Dreamwalk Journal: Difference between revisions

Started in May, 2005, the webcomic went on hiatus in the fall of 2007 and the original site eventually went down. Kline eventually began a [[Spin-Off]] strip on [[Drunk Duck]], titled ''The Widow'', which did not feature the "ooman" visitors, but rather focused on Cyeatean spiders' sexual predation on insects (and was therefore slightly more explicit in its sexual depictions). 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 [[Retcon|RetConning]] the storyline. The human characters reappeared in a 2014 story.

 

 

* ''The Widow'' (no longer on TheDuck; available on ComicFury, no direct links due to NSFW content)

* ''[http://theduckwebcomics.com/NIGHTSHADE_THE_MERRY_WIDOW/ Nightshade the Merry Widow]'' on The Duck (adult login required due to NSFW content): '''No longer updating''' as of April 2016. Archive links still work.

* ''Nightshade the Merry Widow'' on ComicFury: Now the main site, no direct links due to NSFW content

 

Now has a fledgeling [[Dreamwalk Journal/Characters|Characters]] page.

{{tropelist}}

* [[All There in the Manual]]: The original site also featured "Danny's Journal", which gave a lot of background to the characters and events. As of November 2014 there are plans to repost it. 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-defense. When it comes to sentients, the rules of the "great game" of life mean that predators can 'steal' nourishment from their prey while screwing them senseless, but causing injury or death is unthinkable. In ''Nightshade'' it's stated that murder and (painless) execution do sometimes occur, but extremely rarely.

* [[Art Evolution]]: The most recent ''Nightshade'' strips demonstrate the huge advances in CG rendering since the original 2005-7 series.

* [[Author Avatar]]: Danny is based on Danielle, and her boyfriend Johnathon (mostly referred to in the behind the scenes journal entries) on Kline.

**In the "Bahoogie and Beans" arc, our heroes are baffled as to how the Redlip ant queen Vulgia could have survived a plunge into the deep realms, where the atmospheric pressure and composition should be lethal to anyone from the upper realms. It turns out they've been saved by {{spoiler|the [[Living Ship]] that originally seeded Cyeatea with their human-arthropod hybrid ancestors}}. In this case, a deus ex ''machina''.

* [[Disintegrator Ray]]: There are both hand-held and (in ''Nightshade'') ship-mounted varieties. They can only be used for defense, and only against non-sentient creatures.

* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: The native lifeforms inhabiting the deepest reaches of Cyeatea's ecosphere are huge and deadly. Normally nobody in their right mind would go there, but in ''Nightshade'' a rescue party is sent to find an ant queen and wasp baby who have fallen into the depths.

* [["Everybody Laughs" Ending]]: Played more-or-less straight in a ''Nightshade'' storyline. At the end of a scene where Danny, Fleur and Dill join a group of students who are learning about the (ahem) ins and outs of predation, they laugh about how much of a seeing-to the "victim" is getting.

* [[Genetic Adaptation]]: Although never stated directly, it's heavily implied that this is how Cyeatea's arthropod hybrids originated.

* [[Giant Eye of Doom]]: The [[Living Ship]] encountered by some of the deep-realm rescue party in ''Nightshade'' has an absolutely ''humongous'' eye. And it knows what they are. [http://theduckwebcomics.com/NIGHTSHADE_THE_MERRY_WIDOW/5464740/ Take a look here, if you dare. (SFW image, but NSFW page header image, behind filter.)]

* [[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.

** One image by Kline (not appearing on the main comic site) shows Danny and Fleur riding much smaller dragonflies (intelligence level not established) which also have helicopter-like rotors.

* [[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.

* [[I Fell for Hours]]: Absolutely justified in the case of Ant Queen Vulgia, who gets dropped by a clumsy fly while paralyzed and pregnant. Cyeateans are very small compared to humans (and therefore probably perceive time as passing more slowly due to having faster metabolisms), while Cyeatea has lower gravity than Earth and a very deep atmosphere, and the air resistance increases with depth. Unfortunately so does the air pressure, as well as the proportion of toxic gases... {{spoiler|Fortunately she's rescued thanks to a strange [[Deus Ex Machina]].}}

* [[In Medias Res]]: The original storyline begins some time after Danny and Fleur's arrival on Cyeatea, when they're already saying farewell to one of their original guides. There's no subsequent flashback; the backstory can only be found in the behind the scenes "Danny's Journal" pages (awaiting reposting as of December 2014).

* [[Interspecies Romance]]: Cyeatea is inhabited by numerous intelligent humanoid insect and arachnid species, all nude with exaggerated sexual characteristics including big [[Non-Mammal Mammaries|boobs]]. There's lots of sex between species thanks to [[Male-to-Female Universal Adaptor]]s, 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. Although it seems that all Cyeatean arthropods have some human DNA, so whether they're really separate species is debatable.

* [[Sacred Hospitality]]: Played with. When a predator captures prey for purposes of extracting their nutrients, the prey are referred to as guests and treated with due hospitality until such time as they are released. Any predators that fail to treat their guests properly are shunned; in extreme cases, they may become guests of other predators until they have learned their lesson.

* [[Scenery Porn]]: Vast exterior and interior vistas.

* [[Spin-Off]]: ''The Widow'' and ''Nightshade'' have featured Types 4 (recurring characters) and 8 (new storyline under different name).

* [[Sub Story]]: Although not actually set underwater, the scenes in the depths of Cyeatea's atmosphere might just as well take place in the deep ocean because of the intense atmospheric pressure and monsters of the deep.

[[Category:Sci Fi Webcomics]]

[[Category:NSFW Webcomics]]

[[Category:Banned On TV Tropes]]