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Review: “Dream Police” #1

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10 years ago

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Full of creative ideas and engaging protagonists, “Dream Police” #1 kicks off to a solid start as the narrative establishes the full potential of its series. Readers will find themselves drawn to the supernatural police procedural. The “Dream Police” series offers a promising concept, which will hopefully lead to some more exciting installments.
dreampolice1
WRITTEN BY: J. Michael Straczynski
ART BY: Sid Kotian
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: April 30, 2013

Detective Joe Thursday works in a city that never sleeps and the sky is always nighttime. Thursday works with his partner, Frank Stafford, in the dreamscape. Their job is to protect the dreamers and keep them from bleeding into other dreams. But sometimes the dreamer can take things too far, leading into unwanted nightmares. Thursday and Stafford have to make sure the night shift doesn’t end up killing them.

Writer J. Michael Straczynski is clearly having fun mixing surrealism with police drama. In the opening pages, Thursday and Stafford have to deal with a domestic dispute that suddenly turns into a trippy hallucination. The dialogue at first sounds like something you would naturally hear on a regular cop TV show. And then, Straczynski twists the scenario around and has the words spoken by a talking animal.

Because Straczynski has set up the fantastical elements of the story so neatly, readers will find themselves rooting for the protagonists. I like the witty banter between the two detectives but there is no antagonist, no threat to their partnership. I want Thursday and Stafford to do more than just handle random day-to-day cases. Straczynski has established the procedural aspect of the series, but the narrative never goes deep into the detectives’ personal lives.

Sid Kotian’s glossy artwork depicts the mannerisms you would normally see on a cop TV show. In the domestic dispute, notice how Kotian frames the panel from low angles. Because the camera is aiming up, Stafford and Thursday look taller and tougher than their suspect. With the scene grounded in reality, the suspect has tears in his eyes because he is truly sorry for hitting someone he shouldn’t have.

I really like Kotian’s character design of the Nightmares. Wearing a black suit, the Nightmares have elongated arms and a top hat on her head. They even have a metal mask on their faces, but the bottom half of their jaw is missing. What’s hiding behind the mask even frightens the detectives to the core.

“Dream Police” #1 is an interesting introduction to readers and establishes its surreal concept very well. This is a police procedural with a cool twist, but it needs a big bad threat to take it to the top.

Review by Jorge Solis

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‘Witchblade’ is Getting Resurrected This Summer in New Comic Series from Top Cow and Image Comics

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1 day ago

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April 18, 2024

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Witchblade cover

Witchblade, the popular comic series that initially ran from 1995 to 2015 and launched a TV series, is getting resurrected in a new comic series from Top Cow and Image Comics. It’s set to unleash heavy metal, black magic and blood this summer.

Look for the new Witchblade series to launch on July 17, 2024.

In Witchblade #1, “New York City Police Detective Sara Pezzini’s life was forever fractured by her father’s murder. Cold, cunning, and hellbent on revenge, Sara now stalks a vicious criminal cabal beneath the city, where an ancient power collides and transforms her into something wild, magnificent, and beyond her darkest imaginings. How will Sara use this ancient power, or will she be consumed by it?”

The series is penned by NYT Best-Selling writer Marguerite Bennett (Animosity, Batwoman, DC Bombshells) and visualized by artist Giuseppe Cafaro (Suicide Squad, Power Rangers, Red Sonja). The creative duo is working with original co-creator Marc Silvestri, who is the CEO of Top Cow Productions Inc. and one of the founders of Image Comics. They are set to reintroduce the series to Witchblade’s enduring fans with “a reimagined origin with contemporary takes on familiar characters and new story arcs that will hook new readers and rekindle the energy and excitement that fueled the 90’s Image Revolution that shaped generations of top creators.”

Bennett said in a statement, “The ability to tell a ferocious story full of monsters, sexuality, vision, and history was irresistible.” She adds, “Our saga is sleek, vicious, ferocious, and has a lot to say about power in the 21st century and will be the first time that we are stopping the roller coaster to let more people on. I’ve loved Witchblade since I was a child, and there is truly no other heroine like Sara with such an iconic legacy and such a rich, brutal relationship to her own body.”

“The Witchblade universe is being modernized to reflect how Marguerite beautifully explores the extreme sides of Sara through memories, her personal thoughts, like desire and hunger, in her solitude and when she is possessed by the Witchblade. So, I had to visually intersect a noir True Detective-like world with a supernatural, horror world that is a fantastic mix between Berserk and Zodiac,” Cafaro stated.

Marc Silvestri notes, “This is brand new mythology around Sara, and I can’t wait for you to fall in love with her and all the twists and turns. Discover Witchblade reimagined this summer, and join us as we bring all the fun of the 90s to the modern age and see how exciting comics can be. I can’t wait for you to read this new series.”

Witchblade#1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, July 17th, for $4.99 for 48 pages. And it’ll come with multiple cover variants.

  • Cover A: Marc Silvestri and Arif Prianto (Full Color)

  • Cover B: Giuseppe Cafaro and Arif Prianto (Full Color)

  • Cover C: Blank Sketch Cover

  • Cover D (1/10): Dani and Brad Simpson (Full Color)

  • Cover E (1/25): Marc Silvestri and Arif Prianto, Virgin Cover (Full Color)

  • Cover F (1/50): J.Scott Campbell (Full Color)

  • Cover G (1/100): Bill Sienkiewicz. (Full Color)

  • Cover H (1/250): Line art by Marc. Virgin Cover, Inks (B/W)

Witchblade #1 will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.

Witchblade comic panel Witchblade #1 cover image

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