New Page #45!
"...or until I forget everything. In which case, it would be nice if you told me why I was mad."
After nearly a year long siege, the British evacuated Boston on March 17th, 1776. When this happened, the soldiers who had been camped outside of the city made a hasty return to the town. More than Boston, the Warrens were interested in what they would find over at Breed’s Hill which was once again free of Redcoat occupation.
A man claimed he knew where Dr. Joseph Warren had been buried, and led Paul Revere and some of Warren’s brothers to the spot. When they dug up the body, Revere recognized false teeth he had put in not long before the battle, wired in with a special contraption he had invented just for Dr. Warren. There was no mistake, this was him.
Lest you think the only research I do is historical, I made sure that at the time Warren was exhumed the soft tissue would have been all gone. You know that if you’re an organ and tissue donor, someone has to, uh, collect that stuff before it can be of use. Yeah, my neighbor does that. So I figured who better to ask about corpses? He did his neighborly duty and after some investigating and confirmation, got back to me with an answer: New England, in the dirt, for a year? Nothing but the bone.
Whew. Because I would not have wanted to draw it otherwise.
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This Saturday I’ll be at Packrat Comics in Hilliard, Ohio for Free Comic Book Day.
I’ll have graphic novels, A Providential Hello mini-comics and I’ll be doing commissions. I have very limited space so if you’d like a particular piece of Dreamer merchandise that you’ve seen me sell at shows, just let me know and I’ll be sure to bring it for you. I’ll be there all day from 10 – 5. Ernie Hudson from Ghostbusters will be there!
AHA YES! First comment! :DDD
*ahem..*
Wow.. this page…wow. I’m not one for lavish praise…but you’ve outdone yourself. The red outlining the whole thing, and the reddish tinge….brilliant. HA Bea… good old Bea.. “I will END you” I guess she doesn’t understand eighteenth century medical care…….
Nice skull drawing. I see what you meant in your post; drawing flesh on that skull would have been……disturbing, to say the least.
So why exactly is she angry with him? He’s leaving, and this is after Bunker Hill. Where’s he going? Off to join up with Knowlton’s Rangers? Ugh, and he leaves with her angry at him like that? Poor guy..
I’m sure all will be revealed…eventually.
I thought the fever dream was what he saw in his head as he was dying, as if he knew she was there and wanted to tell Bea to move on.
Either way, it’s a strikingly gorgeous parallel – “don’t make promises to a ghost” – and the only words I can really form after reading it are FGHEUGYEGGUUGUYEHIUGHGDU
This whole issue has been especially beautiful.
Wow thats an interesting way to look at it…
Haha yep,agreed :P I spazzed too.
Hah! Nice job, Bea! Dr. John finally meets a 21st-century woman… and loses. (And runs off to grind his pestle in frustration.)
Beautifully done, with the fever dream. It even made me feel a bit queasy, which I suppose is a good review.
And forgive me for saying so, but: Paul Revere is hot. I feel bad switching gears that fast, especially given the circumstances. But Paul is my age (in this part of the story) – I really should stick to men in my range. Maybe.
Tamesin! Having been widowed in May of 1773 around the same time as Joseph Warren’s loss of his Elizabeth, Paul had remarried happily. Baby Joseph Warren Revere arrived in 1777.
Did Paul really name his baby that? Awwww….. :-) :-) :-) :-)
He did. :)
That is quite honestly the sweetest thing I have ever heard. I now have a newfound love for Paul Revere.
*joins in squeefest* :D
Maybe YOU should start dream-travelling back to those few weeks when he was single. Intercept him before Rachel can!
p.s. if you do, be prepared for Liz to mock you: http://www.thedreamercomic.com/comic.php?id=36
Actually, I think I did use that excuse once (“I can’t go out with you, because I’m dreaming about Paul Revere”). It works, too – they back away sloooooowlyyy…
In all seriousness, I’ve always loved/admired that friendship between Paul and Joseph. And when Lora finds some “free time”, I’m gonna commission a whole separate comic just about that. :D
Wow.
I am so glad that I got to see this page before work! It’s going to stay with me all day (and that is an excellent thing).
Again, wow.
