Waking Life Book Two

by | Dec 25, 2023

Sometimes, growing up means letting go of your dreams. But what if your dreams won’t let go of you? This is the problem facing Robbie Boone.

As a young boy, Robbie was chosen to be the companion of the Princess of the Dreaming Realm. This led to nights full of adventure and fighting monsters. But as a teen, Robbie’s dreams mostly involve surviving high school and becoming a professional animator.

Still, the Princess misses her dear friend, and is curious about this high school that is keeping him away from her. To that end, the Princess becomes “Stacey” and begins attending Robbie’s school. She convinced her father, the Dream King Morpheus, that it would do her good to know something of the Waking World if she is to ever rule the Dreaming Realm.

Unfortunately, random acts of vandalism, seemingly tied to Stacey, are endangering the Princess’ bargain to stay in the Waking World. Worse yet, the absence of the Princess seems to be harming the Dreaming Realm. It will fall to Stacey, Robbie, and their new friend Ana to investigate the mystery and deal with an invasion of nightmare doppelgangers.

Despite a fantastical setting, most of Waking Life: Book Two  plays out like a slice of life teen drama. There is more focus on Stacey and Robbie’s efforts to try and fit in and deal with the usual teen problems than there is on the magical threat to reality. Even when the story shifts to focus on nightmares entering the real world, the story remains firmly focused on the characters and their fears.

Ben Humeniuk has a gift for writing strong teen characters and playing with the conventions of the genre. Ana, for instance, is not the least bit disturbed by the weirdness that erupts around Robbie and Stacey and takes them at their word when Robbie explains who Stacey really is and what is going on. This is because while she may not believe in magic, neither Robbie or Stacey have done anything in the time she’s known them to make her not believe them. This is a welcome change from the usual fantasy story, where the newbie just will not accept that magic and monsters are real.

Humeniuk’s artwork is also praiseworthy. The nightmare monsters that populate this volume are disturbing, but don’t cross the line into being truly horrific. This helps keep the story grounded, ironically enough, but also keeps the imagery appropriate for the target audience.

As with Waking Life: Book One, Comicker Press has no official age rating for Waking Life: Book Two. However, given the publisher’s focus on independently published works aimed at young readers, it can be safely presumed to be appropriate for its teen audience. The monsters, as mentioned earlier, are not likely to disturb older children. There is no violence of note, nor any sexual content apart from a suggestion of two characters kissing in a bathroom stall before being discovered and Robbie’s nightmare of being on stage at a school assembly in nothing but his underwear being made a reality.

Waking Life: Book Two: Epiphenomena 
By Ben Humeniuk
Comicker Press, 2023
ISBN: 9780997487343

NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)

Character Representation: African-American,

Waking Life Book One: Pleasant Places

by | Dec 4, 2023

Many people are said to live in a dream world. For teenager Robbie Boone, this is a literal truth!

As a boy, Robbie was chosen to become a companion to the Princess of the Dream Realm. By day, he was an ordinary student. By night, he joined the Princess in defending her father’s kingdom from nightmares and monsters.

Unfortunately, Robbie’s dreams are different now that he’s started high school. He dreams of becoming an animator and making comics. But those dreams are distracting him from his schoolwork and worrying his mother. Not only because his grades are slipping, but because he spends so much time alone working at his art instead of socializing.

The Princess of the Dream Realm is worried too. She misses her friend and wonders what can be so exciting about high school and the Waking World that it is keeping Robbie from wanting to spend time together like before. This leads her to follow Robbie to school and opens the door to trouble for her father, the King of Dreams!

Waking Life was reportedly inspired by the work of Winsor McCay, who created the classic comic Little Nemo in Slumberland. Artist Ben Humeniuk has updated the concept for the 21st century, while delving into the question of what happens when a boy-hero starts growing up. The resulting comic is an eclectic mix of fantasy and slice-of-life, which drama born of Robbie’s struggles at his new school and the hint of a rising darkness in his dream world.

Humeniuk’s characters are the strongest aspect of the series. The supporting cast is unique and memorable, with more nuance than is usually seen in a comic aimed at teenagers. While Robbie’s mother is presented as a stern authority figure, there is no doubt that she loves her son and that her condemning his art is born of a fear that he is missing out on life by living in a dream world. The irony is this is literally true, and that Robbie is trying to free himself from the fantasy that keeps calling him back. There are also hints of there being more to the bully that menaces Robbie than meets the eye.

Humeniuk’s artwork is not as detailed as Winsor McCay’s, but it is perfectly suited to the story at hand. There is a subtle shifting towards exaggeration in the Dream Realm, with things slightly indistinct. Most of the time, however, the comic looks like any other teen drama… right up until Max the Clown or some other dream world denizen shows up to crack the façade.

Comicker Press has not given the first volume of Waking Life an official rating. However, there is nothing in it that would be inappropriate for its target teen audience. There is no sex or nudity, nor even a joke about what a teenage boy’s dreams might involve or what he might be doing in his room alone apart from making art. The violence is largely cartoonish, with no bloodshed and nothing scarier than a few cartoon nightmares.

Waking Life Book One: Pleasant Places
By Ben Humeniuk
Comicker Press, 2018
ISBN: 9780997487329

Publisher Age Rating: 
Series ISBNs and Order
Related media: 

NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)

Character Representation: African-American,