#dream loop

[traumainpyjamas]

JENO \\ glasses - “여기 갇힌 게 맞는 것 같다니까?” | DREAM LOOP : The Last Midnight #1

[http-anti]

Dream Loop

[Is this an event? I guess idfk just send your choice through an ask please!]

The entire space was white. Too white. There wasn't a living being in sight -- so far anyway. It was like everything was erased from existence, leaving nothing but a blinding blankness.

Then, three large glass tubes appeared with different colored substances inside. One was a vibrant red, the other a vibrant green, and the third a vibrant blue. Inside these tubes were three demons; Hoxmarch, Anti and Star. They were floating motionlessly in the substance, looking like they were peacefully asleep inside.

However, there were strange tentacle-like things attached to the back of their necks, going up into their minds. They were black, easy to spot.

THEY ARE NOT DEAD, MERELY RESTING. HOWEVER, THEIR MINDS ARE AT WORK. THEY ARE LOST WITHIN THE TIMELINE OF THEIR MEMORIES, UNABLE TO GET OUT.

A strange, female robotic voice was speaking.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PULL THE BLACK TENTACLES OUT FOR IT WILL KILL THEM. IF YOU WISH TO SAVE ONE, YOU MUST ATTACH YOURSELF TO ONLY ONE TENTACLE CONNECTED TO THEIR MIND. THIS WILL ALLOW YOU TO REACH THEM AND POSSIBLY PULL THEM OUT.

She continued with her instructions, voice monotonous.

BEWARE, DO NOT REMAIN HOOKED UP TOO LONG OR THE TENTACLE WILL CONSUME YOU AS WELL, LEAVING YOU IN YOUR OWN LOOP OF MEMORIES.

The light in the blank space seemed to shut off, leaving only the three tanks to glow, the demons still floating inside.

PICK THE ONE YOU WISH TO SAVE FIRST. GOOD LUCK.

[traumainpyjamas]

i just came here to say:

thank you for your attention.

[kaithonks]

So I’ve had some Thoughts about 2025 ShortBox Comics fair

Well, I'm late thanks to some long pre-holiday workdays. But let's get to the point. I've only been looking at the ShortBox Comics Fair for the past two years, but I absolutely adore the event. Both years I've found some wonderful stories, and compared to the two comics I got last year, I was able to get twelve this year. As much as I'd love to cover each comic individually, I am honestly trying to do a balancing act here of keeping up with the current run and publications but also doing what interests me the most. I do already feel I'm behind a bit in the curve. So instead of dragging it out and talking about every issue, I'm going to be talking about my favorites.

Nina Vakueva's Dream Loop is probably my favorite of all the comics I ended up picking up. It appears to be a rather simple story about dreams, but it's all in how it tells itself. It starts with dreams, or rather nightmares, most people have had, but as the protagonist starts trying to break out of the "loop," she breaks out of the panel. Dream Loop effectually uses each page to try to switch and change the dream, much like how actual dreams seem to suddenly flip scripts. What helps is the protagonist also always takes each dream fairly seriously. There are also the plants in her bedroom going from a pot to covering her walls in each dream, making it familiar but also something off and unfamiliar. Showing this is a dream. It's a story with a lot of little intricacies that really makes it a fun read.

Right under Dream Loop is Lalage's Hero in the Serpent's Skin. I'll be honest: most of my love for this run is simply Bai or Su Jie. They are just a fun character in all three of their identities, as a snake, a hero, and a lady. They are all Bai. Unlike Ruixiang, who is a reincarnation of Bai's love, Xu Xian is not Xu Xian. And I love the way the story will occasionally use all three of Bai's forms to emphasize an emotion and feeling. I love how it relates immortality and reincarnation to talk about memories and the importance of remembering and the pain of forgetting. I also am a fan that Lalage gave a list of works that inspired this work because I do want more and am a sucker for a work that is also a love letter to a certain type of media. Even if it's a type that I don't really know about.

So my goal with this little work was to cover 3 of my favorites, and this third spot was a tricky place to fill, and for a long while I couldn't decide between Maria Brenn's In the Heart of the Island and Rose Bousamra's The Shepherd and the Sleeping Knight. In the end I really want to talk more about In the Heart of the Island because it really took its time and fleshed itself out in a way the other comics didn't. And that might be an unfair comparison because it is 94 pages. But the 20-page A Teacher's Anguish by Barbara Mazzi also managed to fully flesh itself out in its short run. And it's not that The Shepherd and the Sleeping Knight doesn't; I just feel In the Heart of the Island had a little more to say, and well, it reminded me of Cartoon Saloon's work. For the record, Cartoon Saloon is the studio behind The Secret of Kells and Wolfwalkers, and it's the use of the background that really had In the Heart of the Island thinking about Cartoon Saloon. In the Heart of the Island is about a thriving island that is starting to take too much, and the detailed backgrounds really help emphasize that this town is alive and brimming with life and brimming with culture. It also helps contrast when the Great Serpent appears and the background is just black. But that blackness emphasizes the life of the great serpent. It's a great and beautiful story that fully uses its 94 pages.

All in all this was a great year, and while I loved everything I got, these are my top three. I really hope more people go check out ShortBox next year or check out these creators' other works because at the end of the day the thing I love best about this fair is being able to directly support comics artists and writers.

[ysyvyly]

oneirologue thirty two

It's been nearly three years since I've posted here. While resting for an hour or two yesterday, I dreamt that I was stuck in a dream and struggling to exit the dream. I was in the nearby mall and interacting with people I know in waking life, some of whom were behaving in a way that seemed quite incongruous with what I know of them. So upon realizing it was a dream, I started trying to go back to reality, "awakening" by essentially respawning in or near the restroom. The main method I can recall of trying to confirm if I was still in a dream and if so to get out of it was approaching a tan man with short hair and facial hair who was sitting on a bench in the mall and jumping up and down in front of him, to which he didn't respond in any meaningful way.

A dream from the beginning of this year involved my friend and I near the river under a bridge on a local bike path. He was on slightly higher ground than I was, and I was right by the edge of the water. We were watching a killer whale/orca swim, and though it started to approach us, it turned back, did a barrel roll, and departed.

[twotonetex]

I just woke up from a nap and was caught in a nasty dream loop. I dreamt that I kept waking up in the exact same spot, in the exact same position, and with the same gasping breath I get when you first wake up. But I was always slipping back to sleep. And I fought to wake up and I was caught in a dream loop within a dream loop. It’s wild.

But now I’m actually awake again. I’m positive.

[l-space]

ah yes. if i trapped myself in an endless dream, i’d endlessly dream of my sister’s murder too. solid plan.

[omegarising]

Dream log November 27

I fell into a sort of dream loop where I was in an examination hall. As usual, I didn't know shit and the time was running out. I try hard to make sense of the questions but they're written in an alien script. I know I can't win this one. So I walk out of the examination hall to smoke a cigarette. The teacher screams at me. I don't know what she's saying. The words tumble from her lips like dark rose petals. Each petal inscribed with a letter of the alien script. I blow a smoke ring and watch the double suns set one after the other. Some say they're lovers, doomed to chase each other till the end of time.