Ralph Wiggum once described sleep as “where I’m a viking!” For every person that joins Ralph in adventuring while in slumber, there is someone whose dreams are more often sources of fear and despair than fun revelry. Michael Walsh is one of the latter folks, who experiences night terrors, intense nightmares that straddle the line between sleep and wake, and can be quite terrifying.
After years of night terrors, he decided to illustrate some of them. “The Sleep Stories” is Walsh’s webcomic that attempts to chronicle some of the dreams he’s had. He is in the midst of a Kickstarter for the first print volume of “The Sleep Stories,” which got funded in just 5 hours. We spoke with Walsh about the process behind the comics, what’s next, and the other sorts of dreams he has.
Check out the webcomic, and make sure to back the Kickstarter before it is too late!
My wife suffers from night terrors, so this is subject hits pretty close to home. You’ve been an artist for many years now, why was this the right time to start illustrating your dreams?
Michael Walsh: I’ve thought about recording these dreams for a long time now but my schedule over the last 8 years of working professionally has been unwieldy, to put it lightly. A few months into 2020 I was starting up on 3 new creator owned projects, 2 of them horror. I thought it would be a good idea to draw a few of my night terrors as a storytelling and mood exercise. I originally posted the first mini comics to Twitter and they went low-end viral. It gave me justification that there was an audience for this very personal work and I had so much fun on those first stories that I was thrilled to draw more. I began drawing one page a week, usually on Monday or Tuesday, and hosting them as a webcomic.
Has the drawing had a palpable impact on your dreaming? Has there been catharsis from drawing them?
MW: I’ve actually found myself having significantly fewer nightmares since starting the webcomic. I don’t know if publicly journaling them out has “exercised the demons” but they’ve definitely decreased. That said, I still have a memorable night terror every two weeks or so.
The webcomic has proven to be quite popular, and the Kickstarter was funded in 5 hours. Do you think that there is something about these dream comics that is resonating with people on a different level due to the personal nature of the work?
MW: Definitely. I’ve been ruminating a lot on how so many people have related to what I thought was personal in nature. I’ve had comments on some of the most vivid of the dreams saying “I’ve had nightmares just like this”. I think that to fear is to be human, and even though the details of my dreams may manifest differently than someone else’s, the fear of abandonment, the fear of the unknown, the fear or an eerie sound in the darkness are common. Everyone knows those feelings and can instantly recall them.
How has the process been different from past comics you’ve drawn? Is it strange to be working off an ‘original’ script that you had no conscious effort in creating?
MW: It’s a completely different way of working than my usual methods. I’ve been writing for myself on a few projects this year and find it best to work in full script, especially when going back and forth with editors or conceptualizing a long form story. For “The Sleep Stories” I don’t script anything, It’s created in a stream of consciousness. I try and remember a scary image from one of my terrors and then decide if I want to build towards it, tell the story around it, or occasionally, just draw a single frame of horror. I’ll often draw the page out as quickly as possible and then write in any dialogue or narration afterwards. It’s low pressure, low stakes and some of the most fun I’ve ever had creating sequential stories.
What do you see as the future of these comics, after the first Kickstarter? Can you see future print volumes coming in the future?
Continued belowMW: The plan, which is subject to change, is to continue the webcomic once the Kickstarter closes. Once I finish another 30 or so pages worth of art then I’ll probably be Kickstarting again, provided the remainder of this campaign has gone smoothly. I’ve really enjoyed the Kickstarter platform and find it a really rewarding experience to deal directly with the people who are supporting your work.
Finally, do you have good dreams too? Any interest in drawing some of those?
MW: All the time! I’m a very lucid dreamer and oftentimes realize it when I’m dreaming. If it’s a night terror and I can’t snap out of it I’ll often start shouting to my spouse “WAKE ME UP.” Frankly I’m surprised she still likes me. There will be some “Sleep Stories” that aren’t SO terrifying in nature, I had one semi-recently that I’d like to draw where explorers found a petrified god in the depths of the ocean… but I’ll continue to save all my happiest moments for myself.
