Life Is But A Nightmare (Anthology Short Comic #3) by Anthony Andujar Jr

   So, Halloween is officially over. October is officially over. But, the story wasn't. I had a nightmare back in September and tried to document it. So when I did, I decided to make it a silent comic for the anthology that I've been slowly working on. I was heavily influenced by the song and tone of Tool's track "Jimmy" due to the catchy, yet swirling, sinister, yet emotional dread that gets you pumped from beginning to end, and by the time the song is over, you feel relief, but a little sense of foreboding after. I love that song a lot, and I felt that it matched the tone of my dream, or really, my dream matched the tone of the song. The line that influenced the later part of the short was this:

 "Hold, Your light, Eleven lead me through each gentle step, 

By step, By inch by loaded memory 'til

One And one are one,

Eleven.

So glow, Child,

Glow.

I'm heading back home."

    My other influence is the artwork of Junji Ito, Hiroya Oku (Gantz, Inuyashiki) and  Immortal Hulk illustrator Joe Bennett, who continues to dazzle with each issue. The biggest impression that I got from his work was the use of heavy lines, shadows, and heavy contrasts that bring out a sense of fear, anger, power and horror.  These were the primary factors that I took away from when I was reflecting on the nightmare/ dream that I was trying to make sense of, and going back to things that impacted me helped me piece together a short story such as this.

    Originally the premise is that the protagonist that readers would follow was convicted of a crime that he did not do, but due to false accusations from an ex, he was summoned and sentenced by a court, that in actuality are from some kind of cult/ secret organization with government clearance, and originally it was gonna be set on a different planet etc. But I felt that it was better to let the readers come up with their own thoughts on what the crime or false crime might have been, and whether or not anything that they are seeing is real, or not ( since dreams and nightmares tend to do that).  I was gonna originally release this on Halloween but I had class and was out, so I figured to kick off November, I'd post this silent short comic. Life is usually nothing but a dream, but sometimes, dreams aren't what they seem.   Remember folks, it doesn't matter what the story is, if you can make the story and execute it properly, regardless of the flaws, then you might as well make the jump and see where it goes, because as long as you make a thing, piece, story, you can always improve as I am continuing to learn that lesson, over and over again.  Either way, enjoy.