I probably shouldn’t be laughing right now, but we have good ol’ feisty Bea back in the picture and it’s a nice change from all the dead bodies (although we do have the skull of Dr. Warren). However, the VI looks like maybe Bea was reprimanded for her outburst on this page and is perhaps embaressed for questioning the good doctor’s judgment? I guess I will have to wait for another update to see.
Looks like Alan is doing a little time-warping himself. Poor guy.
These extra tidbits of info on the blog are so fascinating. Thanks for being diligent in getting the facts right. Great panel design, also. Kudos to you and your colorist.
Whoa. This… was.. um… unexpected. I was spooked to say the least. The skull with the red tinge really got me. *shudders*
*Stands up and applauds* Well done, Lora! You have outdone yourself here! This is really great! The red tinge… Everything!
I wonder if red is Lora’s favorite color? If so, that might explain much!
HA! No, it’s not.
Well, what IS it, then? Don’t keep us in suspense!
Paul…. *smiles dreamily, since he’s right there with Abe*
Lora, you disappoint me. Not one mention of the awesomeness of Avengers? Sure, if you don’t make a whole blog about it, but no telling how things went (with you or with you with them, I mean). Hell, it’s six hours later and I’m still grinning at things, especially that tag feauturing–
Oh, right. Comic.
I kinda don’t like how nearly everything i soutlined in blood-red, since that’s almost Alan-vision is going critical. Boooo! Plus, are panels 3 and 5 clips from an upcoming short story? Cuz that’d be cool.
And then panel 7…..our first glimpse of the fight Alan was talking about way back in issue 3 (“If you remember our last conversation….”). Nice…
INCENTIVE CAPTION!!!
John: “Oh, she questions the precious, she does. Don’t worry precious, we’ll get her back, yes…”
Brent. Was that supposed to be a Gollum imitation? If so, perhaps the precious is tea cozies?
Everyone has their own precious. In John’s case, it’s his little mortar/pestle thing. For Alan, the gun with J.W. on it. For Knowlton, his tea cosy collection.
*LIKE*
What is Bea’s precious?
That’s easy….Alan! <3 ;D
*impersonating a Beatle* Ay, Half Moon got it!
Sorry to disappoint. I wrote this blog yesterday around noon. So… I had no idea how Avengers was.
That being said everyone needs to, uh, stick around to the end. Best “extra” scene since the arrival of Nick Fury!!
Yeah, there are no words for that scene…..literally. And as for the other……giggidy, baby. Gig. Uh. Dee.
I wasn’t expecting to like Bruce Banner so much. But holy cow, he held his own in that group. I loved his geeky understatedness.
Cap will always be my fav, but I did have a soft spot for Banner in “The Ultimates” and this movie version didn’t disappoint.
Of course Bruce held his own. It’s Mark Freakin’ Ruffalo! lol
Just saw it this afternoon. Still riding the adrenaline rush. Omigosh! It was … like … the best movie I’ve seen in decades! And yes, that final scene. LOL! so simple, and yet said so much :)
ha ha, agreed. My sister & brother in law went out for shawarma after the movie, HA!
What is shawarma anyway?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawarma
I love the Gollum thing. Also, did anyone think about the pun potential? Maybe it’s just me, but I thought Dr. John looked more “heroic” before. Yay, bad medical puns.
Avengers = Eye Candy for all. And Loki’s got SWAG!
…
….
Rag doll. <3
Oh, you better bring that to the next Dreamer meet-up.
Hells yes. You know I’m totally going to make one.
That was sort of the best moment of the film.
That was the best moment of any film. Ever.
And I am completely and utterly smitten with Tom Hiddleston after that role. I mean, he had me with Thor, then more so with War Horse, but he OWNED that film.
And Jen and I were talking earlier tonight and I came to the realization that if my novel about Jeremiah White ever gets made into a movie, he’s hands down perfect to play Jeremiah. lol
Oh God, than you know I’ll never give Jerry back right????
Bwahah! Bea is fierce like whoa! Back off, John.
“…I will end you.” YES! You tell him Bea!! No cutting up our precious Alan! :D I love it when she takes charge of the situation like that. I -am- very curious as to how John will react to her 21st century mannerisms though.
I think Nathan probably handled modern Bea a bit better than John ever will! But, Nathan had a disposition toward women’s rights.
You know, one of the reasons we all love him so much.
