By Cat Wyatt

Lucy Dreaming is a new five-part series from BOOM! Studios that’s full of colorful art and an interesting idea come to life (literally). I’ll confess I wanted to give this series a try because Lucy with all her daydreaming and her nose stuck in oddball books reminds me quite a bit of a young me. Though I doubt that’ll be the case once she’s finished going off on all of her crazy adventures.

Like many kids that love books that aren’t considered to be ‘normal’ Lucy is considered a bit of an oddball. She’d much prefer to read Reena and other novels/comics that include fantasy, death spells, fighting, and things like that. So high school vampire romance books aren’t exactly her cup of tea (and boy do I sympathize with that feeling). This causes a bit of concern for her parents, and kind of makes her stick out like a sore thumb when at school.

Which isn’t to say that Lucy wouldn’t mind being able to fit in with everybody else – she just doesn’t seem to be able to. Her different interests and fear of being rejected keep her rooted to the spot anytime she even considers trying. I’m sure we’ve all felt that way at one point or another in our lives.

A day in the life of Lucy gives us a pretty solid idea of what she goes through every day. Food and books. School and books. Home and books. (Heh, that sounds familiar). But it’s around here that things start appearing a little less normal for Lucy. I’m going to assume that her eyes don’t typically change color right before bed. Her eyes went from being a pretty comic standard of a black dot to bright yellow (seriously, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that they glow in the dark).

Sudden and bright eye changes don’t sound normal…but I guess to a kid that hasn’t been explicitly told otherwise it sort of makes sense to brush it off? I mean, I’ll grant you that periods are sure as hell all sorts of confusing at times, but I’m preeeety sure they don’t normally affect the color of your eyes. And while I probably wouldn’t have thought so even back then, I’m betting Lucy was looking for a comforting lie more than anything (and I don’t blame her there).

I’m impressed Lucy was able to fall asleep at all that night, all things considered. Between her rapid eye transition and her parents…well, let’s just say she’s probably happy they had locked their door, there’s enough going on in that house and in her noggin to keep her up. Or not.

So Lucy finds herself in her own little dreamland, only things are different this time. First, let’s talk about her dream a little bit. Lucy herself is dressed in a white uniform, with her hair up in four buns (sound familiar yet?), while fighting against men in uniform armor, with aliens fighting alongside her. Oh and there’s a total hunk courting/not courting her as well. Normally I’d be annoyed with the blatant references being made here but a.) This is probably a world Lucy made up herself, thanks to all the reading she does and b.) It’s kind of adorable (minus the graphic guts and oozing bits).

So remember a paragraph ago when I said things were a bit different, in this dream? Well, for one thing, Lucy’s dreams aren’t normally so…graphic. The enemies being shot are loudly screaming which injury they received and in very explicit detail. A bit unsettling for a thirteen-year-old to deal with, I imagine. Another oddity? She knows she is in a dream, which usually results in her waking up, but not this time. And the last (major) difference? She can feel pain, and quite a lot of it, based on what has happened. So…yeah…probably not a dream after all.

The twist revealed at the end of Lucy’s ‘dream’ is fitting; not only does it advance the plot for this little world further, but it ties in pretty neatly with all of the previous references as well. It’s pretty perfect. Though now I’m just curious about what is going to happen next, and how Lucy’s parents are involved in this whole mess.

This was an interesting start to the series, though I admit I’m not sure how they’re going to loop around to a conclusion in just four more issues. They did a great job establishing Lucy’s character, as well as both worlds she seems to be existing in. Since her parents seem to be involved in this somehow, I do wish they had been developed further, though there’s still time for that in later issues.

The artwork for this issue was great, and if I’m being honest half the reason why I wanted to read it in the first place. The colors are bright and bold – especially in the backgrounds, and they’re unafraid to mix colors and add texture as needed. I like that both versions of Lucy are distinct – yet you could still immediately tell it was her. That was very well done, if I may say so.

Score: 4/5

Lucy Dreaming #1
BOOM! Studios