Webcomic Review: Dreamless
A little announcement before we begin: Tonight (Tuesday, the 16th of June) is the series finale of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. Andrew’s doing a survival special in a Mexican jungle, where I imagine the local population of animal genitalia has subsequently dropped dramatically. If you get the Travel Channel where you live, check your local listings to see when it airs! We’ll miss you, Zimmern! At least until your new show airs this fall….And now, back to your regularly-scheduled webcomic review.
This time, we’re hittin’ up the fabulous, dramatic, mysterious Dreamless, which updates most Mondays and is written by Bobby Crosby, with illustration by Sarah Ellerton. And I’m taking it easy on you guys this go-around: Dreamless is a new webcomic that’s currently only twenty pages in. Meaning, you won’t have a library’s worth of archives to catch up on if you decide to check it out! (You’re still trying to get through all the archives from Misfile, right?)
Where on earth do I even begin with this comic? I’m not familiar with Bobby Crosby’s writing, though after seeing what he’s done with Dreamless, I’m definitely gonna check out his other webcomic works. Sarah Ellerton is my current favourite webcomic graphic artist, and her art is what attracted me to Dreamless to begin with. (You can darn well expect to see reviews of her other amazing webcomics on here later, the ongoing The Phoenix Requiem and the completed Inverloch!) The two make an excellent writing/illustrating team, and you see that waving out to you from every page.
Dreamless is so new that much of the story’s still a secret, but in the twenty pages published so far, it’s already managed to pull out a few surprises (and more than a few tears). The story opens in the 1940s, with a young woman receiving last rites. This is Elanor, the lead character. So…what’s wrong with her? Why is she so desperate for everyone to go away and let her sleep that she whips out a gun hidden under her pillow?
We don’t know yet, because after she falls asleep, the story flashes back to her childhood in the 1920s. Right away, it’s obvious things aren’t entirely normal. Elanor and her family are American and live in the States, which is normal enough. Elanor’s first words, spoken on her second birthday, are “Happy birthday.”
Unusual, but not impossible for a child’s first words…except that she says it in Japanese, despite never having been taught the language.
Other strangeness is connected to her family; it’s made clear early on that Elanor’s mother is extremely fragile mentally and/or emotionally, leading quickly to a family tragedy. A slightly older Elanor tells one of her dolls during a tea party that her mother “talks to people who aren’t there.” (Elanor’s talking to her doll is also shown as being disturbing to her mother, even though children often have imaginary friends, so the tea party is held in secret.)
And this is where we learn a bit of the meaning of the title Dreamless: Elanor tells her doll that she never dreams when she sleeps. Instead, she sees through the eyes of Takashi, a boy in Japan who was born on the same day as Elanor, and who in turn sees through Elanor’s eyes when he’s asleep. They can’t hear each other’s thoughts, but they can communicate by speaking aloud (which attracts worried glances from anyone who happens to overhear). The person who’s awake talks and asks questions of the one who’s asleep, and the sleeping person responds after waking. They’ve shared everything about their lives since birth, which is why Elanor can speak Japanese, and Takashi, you probably guessed, can speak English.
And now you know about as much about Dreamless as everyone who already reads the comic…except for the bits I left out because I don’t want to ruin all the surprise for you when you go to check it out for yourself! (And you will…right?)
Like I mentioned before, the art for this comic is stunning. Sarah Ellerton’s line and colouring work is of a high quality not just for webcomics, but for any sequential art out there. When you take into account that she does all the art herself, for two webcomics in addition to other works like commissioned art and her own writings, it’s honestly amazing that she can find the time to put out such terrific work each week. You’ll notice a few anatomical issues here and there, but they are so minor as to be hardly worth mentioning, and again, it’s understandable when you have to work as quickly as she does.
Bobby Crosby is another matter, and is the source of my only real complaint when I hit the comic’s site. His writing is brilliant–he’s made me smile, gasp, and cry in only twenty pages, and I can’t wait to read his other works. But if you’re thinking about leaving a comment on one of the comic’s pages, be careful of what you say. Crosby is rather infamous amongst the online crowd for being, well, incredibly condescending and often downright rude to his audience, often displaying a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality that easily tips over to Hyde. I’ve seen him insult people without provocation, then ban them from leaving comments on the site after they protested the treatment. I’ve also seen him ban people because he thought their questions/plot hypotheses about the comic were stupid. None of this will keep me away from the comic, though, and it shouldn’t deter you, either! It’s such a beautiful tale, you can just ignore the comment sections and read the comic itself (however, I, your loyal reviewer, had to subject myself to all aspects of the comic site in order to write a fair review….DO YOU SEE WHAT I GO THROUGH FOR YOU GUYS?! I love you all that much.)
Now it’s that time again–the time where you go catch up on the brief archives of Dreamless while they’re still small enough to be manageable, and the time where I go drown my nonexistent sorrows in a cup of hot honey milk tea. Later, taters!
