Before I get into The Me You Love In The Dark comic, some back story is important. I love writing. The process of sitting down and telling a story or even just talking about something I’m passionate about has always filled me with joy. In theory, writing is all about sitting down and, as the name suggests, writing.
In practice, though? It’s maybe 10% actually writing and 90% sitting and staring blankly at the screen wishing, hoping and willing words into existence while feeling emptier than a bottle of wine after a long day. It doesn’t matter how many words I have in me. The moment I sit down, it’s like a magician is playing a cruel trick on me, and they all disappear.
Then there’s the endless quest for “inspiration”, telling myself that if I take a quick break from staring at the blank document and say, watch a YouTube video, I’ll come back after, I’ll be super inspired, and the article will practically write itself. It never does. Instead, I find myself down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos, not enjoying any of them because of the growing stress of knowing I should be writing but being unable, or unwilling, to break the cycle.
By now, you’re probably reading this and wondering what this rambling has to do with The Me You Love In The Dark comic, the reason you clicked on this post. Well, it has everything to do with it.
Created by powerhouse team Skottie Young (Middlewest; I Hate Fairyland; Strange Academy) and Jorge Corona (Goners; No. 1 With A Bullet; Middlewest) for Image Comics (Crowded; Death or Glory; Home Sick Pilots) comes The Me You Love in the Dark, a story about finding inspiration in the most unlikely of places while drinking wine, lots and lots of wine.
Because of how new this comic is, it’s hard to talk about without diving into spoiler territory. The basic premise of The Me You Love in the Dark is relatable and straightforward. Our protagonist, an artist named Ro, ends up moving as far out of the city as she can, searching for some much-needed inspiration to help her be able to paint again. When a realtor shows her a house but warns her that the previous owners said it was haunted, Ro instantly knows she’s found the perfect place. After Ro moves in, she starts talking to the “ghost” in the house, hoping it will help her get past the creative wall she finds herself behind. However it just doesn’t seem to be working, that is until the ghost starts talking back.
At its core, The Me You Love in the Dark is a story about the creative block and a modern version of a classic haunted house story. It’s the type of horror story that will bring chills to your spine as you find yourself pulled in Ro’s world and her all too familiar struggles.
There’s a lot to love about the first issue of The Me you Love in the Dark, from the intriguing and engaging writing to the absolutely gorgeous art and mood-inducing colours. Overall, it’s a fanatically eerie start to what promises to be an award-winning mini-series.
Sometimes you’ll look at a comic, and without having to read a single word, you’ll be able to follow the story and feel yourself pulling into the world. That’s precisely what happens with The Me you Love in the Dark. Just by looking through the pages, you can feel every single emotion that Ro goes through as if you were the one in the haunted house or struggling with creative block. A feeling I need little encouragement to relate to.
Over the past few months, I’ve used this platform to talk about and recommend many different comics, all of which I loved, but this is the first time that I’ve spoken about a comic that feels so personal to me and my own fears and horrors. If you’re a horror fan looking for something to read while wrapped up in blankets on a cold night, The Me you Love in the Dark is what you’re looking for.
The Me You Love In The Dark promises to be something extraordinary, and I can’t help but think of some of my favourite Stephen King stories while reading it. If you want to pick up The Me You Love in the Dark for yourself, make sure you head over to Critters and Comics. The series is currently available Digitally or as 5 Single Issues.
If you head over to Critters and Comics today (Friday the 13th) and use code “glitched13” at checkout, you’ll be able to get 20% off any order over R300. Valid today only and expires at midnight.