Is It Good? Dream Thief: Escape #3 Review

Dream Thief has been one of those titles that’s incredibly written, features great art and has an interesting an original idea powering it on all at once. Call me crazy, but comics like this don’t come around all the time, so when this second arc came out and didn’t met the original run’s expectations, I was sad as a field of dead flowers…but today is a new day. Is it good?

Dream Thief: Escape #3 (Dark Horse Comics)

This new arc is more about the protagonist than anything else. It turns out his father, the previous Dream Thief, is trapped inside a black man’s body due to some power switching issues. He’s helping him get out of prison while at the same time trying to keep his own life together. It’s hard when spirits are taking over your body to enact their vengeance. Luckily his friend is there to back him up.

Aww isnt’ that cuteOMG he’s crazy!

This issue isn’t necessarily a jumping on point, but it’s framed in a way that anyone could pick it up and enjoy it. It opens with a flashback to the protagonist as a child, cuts to a spirit taking over his body and being drawn into the main plot because breaking out his father can’t wait. Writer Jai Nitz ties these two elements together very nicely, cutting back and forth between these stories effectively which helps keep your interest. The main issue I had with previous issues was the heavy handedness of the crimes committed and the Dream Thief having to enact justice. Essentially the main plot of this story would be put on hold to serve the premise of the book, but here the balance is good.

Artist Greg SmallwoodTadd Galusha (Ed. note: Dark Horse’s site erroneously listed Greg Smallwood as the artist. We apologize for the error) does great things with layout, this time having a sketchy black and white flashback to the spirit’s murder. The charoil work is nice and it helps separate it from the current timeline. The opening flashback is also exceptional, with very strong facial expressions on the characters and the likeness he’s given to the young version of the protagonist is uncanny. It really does look like the kid version of him.

Things get a little funky in the last four pages though. The panels and rendering scream rushed to me. The stereotypical realistic and gritty look disappear and things start to look cartoony. This unfortunately kills the weight of the one action sequence in this book.

Imposter!

Is It Good?

This series is starting to turn back around with this very well paced and fun issue. The overall story has always been compelling, but the balance is back and it’s almost as good as the original run.