BAD BLOOD #2

A mysterious boy finds his family in the nightmare world.

In the first book in the series, Maxwell—an emo-goth kid with a dramatic black fringe obscuring his face and a special talent for entering dreams—tried to save a troubled girl from nightmares, only to learn that her subconscious monsters were specifically seeking him out. In the same story, Maxwell reflected on his past: while living in an orphanage, his sister, Gwen, mysteriously disappeared into the nightmare world. This latest installment sees Maxwell experiencing his own harrowing dreams, which tie the plot’s threads together. In one vision, Gwen reveals herself as a reptilian horror with a forked tongue and razor-sharp fangs. She leads him to a man who tells him he’s their father, then transforms from a milquetoast polo-shirted professional into a cross between a swamp monster and Dracula: the Bogeyman! He explains that the time has arrived to crown a new Bogeyman, ordering the siblings to compete in a series of challenges for the title. But Maxwell’s a good kid—he tries to stop people’s bad dreams, not cause them. This entry adopts a more linear structure than the previous volume, but visual riffs on the trippiest stuff of subconscious horror remain playful, plentiful, and colorful. Maxwell is tan-skinned; his father and sister are lighter-skinned (when not monsterfied).

Monstrous family matters drive this exuberantly eerie tale.