THE SEEMS OF A DREAM #1 – Indie Review

In THE SEEMS OF A DREAM #1, available now from Verse the System Studios, Slip is trapped between a dream and the waking world where everything is real and nothing is as it seems.

The Details

• Written By: Eric Curran, Daniel Curran, Peter Curran
• Art By: Jose Nieto, Eric Curran
• Colors By: Eric Curran
• Letters By: Eric Curran
• Cover Price: Free
• Release Date: Available now

Wait! Don’t Forget To Sign Up For The Comical Opinions Newsletter.

Was It Good?

Well, this one may be a little tough to wrap your brain around. Imagine waking up from a shared dream but part of the dream keeps going within your waking world, only glimpsed from the corner of your eye or fully seen through your glasses. The dream is trying to tell you something from the depths of your own mind, and the challenge is to hear the dream and use the message to stop the living dream from becoming a full nightmare.

Yeah, noodle on that one for a while.

The story is an interesting idea where readers see the main character, Slip, wake up into his world where things aren’t quite right. A mysterious stranger, Bent, contacts him to help before the parts of the dream still occurring turn into a nightmare. The only way to release the dream is for Slip to find himself. It’s all very surreal and very esoteric.

This is one of the few circumstances where confusion and convolution work in the story’s favor. The narrative succeeds by intentionally keeping the reader off-balance, mimicking a dreamlike state of surreality. Some scenes feel like snippets of events put together that don’t make sense, and that fits the narrative of a dreamlike state.

The art is serviceable for this type of material. You can check out some preview images below to see for yourself.

The linework is intentionally (perhaps?) sketchy to further elevate an off-kilter world where everything feels slightly intangible. The standout in the art presentation is the scenery and backgrounds. Every building and street looks familiar, and yet, is somehow off. When slip moves through his environment, the angles warp and bend to match his distorted view of what’s happening at any given moment.

THE SEEMS OF A DREAM #1 may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s no shortage of imagination and creativity to hold your attention.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

Slip is dreaming. Dreams within dreams. Suddenly, he wakes from the ringing of his phone. Someone he doesn’t know, named Bent, wants him to get to the diner and bring him his bag of stuff. Bent warns him not to forget his glasses.

When Slip puts on his glasses, the world changes, revealing things that aren’t there. When Slip gets dressed and heads out to the street, he’s chased by a squad of paramilitary goons called the Black Tide. Slip gets away and eventually meets with Bent who explains that Slip is awake and still dreaming at the same time. Bent is part of the dream, and he knows it.

Bent gives Slip his assignment – Slip must find himself and convince others in the shared dream to come with him to fix the dream and stop it from becoming a nightmare. We conclude the issue with Slip taking a first step towards finding himself.

Final Thoughts

THE SEEMS OF A DREAM #1 is a dream and not a dream within a nightmare on top of our reality… all at the same time. The material is intentionally surreal to create an effective atmosphere of disconnection and confusion. The art further enhances the dreamlike state with the off-kilter transitions between loose sketchy character designs and laser-sharp backgrounds that bend and warp. This type of material may not be for everyone, but it’s certainly interesting.

Score: 7/10