Ro is inspired to paint like never before, but at what cost to her and her sanity? Find out in The Me You Love in the Dark #4, from Image Comics!

THE ME YOU LOVE IN THE DARK #4

Writer: Skottie Young
Artist: Jorge Corona
Colorist: Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Letterer: Nate Piekos of Blambot
Editor: Joel Enos
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: November 3, 2021

Previously in The Me You Love in the Dark: Ro finds inspiration in the ghost in her haunted house and is painting a lot. She may be involved in painting, but the creature teases her and coaxes her to set her paintbrush aside and spend time with it. It puts on the music she loves so she dances with it. Is it being manipulative? When Attison, from the gallery, calls, she is making popcorn for movie night with the creature. The holidays come and go, and then the creature makes Ro a gift of a room full of old paintings.

THE TRUTH IN THE DARKNESS

The Me You Love in the Dark #4 opens with Ro pulling the curtains aside to look at the sunny outdoors. The creature tries to coax her back to bed. But Ro is feeling cooped up. She loves her painting in the dark, but it has been months and she wants to get out. The creature sounds rather sulky about this. Before she can get outside, she finds the dining room table set, covered with candles and lots of food and wine. She gives up on going out.

The creature is definitely showing how manipulative it is. Last issue, it seemed that Ro found it sweetly romantic. Now we start to see how cloying its behavior is, and Ro is getting restless. A couple weeks later when the creature wants to dance with her, she wants to keep on with her art, and it accuses her of that being all she cares about. She gets irate, because art is her work, and that is supposed to be what she cares about.

It loses its temper, terrifying Ro. It immediately apologizes and asks her to help it do better. This is not a healthy relationship, and their interactions become decidedly uncomfortable. But Ro starts thinking.

Attison calls and can tell she is in a bad mood, but she hangs up on him before he can find out more. Another day, Ro opens the curtains again. The creature asks her to close them. She refuses and it yells at her. This time she raises her voice back to it and tears the curtains down. It threatens that she is going to regret it. A knock on the door interrupts. Attison has found her. The creature orders her to ignore him so he will go away.

She lets him in, and he immediately points out how incredibly dark it is. Then he flips the light switch. He walks into her studio and is stunned by the sheer volume of paintings she has completed. Then he takes a closer look. He cannot quite find words, but he asks her if she is okay. As Ro converses with him, the creature grows more insistent that she make him leave. Instead, Attison becomes more concerned about her and starts to make plans to get her out.

A HORROR REVEALED

The Me You Love in the Dark #4 is full of emotional intensity. The subject matter is truly dark. The creature is not just a metaphor for an abusive relationship. What is fascinating is watching Ro as she realizes this and makes her stand. From the start, we can see she is no longer as charmed by the creature as she once was. Then she gets seriously fed up. Whatever the creature does when she talks back looks to us like loud talking and a huge mouth full of teeth. Her reaction is the utter subdual that comes with terror and a desire only for things to stop and not happen again.

The shift has been gradual, so we almost don’t realize how dark it is in the house until we see Attison outside in a lush green park on a bright spring day. This foreshadows his visit when he walks in, full of life and enthusiasm. He turns on the light and again, the contrast shows us just how dark it had become. I also love this scene because the monster lurks in the background, all eyes and teeth in a formless body. But it is a formless body no one else can see. Is it real, or is this a manifestation of what is in Ro’s own mind?

BOTTOM LINE: AN UNCOMFORTABLE RELATIONSHIP

The Me You Love in the Dark #4 can be profoundly uncomfortable and emotionally raw. Ro may be the victim here, but she works hard not to be helpless and to keep a grip on who she really is.

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