DreamWalker: Autumn Leaves

It's easy to tell when you're walking into the middle of something. It gives you the feeling that somehow you missed something along the way. That's why I looked for something that said "Issue 1". I hate shopping for back issues. I found DreamWalker: Autumn Leaves. Its interesting cover and boldly stated "Issue 1 (of two)," drew me towards it, and I brought it home.

As I started reading, I got the definite sense of "I'm missing something". I was expected to know who people were, and stuff that had happened in the past. While this is good because it doesn't waste valuable story time with flashbacks (thereby boring regular readers who know what happened), it makes it confusing for those of us coming in the middle.

The story centers around the main character, Karen, who has the ability to visit people's dreams. For some reason or another, she's been peeping into her own mother's dreams for a while, and is disturbed by the fact that she's been seeing her Mom cuddling up to a guy, other than her deceased father. Even more disturbing is the fact that he seems to think he's her father. So she confronts her mother on this, and the truth comes out (but it'd spoil the fun if I told you). Somewhat soap opera-y, but the dialogue is very well-written, feeling like a real mother-daughter confrontation.

Despite the slightly boring story, this comic definitely has its redeeming qualities. A major one is the fact that the characters actually look like (get this) real women! It's amazing. And the akopis (a relative of the giraffe) on the cover and in the dream sequence in the beginning are well drawn and a fun addition.

This comic is published by Avatar Press, Inc. It is by Jenni Gregory, with Barry Gregory. By the looks of the letters page (always a good source of information) Jenni does both the artwork and the writing. I might be wrong.

Summed up, unless you are a fan of the DreamWalker series already, or you really like okapis, there's probably not much reason to buy this comic.While I appreciated many elements of this comic, it seems best geared towards fans of the series.