Dream Thief: Escape #2

written by Jai Nitz
art by Greg Smallwood

Holy Miami Vice, Batman!  Dream Thief: Escape continues its cautionary fable with the mercy killing of Guy Hogan, a man driven mad along with the ghost inside him by not being able to satisfy his revenge.  Restrained in a straight jacket, kept locked in an abandoned alligator hunting shack off the Florida Turnpike, and having chewed off his own tongue, there was little left of Hogan in the end.  And only after fifty or so ghosts after nearly a decade as a Dream Thief.

John Lincoln is moving at a much swifter click than that.

Although Dream Thief: Escape #2 barely advances the plot of the prison break—Lincoln resolves to employ his "spectral law degree" (8) to release Ray Ray Benson, currently possessed by his father, on bond by questioning a signature and arrange for Patricio Brown-Eagle's killing while out for a psychiatric evaluation—but it does revisit Lincoln's attempts to reconcile his memories of his ghosts' lives.  While contributing to the G.B.I. report on Brown-Eagle for the murder of John's girlfriend Claire—a murder which he himself committed while possessed by Armando Cordero, Claire's undeserving victim—Lincoln is visibly shaken.  Though Agent Simon and John's sister Jenny assume it's the memory of Claire, it is, in fact, the visceral memories of Cordero:  his fear and confusion as Claire killed him and the fond, loving and a little regretful recollection of his father.  When Lincoln drops by to visit Lalo Cordero, the results are charming and a little heartsick.  John Lincoln is able to offer a lonely father some consolation but no resolution.  Nevertheless, he's never been more winning.

It may very well be that series artist Greg Smallwood understands Dream Thief's protagonist better than does its writer Jai Nitz.  While his character work is solid throughout, his settings atmospheric and often humorous, Lincoln's expressions and body language are flawless.  His sheepishly honest shrug as he admits he'll get Ray Ray out the old-fashioned way—"I'll lie" (7)—is perfect.