conjuring: The Lover #2

The Conjuring: The Lover #2

DC Horror 2021

Written by David L. Johnson-McGoldrick & Rex Ogle

Illustrated by Garry Brown

Coloured by Mike Spicer

Written by Che Grayson

Illustrated by Juan Ferreyra

All Lettered by Becca Carey

Jessica’s life begins to take a turn for the terrifying as she finds herself experiencing increasingly disturbing events at her college. Most troubling of all, she begins to suspect that the phenomena she’s experiencing could have an unsettling origin-her own psyche.

Plus, Che Grayson and Juan Ferreyra bring you another trip into the Warrens’ haunted artifact room for a double dose of dread!

There is something about the main story that has tons of potential when it comes to the case of say demonic possession. A demon traditionally will get their host or target their host in ways that will break them down to make them a more pliable vessel and part of this is having Jessica think this is all happening within her own mind. Mind you this is all supposition on my part as i’ve never known someone possessed or anything like it but I have learned this much from watching all these films and shows. Still in my mind it makes sense and it adds another level of creepy to the story.

I am a fan of the way that this is being told. The story and plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceedingly well. The character development we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances that they encounter is pretty darn magnificently rendered. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story we’re pulled deeper into this as we watch her spiral further down the rabbit hole.

I greatly appreciate the way that this is being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and strengthen. The hallucinations, the boy who equates sex with love--been there done that, the twists in the story are within these layers and whether or not they work with the main arc or swirl around it they add depth and complexity to the book. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is extremely well achieved.

The interiors here are to die for. The linework is fantastic and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work is amazingly well rendered. That we see backgrounds in so many different forms and how they work within the composition of the panels to create the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is marvellous to see. The creativity and imagination on display can be normal, creepy or all the way to horrific and it works sensationally well. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is brilliantly rendered. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work and how it creates the mood, tone and feel is astonishingly well rendered.

The backup story is perfect! A haunted wedding dress is a fantastic item to have and one that’s so beautiful and timeless like what we see here is amazing. This is the kind of stuff you expect to see in the Warren’s home safe room.

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While I don’t see how this ties into the film at all it does tie beautifully into the Conjuring universe. It is so incredibly well written with marvellous characterisation and perfectly rendered interiors to match the story, making the horror comics genre a huge boost in its comeback.