Page 763…
Happy Halloween!
I hope you all have a fun…safe day today. Me, Donna, Spider-Man, and Iron Man will be walking through our neighborhood tonight. Looking forward to it.
Thank you again for reading this week with us. I can’t believe how fast these weeks are going.
Yikes.
Have a wonderful weekend and I’ll see you all back here on Monday!
Scott
Yay First post!
Man I cant believe I am still at work.
Thanks for the great comic!
Joe
That Nicole really isn’t all that sensitive to people who’re presumably crazy 🙁
I still don’t see her point… Okay, cat’s as thieves and then… what? It’s like saying smart people end up as doctors and scientists and saying you proved the meaning of life. They have the skills suited for the job so of course they’re more likely to do it but what does it have to do with anything?
Ah, Nicole… what has made you lose all your imagination???
They’re not called “cat burglars” for nothing, you know.
I still say she’s gona pop up in…
HEY! ALEX!! PUT THE SWORD NECKLACE THAT YOU ARE UNABLE TO DREAM WITHOUT AROUND NICHOLES NECK WHEN SHE GOES TO SLEEP TONIGHT! YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO DREAM FOR THAT NIGHT BUT SHE WILL WHICH MEANS…
Hmm… If that works, maybe it will get Dan to dream, too.
But then she’ll be lost in a jungle, probably wearing Alex’s armor. Not really an ideal introduction to Dreamland.
i love alex’s expression in the first panel. “What is this thing? What am I supposed to do with it?” Hahaha!
I think Nastajia would kill Alex the next night she sees him if Nicole went in his place tonight. Well, I do hope Nicole (eventually) sees the light, and I’m still holding on to the Felicity theory.
why don’t they get a longer chain and put is around all three of them
God.. someone in DL needs to like scratch a message into his skin or something so it shows in the waking world. GHOST WRITTING! lol.
That’s right Alex! It’s a big ole book, LOL!
@Joey
Wouldn’t that mean they would have to go to sleep together?
Just found Dreamland through a mutual friend and a nifty lil ad, and I see the the cause for the love. I’m intrigued and I see I have some good reading in front of me. 763 pages? 762 and counting…. 😉
From the way Alex is holding that book, it’s more like he’s asking,’Can you eat this?’
Happy Halloween 🙂 Thanks for a great comic.
I’ll try to click more links for you, because I really -do- enjoy reading Dreamland.
Am I missing something? Isn’t the real scientific issue here that Alex literally flatlines on the EKG when he’s dreaming? This is a physiological impossibility, assuming that the equipment is functioning. Dream interpretation is not really relevant, except in as much as Nicole may wish to psychoanalyze Alex. The objective reality of the components and/or characters in Dreamland has no real bearing on whether they partially conform to an ancient or modern system of dream analysis. Nicole’s not just being a butt, she’s not really acting like a researcher. Perhaps, instead of grasping at an ancient Roman straw to throw at the boys as an intellectual distraction, she ought to be more concerned with the fact that all of Alex’s dreams are consistent and have a progressive, logical narrative. This is completely out of the realm of human experience for genuine dreams. He’s never had the same exact dream twice, but all the dreams pick up from where they left off, the characters and relationships grow, deepen and change. This isn’t the way symbolic logic works. This is the way a genuine *world* works, and Nicole seems to be purposely missing this – or else she’s just dumb. Sorry for being long-winded. I just think about these things.
Also, I want to get back to the action. 🙂
@JE Draft:
Holy Franciscan Friar, you have a point. I should think for anyone in the medical profession the fact that he’s actually dead every time he dreams should raise a bit more of an issue.
As to the non-symbolic linear progession nature of his experience with Dreamland, it’s not clear that they have ever effectively got that point across to Nicole.
What about other kids that visit Dreamland? Are they flatline too? It would seem that a significant porition of the population would experience this phenomenon.
Another thing to consider is that Dreamland seems to be rather small, like you can travel from one capital of sentient race to another in a few sleep sessions. This and the fact that Alex never met another kid in a few years there would imply, that:
a) Visiting Dreamland is a rare phenomenon even among kids.
b) There is more than one dreamworld, like in Neil Gainman’s Sandman comics. http://xkcd.com/52/
If you dwelve too deep into logical and philosophical implications of Alex’es journeys you will inevitably face some paradoxes and inconsitencies, so IMO it is better to just enjoy it, and don’t think too much about it.
