Volume 1: A Difficult Debut

The hardest step when writing a story is actually starting to write it. 

At first, BikoWolf and I only had plans, but we didn't have the faintest idea where to begin. In truth, when I think back to Volume 1, I always feel a little embarrassed because I would've liked to have done more and done it better. 

Design of Caesar for Dream Walkers

As I said, we had no idea where to begin. We were completely lost in a sea of intentions, so we decided to place the protagonist in a simple story, one that would conclude quickly and involve a character we both knew very well and whom I had already written: Gaius Julius Caesar.

 

The first story I wrote and published, back in my early college years, was Fate/Yggdrasil. It was essentially a blognovel loosely based on the Fate franchise and featuring a gender-bent Julius Caesar as its protagonist. That was also the very first story where BikoWolf and I collaborated. Not knowing how to start the comic, we decided to use her as a springboard for the arc of Himari. It was a risky choice because Caesar belonged to a world with its own rules and had a specific character arc. So, to avoid problems, we decided to build the world of Volume 1 by taking free inspiration from Roman history (more specifically, from the era of Caesar), so we inserted several new characters who were, in some cases, just parodies (like Marcus Licinius Crassus) and in others were actual reinterpretations (like Diviciacus).

 

It was clear to both of us that there wouldn't be time to explore certain characters in depth, but honestly, we didn't care. What we wanted was to tell a story to the best of our ability. However, to do something like that, and to avoid creating a Fate/Yggdrasil clone, we agreed that Caesar would have to change over the course of the volume. But how? That was the pressing question.

The idea of ​​an "evil Caesar" was partly BikoWolf's and partly mine. It was the best way to ensure we weren't repeating the same story I'd already told. I'd fantasized about a Caesar alter ego back in Fate/Yggdrasil, and Dream Walkers allowed me to make it a reality. However, BikoWolf wanted to do something more. His idea was to transform her at the end of the story and give her a look that wasn't too Saber-face-like. 

Saber-face, for those who don't know, is a term used to refer to all the characters in the Fate franchise who are very similar to Fate/Stay Night's protagonist, Artoria Pendragon. When BikoWolf drew the very first Julius Caesar for Fate/Yggdrasil, that trait was almost mandatory, but now that we were in a completely original story in a world of our own creation, it had to go.

 

As for Himari, the intention was to give her a simple objective: kill the big bad evil guy. During the journey, of course, the main traits of the character would emerge, but the central idea was to write a basic, quick story that would be concluded in a hundred pages and no more. This would create some problems in the storytelling, and we knew that very well... but at the time we didn't care: the important thing was to make the reader understand what it means to be a Dreamwalker in the world we created. Nothing more, nothing less. Simply put: the purpose of the story in Volume 1 is to show what Himari's daily life is like. If you're a Dreamwalker you must: enter a Dream, speak to the Dreamer, find the Nightmare, save the Dreamer if they become corrupted, kill the Nightmare, and leave the Dream.

 

Two faces of Caesar from Dream Walkers

However, even though there was some clarity on that front, things still didn't go exactly as we'd planned. 

 

The initial idea was to have two antagonists: one for Himari, Tyrannophobia, and one for Caesar, Brutus. However, by the middle of the story, we were realizing that having Brutus appear out of nowhere would be strange and not a very good look.
One of the "flaws" of Volume 1 is definitely the excessive number of characters. In just thirty pages, at least ten different characters are introduced, and some people might not particularly like that. I put the word "flaw" in quotation marks because this choice was deliberate and also necessary in order to fill Caesar's Dream with some sort of NPCs. Each of these characters was there simply to bring Caesar's world to life, or they were enemies of Himari, but certainly not someone to pay any attention to. They were trees in a mountain landscape, they weren't the mountains themselves. The most important characters, like El-Aiud, Jörmungandr, Tyrannophobia, and Caesar, were the ones I highlighted most throughout the story to make the reader understand that, in that ocean of NPCs, there were personalities worth paying attention to.
But Brutus was never even mentioned. Not once. We were here when we realized that Brutus had to be discarded.

Cleopatra suffered a similar fate. In her case, it wasn't her that was discarded, but her story. I had planned for Caesar to go to Cleopatra, turn her evil, and send her against Himari. However, BikoWolf told me it would be much better to simplify things, so we decided to send Himari to Cleopatra, give the two of them an intimate scene, and then have Caesar kill the latter. Literally: meet, f*ck, die.

Was it a good idea?
I don't know.

 

Vercingetorix was another character who underwent some changes during the story. At first, she was just supposed to be an enemy to defeat, but then we decided to team her up with Himari... not that it changed anything, but it was a way to avoid treating her badly (she didn't deserve it!).
However, I immediately set some limits when I saw that BikoWolf seemed to want to ship Vercingetorix and Himari. Not that it was a problem in itself, and he was simply trying to do a bit of fanservice and nothing more, but I thought their relationship would be detrimental for the story.

Ours is an NSFW comicbook, but I don't want the characters to f*ck each other senselessly. There has to be a context. A reason. Otherwise, it's not too different from a low-grade hentai comic.

 

Brutus, a discarded villain

Another issue was the action scenes. A few months ago, BikoWolf told me that the main criticism of Volume 1 was about the fight scenes, and I can understand why. We both know that some of the choreography isn't great and that some of the battles are too short. When Himari faces the three Roman generals in front of Alexandria, she defeats them in no time, and it's absurd, especially considering how much BikoWolf made her sweat. The battle begins on page 72 and ends on page 78. The entire fight visually lasts a short time, yet from Himari's sweat it seems like it lasted who knows how long. And there's no excuse: that was a mistake. It would've been better to make that battle last at least six more pages. It would have been more believable.

However, I think BikoWolf is good at drawing fight scenes and I think he has improved a lot over time.

 

Having said that, there were errors on my part too. There always are! 

The typo on page 46 was my mistake. I initially planned to show the map and write down Labienus' plan, but then, realizing that the entire military campaign would be skipped anyway, I decided to remove the explanation. However, I forgot to edit the dialogue.

About that, some of the dialogues aren't particularly natural and sometimes, when I reread them, they feel clunky. Since English is not my native language, I may have difficulties that I wouldn't have if the comic were entirely in Italian.

I just hope I've improved.

 

Ultimately, my verdict on Volume 1 is this: it was a joy to write, and I enjoyed seeing it published. I'm sorry for its flaws, but I think they're precisely what makes it special.

Quintus Atius Varus, Cato the Younger, Marcus Licinius Crassus & Diviciacus

 

Gaius Crastinus, Ambiorix, Mark Anthony & Sextus Pompey

 

Vercingetorix

 

Tyrannophobia

 

All drawings on this page were made by BikoWolf.