The Dreamer #6

Rating NR Genre romance Author Lora Innes Publisher IDW

We all have strange and unusual dreams. Sometimes in those dreams we find ourselves in a terrifying fall or remembering old friends long forgotten. Then occasionally we come across the dreams that we can’t explain. The dream is too strange to be real. Not often do those dreams influence the real world. What if a recurring dream had real story and history behind it? Lora Innes’s web comic is about the strange dream of one young teenage girl. 

The Dreamer is the story of a young, beautiful, high school senior girl named Beatrice Whaley. A girl who had everything she needed in life, until her innocent dreams became more than just dreams. Bea begins having vivid dreams about a brave, young soldier named Alan Warren, a member of an elite militia group known as Knowlton’s Rangers during the Revolutionary War. At first Bea welcomes her nightly adventures in 1776 filled with danger and romance; they give her much to ponder about the next day during school. But it is not long before Beatrice questions whether her dreams are merely dreams or something more. Each night they pick up exactly where the last one ended. In this issue the handsome Alan is conflicted on whether or not to send the lovely Beatrice away. He is afraid that the fields of battle are no place for a lady, but his love for her makes the decision grueling. She wakes, ironically as she is sung asleep by Alan. Later on a close friend visits her, she confesses to her all her encounters and worries. Even though she knows the brave Warren is nothing more than a dream, she has fallen for him. Confused on whether these images are something more, Bea can’t decide if she should live her life while awake or asleep. IDW publishes the paperback version of the book, but the comic can be read online at the website. The issues are broken up per page, with a few being released every week or so. 

The story is the worst part of the comic, but it’s not entirely unbearable. The problem with it is that it develops too slowly. I don’t know who would actually be interested in this comic. The story is like something out of a 99-cent romance novel found at the local corner market. The love between two strangers that spans 230 years might be romantic for some people, but in this case it just feels uncanny. Half of this issue is Bea and her friend gossiping out a boy who, for all they know, is still nothing more than a dream. Despite the story, Lora Innes does a great job with the illustrations. The images are almost cinematic at times. Each cell is simple yet unique.  The illustrations are the only thing that remotely appealing to me in this comic. I feel sad to say that I can only imagine dramatic Middle School girls being interested in The Dreamer. This comic seems like it has such a small demographic that I really couldn’t recommend it to anyone. As a series I’m sure the story will be interesting, but it’s certainly nothing we haven’t seen a hundred times before.