I think they only flatline if they are already grown up. I also think this girl is to tense. 😛 lol.
Yeah, I think the flatlining is an artifact of his being an adult using the sword necklace to go where otherwise it wouldn’t work. As to the size of dreamland – Well, dreamscapes can be deceptive.
Can’t wait to find out what happens next. I am hoping that the boys prove themselves, and soon.
What really gets me is that she thinks Alex could conciously or subconsiously come up with this story and these characters. It’s way too linear and imaginative for his way of thinking.
What about other kids that visit Dreamland? Are they flatline too?
I think the flatlining is an artifact of his being an adult using the sword necklace to go where otherwise it wouldn’t work.
I think that when Alex picked up that Sword in Dreamland for the first time, he became something of a “Chosen One”, so his connection to Dreamland is now a lot stronger than for normal dreaming kids.
Normal kids only enter Dreamland with part of their minds (the part that dreams).
But when Alex wears the Sword Necklace, he travels to Dreamland with the entirety of his mind and soul, so there’s nothing left in his brain to produce any measurable activity.
On the other hand, his ability to go to Dreamland at all is now irreversibly linked to the Sword. that’s why he couldn’t get there all those years while his mom had the Necklace locked away…
ARGGG!!!!! I just found out about TDC on Friday and read all the way from the beginning through to today’s comic. NOW I HAVE TO WAIT FOR MORE! WAAAAAA!!! 😉
Talk about an addicting story! Hope there is a support group available for us addicts…
Oh wait. There is one. Right here under the daily strip and the forum. 😉 You regulars must have been in serious withdrawl between Chapters 12 and 13 :D.
I also agree with the others here that an animated version of this would be sublime! The animation is top notch! At times I have to look 5 or 6 times over to remind myself that this is all CG. Especially Nic looking like a real plastic toy at times. 🙂
Scott, you deserve all the praise you can get with this series. My hats off to you and all of the artists that have helped over the years. Best wishes for you, your family, and especially your Father.
P.S. – Thanks, also, for the fond memory of my long-lost love from High School. 🙂 The strip when Alex and Nastajia were holding hands and cuddling on the Pirate Ship brought back some sweet memories.
Indeed JRBlood, such scene (as well as http://thedreamlandchronicles.com/?p=1116 and almost any page) brought me back several memories of my childhood.
That’s what is special of this comic.
This could “easily” be a book (tweaking the scripts, they are already done) or a movie (getting a bigger studio to produce it with the current art, the CG base is already done). Even all of them. Money is just needed, like Harry Potter’s franchise.
Wow. I’ve just found your site and spent hours reading everything from the beginning. AMAZING work. Great story. Great art.
I will be purchasing the books. Please keep up the great work. I’m looking forward to it.
Given that I am a writer with the mind of a scientist (as in I’m ridiculously imaginative and I like to make sure that I can explain all that happens in my stories, even with it’s mostly magic) I want to punch Nicole. Scientifically, they shouldn’t have been able to wake him up when his brain activity flatlined. That enough should’ve sent up a red flag for Nicole. There must’ve been some form of trauma in her childhood that made her turn her back on belief in the unexplained. It’d be kinda scary if she did believe in it though. She might want to publish a paper on it, then you’d have all the kids who went to dreamland ending up in a lab or something to see if they’re the same as Alex. Or she’d help them out, who can say.
JED, are you cribbing notes over here? 😉
I’m really wondering about the flatline thing myself. Even though she now realizes that he recovers from being braindead, why doesn’t she keep trying to monitor him to see what happens? After all, he does seem to wake up every morning.
Thank you all. ANd thanks to the new readers. I’m so glad you found your way here…hope you enjoy the rest of the series.
Alex’s expression is priceless.
That’s science, kids: the onus for proof of the unusual is on the one claiming it. See weird lights in the sky? It might be aliens in flying saucers, but if you want scientists to believe you, come up with some evidence. Ditto with Dreamworld. Come up with some evidence, maybe through Joey or some other kid who also experiences it, and we might start believing you.
Ah, John, you miss the point. Nicole seems to know an AWFUL LOT about everything dream-related…in fact, I’d say she falls into the category of disillusioned idealist – the psych major who wants to help themselves. Another stereotype that’s been done before, yet people keep on doing it.
BTW I’m so glad to see you read this comic. Totally enjoying yours too.
A lengthy stay in the real world does the trick for most people…