Nightmare Hunter (Maxwell Dark #1)

Orphaned middle schooler Maxwell Dark has a special gift: he can enter other kids’ nightmares to help them find and confront their cause, thus eradicating the terrifying visions for good. But his powers haven’t always been easy to control. During his first foray into a nightmare—his older sister Gwen’s—Maxwell fled the frightening dream and Gwen disappeared from the waking world. Each time he aids someone during a nightmare, however, he finds traces of Gwen, which he hopes will one day lead him to her whereabouts. As he assists classmate Sid in expelling her demons, he discovers that he has become increasingly entangled in the dream universe, a realm in which “all nightmares are connected” that exists parallel to his own. Smith (Bug Sandwich) deploys stylized cartooning rendered in psychedelic color to depict human characters (portrayed with varying skin tones) dwarfed by multi-eyed monsters, tentacled terrors, and snotty, toothy, creepy cryptids, while thick line art reinforces the frenetic feeling of entrapment in a strange and horrific place. Each chapter of this promising graphic novel series launch boasts thrills and humor that’s sure to impel readers into the next volume. Ages 8–12. (Apr.)