Dreamwalk Journal

An erotic CG webcomic by Ed Kline (artist) and Kishma Danielle (writer). The main story remains unfinished and is currently offline, but there have been a couple of SpinOffs, The Widow and Nightshade the Merry Widow, written by Danielle until her untimely passing in January 2014 since when Kline has continued Nightshade as a solo project. Kline has stated that the main Dreamwalk story will be reposted once the current (2014) Nightshade storyline has concluded, reprinting the original art before picking up where it left off.

Danny and Fleur, two young women from Earth, find themselves in the strange world of Cyeatea, via a kind of astral projection called "dreamwalking". Cyeatea consists mainly of a vast forest extending vertically through multiple levels, each with its own distinctive environment. It is inhabited by numerous intelligent, technologically advanced species of insects and spiders.

Most people probably wouldn't associate insects with erotica (a fact which is lampshaded in the behind-the-scenes material), but on Cyeatea insects and arachnids are human-sized (or humans become insect-sized), and they have human characteristics, including prominent genitalia and Non-Mammal Mammaries. Also, they're all naked, and horny, and very curious about the "ooman" newcomers, who also happen to be naked and horny.

Another key point about Cyeatea's insect society is that nobody ever harms anybody else deliberately, because all disputes are settled with sex. Some of the insects and spiders do have stings, but they are used to inflict pleasure, not pain. It has careful plotting, good dialogue and excellent artwork.

Started in May, 2005. The webcomic went on hiatus in the fall of 2007 when Danielle injured her back. That may seem ironic since insects are invertebrates, but actually Cyeatean insects do have endoskeletons.

Kline eventually began a Spin-Off strip on Drunk Duck, titled The Widow. This does not feature the "ooman" visitors, but rather focuses on Cyeatean spiders' sexual predation on insects (and is therefore more explicit in its sexual depictions). As of November 2011, the comic has mainly featured original stories and characters, although there was one uncredited reprint story from the original site, apparently to give Kline time to build up a strip buffer. In January 2012, the comic went on a brief hiatus and then was relaunched under the title Nightshade the Merry Widow, now officially crediting Danielle as co-creator, rebooting and slightly RetConning the storyline.

The three sites:
 * Dreamwalk Journal (the original, no longer available)
 * The Widow (registration required due to adult content)
 * Nightshade the Merry Widow (ditto)


 * All There in the Manual: The original site also featured "Danny's Journal", which gave a lot of background to the characters and events. There was also a page on Cyeatean anatomy, which was intended to be the first of a series called "What the Hell is That?", but ended up being the only one. Kline later revived "What the Hell is That?" as a Q&A feature on Nightshade, alternating with story strips.
 * Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Killing non-sentient species is justified as long as it's in self-defence. When it comes to sentients, you can rob, cheat and fuck them blind, but causing injury or death is unthinkable. (In one Nightshade strip it's implied that murder and execution do sometimes occur, but extremely rarely.)
 * Author Avatar: Danny is based on Danielle, and her boyfriend Johnathon (mostly referred to in the behind the scenes journal entries) on Kline.
 * Breast Attack: Some of the anthro insects get stung right in their Non-Mammal Mammaries (amongst other places), but it's a subversion because (being an erotic comic) the stings inflict pleasure rather than pain.
 * Dyson Sphere: Not actually stated in the webcomic, but according to one behind-the-scenes journal entry Cyeatea is just one of numerous worlds on the inner surface of a Dyson sphere called (I kid ye not) Velveteen. However, Kline has elsewhere referred to Cyeatea as a planet, so the Dyson sphere idea may be an abandoned concept.
 * Heli Critter: Cyeatean dragonflies are roughly the size of ocean liners and fly using genuine helicopter-style rotor blades. (The blades also chop up any vegetation they come into contact with, producing a salad rain for critters in the lower levels). At one point the protagonists hitch a ride in a cavity in a dragonfly's head.
 * Hungry Jungle: It's probably safe to assume that Cyeatean plants and animals are carnivorous if A) they move; B) they can't talk; and C) they aren't trying to get into your (nonexistent) underpants. Well, the last one isn't entirely accurate; actually there is a sexual component to all predation on Cyeatea, so if a plant eats you you'll probably be experiencing too much pleasure to worry about it. Fortunately many carnivorous life forms aren't fatal to sentients.
 * Interspecies Romance: Cyeatea is inhabited by numerous intelligent humanoid insect and arachnid species, all nude with exaggerated sexual characteristics including big boobs. There's lots of sex between species, some of it in the form of ritual combat, which eliminates the need for real warfare. Naturally the visiting human women also get to experience Cyeatean sexuality first hand.
 * It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It: Cyeatean "prey" struggle and complain at first, but they do kind of enjoy the experience, although the intensity is overwhelming. In any case, no harmful intent is ever meant or inferred. ** This Nightshade strip (NSFW behind a filter) makes it clear that some prey actively enjoy the experience.
 * Naked on Arrival: Well, everybody, obviously, but especially Danny and Fleur who are the newcomers. Cyeateans do actually have a concept of nakedness, but for them it simply means not wearing a waistbelt. On the first page the two 'oomans have already been given belts to preserve their "modesty".
 * Non-Mammalian Hair: Most of the anthropomorphic insects and arachnids, both male and female, have hairlike stuff on their heads.
 * Non-Mammal Mammaries: Naturally. Big ones too. Though in a comment on one of The Widow's strips Kline states that Cyeateans are actually part-mammalian.
 * Our Nudity Is Different: None of the insect/human hybrids wear any clothing at all - except for woven waistbelts, without which they consider themselves naked.
 * Plot With Porn: There's less actual porn than you might expect in the main storyline, apart from the ubiquitous nudity. There's a lot more in The Widow.
 * Rape As Comedy: It has to be admitted, the depictions of sexual predation in The Widow are pretty funny.
 * A possible Crowning Moment of Funny occurs here (NSFW behind a filter) when a captive wasp has a rather... extreme reaction... to a spider's stimulating sting.
 * Scenery Porn: The original featured vast exterior and interior vistas.
 * Shout-Out: One page of the original deliberately mimicked some shots from Forbidden Planet.
 * Spin-Off: To date, The Widow has featured Types 4 (recurring characters) and 8 (new storyline under different name).
 * Time Skip: In the original strip there was a long sequence set inside Helianthus Hive. Kline apparently got bored with drawing interiors (however vast), so the storyline jumped forward to a sequence where Danny and Fleur are once again journeying - and then the strip went on its indefinite hiatus.
 * You Won't Like How I Taste: Fleur says the line to her hungry spider companion. Of course, the spider (probably) doesn't really want to eat her.