章節 182: Spotlight#192: Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story
Have you ever wanted to pursue your dreams? If so, sleep on something other than Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story by Nicole Maines and Rye Hickman.
Summary
All her life, Nia Nal has been an outsider amongst outsiders. In the alien sanctuary of Parthas, she has always played second fiddle to her mother, Naltorian. For centuries, the women of her species have been able to see the future through dreams. While it was always thought that Nia's sister Maeve would continue the family business, fate has other plans. Because when her nights are now filled with chaotic visions, she realizes Maeve's abilities have manifested in her rather quickly. In fear over herself and what this could mean, Nia decides to run away, sparking a journey of galactic proportions.
Characters
Nia: Our main hero in the making, Nia, feels like a woman at a crossroads. Even more than her sister Maeve, she is obsessed with her family's legacy and has the potential to be a superhero. However, after years of being treated like an outsider due to her trans and her family's expectations, she has developed a shallow, skittish, and damaging opinion of herself she must overcome when her abilities surface.
Maeve: Nia's sister Maeve portrays herself as a confident, excellent person who, unfortunately, bites back the insecurities of her missing powers through snide remarks at Nia's expense.
Isabel: Nia and Maeve's mom, Isabel, originally was one of the greatest seers on Naltor, howev. However,meeting up with her life in a vision she no, she serves as Parthas' fortune teller.
Galaxy: One of the friends Nia makes during her journey (or, in her case, running away), Galaxy is a princess from the distant planet Cyandi after Vane attacked them. Deciding to live her best life on Earth, Taylor Barzelay lives her best life on Earth with her friends and family.
Yvette: One of Galaxy's best friends in A-Town, an alien sanctuary in Metropolis. After coming out to her parents, she led to a one-way ticket to a conversion camp. From then on, she ran away, developing a bit more of a sassy, confident personality and a passion for fashion.
Overview
This time, Bad Dream may have the most exciting backstory to uncover out of the cluster. In the broader sense, the book is a semi-crossover between Galaxy: The Prettiest Star Ya novel featuring the character of the same name in 2022. In a more personal sense, this is the first comic book solely focused on Dream Girl, who occupies a weird space in DC history.
The OG Dream Girl went by Nura Nal. She lives in the 30th century alongside the Legion of Superheroes, a group of teens dedicated to protecting the world while sharing many of the same powers mentioned in the summary. The Nia Nal, more recently conceived, is supposed to be a distant ancestor, retroactively making her the Og.
Originally appearing in the Supergirl CW show during Season 4, Dream Girl made waves for being the first transgender superhero on TV. Nicole Maines, the actress for Nia Nal, is also the main writer of this book. Given that she literally helped bring the character to life, it seems Maines has stuck with the character closely, having written Dream Girl's first pride appearance within DC's Pride event and some other books.
Maines has also been a proud transgender activist and prominent actor on Supergirl, Yellowjackets, and the Trans List. She even played a plaintiff role in the Doe vs. Regional School Unit 26, the first case about Maine human rights activism and how it relates to Trans people. Knowing all that now, this book takes a far different and more personal light.
Stripping the history away, though, Dreamer is a highly personal coming-of-age sci-fi tale. Thankfully, you can have a little knowledge of DC or Galaxy to enjoy it. Because queer or not, I know most can relate to feeling like "the other," or feeling misunderstood. This makes NIa's ability to find her own community feel rewarding, alongside discovering more of who she is.
Rye Hickman's art further accents this. He gives the book a colorfully grounded look, and their skill is shown in the dream sequences. Like the "real" thing, Nia's dreams and, by extension, the looks into Naltora feel incredibly psychedelic and wide-sweeping in the double-page spreads. He captures the natural wonder of Nia's hopes and the broad-spanning nature of precognition.
It's a natural accent on self-acceptance and being selfish in your desires, even if it hurts. And oof, does the ending truly hurt, with a bittersweet ending? If I were to express any problems I had with the book, it would be the final third of the story. While I understand most superhero stories are marked by tragedy and a good villain, I believe said antagonist could've been built up a lot more.
Maybe if this book had a part 4 or more sprinklings across it, but the main antagonist, I feel, is dealt with so easily and introduced a little flippantly to the point where I would've been fine with a couple of tweaks to have this small-scale story finish. Still, with how triumphant the book's final one-two punch is, I can forgive it.
Epilogue
Overall, Bad Dream is a perfect story. In a world where a lot of Queer comic characters are still pushed to the side, this is a welcome reminder some stories can touch a YA audience a lot better. I hope Dream Girl and Nicole Maines gets more spotlight over time. Until then, let's see where the light takes us next.
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