‘The Conjuring: The Lover’ is a must-read prequel comic for diehard fans
By Mads Lennon
Before The Conjuring 3, or The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It as it’s officially known, arrives in theaters and on HBO Max next month, diehard fans of the spooky universe might want to pick up the prequel comic.
According to a new SYFY WIRE exclusive, The Conjuring: The Lover “will give longtime fans and newcomers alike a new story that leads into the events of ‘The Devil Made Me Do It,’ adding depth and context to the film while pushing ‘The Conjuring’ universe into comics for the first time.”
The comic series will come from DC comics, as the flagship title of a new DC Horror imprint. Today the imprint released a first look at the story and SYFY WIRE chatted with writers David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Rex Ogle to discuss how they went about creating this new phase of the billion-dollar franchise.
You won’t need to read The Lover to understand the story of Arne Johnson presented in The Devil Made Me Do It, but it will add a fun layer to your overall understanding of the film.
“Jessica’s story is a precursor to what’s happening to the main character, the cursed person in the film, Arne Johnson. All the things that are happening to Arne Johnson, they all happened in the past,” says Johnson-McGoldrick.
He continued, adding that what happens to Arne happened to The Lover‘s main character Jessica, too.
“So it really sets the table for what the stakes are for the film. If you were to go out to and read this comic book before you ever saw the movie, it would establish stakes. It would establish what’s going to go wrong, if our heroes don’t prevent this from happening to Arne.”
The writer also said that attentive viewers will spot a connection to Jessica in the movie!
Is The Conjuring: The Lover the start of a new series?
Per the source, the new comic will debut June 4, the same day that The Devil Made Me Do It is released. It will run for five issues, with each issue focusing on a new story that “sheds light on an object from the Warrens’ famous supernatural artifact room.”
While it’s not clear if we’ll see additional comics borne from this specific horror franchise, it’s clear that the DC horror-specific imprint opens the doors for more continuations. Many significant horror franchises have already ventured into the comics space, so it’d be great to see additional entries from other horror series.
dark. Next. 25 best 90s horror movies of all-time
The Conjuring 3 will officially hit theaters and be available to stream beginning on June 4 on HBO Max.