The terrifying debut of the tie-in to The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It begins here, with a story that’s bursting at the seams with clues about the new film. Meet Jessica. Jessica just returned to her freshman year of college after winter break, bringing with her the anxieties of last semester’s poor grades, the awkwardness of facing a boy she wishes she’d never slept with, and an undeniably unnerving feeling of being watched. She soon comes to realize that something evil made her its target, and it will not rest until it has her in its unholy grip. But why did this sinister presence set its sights on a seemingly normal college freshman? Read this nerve-racking tale, creepily crafted by Conjuring screenwriter David L. Johnson-McGoldrick and Rex Ogle with heart-stopping art from Garry Brown and chill-inducing covers by Bill Sienkiewicz, to find out!
The Lovers is the first edition of five that prequels The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and tells the story of Jessica and Katie. Anyone who watched the movie will know the characters from their small storyline. And anyone who hasn't will have the enjoyment of coming into it fresh.
A slow but good start. I just hope the series is better than The Devil Made Me Do It. The worst of the Conjuring movies. I will say the backup story by Scott Snyder was quite good, if short, and I love the classic ads.
Shoutout to DC Comics for the digital galley of this comic anthology.
Jessica isn’t doing so well in college. She doesn’t want to go back, but her mother insists. This is the 80s; women can do anything, and Jessica is going to do college. She’s got the normal anxieties, exams, term papers, a boy she regrets sleeping with, but more than that, she cannot shake the feeling that she’s being watched, and not by some benelovent spirit. Something evil is following her.
This is a prequel/tie-in to the film, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and as a lover of this series, I thoroughly enjoyed this comic. Jessica’s story is the main plot, but it’s chocked full or shorter stories and themed, retro-inspired ads. It reminds me of a visual representation of some of my favorite horror anthology podcasts. I can’t wait to see the finished artwork, and I really hope DC continues this trend. I’d love to read more.
It’s out in March, so keep your eyes out for it if you’re a horror, comics, and Conjuring fan.
By now I’m sure most horror fans know of The Conjuring. This graphic novel is set in that same world of the possessed and demons. I grew up reading the horror comics of the ‘70s; Eerie and Creepy to name a few, and I’m sure they shaped some of the ideas and beliefs that I still hold today. My favorite is when the bullied or odd kid, finds a nice gruesome way to get back at their tormentors. Those actually taught a very valuable lesson; things can get better. You can win, you are better than them. Don’t give in, don’t give up, don’t let them win. Being the oddball teen, the crazy one, the weird one, I took these lessons to heart and knew one day their hatred would come around and somehow bite them back.
This is why I have a problem with the main story told in The Conjuring: The Lovers.
We meet Jessica. A teen who is not handling her first year in college very well. She has little to no friends, she misses home, and she misses her best friend. She begins to hear voices, evil voices that tell her she is worthless, no good, shameful, wrong. These voices drive her mad, causing her to do things that make her look crazy when the writer wants us to believe she is possessed. The demon keeps referring to her being unnatural, a hidden shame that will send her to hell, the reason why she is being tormented.
To make a long story short, she quits college and goes home when she realizes that all she wants is to love and be loved by her best friend. Yes, her deep dark secret that will send her to hell is the fact that this girl is a Lesbian.
Really? In 2022 we are still telling kids that this will send them to hell? This will bring nothing but damnation and insanity if they don’t go straight? This made me angrier than I can even begin to say. Those of us in the older generation have been telling young LGBTQ kids that it will get better. That they are not sick and are worthy of love. Being gay is not a death sentence yet here DC Comics is, not only tormenting the girl but making her do an unspeakable crime, cus, you know...all Lesbians are dangerous and sick. Then of course, because this is what she deserves, she is made to kill herself. Unforgivable. DC should know better. Should do better!
The rest of the book was better, the Warren archives were actually better stories than the bashing in the first one. Overall I enjoyed the ads the most. They did remind me of the ’70s when you could buy sea devils, (sea monkeys) and man-eating plants. They made me laugh when I was a teen and they still do.
