The mauve-and-grey issues of this miniseries from Image have been rather widely spaced, as a rule. But we’re in the home stretch, with this issue crossing the halfway point and paving the way for what is sure to be a mind-bending finale.
Written by Nathan Edmondson
Illustrated by Konstantin NovosadovThe vision of the impossible becomes real, and only Winslow is awake to stop it.
To be honest, I always had my reservations about “Dream Merchant”. I thought the concept amorphous – the kind of “big idea” that’s fun to talk about but seldom successful in reality. Add to that the fact that dreams, as a topic, are simultaneously fascinating and boring – fascinating when they’re happening to you, boring when somebody is telling you about theirs. Edmondson seems to have bridged this gap by concentrating on nightmares, the dark side of dreams – the feeling of terror that is universal. And while this added a certain edge and urgency to the series as a whole, I still wondered how far the idea of war between the real world and the world of dreams could really be taken.
I’m always happy to be proven wrong, though, and despite all early warning signs, this series hit its stride somewhere around #3. As of this issue, it’s still relatively slow-moving – like a dream where your legs are made of lead – and the logic of it all is as unclear and hallucinatory as ever. But as Winslow is pushed to his defining moment as a character, these qualities feel more like strengths than flaws.
It’s taken a long time for the threat from the world of nightmares to make itself manifest to people other than Winslow – and now that it has, albeit indirectly, the discrepancy between the role Winslow feels he must play and the kind of character he actually is is painfully obvious. There’s something to be said for seeing a character really fail, and his shortcomings are made very clear to us in a moment where the Dream Merchant has to take over. Matters complicate from then on, but seeing Winslow at this low point makes his decisive action at the close of the issue all the more impressive.
There’s also an unexpected bit of humour this issue – mostly thanks to Anne, whose delinquent tendencies have been coming more and more to the forefront. Here, the usual Big Romantic Moment that comes before The Climactic Action Scene is neatly subverted – and it’s refreshing to see Winslow-the-dork for a second, rather than Winslow-the-tortured-hero, as a very blunt Anne shoots him down. Maybe it’s a cheap trick, going for the exact opposite of a formula, but given how dark and introspective this series has been so far, a bit of silliness certainly has its place.
Visually, Novosadov’s work is a little rougher here than we’re used to, as is Jeff Powell’s lettering, with the amount of white space in the caption boxes varying considerably. These could probably be chalked up to a short deadline, and all things considered, this is still a very good-looking issue.
From the beginning Novosadov has succeeded in evoking a paranoid, surreal atmosphere, using angular shapes and frittered lines to get at the fragility of Winslow’s mental state. These qualities appear to have intensified, leaving us with an issue that, as I mentioned, looks somewhat rough overall. This tendency serves the atmosphere, though – particularly when the coarse hatching invades the characters’ faces, leaving them wan and woodcut-like.
For the monsters, Novosadov either goes overboard on the shading or strips it out entirely, laying out deft silhouettes that do seem to match up with the stuff of our nightmares. The city of dreams matches perfectly, all fragile towers and sharp spires. But it’s a creature that turns up near the end of the issue that makes a lasting impression; Novosadov balances sketchy, spidery limbs with more precise texture work, coming up with something squicky indeed.
Throughout, Novosadov’s pages shift and segue with the logic of a dream, carrying us effortlessly from sleeping to waking. Mortal and ethereal elements are, as always, kept distinct with grey and pink tones, but matters do get dirtied up into greens and browns when law enforcement shows up. Speaking generally, the “look” of each page could, perhaps, be more coherent – the panels look much better in isolation than they do in sequence – but the black gutters do keep things looking sleek.
It’s gotten to this point in sweep and detours, but with this issue, the overall direction of “The Dream Merchant” seems to have crystallized. Most importantly, it’s found pathos in the limitations of its main character rather than simply the situation he’s been put in; we’re now ready to see him push past these limitations and kick some otherworldly butt. Add to that the subtlety and creep factor of Novosadov’s work, and “The Dream Merchant” is in an awfully good place.
Final Verdict: 7.9 – Picking up speed, and promising a nightmare-worthy conclusion.
