Adventure, Romance, Historical Fiction
Some of you have probably read a romance novel or two, or you may be someone who gets lost in your own dreams. Heck, you might even feel like you are living a whole other life in another place and time. Even if you feel like you fit in one of these categories, you’ve got nothing on Beatrice Whaley – the Dreamer.
The Dreamer is a tale about a young girl in our modern times who, when she falls asleep, ends up traveling back in time to the period of the American Revolution. Here’s the thing though, the dreams are so real, it is almost like she is there, experiencing everything that happens around her. it might be frightening to those who don’t know how to handle the sudden displacement, but for Beatrice it probably helps that there’s a certain Major Alan Warren who kisses well.
If this sounds an awful lot like the Dreamland Chronicles, also published by IDW Publishing, you wouldn’t be too far off. Both have the same premise of using the dream time to place the characters in far off lands, and each awakes believing their travels to be real. But that is where the similarities end. In the case of The Dreamer, Beatrice travels back to a very pivotal time in U.S. history and gets to experience it first hand, unlike Alexander who travels to Dreamland.
The basic premise is set up in the first issue, but readers won’t find out what role 18th century Beatrice plays in the revolution until later. What sets the Dreamer apart from other yarns, is writer artist Lora Innes has really done her research to make Beatrice’s story as historically accurate as possible.
Between falling in love with her dream man Major Warren, Beatrice must also live in the real world; a world where she is trying out for the school play and has a major crush on the school’s star football player. If it sounds a bit girlish, it is, and I like it. Very few comics (web or otherwise) have realistic female leads that can inspire girl readers. And guys if you are not into historical romance tales, Lora can draw, which means Beatrice and the rest of the cast are easy on the eyes.
One of my biggest complaints about webcomics is they can often be very difficult to read online if the resolution and size aren’t just right. In the case of The Dreamer, those viewing the webcomic at anything greater than 1024×768, might have some difficulty reading all the words clearly. Some are hesitant to read online, and frankly, taking a laptop into the bathroom to read, is rather cumbersome. Because of this, having a print version of the webcomic makes perfect sense. A print copy is easy enough to hand off to others, make available in school libraries, or just sit on your coffee table to make you look a little more highbrow than those “smash and bang soooper-heroes all them little kids are readin’ these daysâ€.
Of course if you don’t want to spend $3.99, the webcomic is free, which is something IDW Publishing has to have added into the equation when contemplating picking this series up for a print run.
I’m a sucker for dream themed stories, so when I found out about this issue, I knew I had to read it. I ended up enjoying the first issue tremendously. The story is intriguing, the characters realistic, the art is well done, and the pacing is just right. I’m giving The Dreamer #1 4 out of 5 Stars.
If you like to support the indie creator, The Dreamer is a tile worth checking out. The print issue arrives in stores this week (November 12), while the online version is available now.
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