Night Mary - yes, that's really the name - is the latest book from Rick Remender and Kieron Dwyer, the duo who brought you Sea of Red.

Mary Specter has the power to enter other people's dreams.  Since this isn't a superhero comic, she uses that ability as a therapist, partly thanks to the pressure from her father to do so.  This isn't an original premise - the New Universe title Nightmask had a very similar starting point - but the approach here is very different.  Nightmask was essentially a superhero book.  Night Mary is more of a horror title.

Fundamentally, though, it's powered by a strong central character in Mary.  She's entirely centred on fulfilling her obligations to other people, more out of a sense of responsibility than because she seems to get any actual pleasure out of it.  She staggers through the story under the weight of responsibilities, and also seems thoroughly unconvinced that she's actually achieving anything to help anyone.  She's a seriously stressed character, but a very convincing one.

As somebody who first encountered Kieron Dwyer back when he was working on Captain America with Mark Gruenwald, I'm always struck by the range of styles he shows these days.  After Sea of Red's distinctive one-colour style, Night Mary goes in a very different direction.  The waking world is grey and shadowy, and seems to be caught in a perpetual drizzle.  The dreams, on the other hand, are technicolor.  And every so often, elements of colour start to bleed through into the real world, to suitably unsettling effect.

Another impressive and original effort from these two, despite the dreadfully corny title.  Well worth a look.

Rating: A-

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