







The mysterious saga of sisters Piper and Frances, continues in an even more harrowing way in issue three of Long Lost. We finally get a few more brief glimpses of the plot unfolding, but are still left waiting in anticipation, wondering, what exactly is going to happen next. Though I think it is rather unusual that by issue three we still do not have much of an outlined plot, I think the daring choice that Matthew Erman made by doing so really works for this particular series. It makes Long Lost a story of a mystery within a mystery.





While the plot certainly has yet to fully come together, issue three definitely offers a peek into the macabre world that the young women are slowly being introduced to. There are several pages mixed in throughout the book that don’t entirely seem to fit in a cohesive way. Though they seem slightly out of place, they bring an added level of intrigue and make you wonder just how they will tie in to the rest of the story. With each issue you feel the tension rising more and more, and there is just a brilliant level of uneasiness about the slowness of the series that truly does make it that much more of a genius book. It is strange to talk about the pacing of a book moving slowly or the plot taking a long time to unfold as positive things, but those particular things do make Long Lost a wonderfully intense read and sets it apart from many other graphic novels of this genre.









This particular issue does delve more into the horror aspect of the series and the outcome artistically is both breathtaking and haunting. Lisa Sterle’s ability to turn something horrific and grotesque into a thing of artistic beauty truly is an incredible talent. The usual black and white color scheme has shifted in this particular issue to one of black and purple, which makes the gory sequences that much more satisfying. The art was amazing in both of the first two issues, but I must say I think that issue three is my favorite, both in the story and the art.





The amounting tension built up in the first three issues has me anticipating issue four even more. If Erman and Sterle can keep up the momentum with this series, I think they have quite the graphic novel masterpiece on their hands!





-Rachel Rutherford





