Okay, so I finally started reading some comics that Dave has said he would like back ... damn him
(just kidding big guy!!!) ... and so last night I busted through the first three issues of Dream Police. Now I have to say that while I will not be adding this to my regular reading rotation, I did find myself thinking a little bit about the mystery inside this title. So much so that when I woke up this morning, I actually read issue #4 as well.
This book has problems. There is a tone of writing here that just doesn't fit in my head with JMS. A writer I have always loved (for his prose more than anything else
). I mean it just doesn't have his usual punch. There is a style that seems very repetitive with all "gum-show" type of stories and it just bugs me.
The concept here, while kinda interesting ... to a degree ... is also very, damn, I don't know what to call it, loose, maybe? I mean it just seems kinda scattered, even though I have no points to prove that feeling. JMS tries to show us there is structure in this dream world but I am just not digging the hierarchy. There are different classifications of beings and duties for each classification but I just don't "feel" that these "people", the ones working in this system that is Dreamworld (or Dreamscape or whatever it is called), make the world cohesive as it could be. Man, I wish I could explain that better. It is not badly put together as much as I am just not enjoying the way it was assembled? Maybe that it is. Maybe I just don't know all the rules here yet, but ... ah screw it, enough of that.
What is here is a powerful mystery. Spoiler filled synopsis to follow -
Basically, we have a pair of "Dream Police" that have worked the Dreamworld and have been partners for as long as they remember. Joe and Frank (I think) Now during the course of the first story, our cops end up at a diner and one of the partners, Frank, while feeling not to well, goes into the restroom and when he returns ... HE is now a SHE. The thing is Joe doesn't react at all. He has forgotten all about Frank because this girl has been his partner for as long as he can remember.
Later, Joe is getting whispers and feelings of someone asking for help, but no-one is there. It's a feeling of someone, more than someone actually being there (we of course, see Frank trying to get Joe's attention, screaming for help).
That's the gist.
There is also "black files" that the police officers are not allowed to look in, even though the file cabinets are in the same room as all the other filing cabinets
But yeah, there is a mystery here. A good one actually. Better than I can describe it.
And so yeah, while I won't read this as a monthly thing, I will keep my eye open for a cheap trade sale and maybe get it that way. Maybe. I do want to know what is going on ... I just don't know if I want to read the rest of the stuff to get my answer.
But it is intriguing. Truly.
