"Long Lost: Book Two #1" Comic Review

Piper and Frances returned to their hometown to check in on their mother, only to disappear into a strange place filled with even stranger monsters. Now they have to make their way back to reality if they hope to survive. This is the beginning of the end for Long Lost as it enters its second half.

I was critical of Long Lost towards the end of its first arc as it meandered a bit and didn’t answer the many questions it had created over the initial six issues. While this new chapter doesn’t answer those either, it takes the series into some bold new directions and down into the darkest depths of horror.

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While the first phase of Long Lost is more foreboding and dreadful, this one leans into the terror. There’s still that unsettling feeling, like something awful is going to happen at any moment to these two women, but now it’s joined by the knowledge that there are creatures lurking in the shadows, ready to attack them if they’re not prepared.

This change happens instantly as Piper and Frances begin to explore this cave-like area they’ve found themselves in. Artist Lisa Sterle creates this eerie tone from page one. The cave is shrouded in darkness, so literally anything could be lurking nearby.

What the girls find, among other things, are piles and piles of dead bodies. They look old and decrepit, like they’ve been around for some time. They’re possibly mutated. What could have caused all this?

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We discover one such monster and it’s a big one. Each word it speaks is its own sentence, creating this strange speech pattern that forces you to pay attention to everything that comes out of its mouth. The word balloons are black with a red glow around them.

This issue builds to an incredible cliffhanger that solidifies the new path the series is heading down. It makes you wonder what else writer Matthew Erman has in store for Piper and Frances, as their lives have gotten increasingly complicated and surreal since this story began. They’re handling everything surprisingly well, but this latest revelation may just put them over the edge.