The Conjuring: the Lover bridges fills in between the two most recent Conjuring movies, which definitely does not make the book a good starting point to the universe. Aside from that, the horror notes are impressive, the color palette and the skill to bring horrific elements to life is a plus.

https://noflyingnotights.com/blog/2022/06/21/dc-horror-presents-the-conjuring-the-lover/ A solid enough story that doesn't require the movie, plus the other stories hearken back to the Creepshow era of anthology horror.

A dark DC comic for sure. My students will enjoy--I wasn't that big a fan of the artwork and overall themes portrayed.

Oof, this did not work for me at all. It played so heavily on the "queer girl in the 80s hiding her queerness and being punished~ for it" trope, which felt gross and weird, and the art and storytelling weren't enjoyable, either. Plus, so much of it doesn't make any sense (like why on earth does [redacted] even HAVE a massive kitchen knife in their pocket?!). Nope, don't recommend anything about this.

Great illustrations. I dig the color scheme a lot in this comic. Good story and definitely brings an air of suspense and horror.

Interesting tie graphic novel. Starts off slow, but don’t give up! It gets better! Great artist wilier throughout the book with fun fake advertising invested in to the story. Fun quick must read.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

The art and story were amazing. Unsure why others didn't like it. I did. Story had turns one didn't suspect but good overall and the LGBTQ content was a surprise.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC which I received in exchange for an honest review!

As a major Conjuring universe movie fan, I was so excited when I got approved for this ARC. I love horror movies and until the first Conjuring movie came out, I hadn't found a horror movie that I truly enjoyed since the 80s/90s classics. This graphic novel was a great addition to the Conjuring universe. The suspense that you feel while watching the movies was present in this graphic novel and the artwork was amazing!

The only issue I had with this graphic novel is that I wanted more. More of what, I am not sure but just more which is why it is a 3.5 stars instead of 4. I still highly recommend this to anyone that is a horror fan and a Conjuring fan.

Great book for fans of the franchise. This graphic novel is based on the last conjuring movie: The devil’s made me do it. It centers one of the sacrifices.I liked how in the story we get to see another side of the events and get to know the characters. Exited to see more coming up!

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

Ever since the conjuring movies came out, I've always been in love with them. So, when I saw that there was a comic book, I was ecstatic. And after reading it I was not let down, I thought it was an amazing add on to the movies. I can't wait to see what comes next with this comic series

It was creepy and neat but I just don't get it. Maybe it's because I haven't watched the movie yet... I just didn't understand why things were happening. Did this even give any needed, additional info to go with the movie? I'm not sure the MC even has anything to do with the movie so what was the point? Also the art wasn't really my favorite. Sometimes the shadows, on faces especially, looked like dirt smudges and were just weird. The story was ok, just a little unnecessary, but I was shocked a few times from some of the scenes (in a good way). I don't think I'd go out of my way to buy this, but thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Probably the most interesting part were the short stories at the end about various artifacts from the Warrens' collection, and not all of those were great. Still, if you're already a fan of the movies, you'll enjoy getting a bit more background, if still left wanting.

The main story itself felt like it had a solid character, but not enough content to go with that character. If she's going to be called names for being lesbian then there better be more content to actually provide reasons for all that and go in depth. For a fairly long story, a fell pretty flat. I was still glad I could read it, as I do love the movies and welcome more content connected to those movies, but I'm hoping the next one is better. I may have gone into this with higher hopes than I should've.

As for the art, bit unclear and too dark or out of focus in parts. In other parts, the creepy vibe was decent and suggested the protagonist's fall further down the dark spiral of this tale. Not my favorite, but it worked.

Thank you to NetGalley and DC Comics for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Lover is about a college student named Jessica who just needs a freaking break. Between bad grades, poor social life, creeping anxiety and on top of it something is just wrong. She feels watched and it’s only a matter of time before the demonic entity tears her life apart.

Overall I liked this graphic novel. I like the well placed use of the dark space and the dynamic and urgency in shading in the tense scenes, that added to the eerie atmosphere of the story. The little fake demonic advertisements were cheeky and amusing to read through and did help break up the stories a bit.

Another aspect of The Lover that I appreciated is the imagery of the internal struggle of Jessica's repressed sexuality, and how it manifests itself into the terror that Jessica can’t seem to escape from.
For the most part, I also enjoyed the other bonus stories. Like the wedding dress one, it stuck with me the most.. Like I’m still thinking about and can imagine that creepy smile, even now. Now that was pretty creepy. I might say even a little bit more so than the titular story.

Now to the parts that I felt were a bit of a let down in The Lover.
As much as I liked the dark artwork and enjoyed reading this as a whole, as a big fan of the Conjuring series and world, I was a tad disappointed that the titular story wasn’t as creative as it’s original predecessors. I saw the whole story and ending coming pretty early on in the story. It definitely didn’t leave me guessing or on my toes all the way to the ending. And the fact that I enjoyed reading the bonus stories about the other artifacts of the Warren’s more, may go to show that the main story was maybe a bit lacking.

Overall The Lover was creepy, and I did enjoy reading it as a whole. It had all the ingredients for a decent horror graphic novel.
However, I feel like those ingredients could have been better used somehow, for such an expansive Conjuring universe that could have been drawn on. I would rate this as a solid 3 stars. It’s not terrible but it’s not stellar either. I really do think the bonus stories and amusing fake advertisements were fun and brought it up by half a point. I’m a rounder upper so it’s a 4 at this point, and I feel deservedly so.
I think most horror fans would enjoy this.
When it comes down to it, I can say that this is good enough for me to order an extra copy for my little sister, cause she’s a big horror fan and liked the Conjuring movies.

Thank you DC Entertainment and Netgalley for the advanced reading copy of DC Horror Presents: The Conjuring: The Lover.

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.

I never saw the conjuring movies so I came into this totally cold and yet, I loved it. It was so engrossing. It is a testament to the writers that they could get a newbie interested. I know I am in the minority. Most people are coming in knowing everything about this universe. For me, knowing nothing made it even more exciting. I read it all in one sitting.

This is a little difficult to review. The Conjuring universe is expansive and it keeps growing with things like this graphic novel. The stories themselves were just okay. The art was amazing. I would say that my favorites parts of the entire graphic novel were the fake advertisements sections. I found that really original. Overall, I would read another novel in this series but that's mainly because I like The Conjuring movies, not because I found this graphic novel exceptional.

This is a pretty good horror comic. The titular comic is only half the compilation. There are other stand-alone stores about the Warren artifacts. The reader gets the creepy stories behind items in the archive.
The art is chilling and works well with the content.

Good horror manga. I enjoyed. I really liked the art style throughout this. Would recommend for fans of DC Horror.

Fairly decent Teen horror title. Hard to translate the jump scares that drive the movie franchise to graphic novel format. Pretty good story though and good atmospheric art.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a creepy graphic novel! The art was great and really brought out the same creep factor. It would not have packed as much as a punch in other formats. It was dark and mysterious and I couldn't wait to see what happened next to Jessica. I will definitely be picking up the next installment!