Years ago, when I was a store manager for EB Games, I made a weary argument to an employee that I was tired of seeing World War II, time and again, as a game. “Where’s the love for the American Revolution?” I said. “I want a game where I can cross the Delaware, where I can see the whites of the British eyes, where I can have a realistic rate of musket fire.” It was an honest wish; the Revolution was a favorite subject in college, after all.
A few years later, I discovered that IDW Publishing was going to publish Lora Innes’ The Dreamer, collecting the webcomic about a modern high schooler, Beatrice Whaley, who begins having vivid — and realistic — dreams of her life during the American Revolution, dreams that are almost more real than her high school life. With two lives to lead — and two handsome men to romance in two different centuries — Bea has a complicated life.
And I absolutely loved it. Innes’ artwork was stylish and detailed, her dialogue in two centuries, rang true, and her characters were captivating. This November, IDW is bringing out another collection of Bea’s adventures in The Dreamer Volume 2, and I can’t wait. If you love history or comics that are both funny and romantic, The Dreamer is the book for you!