Review by Frank Plowright

Al15’s place in life was designated on her colony, yet an opportunity arose. She took a courier ship to a different world where she learned her planet’s history wasn’t the truth, and altered the destiny of another planet. Steve De La Mare explained all this in The Adventure Begins.

That ended with her attempting to travel home via a wormhole. Broken Dreams begins by charting her progress along with a spacecraft arriving on the world she’s just left. Rather than the awkward combination of forms used previously, De La Mare here supplies a more traditional graphic novel, although not without the punctuation of well designed advertising posters. Moreso than before, though, a dreamlike premise enables pretty much anything to occur.

What develops is a chase, with Al15’s very capable mother following Al15’s trail through the wormhole and discovering very different looking places.

Once again De La Mare’s art is conceptually inspired. Two people taking the same journey at different times allows for some clever segues between them, the designs are strong, and fewer wordless painted spreads than The Adventure Begins means they’re to be appreciated even more. They’re exquisitely composed. Reservations about the colour are no longer valid, as there’s now thought applied to it as a reflection of circumstances.

A point is briefly made about addictive immersion in online worlds, but it’s in passing, as the primary concern is mind-expanding adventure. Of course, the irony is that’s exactly what online games also offer. Everything is intelligent, and times full understanding may require reading something twice before it drops into place. With the accompanying art, that’s no chore. Dragons mix with spacecraft, alien life and mechanical creations are frequent, and Al15 is an everyperson trying to do what’s right in an understated definition of heroism. It’s a delightful concoction and more awaits in Home Truth.