Maybe just skip the first tale, and you will find a better book.
Thanks to @Netgalley, DC Comics, David L. Johnson-McGoldrick, Rex Ogle, Garry Brown, and Mike Spicer for giving me the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest opinion
Jessica is back to college from winter break, and something supernatural has targeted her. She has no idea why it's happening, or what makes her special enough for malevolent forces to fixate on.
This is the comic tie-in to the movie The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. I hadn't seen all of these movies, but actually caught part of this one prior to seeing this book's availability. The movie is creepy, as all good exorcism gone wrong movies are and was based on real events. This comic takes place in 1981, beginning with Jessica's first day back on campus. Her mother insists that college is the route to getting ahead, even though her first semester was awful, she had poor grades, and can't seem to avoid the young man she slept with and wishes she hadn't. It doesn't take long for the reader to see the creepy things around her; more than just noises, we see the hand coming out of the dark, and odd shapes beneath her bed. The creepiness is something that only she sees and hears (and us) until it goes to its horror-filled conclusion. We also see ads for occult items, rather like old comics, and the bonus stories that outline the origins of items seen in the movie.
I loved the touches that looked like old horror comics of the '70s and early '80s. The style matched the dark and creepy nature of the stories, and the helpless victims of the stories are so confused when they're targeted. The reader knows more than the characters do and knows something terrible is coming long before the poor victims even realize something is wrong. This collection is a fun addition for any horror comic fan.
En liten historik. Jag är uppvuxen med serietidningar som Dracula Lever, Chock och Terror. Om inte minnet sviker mig så kom många ut på 70-talet men man kunde ju springa på loppisar och fynda. Ofta var det korta små berättelser i stil med Mumien vaknar, Odjurets hämnd etc.. Som jag minns det korta skräckberättelser ofta med en twist på slutet.
Det här är ungefär samma sak men man har filmserien The Conjuring som övergripande tema.
Många av berättelserna skulle nog platsa ganska bra i Dracula Lever eller någon av de andra 70-tals tidningarna. Det är lite variation på berättelserna och jag verkar gilla de kortare som inte direkt har någon självklar koppling till filmerna. Twisterna lyser lite med sin frånvaro men i någon berättelse så tycker jag att det glimmar till.
Det är absolut ingen jättedålig samling och det kanske heller inte finns så jättemånga med liknade innehåll på bibblan. Den är blodig, hyfsat vältecknad och några av historierna kittlar fantasin.
Men det är ganska ljummen skräcksamling som varken tar ut svängarna eller imponerar mer eller får en jätteintresserad av filmerna. En ganska svag 3:a
I'm not sure if this was meant to be a positive LGBTQ horror story set in The Conjuring universe, but it most certainly wasn't.
First off, it's set in the 80s, which was a very bad time to come out of the closet. Secondly, the first half of the graphic novel is centered on a college-aged woman who is ruthlessly picked on, at least by the demon haunting her. The words get way dark and went beyond what I wanted to read. Then, as soon as the woman finally embraces herself just a little bit, she's tricked. Oh, and she ends up doing something that very much doesn't let her discover that it gets better. As a lesbian, I've read a lot of tired stereotypes and 'kill your gays' behavior, but this one is really, really bad.
The rest of the book is filled with several short stories and a bunch of fake ads. The ads brought a bit of a smile to my face because of nostalgia. The stories, though, were all a weak bunch with none of them deserving more than 3 stars.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.
The Conjuring: the Lover takes place in the 80's and is a prequel to the Devil Made Me Do It. At the end of the Lover story, there is a bonus collection of short stories called "Tales from the Artifact Room". It contains stories from writers such as Scott Snyder & "Domo" Stanton.
In the Lover, a college girl named Jessica is going through anxieties and the circumstances in her life when an evil presence begins to stalk and harass her, leading her in a downward spiral.
