Dream Too Darkly, the webcomic by Dave "Diavo" Voltaggio (info)

WHAT IS THIS?

Dream Too Darkly is my second online comic [webcomic]; a hobby for me to satisfy my creative needs as well as share the peculiarities of my imagination and nightmares. It's like an online graphic novel.
Updated when I get the time & am in the mood.

This comic stars a female trapped in a coma, dreaming endlessly and being twisted in her dementia.

As the story progresses and The Doctor [& we] learn of things, their details will be explained here; such as monsters and concepts.

D2D started on 4.6.06

The Library:

The Real World
CREATURES
Creature Subclasses

THE REAL WORLD

Meredith Von Mort

A girl recently afflicted by a strange epidemic disease putting her in a coma. Her nightmares are the focus of the story. She is in the Violent Ward of a hospital because during the brief and sparse times she is awake, she unconsciously throws violent fits. She is roughly around the age of 10-12 years old.
[view]

Droma

Nickname for the "dreaming coma" caused by the epidemic, first noted 5 years before Meredith's case. The afflicted fall into a coma and dream intensely, which can be viewed via Dream Viewer devices. Occasionally the ill wake up for short spans of time, but are hardly lucid. The death count has been rising. No cure has been found because its cause hasn't been solidly determined.

Approximately 30% of the population of the First- and Second-World countries in the world are in a Droma at the start of D2D. (It's estimated that 40% of these countries have fallen to it, resulting in 10% Net deaths!)

The Feinstein Dream Viewer Device

A prototype apparatus used to view the dreams of an unconscious person. Invented by the genius Dr. Gerrmik Feinstein, who focused his intelligence and natural aptitude for machinery and electronics to create a hybrid automated device to link with televiewers.
Fewer than 70 exist in the world and they are highly valued assets across the globe during this epidemic.

It consists of a metal band [The Brainwave PreAmp] placed around the patient's forehead; it absorbs various levels of brainwaves. This band is connected via wires to a special electronic device called a computer. This computer attempts to translate the brainwaves into images and sounds which are displayed in 2-D on a monitor with built-in speakers.
A doctor must tweak the settings of the dials and controls to individually get in synchronization with each patient. Therefore the images at best are sketchy, incomplete, and rarely in color; the D.V. is a prototype of technology decades ahead of its time.

The device, when actively working, draws a substantial amount of electricity and can overheat causing its failsafe to turn itself off.

aka: "D.V.", "D.V. device", "dream viewer", "a Feinstein"

Monikers

Creatures with glowing red eyes, horns, protruding pointy teeth, a thin body, arms much longer than legs, and claws. They can turn invisible but their eyes and hands cannot.
[view]

class: MONSTER
subclass: FEARBORN

Harlequin: Smokeshadows

Limber beings of condensed shadow; they evaporate into smoke constantly. Can put its hands through a wall or along a floor to cast a shadow extension of itself and reform its hands on the other side. Can coat a victim in a numbing shadow that may cause paralysis and/or unconsciousness, even death.
[view]

class: MONSTER
subclass: SPAWN

Conjure

A creature in the dreamworld that is conjured intentionally. Magicians, wizards, witches, and spell casters frequently conjure creatures of various types and usefulness. Some are conjured by Meredith's own mind.

Fearborn

A class of creature in Meredith's dreamworld, borne of her fear. The more scared she is, the more power it has which can lead to, of course, a bad snowball effect. Confronting and being unafraid of one causes it to vanish.