Dream Thief #1 hit hard and fast last time out, making it the more engaging book of the two #1s with ‘dream’ in the title. WIth its second issue, the Jai Nitz/Greg Smallwood series continues to leave the more metaphysically ponderous Dream Merchant in the dust with its revenge-based head trip. The set-up is along the lines of Quantum Leap, but instead of Sam Beckett leaping into other bodies, the memories of the dead are jumping into John Lincoln’s body and killing the people who wronged them.
After killing his own girlfriend rather nonchalantly last issue, Dream Thief #2 shows that John has come to dressed in a white suit and the mystery mask that started all this, having just killed a bunch of gay-porn-makers-turned-drug-runners that killed Jimmy Oliver, whose memories John is now sifting through to explain why he’s apparently done what he’s done. As he slowly puts it all together and working his way out of the jam, he pulls some shenanigans, cleans up the mess and heads out on the run. Soon, we see our first bit of actual emotion from him, as he happens across a photo of him with the girlfriend he’d killed and starts to cry. So he does actually give a damn.
Smallwood’s art continues to be top notch, with its cool white-bordered layouts and perfectly moody tone, while Nitz cleverly constructs the premise by beginning and ending with a new mystery to solve, dropping loads of questions in our laps that we want to see Our Man John answer, even if he’s kind of a prick and we’re not exactly sure if he’s actually our man.
If you’re looking for a good, fast-paced ongoing mystery with elements of action, noir and the supernatural, odds are you’ll enjoy Dream Thief. It’s pretty freakin’ cool.
