What do you think?
The Night of Your Life: A Slow Wave Production
Cartoonist Jesse Reklaw turns the dreams of strangers into the most insightful, humorous, and clever four-panel comic strips you have ever read in The Night of Your Life. This hardcover volume captures the sublime pleasure of tumbling through the freewheeling narrative of our sleeping lives. Each strip is an adaptation of the many dreams submitted to Reklaw from all over the world, every one a unique and compelling journey into a landscape to which we all travel. The Night of Your Life is a testament to the ability of comics to illuminate the corridors of the imagination with wit, sincerity, and joy.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 25, 2010
One of the moments that should have been a clear indicator that my now ex-husband, then boyfriend, and I weren't going to make it in the end was when I attempted to tell him about a dream I had. I don't remember what the dream was but I do remember him saying, "oh dude! you're not gonna start telling me about your dreams now are you?" (the fact that he called me "dude" might have been another indicator). At the time I thought it was hilarious, the audacity of him to tell me, to my face, that the recalling of dreams was banal and intolerable - oh what a riot that guy!
In retrospect maybe he was wrong, because sometimes dreams are banal but sometimes they're hilarious. I envy my moms dream life, I loved when she would recall her dreams. Lots of them were about flying and some were about food but the most memorable was when she dreamed of riding a cheerio (inter tube style) in an ocean of milk. oh to dream like that!
This book is has so many great dreams and Reklaw does an amazing job of condensing the content into four panels each. The facial expressions and the speech bubbles turn the dreams from amusing to hilarious.
Each section starts with the first line from the first panel: "I was hanging out in a post-apocalyptic shelter when a carrot asked me out", "Searching the Atlantic in a Submarine, my friends and I found Abraham Lincoln on the sea floor", "I took a bath in melted butter and forgot to dry off before getting dressed", etc. I wont try and describe them - they're strange enough without my help but I hope you get a hold of a copy and read it for yourself so you can see for yourself how funny the melted butter one is and the one where the dog dresses up like a dolphin and the one where Mr. T falls from the sky and the one where a paraplgic somersaults through town - you get the picture.
In retrospect maybe he was wrong, because sometimes dreams are banal but sometimes they're hilarious. I envy my moms dream life, I loved when she would recall her dreams. Lots of them were about flying and some were about food but the most memorable was when she dreamed of riding a cheerio (inter tube style) in an ocean of milk. oh to dream like that!
This book is has so many great dreams and Reklaw does an amazing job of condensing the content into four panels each. The facial expressions and the speech bubbles turn the dreams from amusing to hilarious.
Each section starts with the first line from the first panel: "I was hanging out in a post-apocalyptic shelter when a carrot asked me out", "Searching the Atlantic in a Submarine, my friends and I found Abraham Lincoln on the sea floor", "I took a bath in melted butter and forgot to dry off before getting dressed", etc. I wont try and describe them - they're strange enough without my help but I hope you get a hold of a copy and read it for yourself so you can see for yourself how funny the melted butter one is and the one where the dog dresses up like a dolphin and the one where Mr. T falls from the sky and the one where a paraplgic somersaults through town - you get the picture.
January 29, 2010
In case you didn't know: Jesse Reklaw draws other people's dreams, in a four-panel serialized comic called Slow Wave, collected in this handsome hard-bound volume for your perusal.
(Submit your dreams to Jesse here: http://www.slowwave.com/submit.php . He will make them famous!)
It's interesting to me that when I wake up from a dream, it always seems like I left an epic, far-flung situation, and yet when I try to recount the experience to anyone else, I can't ever come up with more than about four panels worth of details. So I think Jesse has hit on the perfect format here.
I would sell a lot of these if I was a plumber; it's the ideal book for next to your toilet. Especially if, like me, you often wake up in the middle of the night. Half-asleep, you'll flip through the one-page renditions of other peoples' dreams like a menu in a fancy dream-restaurant. When you go back to bed, whatever woke you up will be long gone.
(Submit your dreams to Jesse here: http://www.slowwave.com/submit.php . He will make them famous!)
It's interesting to me that when I wake up from a dream, it always seems like I left an epic, far-flung situation, and yet when I try to recount the experience to anyone else, I can't ever come up with more than about four panels worth of details. So I think Jesse has hit on the perfect format here.
I would sell a lot of these if I was a plumber; it's the ideal book for next to your toilet. Especially if, like me, you often wake up in the middle of the night. Half-asleep, you'll flip through the one-page renditions of other peoples' dreams like a menu in a fancy dream-restaurant. When you go back to bed, whatever woke you up will be long gone.
