DC Horror Presents The Conjuring: The Lover #2 – David L. Johnson-McGoldrick, Rex Ogle, Che Graysob, Writers; Garry Brown, Juan Ferreyra, Artists; Mike Spicer, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: This new foray into licensed horror continues to be strong in its second issue, as Katie tries to settle into college life–only to be literally haunted by a supernatural force. The story does a good job of balancing the supernatural horrors with something much more mundane–social anxiety. As she tries to fit in, scares seem to conspire to socially humiliate her. A phone call to her girlfriend leads her to try to step out of her comfort zone, but it backfires as she finds herself in an uncomfortable situation and strikes out on her own again. The tension in the main story builds as Jess starts seeing more and more disturbing things–leading to a gut punch of a cliffhanger as we see exactly what the mysterious demon might be trying to make her do. Horror works best when we care about the people in danger, and we do here–but is she actually the victim, or will she become the horror people are in danger from?
The backup continues the pattern of stories centering around cursed artifacts in the Warren museum. While last issue’s Snyder/Cowan story focused on a man who angered a spirit through theft, this issue’s Che Grayson/Juan Ferryra tale has a different message–when the spirits are angry, nothing will save you. It’s the story of a young woman on the verge of getting married who is searching for the perfect dress–and she finds one, albeit one with a mysterious name stitched onto it. A bit of research reveals that it belonged to a woman who killed her cheating husband-to-be right before the wedding–which should have been a red flag, but what do I know? She keeps the dress, and things get nice and creepy before the story ends. The story was a little overly simple, but it delivers in one key area–its key ghost is very creepy and delivers some great scares.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
