Madison: The Journey Through A Thousand Dreams #1 is a comic written by Nicole Brune with pencils and inks by Eduardo Garcia and colors by Sebastian Garcia & Sayed Parrazales. Madison is in desperate need of money to purchase a theater. This is a fantasy comic with dramatic elements, noir vibes, and references to a specific video game. The leading lady for this tale is Madison, she works as a burlesque dancer at a theater in Manhattan and she lives with her sister and brother-in-law. She is very determined person who can go with the flow when needed. The story begins with Madison and the girls chatting with the theater owner after the show as he lets them know he is selling the place. Their conversation is interrupted by an aggresive Mr. Howser who wants to turn the theater into nightclub called “The Dungeon”. This is a comic that takes place in two worlds separated by a blurred line. The violence here is physical with no blood or gore. The pacing is a bit slower than average as there can be a lot of talking. The tone is split between having noir/classic vibes and being whimsical and fairy tale-like. There are a few intense moments here due to dramatics and violence. The dialogue has decent back-and-forth with an older talking style as this takes place in the 1950’s. There are at least a few word-heavy pages and some thick text bubbles. This is a debut issue that stars a determined woman who travels through both a classic and fantasy world while attempting to solve major problems.

            The art here is drawn in a smoothly detailed, modern style with well done shading and some cartoonishness. Part of this comic is in black-and-white while the other part is very colorful like a children’s cartoon. The natural scenery consists of grassy hills, tall flowers, rows of trees, and a clear blue sky. Madison does a decent amount of traveling here from the theater to her home to even a castle, with some spots in-between. The backgrounds for these different places do a good job of showing the surroundings in detail from grass and dirt to wood paneling and spaces between bricks. The expression level here is tick below average as the overall range and emoting ability is somewhat limited. The main emotions we’ll see are anger, emotion, shock, confusion, and fear. The faces are smooth and decently detailed with the expressions coming across clearly. The violence here is physical and usually involves objects but there isn’t any blood or gore. The action scenes tend to be short and to the point. Some of the women wear revealing burlesque outfits.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like part-noir, part-fantasy stories starring a woman and taking place in both a real and fantasy world with a bit of drama and violence along with some references then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

PG-13. Outfits, violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Oh Mads, always so determined…”

 

Digital Link: https://madlovecomics.com/product/madison-1-digital-edition/

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/madlovecomicsandart/madison-1/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 25

Violent Pages: 2, for 8% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 2, for 8% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 2

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 1

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 1

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”