DC Horror Presents the Conjuring the Lover #1 Review
The Conjuring the Lover
Written by: David L. Johnson -McGoldrick & Rex Ogle
Art by: Garry Brown
Colors by: Mike Spicer
Lettered by: Becca Carey
Publisher: DC Comics
Tales from the Artifact Museum: The Ferryman
Written by: Scotty Snyder
Art by: Denys Cowan
Colors by: Chris Sotomayor
Lettered by: Becca Carey
Publisher: DC Comics
The Conjuring franchise has always been amazing about piquing its viewers’ interest, dropping enough terrifying threads to entice further exploration into its universe. This issue packs enough content within its pages to do just that (shoutout to those fantastic ad pages) and is a great installation to the series, though not always able to execute the suspenseful thrills the films are famous for.
The Lover ties into the coming film The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It which releases later this week and promises to reveal a heavy amount of clues the tie into the movie. The story follows a young woman, Jessica, returning to college after an anxiety-inducing first semester. Johnson-McGoldrick and Ogle reveal significant aspects to Jessica’s character this issue and we get some insight to the “lover” aspect that’ll run through this story. The opening pages are very gripping, especially the first pages of a ritual being conducted, and work well to set up Jessica’s current dilemmas and personality by having her accosted by her mother. Jessica’s feelings can be a bit over the top; I wish they were a bit more nuanced, but I understand being that young and enamored by someone and how difficult it is to not have every thought occupied by them.
Not much is revealed of the spirit/demon plaguing Jessica this issue, we’re mostly shown images of it encroaching on her. Which can make for some great scenes, in particular when she’s sitting at the library, there’s a great use of shadow and tension building. Though in the same scene, the lapse of intruding shadow is seen so it isn’t quite as tense. Having the figure hidden in one of the panels may have been more effective. There’s one panel I had trouble discerning what was under Jessica’s bed which slowed the pacing of the book, but otherwise the story had a great flow and moved at a quick pace.
The backup story and ads were probably my favorite portions of the book, I can’t wait to see what other artifacts are explored in the coming chapters. The Ferryman reads like an urban legend told in the schoolyard and packs a punch for such few pages.
This may be a series that will work far better as a collected edition rather than reading issue to issue, but there’s lots to enjoy here and if you’re already a fan of the series, you’ll definitely get a kick out of this title.
Written by: David L. Johnson -McGoldrick & Rex Ogle
Art by: Garry Brown
Colors by: Mike Spicer
Lettered by: Becca Carey
Publisher: DC Comics
Tales from the Artifact Museum: The Ferryman
Written by: Scotty Snyder
Art by: Denys Cowan
Colors by: Chris Sotomayor
Lettered by: Becca Carey
Publisher: DC Comics
The Conjuring franchise has always been amazing about piquing its viewers’ interest, dropping enough terrifying threads to entice further exploration into its universe. This issue packs enough content within its pages to do just that (shoutout to those fantastic ad pages) and is a great installation to the series, though not always able to execute the suspenseful thrills the films are famous for.
The Lover ties into the coming film The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It which releases later this week and promises to reveal a heavy amount of clues the tie into the movie. The story follows a young woman, Jessica, returning to college after an anxiety-inducing first semester. Johnson-McGoldrick and Ogle reveal significant aspects to Jessica’s character this issue and we get some insight to the “lover” aspect that’ll run through this story. The opening pages are very gripping, especially the first pages of a ritual being conducted, and work well to set up Jessica’s current dilemmas and personality by having her accosted by her mother. Jessica’s feelings can be a bit over the top; I wish they were a bit more nuanced, but I understand being that young and enamored by someone and how difficult it is to not have every thought occupied by them.
Not much is revealed of the spirit/demon plaguing Jessica this issue, we’re mostly shown images of it encroaching on her. Which can make for some great scenes, in particular when she’s sitting at the library, there’s a great use of shadow and tension building. Though in the same scene, the lapse of intruding shadow is seen so it isn’t quite as tense. Having the figure hidden in one of the panels may have been more effective. There’s one panel I had trouble discerning what was under Jessica’s bed which slowed the pacing of the book, but otherwise the story had a great flow and moved at a quick pace.
The backup story and ads were probably my favorite portions of the book, I can’t wait to see what other artifacts are explored in the coming chapters. The Ferryman reads like an urban legend told in the schoolyard and packs a punch for such few pages.
This may be a series that will work far better as a collected edition rather than reading issue to issue, but there’s lots to enjoy here and if you’re already a fan of the series, you’ll definitely get a kick out of this title.
A Look Inside