I really can’t picture Nathan ever saying “You, my dear, never were an intellectual.” He’s too much of a gentleman for that. Do you think he would have supported things like the women’s suffrage movement if he’d been around a century later?
YES. Emphatically.
That confirms my suspicions. Oh, and we’re all still waiting for you to name your favorite color, or do you just enjoy toying with us ANY way you can? Hmm?
So…she’s mad because she’s been worried about him and didn’t know if he even survived, and now he’s taking off again? But whats-her-name was involved in her being mad, too, right? Is that the woman there? Or am I reading too much into it?
Can I just say again how impressed I am with the subtlety of your facial drawing/storytelling abilities? Not only do your characters always look like themselves, but they say so many different things, just with their faces. And that is something that is very, very, very difficult to do!
P.S. Regarding Joseph, thank you for waiting until he was just bones!!
I agree. We get ENOUGH graphic depictions of human remains in various “conditions” on all those cop shows and both NCIS series, thank you very much! We really didn’t want to remember Joseph looking like THAT. Better just bones than the “alternative”. Gack!
That was an interesting update – I second you on being glad that Joseph’s remains would only be skeletal by this point, too *shudders*
As for the “present”…is it just me, or might there be just a little bit of the 21st century Bea coming through here? Her response to John’s attempt to bleed Alan looks a bit counterintuitive – and possibly even anachronistic – to me. Or maybe that’s because I’m currently reading a novel that has that same concept of time travel and that’s how the modern-day character reacted to 18th century medical practice *shrugs*
*fields this one*
Hard as it may be to remember, when Bea’s awake, it’s the 21st-century mind, regardless of time period. Really, it’s only been a few hours since she found that letter. It just seems longer or different since it’s a double-sized issue and we keep having flashbacks.
Yeah, Bea no matter what world she’s in only remembers her 21 century self. Well, except for the few “memories” (?) she’s had here and there. http://www.thedreamercomic.com/comic.php?id=230
So, what she says is anachronistic, but so is she. I’ll bet John doesn’t follow exactly what she’s saying, but most of communication is non verbal and I think that expression says it all!
Speaking of Bea’s mind, does anybody have any ideas about where her 18th-century “personality” may have been ever since “the dreaming” started? I would say that’s an important subject that should be investigated.
Yeah, it’s been brought up, but the topic always gets dropped pretty quickly, and Lora’s not telling, since, you know…..spoilers. I actually think she embedded the site with a neuralyzer like in Men In Black, and that’s why we forget.
Forget what? Did it have something to do with Bea? Darn! Why can’t I remember? Oh, well, it can’t be anything important otherwise I wouldn’t have forgotten it. Right?
It seems like every few weeks you make a page that is this comic’s best page ever. And today you’ve done it again. I love how moving this is. Thank you so much for doing this.
Aww, thank you. And you’re welcome.
Given the variability in New England soil conditions, I am not sure that I agree with Ms. Innes and her friend about the skeletal condition of Joseph’s remains in 1776. Contemporaries were equivocal. From the New England Chronicle of April 25, 1776: “Though the body which our savage enemies scarce privileged with earth enough to hide it from the birds of prey, was disfigured, when taken up, yet it was sufficiently known by two artificial teeth, which were set for him a short time before his glorious exit.” Personally, I think not showing Joseph Warren’s remains at all in graphic romance fiction would be more affecting. The less-is-more tact would enable readers to form their own mental images and react accordingly.
btw, Beatrice is showing herself to be quite the spitfire. Are surviving 18th century Warrens ready for her?
I doubt ANYONE in ANY era could ever be “ready” for Beatrice!
yuck. Yeah, I’m sure there would have been hair at least.
True facts: I can’t even watch those medical shows or having baby shows on daytime TV. There’s a reason I skipped “Field trip to the morgue” day in anatomy class.
Nice! I was wondering how Bea would react to Alan being subject to the tender mercies of Revolutionary War era medical care. I would think the site of a lancet (is that what it’s called? I don’t remember.) would cause her head to explode, and rightly so.
Gorgeous way you laid this page out with the scene going back and forth.
You rock. But then, you surely know this. :-)))
‘Lancet’ is the correct term, as is the descriptor ‘Lora rocks.’ ‘Fleam’ is an additional period-appropriate term for the former.
Ew!
I like that word, “Fleam”. It just sounds cute, even though it’s anything but that!
