Customer Reviews

Strangers In Paradise: I Dream of You

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been collecting comics for as long as I can remember, and sometime around the time I hit high school, I lost my interest in comics, believing that they were pretty much all the same. I got tired of the same repeating storylines and lame plots. For some reason, I can't remember, I picked up an issue of Strangers In Paradise, trying to waste some time in a book store, probably. What I had come to discover was a wonderful, touching and suspenseful story that went above and beyond what any other comic besides The Sandman was doing at that time. It made you love, and care for the characters in ways that made them seem real (or made you love them so much that you wish they were real). If you are like I was, tired and put up with the comic book industry, you should pick up this book and fall in love with the people in it the way that everyone who reads it does.

While the jacket blurb does a decent job of describing the general gist of Strangers in Paradise: Volume 2, I don't know that it covers a lot of the tone of the book. There is a lot of material covered in this book, which makes sense, since it compiles nine comics into a single volume: Volume 2, Issue 1: I Dream of You; Volume 2, Issue 2: Someone to Watch Over Me; Volume 2, Issue 3: Echoes of Home; Volume 2, Issue 4: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?; Volume 2, Issue 5: Something I Can't Hear; Volume 2, Issue 6: Tic Toc; Volume 2, Issue 7: I Talk to the Wind; Volume 2, Issue 8: Do You Remember Yesterdays?; and Volume 2, Issue 9: A Good Night's Sleep.

(For those who have not read Strangers in Paradise, Volume 1, I recommend that you do so before reading this.)

The book starts with Katchoo returning from a mysterious prolonged trip about which she will not speak to find that Francine has been coping with the rather explosive breakup with her ex-boyfriend Freddie by eating. And eating. And eating some more. And it seems that, as far as David is concerned, absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder, and his unrequited love for Katchoo has not abated.

But Francine's ballooning weight and David's infatuation are the least of Katchoo's problems. The world seems to be conspiring to make sure she never forgets her past, and that she - and her friends - will pay for her sins. First, the mysterious trip to Canada. Then, she appears to have acquired a follower, one who doesn't have her best interests in mind. But even more frightening than Katchoo's follower is the mysterious dark woman for whom he works: Mrs. Darcy Parker and her minions, Bambi and Samantha. They will stop at nothing to bring Katchoo back into the fold, including using her friends as bait.

But before that, a whole slew of other problems pop up. For instance, if you think Francine is neurotic, you should meet her mother! And running into Freddie and his new fiancee doesn't help her state of mind much, either. And who says that Katchoo can be the only one with secrets? There may be more to David than meets the eye. And do you remember our friend Detective Walsh from Volume 1? Well, if you're a fan, never fear! You get to see more of the moustachioed investigator as he tries to track down the trackers. And what's with Emma and this house in Hana, anyway?

All in all, this volume is much more action- and emotion-packed than Volume 1, and also has a much higher allocation of violence. You get to know the primary characters in this tale (Francine, Katchoo, and David) much better this time around, and begin to feel their pains. If you enjoyed the first volume (you did read the first volume first, right?), I suspect you'll be completely hooked by the time you're done with Volume 2.

The cover of this book says volume II but in reality storywise THIS is where it all starts. Where the 'real' volume I (named "The Collected") gives you a brief introduction to who the main players and Terry Moore (the creator, both artist and writer) are, here is where the story as we know it today really begins. So see this as volume I and see "The Collected" as a big intro-special because that's basically how it is. The book starts of with some mild-mannered interaction between two of our three main-players, named Katchoo and Francine, who haven't seen each other in years after Katchoo took of all of a sudden and unexplained years ago. So it's all fun and jokes at first. But then it turns out that both girls/women have some skeletons in their closet. Problems and emotions which NEED to be worked out for their relationship to be ever as good between them as in the past. Francine turns out to be an emotional wreck and Katchoo turns out to have got herself in quite some problems in the years she was gone. And all the while this is all going on they're also involved in this sort of love-triangle with the third main player named David, who turns out to be a major factor in the story later on. And that's mainly what this first self-contained volume is all about. I think it's great and for me it was the start of what is up to this day one of my favorite series around. I think everyone who isn't too stuck on just superhero comics has a great opportunity to explore something really good in purchasing this volume. THIS is the essential book for this series. If you like it you're probably hooked. When you don't (which I can hardly imagine, but it happens) this series is not for you.

I just finnished the whole STP series on recomendation from a friend, and I couldn't have been more pleasently surprised. My preconception was "chic comic" but Terry Moore depicts real life people in amazing relationships. The gesture and expression in his drawings bring Kachoo and Francine to life, and wow... Women read up- this ones for you (finnally) and guys, maybe you'll learn something.

Amazing things happen when you read Terry Moore's I Dream of You. It will be something that you can't put away. It will be something that you want to share with your close friend. It will be something that will stay with you.

I have been collecting comics for as long as I can remember, and sometime around the time I hit high school, I lost my interest in comics, believing that they were pretty much all the same. This was the first romance comic i read it was good.

I've been a fan of this series for a long time, and while this book isn't the greatest in the series, it's a definite solid read and a good volume.

Watch out with this book, if you read one Strangers in Paradise, you are going to have to read them all. Because the story is so sweet, and you can really get into it. Terry Moore is a great great man for coming up with this comic and continuing it. Thanks.

Should be a classic

The plot is frankly absurd and romance-ish - I thought Terry Moore must be a woman, writing primarily for women. Despite this the females are somewhat samey, ie confusable - a serious shortcoming in this medium; the drawing only really takes off in the dream sequences. Newcomers to the medium should NOT start here but with Love & Rockets, Maus, Persepolis and Palestine. Oh, and Doonesbury! Just because it's daily don't mean it's not art...