Title: Dr. Dream Issue: #1 (of an ongoing series) Written and Lettered by Keith Carmona Art by Federico Sioc, Jr. Colors by Diego Vasquez Published by Scattered Comics COVER DECRYPTION One fun activity I like doing with new (to me) comic books is to predict its content by looking at the Cover. Let's see. Firestarter meets Keanu Reeves in Matrix. (Please Note: the Amazon links on this page will take you to... wait for it... Amazon, and if you end up purchasing an item – and I mean... ANY item on Amazon, not necessarily the ones I linked — our site will earn a referral fee from the Amazon. Please consider using our Amazon links to access Amazon whenever you think of buying something from Amazon. Sheesh... Now, that was a whole lot of Amazon. By doing so, you will help us to; keep the costs of maintenance low, those pesky ads at bay, and provide you with many more indie comic book reviews. Did I mention the best part yet? It won't cost you a penny. Sincerely, Thank You for the support.) What follows is the deeper analytics of the cover. The space was nicely utilized with layered exposure of characters. In the foreground, we see a pair of claws of what might be a dragon, reaching out for something. Perhaps the closest thing to it, which would be the girl, or perhaps the furthest thing we see in the line-up, which would be the enigmatic "fiery snake-eyes". Seems like this dragon will have to go through the girl, the Keanu Reeves looking character, and the blue ghost to get to the "eyes". Don't know yet if any of my intuitions will play out as predicted, but I'm intrigued. AWARDS Dr. Dream is an indie comic book, mixing fantasy with mystery, that managed in its very short existence to get acclaimed by ComiXentral, the digital download platform, as one of their last recipients of the prestigious award; Comic Book Of The Week. REVIEW Sora Tengoku, a.k.a. Dr. Dream is the mysterious protagonist of the book who mastered an ability to enter the dreams of other people, hence his nickname. The villain in this first issue is a dangerous creature, stalking the dreams of an innocent girl whose suffering Dr. Dream is trying to resolve with comfort, while using his skills to dispose of the threat. The confrontation ends in a climax worth replaying again... And again. At the end, you get this uneasy feeling, that Dr. Dream's actions set a new chain of events into motion, which might replicate or even intensify the menace he faced in this inaugural issue. The spotlight he found himself in, is attracting bad attention as well. Good thing he is not lacking allies when it comes to helping hands and guidance. The cliffhanger was set skillfully to make you seek out the new chapter. The story is expertly written to utilize the fantasy elements with plenty of action and underlying mystery to rattle your bones. Carmona knows his way around writing an engaging tale. The intrigue is set under the surface of seemingly learning something new, yet at the same time your imagination is infested with questions to which the answers are shielded... For now. For example, the book Dr. Dream has in his possession provides us with a knowledge we were looking for, however, the title and the origin of the book itself, remains a mystery to us. Carmona also sets up the world wide in scope and time. Although we experience the Doctor's work for the first time, we also get the notion that he is a well known figure to the media, which further implies that we were dropped in the middle of a sh*t storm. Federico's art is competent, yet simplistic at the time, to put the accent where your eyes should be focusing. The color work by Vasquez is amazing. Especially on the creature. The shades are vibrant and omnipotent, providing a necessary depth to the art. I like the bulky captions too, although the fonts could have been less intrusive. INTERVIEW with Keith Carmona -- Tell us a little bit about yourself. Who is Keith Carmona? CARMONA: For 22 years I have taught high school English in the Sacramento area, and one of the classes I teach is Creative Writing. I live in Roseville, CA with my wife and our two kids. About five years ago, I joined Scattered Comics. In addition to my own work, I've written two other scripts for Scattered Comics that are currently in production. I also have a writing for comics series on YouTube, and I'm in charge of Scattered Comics' writing intern program. You can commission my services through Scattered Studios. Link (I'm down below) : https://scatteredcat.wixsite.com/scatteredstudios/services-1 - Is Dr. Dream your first published comic book? CARMONA: No. My first book was Blank, a mature dystopian story (sold over 100 copies of issue 1 and 2, in addition to the trade paperback), which actually started off as a novel that Jason Dube (publisher of Scattered Comics) suggested would make a good comic book. This summer, I put the finishing touches on a draft to enter a screenplay contest. Also, fans suggested they wanted to keep the story going with a couple of the characters, so the spinoff will go into production once DD #2 is wrapped up. Updates for Blank can be found here: www.facebook.com/blankcomicbook - What can we expect in Dr. Dream issue #2? CARMONA: It is currently in production, and I hope it will make a spring 2020 debut. With his new found "celebrity" status, Sora is now busy with clients and has had to hire on an office assistant, whose investigative and fighting abilities will come in handy with the now popular doctor. Updates on Dr. Dream: www.facebook.com/dreamcomicbook WHERE CAN WE BUY YOUR STUFF? Physical Copies (at these Sacramento, Roseville, and Rocklin retailers): A-1 Comics World's Best Comics Ken's Comics and Collectibles Comics and Collectibles. Online Purchases Dr. DREAM DriveThruComics: https://www.drivethrucomics.com/browse.php author=Keith%20Carmona BLANK singles on ComiXology: https://www.comixology.com/Blank/comics-series/113165 BLANK paperback on Amazon:
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