I always think it sounds like “Squeam” which is most of the word “Squeamish” which is a very appropriate association for a fleam.
It just sounds like something from Dr. Seuss, except it would’ve more likely been spelled with two E’s if that had been the case.
This page is so powerful Lora – great job. I really feel the sadness and the urgency in these panels!
*over looks Joe’s skull for a mo…* SHE’S MAD AT HIM BECAUSE HE LEFT?!?!?!?!???? NO SCANDAL ABOUT MILLIE WEAVER??????? no fair.
But Joe……yek. Lora, your version of his skull looks more real than those pictures on the forensic video x///x
Alan claims Bea has it all wrong: http://thedreamercomic.com/comic.php?id=263 Maybe he’s right.
Well, all will be revealed in time….
*ignores that and looks at Nathan*
Oof, right in the musket…
Poor Nathan. I think someone listed him on the TV Tropes page as “Butt Monkey.”
That HAD to hurt! Ouch!
I’m SO glad I wasn’t the only person who thought that when I read that page. lol
Aww Nathan…<3<3<3<3<3 I'm having serious Nathan withdrawals.
omg, I still Love Nathans face…….<3
And Caera a good cure would be cuddle with Nathan Plushy!
Got him right here. :)
Fantastic page once again, Lora.
Wow, that last panel caught me off guard. My roommate had a video game on pause and the creepy music set in just when I scrolled down. *shudder*
Poor, poor Joe.
And silly Bea, it’s not like he’s amputating Alan’s arm. Although I did enjoy her 21st century vernacular-ized rage, hahaha.
P.S. Love the red borders and tinge on the panels of this page!
I think I love everything about this page. It’s so pretty! But horrifically creepy at the same time. And that skull hit me right in the feelings *sniff*
Now that I’m looking closer at the image, who is Alan standing with in panel three? IS THAT MILLY WEAVER HOLDING A RIFLE? lol Watch out Bea!
At first I thought it was a broom, but you might be right! LOL!
I thought the same thing, and was like, “Geez, who holds a broom like that?”
Bea thinks the same thing. That stupid, dull Milly Weaver can’t even sweep a floor.
Oh my god, it is! Yay, drama!
This is just like what Sarah had on Liberty’s Kids except for the skull when she had the fever and had dreams about her father and the fever was broken at the end
I saw a previous comment saying that John was going to bleed Alan but does that mean he was going to kill him? Can someone explain this to me please?
Well he didn’t think he was killing him. But a lot of illnesses were treated in the 18th century by bleeding. A doctor would literally cut open a vein and let you bleed. This was supposed to make you better by ridding you of excess and helping restore balance to your body.
Bea is thinking the same thing you are right about now: “Yeah, right.”
Were leeches an alternative to cutting open a vein with a blade?
We either need to stop talking about this grossness or I need to stop reading the comments. lol
It’s not like I don’t know this stuff already. I just pointedly avoid thinking about it.
It’s strange how so many people can be both repulsed and fascinated at the same time by this icky stuff! There has to be some psychological term for it. Anyway, I fear we’ve gone too far to suddenly stop now. Sorry about that. We just can’t help it!
I saw the page this morning before work but the blog wasn’t up yet so I couldn’t post a comment.
Sorry for the run-on sentence. It’s been a long-ish week.
Anyway, I love the juxtaposition of “present” time with Alan’s fever dreams. Each of the fever dream scenes is so heart-rending, and the way the confrontation between 18th century Bea and Alan is framed by the exhumation of Joe’s body really puts Alan’s whole disposition in context. Maybe him hanging out with Milly, when he clearly was in love with Bea, was because he thought he wasn’t whole enough anymore for Bea, after what happened to Joe. It hollowed him out, as it were, and he felt Bea deserved more from him. That’s my take anyway.
As for Bea’s reaction to John’s plan to bleed Alan…. Priceless. Honestly, in the first frame with Bea and John, Bea’s body position made me wonder if she had smacked John on the back of the head. And I totally applaud Bea for stopping him from proceeding with the… procedure. I mean, yes, it was standard practice for fever patients but often did much more harm than good. I’m curious what John’s grinding in his little mortar now. Isn’t there some type of tree bark that was used to make the 18th century equivalent of aspirin?
