cover image Tremor Dose

Tremor Dose

Michael W. Conrad and Noah Bailey. Dark Horse, $19.99 trade paper (128p) ISBN 978-1-5067-2460-7

Conrad (the Wonder Woman series) and Bailey team up for a sci-fi/horror fantasia series that mines dream imagery to build a sense of dread, but has trouble figuring out what thread to follow. At the Milford Institute of Technology, professors Dean and Gloria interview subjects who have all seen the same strange man in their sleep. Their latest participant, a student named Ginn, finds the dream man a disturbing but strangely helpful presence. Then she sees him in the waking world and begins to suspect that the truth about him is even stranger than she imagined. Bailey’s hyper-realistically shaded, moody black-and-white art on textured paper creates disorientation, rendering the visions effectively eerie. The characters’ dreams intermingle, disintegrate, get confused with the waking world, and trigger on-the-nose Alice in Wonderland references. But as the mysteries are gradually revealed, the atmospheric tension gives way to the sense that Conrad isn’t sure how to turn a promising concept into a fully realized story. The later scenes are hypnotic to look at (and add some splashes of psychedelic color) but tough to follow. Readers will be frustrated by the underbaked script, but Bailey’s off-kilter art is the frosting that almost makes it all worth it. (Dec.)