The stories are pretty short and sweet. Some really good ones in there like "The Ferryman" and "The Bloody Bride". The Lover story I felt was too short being that it was the main one. A lot of really good illustrations in there that capture the creepiness that James Wan puts in his movies. There were also these really cool & fun horror vintage looking ads in between the short stories.
If you love the Conjuring universe & horror comics, this is your read.
Cuando descubrí que se iba a crear unos cómics sobre los otros personajes de la película "The devil made me do it" me emociono muchísimo. Ya que a mi me gustan mucho esas películas y el formato de comics.Pero me sorprendio muchisimo cuando descubrí que esta historia la van a dividir en 5 cómics base a un solo personaje de los 3 que se ven representados en la película. Pero este cómic como introducción fue demasiado de muy corto apenas comenzó y ya salio la imagen con el mensaje "too be continued". Si me gusto la otra historia que pusieron pero pienso que se debió de haber extendido la historia principal y no poner la otra historia incluida ya que no tiene nada que ver con la película que se le está haciendo la precuela. Creo que para la otra historia se debió haber hecho su propio comic.
The Conjuring: The Lover strikes on that same creepy tone that all the movies in this universe do. Jessica is a seemingly normal person that suddenly finds herself thrust into a world of horrifying possibilities, yet she doesn't know it yet. These forces are working around her and she's completely unaware. Writers David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Rex Ogle handle this beautifully, setting an uneasy tone from the jump.
You can read James' full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
I really like the Conjuring series and was pretty excited to find out there was a comic. It tells the story of the Lover that was part of the curse in the movie. Remember? The Child, the Lover, the Man of God? yeah, that Lover. It also features a side story from the Warrens haunted collection, which was pretty well done. The best part of this comic though, the fake ads! Really. They had me in stitches. My only complaint would be, it should have came out as a graphic novel instead of issues first. Maybe the book will be out in time for Halloween.
I loved the first two movies and the third was decent and fun change of direction. This comic is really trying to capture the essence of the films with the scare tactics so I applaud them for that. The main story is slooooowwww and it felt like nothing happened. The side story was much better and reminded me of Tales from the Crypt which was really cool. The mock ads are a fantastic touch. I like the care this book is getting but the main story brings it down. Also, the art was not my style.
DC Horror Presents: The Conjuring: The Lover (2021-) #1 by David L. Johnson-McGoldrick and Rex Ogle(story), and Garry Brown (art).
I’m not familiar with the movie The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, so this tie-in with clues to said movie will be over my head for the most part.
We get introduced to freshman Jessica and the anxieties of last semester’s poor grades, the awkwardness of facing a boy she wishes she’d never slept with, and an undeniably unnerving feeling of being watched.
JUSTAMENTE en lo que más me falla la tercera peli de Expediente Warren es en esta bruja random que parece que quieren tratar de justificar con este cómic. Al menos, parece que van a tener historias extras con más objetos malditos del museo Warren como este sobre la moneda del Ferryman que se siente totalmente deudor de EC cómics.
It says there are 31 pages in the issue, but only 15 of those are the story. I kinda feel like I got cheated out of $4.
Whatever. The story was good. It has interesting characters in an interesting setting. It wasn't super engaging, though. I'll probably get the next issue...I'm thinking about it.
You know what, I gotta say, this does feel like a proper representation of both The Conjuring and many other modern horror movies, cause like most horror movies, they start out with the most generic and boring beginning you could imagine before they actually get to the good shit. Glad to see that even in print form, we are still refusing to innovate or switch things up.
Creepy, not much plot. I can't tell if it's anti gay or not. The demon definitely uses the character being gay to torture her. I think they're just capitalizing on a used up horror franchise.
I don’t usually like DC but when I saw the conjuring comics I knew I just had to have them and oh dear god they are amazing I love how it kinda moves like a film and not a comic it’s just gorgeous this is about prequel to the conjuring 3 kinda it’s about Katie lincoln who is mentioned in the conjuring 3
Highly recommend it if your a fan of the conjuring