And Alan seems to be sweating much more profusely. Is that a good sign? From what I’ve read, while sweating can occur throughout the course of a fever, it tends to rapidly increase when the fever is breaking.
If John had any such medicines squirreled away for emergencies, I think this classifies.
Yeah, willow bark was often used for pain relief.
Willow genus = Salix => contains salicin => salicylic acid => aspirin :)
I did NOT know that. Funny, the things you learn on a blog!
Loving the passion behind her reaction at John trying to bleed Alan. I’m interested to see her try to explain that to him….. :D
Yes. I think we can safely presume that’s the first time John ever heard that particular expression!
OMG this is an intense page! Both halves of the storytelling here just add to the tension! It’s like he wants to join his brother in the grave! No Alan you can’t leave BEA!
I LOVE the design of this story! Weaving the fever dream into the current story has totally kept the timelines clean for the reader. Awesome! Once again, you knocked it out of the park!
Quick question though: does John switch hands between panel 6 and 8? I might be visually confused. I tend to do that sometimes!
Uh… maybe he tried to grab it with his left hand between panels, but she grabbed that wrist too. ;)
I think she is mad because he is leaving her but I think he is leaving her because he knows the war is going to be long and hard and since he might die her wants her to move on. Kind of like before… issue 3 page 7 http://thedreamercomic.com/comic.php?id=63
@Sam 1775: Considering what a musket-ball could do to arm and leg bones, I’m curious why it didn’t cause more damage to Joseph’s skull when it went in, compared to when it exited.
Perhaps because it was at point-blank range?
@Sam1775, could it be that it was because it was at a point blank range and a lower caliber ball than a British infantryman’s musket?
Sorry for the double comment.
See the forensics video from a previous blog.
I DID. That’s why I’m asking! But I’m guessing it might’ve also had something to do with the shape and thickness of the skull. You know, compared to other bones.
For anatomists @David @Amber @Dana: Dr. John W. wants you all to apply for his contemplated medical school. Meantime, he has mixed feelings about your particular interest in his brother’s head. The cheek bone – maxilla in medical jargon – is fairly flat and thin at the place Joseph suffered that fatal entry wound. It is thin enough that a round lead ball went cleanly through it. The base of the skull in the rear is a lot thicker, and several bones fuse together when a fetus at what are called sutures. So at exit the lead ball cracked bone irregularly and partially gave way at the sutures, making an irregular gaping wound. This is a full-force, close range type of wound. Just how close, we cannot say. At this point, we should take pity on Caera and the rest, lest we induce nausea and detract from the heartbreak involved.
Thanks for clearing that up and for confirming a couple theories I had about this subject. I can only imagine what a larger caliber ball fired from a Brown Bess would have done at such close range. Actually, on second thought maybe I’d rather not! :( So I agree that for the sake of Caera and other like-minded individuals we should drop this topic and move on to something less…disturbing.
Thanks, Sam. I’m so glad you hang out around here.
Thanks Sam! Gosh, I am amazed by how much you know! I never knew anything about the human body structure until you joined our happy crew. Cheers to you Sam1775!
*like* It’s nice to have a real doctor to chime in, eh?
@Lora @David @Amber. Thank you for the kind words. ‘Dreamers’ truly comprise a special world.
Yeah, so apparently my comment didn’t post…phones.
Um, what did I say…something along the lines of “HEY PAUL!” and “Sad, sad, day.” The skull broke my heart.
And the comment about if there had been any soft tissue left you’d not have wanted to draw it, I agree. lol Don’t get me wrong, I’m all signed up to be an organ and tissue donor (and that whole face transplant thing, if anyone asks for my face, they can take it because that’s so freaky and cool. Just saying) but I refuse to think about what the process entails. :P
Wow. Slightly confusing page, but a definite impact. Also, incentive caption:
BEA: “That’s not, uh, wing of bat or anything in there is it?”
JOHN: “Don’t be ridiculous, it’s merely a mixture of medicinal herbs.”
Or perhaps
BEA: “You’re sure none of that…stuff will poison him, right?”
JOHN: *sigh* Is this girl never satisfied?
I’d go with the second one. It’s funnier and has less chance of actually being what will be said (the general rule – the more absurd and unlikely the caption, the better it is.
I like to try and work out what they are actually saying, but I see your point.