October 5, 2008
Definitely a neat idea with some shining moments. It's a collection of 4-panel comics, so it goes by VERY quickly and is loosely grouped into chapters of mildly similar topics.
It wasn't OMG AWESOME, but it was unique enough to earn an extra star. Also, the author/artist drew me when he signed the book. :)
It wasn't OMG AWESOME, but it was unique enough to earn an extra star. Also, the author/artist drew me when he signed the book. :)
October 17, 2008
A nicely-designed collection of Jesse Reklaw's four-panel comics based on dreams that other people submit to him. It's somewhat repetetive in format, but the ever-changing subject matter keeps it fresh and funny. Reklaw's art seems ready for any situation, no matter how absurd.
December 18, 2018
These are very true-to-life in the sense that a lot of people's dreams are not that interesting if you don't have a personal investment. It's not clear to me if there was a personal relationship between the artist and most of the dreamers, but it kind of seems that way, because again, some of them have an inside joke quality. There are some gems in here though. What surprised me most is how dated (not in a bad way) they felt; I might have thought comics based on dreams would be more timeless?
April 7, 2020
Thanks to Mindy for the recommendation (kind of) on this one; Reklaw ("Walker," backwards?) takes other people's dreams, as submitted to him, and makes them into 4-panel comics. The resultant non-sequitor brilliance is as entertaining as it is revealing about people, and I ended up passing this one along to my 13-year-old daughter when I finished it because of the non-comitted, bent sense of humor it embodies. Good stuff.
June 22, 2022
Great book.
December 31, 2008
Tasty blend of inclinations and creativity. Reklaw puts real people's weird dreams in four-paneled comic book format, with plenty of funny character commentary, celebrity cameos and imaginative drawing thrown in for absolutely free. The author portrays the dreams right - the fears, the unresolved issues coming to the forefront, the lack of total control over the outcome, and even the occasional victory. "What is dream and what is reality?" one could ask while reading these, and not without some mildly pseudo aplomb. If only...yet, no. I wanted at least some of these delicious stories to go beyond four panels, like in a "too be continued" format or in the form of a longer story, and Reklaw could have incorporated additional types of humor to spice things up a bit. But he sticks with his tried and true style and carves out a specialized, witty voice and look.
March 4, 2009
Each dream is told in a fairly restrained style in four panels. One might think that the concept would get old after a while, and I think the key to why it doesn't is the broad range of readers who contribute their own dreams. One could also pick apart some of the stories and ask if they are completely "authentic" dreams, and I'm sure that the author and the contributors have occasionally tried to improve on the unconscious. But for the most part Reklaw shows great skill in bringing the sense of dreaming to the waking world and the writing is more consistently entertaining than what can be found in nearly any other comic strip out there.
December 4, 2008
Okay so really i like this book because one of my DreamToons Jessee Reklaw drew a few years ago is in it!
So I got a free copy.
His comics do a good draw at hitting the actual subtle humor in our dreams. As I read the book I saw that what makes dreaming odd is not the strange content, but that we still behave in a normal way to absurd and surreal.
So I got a free copy.
His comics do a good draw at hitting the actual subtle humor in our dreams. As I read the book I saw that what makes dreaming odd is not the strange content, but that we still behave in a normal way to absurd and surreal.
May 7, 2011
I have intense interest in dreams, probably because I’m constantly being awed, disturbed, confused, and terrified by my own. The Dreamtoons series was a perfect fit for me. (Although, to be perfectly honest, I think some of these were made up or embellished.)
And if you think your dreams are weird, it might be comforting to realize you have plenty of company.
And if you think your dreams are weird, it might be comforting to realize you have plenty of company.
September 13, 2012
this book is great.
normally i breeze through graphic novels because they're like candy, but this one i took my time on.
mostly because Reklaw's not making any more dreams.
if you dug eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, read this if only for the comic which became the cover.
normally i breeze through graphic novels because they're like candy, but this one i took my time on.
mostly because Reklaw's not making any more dreams.
if you dug eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, read this if only for the comic which became the cover.
December 10, 2008
Wierdly hilarious. Fascinating and engaging. Read it. Then go to the Slow Wave website and submit your dream to be made into a comic strip.
September 26, 2010
Fabulous idea. Excellent illustration and good variety of dreams. Some really funny stuff in here and a fun time capsule of dreams from these late 2000's.
August 31, 2011
Funny little cartoon strips based on people's weird dreams.
March 5, 2013
The author takes dreams submitted by fans and transposes them into a short 4 panel comic. Each one is very amusing and captures the strange logic of the unconscious mind.
January 5, 2010
Totally ridiculous, absurd, and hilarious.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews