*I was given an ARC of Dream Girl Disaster in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to IDW Publishing and Balazs Lorinczi for my copy of this graphic novel*
Synopsis:
Two rivals put aside their differences to help their friend make a student film. Easy, right? In your dreams!
Jo and Susie are best friends. Helen and Susie are also best friends. Helen and Jo, however… well, let’s just say things can quickly get out of hand when the two are in the same room… or the same set, shooting Susie’s action-movie project for film school.
As the lead actress, Helen is nailing it, while Jo is struggling to come up with music for the film. But when Jo’s nights fill with eerily vivid dreams that transport her into the story alongside Helen’s gruff heroine, she wakes up full of tunes. Is there something more than just hatred between Jo and Helen? What will Susie think about all this? Will they be able to finish the film before the tension on set becomes explosive? Or are these three dream girls headed for disaster?
Review:
The art of Dream Girl Disaster did a lot of heavy lifting. I loved the character designs and the colour palette. It’s a great use of minimal colour. The settings, especially in the ‘dream world’ were really cool and the style fit the film theme very well.
This was most of what I liked about it though. The plot was just Jo and Helen constantly verbally or physically hurting each other. If I was Jo I wouldn’t still be friends with Susie if she was fine with how Helen treats her and vice versa. A real friend wouldn’t let another friend bully you, they definitely wouldn’t let them physically hurt you – which Helen does to her on multiple occasions. The first time they meet Helen throws a rock at Jo.
Saying this though, Jo was never just a victim. They both had issues with each other and honestly, I didn’t like either of them. The only character I did like was Susie but she also had her flaws.
The parts when they were making Susie’s film were fun and I loved that Jo got inspiration for the score from her dreams – hence the name of the graphic novel.
I was convinced for a while this would be an enemies to lovers story but no. You get thrown a pretty big curveball near the end, a pairing I was not expecting, made more sense than Helen and Jo. We have enough media glorifying toxic relationships, we don’t need any more.
Dream Girl Disaster was an entertaining enough read but wasn’t captivating enough for me to give it more than 2.5 stars.
Check out Young Creative Press on all socials
You can also check out my StoryGraph here