Dreamcave

by Stanley Wany

This was largely an impulse purchase for me at TCAF this year, as I was attracted to Stanley Wany's art, and the idea of reading a story set in tribal Africa, a setting and place not depicted enough in comics.

The story centres on a young man who believes that things in the world are getting worse and worse, and that he can help fix things by going on an epic journey and asking his departed elders for their help.

The journey takes him eventually to the Dreamcave of the title, a place where the ancestors wait, as does an ancient lion.

It's hard to know what's real and what is imagined in this book, but that is its strength.  Wany doesn't provide a lot of written explanation, leaving a lot to the art and the reader to suss out.

His art, which looks like it's done in pen and ink, is often as sparse as his narration, but carries a lot of weight with it.

This book is the middle part of a trilogy, but stands alone perfectly.  Apparently the first book and this one only become connected at the end, and that book hasn't been made yet.  I hope that means I can grab the first and third books at TCAF next year, because I want to know more about this world.