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June 25th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
“I’ve seen him insult people without provocation, then ban them from leaving comments on the site after they protested the treatment. I’ve also seen him ban people because he thought their questions/plot hypotheses about the comic were stupid.”
None of that has ever even come close to happening. You have no brain.
June 26th, 2009 at 12:08 am
Going under one of two assumptions: You’re an imposter trying to make a brilliant webcomic that deserves more hits look bad. In which case, you’ve failed miserably, since when I crosslinked this article on my private site blog, I had 17 people say they were interested in reading the comic, and most linked to it on their own blogs, and those people may have linked to other people, and so on and so forth.
If you’re the real deal, then all you’ve done is beautifully prove my point about the writer’s behaviour. Either way, congratulations on failing miserably!
June 26th, 2009 at 3:59 am
“all you’ve done is beautifully prove my point about the writer’s behaviour.”
Yes, because whenever anyone makes any kind of insult that contains bad words or sounds in any way childish (”no brain”), that means that person is the devil and must be wrong about everything they’re saying. I despise people like you. Please explain how in any way I just proved your point. Are you actually somehow saying that you didn’t provoke me to insult you??? You slandered me in a disgusting way. You of course won’t even give one example of your claims against me.
“I’ve seen him insult people without provocation”
Again, this has never happened. Your definition of “provocation” must be nearly as bad as your definitions for “questions” and “hypotheses.”
“I’ve also seen him ban people because he thought their questions/plot hypotheses about the comic were stupid.”
This one has never even come remotely close to happening.
Isn’t it shocking enough for you that I’m not super nice for no reason to all of the people who comment on my sites like almost all other online comic writers? Can’t you simply be appalled by the fact that I actually respond in an upset manner towards the trolls and assholes and liars? No, not enough — you have to make up lies about me too because you hate me so much for some reason.
June 26th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Once again, you’ve made the point so much better than I could have: “[the writer] often [displays] a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality that easily tips over to Hyde.”
“Slandered”
That word does not mean what you seem to think it means. That’s not poking fun; it’s a tip.
If you’re going to put yourself and your name out in the world, it’s just a simple fact of life that not everyone is going to like everything about you. And most of them are going to be much more personal and much less professional in their expressed opinions than I try to be. Did you miss the fact that this was actually a POSITIVE review, warnings about short-tempered writers notwithstanding?
You may not believe or like it, but we’re on the same side here: I want to see the independent artists succeed for once, and I’ll climb as many soapboxes as I have to in order to get the world to recognize them. But that doesn’t mean everything I say is going to be all sweet and rosy. I’m going to speak the truth as I see it. Anyone who’s old enough to be on this site is old enough to know that Your Personal Opinions May Vary. I just provide a reference point to get people to the comics they may not otherwise hear about, and I want them to know what they might find once they get there.
We’re probably not going to agree on this, so the best thing is for you to just keep writing the content for Dreamless that keeps us all checking the site urgently every week, and I’ll keep collecting soapboxes and looking for more talent to promote here.
June 26th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
“Did you miss the fact that this was actually a POSITIVE review”
Please explain what that has to do with your lies about me. Where the hell are your examples of your false claims about me? The lady in “Misery” loved that writer’s work too, remember? Nothing you say makes any fucking sense.
“I’m going to speak the truth as I see it. ”
What the fuck — then why do you keep lying about me and refusing to provide examples of your lies???
“Anyone who’s old enough to be on this site is old enough to know that Your Personal Opinions May Vary.”
You said that you’ve seen me ban people simply because I didn’t like their questions or theories about the comic. This has never come close to happening and you prove that with each comment you make that doesn’t provide an example of that.
June 26th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
And everything you say only convinces me that you’re not here to hold a reasonable discussion, so we’re done now.
Crosslinking this entertaining conversation around online introduced new people to this site. And may send new people Dreamless’ way as well. Thanks for the site hits and free publicity!
June 26th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Okay, as head writer of this site, I’m going to jump in here and ask that this flame war stop. Mr. Crosby, I would appreciate it if you would refrain from using harsh language on this web site. If it continues, I will shut this comment section down. This is a website for writing about geek culture. DKM clearly wrote a glowing review about your web comic first and foremost. The fact that you ignored that and attacked her based on her OPINION is not something we condone here. What she did is no different than what a restaurant or film critic might do in a review. She doesn’t need proof to defend observations she has made to form an OPINION. The fact that you have repeatedly come in here to flame her certainly reflects badly on you and tends to make her OPINION look more valid. I would recommend that you let it go, and if you feel the need to continue this that it be done elsewhere. Thank you.
June 27th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Hello, this is your friendly neighborhood editor, and while I am for discussion, even when it is heated, I do not like excessive swearing on our site.
Comments are now closed on this post.