CREDITS: Written by Paul Dini and Ty Templeton; art by Joe Staton and Rick Burchett.
REVIEW: The Mad Hatter is far from my favorite Batman rogue, and his stalkery obsession with Alice has, I think, run its course. Much of these stories - But a Dream no different - have him interfere with the life of the woman of his dreams, with some runaround or other in a disused theme park with characters from Lewis Carroll's book. This one even reuses the dream inducer from the show to achieve some of those effects. If Alice can have her happy ending, then I hope it really is an end to this story line.
Nevertheless, But a Dream features some nice, albeit predictable, twists. We're led to believe the Hatter has died, but of course he can't have. Later he seems to win, but again, it's obvious what's happening has to be a hoax. The story nevertheless is smart enough not to show its hand immediately, so you might be guessing for a panel or two. The Hatter's initial plan is actually pretty smart, so I'll give him that, and the dream sequences certainly allow the art team to have some fun. (Linda Medley's bright monochromes aren't quite as successful as usual though.)
REREADABILITY: Medium - I'm pretty much done with Tetch. His stories tend to be a bit repetitive, as this one is, even though it's competently written and drawn.
Comments
Not only the colour choices but the restraint of digital airbrush!
I'm not certain of the date of this comic, but while it's almost certainly digitally coloured it's executed in the style of hand painted inks.
Bad use of photoshop (check out the free comics on the 2000AD site) makes so many comics feel cheap.