Lucy Dreaming #1
Written by Max Bemis
Art and Colors by Michael Dialynas
Review by KrisK
Lucy is dreaming, but she ain’t in the sky with diamonds. (Couldn’t help myself) Lucy is a thirteen year old goth, who does not like her life. Her parents don’t get her and her love of monsters. Her only retreat in school is in English class, where she loves to read about strong, tough women. One night, her eyes turn yellow, and thinking it’s another symptom of being on her period, she wants to talk to her parents. Unfortunately, they are busy in their bedroom.
Lucy goes to her room, and BAM!, she is in a Star Wars knock off dream. She is Princess Leia, fully realized and given the chance to kill, and it is a lot messier then in Star Wars. (Also, it’s a lot funnier.) The dream has a couple of twists from there as she learns this may not be a dream she will awaken from.
I honestly didn’t like the heroine of this story for the first few pages. She is a moody teen, and those can be annoying. Her walls start coming down though, and I found myself starting to relate to her. By the end of the comic, I was rooting for her. She is a realistic, flawed person written and drawn through the fun and funny BOOM! Studios lens. The supporting cast are entertaining parody mashups of various tropes, and the team embraces the corniness of it all. This absolute embrace, along with the fresh style of the comic, made it all feel unique and fresh.
The writing was funny, and I laughed out loud a few times. The pacing was good, and the ending left me wanting to know more. Max Bemis (Moon Knight writer and lead singer of Say Anything. Seriously.) has proven himself yet again as someone who can write a dang good story. The humor here never detracted from the suspense or the mystery of the situation but instead enhanced it.
The art was beautiful, and the colors were a neon playground of yellows, oranges and purples during the dream sequence. The faces were emotive, varying from realistic to over-the-top at the right moments. Michael Dialynas clearly had fun with this book. It has that light, beautiful feel of BOOM!’s Giant Days and Teen Dog, but drawn in a more grounded, suspenseful, and gory way. The vomiting, bleeding out alien was right on key with the story.
The down side is that the book takes a few pages to hook the reader, and with only four issues expected, I feel like I am going to get a rushed narrative that could play out over at least a dozen issues. Here’s to hoping Boom! pulls one of their patented “Mini Series! JK! Ongoing Series!” switcheroos, because otherwise, this train of amusement will turn into a clown car with no room to breathe.
Verdict: BUY! This series was a refreshing fun distraction from the dark, dank world, and at the same time, it shows the dangers of dreaming away the world around you. The creative team of Bemis and Dialynas are firing on all cylinders. The reader feels like they are along for the ride as it happens, instead of just getting the tale told to them when they already know how it ends.
