Lucy Dreaming is published by BOOM! Studios. It is written by Max Bemis (lead singer of Say Anything and writer for Polarity, Foolkiller, and the current Moon Knight) with art by Michael Dialynas.
Lucy is thirteen. Like most teenagers she’s hitting that time in her life where we not only deal with the intense fluctuation of our hormones, but are also dealing with trying to find where we fit in school, social circles, and everything else.
Thirteen is rough. I don’t recall enjoying it. Lucy doesn’t seem to be enjoying it either. She’s an outcast and she prefers books to people. She admits her respect for the other girls who are good at and super into things like debating, sports, or science, but Lucy doesn’t have anything like that, she just has her books. She goes to school though the only class she truly cares for is English. She loves then strong women she read about and she desperately wishes she was a hero like them.
Or so, she thought, until one night she gets her wish. Following her eyes weirdly turning yellow, Lucy goes to sleep..only to wake up in the body of Eleanor Fadarr, War-Princess of Y’or, accompanied by Barc Landin, Magus of the Kendar Order, and his assistant who I didn’t see a name for but looks like Gossamer, the big red monster from Looney Tunes.
While its strange, Lucy doesn’t question her dream as being anything more than that; a dream. However, a laser hits her the arm and as she realizes she is feeling real pain, she begins to understand that this isn’t a dream – that what’s happening is really happening and that just like the alien creatures she shot, she could also die.
Lucy is a great character. I guess that makes Eleanor a great character too? I’m not really sure how that’s going to work because clearly Eleanor existed prior to Lucy…she’s even older than Lucy and looks nothing like her. But this is also the first issue and I’m jumping way ahead of the story.
Point is, I like Lucy a lot. She’s snarky, sarcastic, and the embodiment of teenage angst. She even calls herself out as a goth cliché, but states that she can’t help being genuinely angry for feeling feelings. She talks about the back and forth of hating everyone but at the same time wishing she could switch places with them. I think many people can identify with one or both of those feelings.
Lucy’s teenage self translates fully into Eleanor. Although Eleanor looks to be older, Lucy’s personality doesn’t change. She doesn’t suddenly become good at fighting either. She is literally thrown into this body in the middle of a fight and has to make it up as she goes along. I really like this because generally once the character transitions into a hero they’re just suddenly good at everything. But Lucy stays Lucy. At least in personality.
Eleanor doesn’t just look older than Lucy, they look nothing alike. I really like the contrast that Michael Dialynas presents us between the two. Lucy is average looking, short, with messy, wavy hair and is very clearly still a kid. Then we have Eleanor, with her hair smoothed and perfectly tied back, looks much more womanly, and is apparently beautiful. You can also totally tell Max Bemis and Michael Dialynas are Star Wars fans. The Star Wars is strong with this one. And it’s amazing.
Oh! And the title? Lucy Dreaming ? Lucid Dreaming? Because she is aware of and can control her dreams? Ha. Very clever.
OVERALL SCORE: 9 / 10
