The Me You Love in the Dark #3

The Me You Love in the Dark #3

Image Comics 2021

Written by Skottie Young

Illustrated by Jorge Corona

Coloured by Jean-Francois Beaulieu

Lettered by Nate Piekos of Blambot

Ro becomes even more intimate with whoever, or whatever, is haunting the old house as she finds the spark of inspiration for her most personal paintings yet.

This just gets weirder and weirder with each new issue and each turn of the page. I get that Ro isn’t scared of this being and that the time they spend together can be soothing and even lead to some of her most personal work in her paintings. But that doesn’t stop it from being as creepy as all get out considering how Jorge and Jean-Francois bring this creature to life. All the eyes and all the teeth that this thing has is gross to a degree and it makes me wonder if they don’t belong to the house's former occupants that this thing has absorbed over the years. So yes, I am fully engaged in this story because I am thinking way off page here based on what we see and that’s part of the beauty of what this series brings to the table.

I am a fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter brings their personalities to forefront extremely well. So Attison makes his guest spot appearance but for the most part this story centres around two characters and that this feels so complete that way is magnificently rendered. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more we want to see.

I like how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. How we see the layers within the story continue to open up new avenues to be explored while exploring those already opened really adds some great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved extremely well.

The interiors here are nicely rendered as well. They have this dark brooding feel to them that’s mixed with a more all-ages style that makes them feel unique. The linework is clean, crisp and strong and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail within the work is extremely well rendered. Backgrounds are utilised fairly well throughout and they do expand and enhance the moments beautifully. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. 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 various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a stellar eye for how colour works.

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Sometimes the best of the best in horror comes out of the most unexpected of places. While not quite the romantic horror tales of old it does come close in a modern Netflix kind of way. There is something about Ro’s innocence and naivety that really seems to be able to resonate with readers. What all this does is instill that innate desire to know and see more between these two and this rather bizarre relationship thanks to this excellent writing and characterisation which is brought to life by these mind numbing interiors.