The Dreaming is an Australian Horror OEL Manga trilogy by Queenie Chan.
The story begins with twin sisters, Amber and Jeannie Malkin, starting at Greenwich Private College, a boarding school in the remote Australian bush with a mysterious history of many missing students. The twins have horrible and weird nightmares and strange things begin to happen in the school, while soon another student vanishes. Needless to say, it gets worse from there.
Originally it was published by Tokyopop, but once Tokyopop ceased printing operations in 2010, the series went out of print. It was later picked up by IPL comics in The New '20s, where it will be (somewhat) redrawn and revised. This fixes up some minor plotholes as well.
Not to be confused with the spin-off of The Sandman (1989) or the Kate Bush album The Dreaming.
This series provides examples of:
- The '90s: Specified as 1997 in the Revised version - The original version took place in 1989. This is notable in the lack of cell phones, the presence of a CRT-TV, and Amber's walkman.
- Adults Are Useless: Mostly true, although Ms. Anu helps the twins figure the mystery out and helps evacuates the surviving students at the end.
- Affectionate Parody: The haunted Cupboard is intended to be this to the works of Junji Ito.
- Ambiguously Brown: Ms. Anu in the original version - her ethnicity was never stated (only implied in the third volume in a Blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment), but the 2023 reprint details her to be Aboriginal.
- Angsty Surviving Twin: Mrs Skeener, and very nearly Jeannie.
- Art Evolution: In the remaster Queenie changed a lot of detail on the faces - this is most notable in the side character Trevor who looked like he came out of a Junji Ito book in the original version compared to everyone else looking like a 90s-2000s era anime.
- Axe-Crazy: Mrs Skeener, towards the end.
- Bittersweet Ending: Although the reader is left to draw their own conclusions about things, Mrs Skeener's sister may still be possessing Amber's body right at the end and both sisters go in separated ways. Jeannie still has nightmares about the school and searching for Amber. She also admits that, although she knows she should feel sad about all that happened, she can't
- The Blank: The Headmistress is depicted as faceless in many of the paintings. Similarly, The girl who gave herself up to the Quinkans is depcited as faceless.
- Boarding School of Horrors: The surrounding bush is haunted by mythical beings called Quinkans. They have snatched 12 students in the past and are working on their next dozen...
- Buried Alive: Avril Merriweather did this to some of her students- but would let them out. This is how Mrs. Skeener also died in Vol 3.
- Came Back Wrong: The school gets besieged by a group of girls in outdated clothing who wander in from the surrounding forest, with all of them appearing to be the girls who vanished throughout the decades now either possessed by or turned into Quinkan themselves.
- Connect the Deaths
- Creepy Housekeeper: Variation on the theme - in this case, the creepy Mrs. Skeener is the Vice Principal, not a house-keeper.
- Demonic Possession: Of the abducted ... including Jeanie. Too bad she wasn't a smoker, that would have helped.
- Don't Go in the Woods: We mean it. Not a good idea.
- Driven to Madness: Being isolated and preyed upon by a monster that took them whenever they fell asleep drove Avril Merriweather's remaining students gradually out of their minds. The resulting sleep deprivation and self harm to keep themselves awake only worsened their sanity.
- Fate Worse than Death: Implied that this is what happened to the lost girls...
- A Fête Worse than Death: Happens to young Mrs. Skeener and her sister when they first arrive at the School
- Haunted House: In as much as ghosts keep visiting.
- Oh and the Haunted Cupboard where the spirit of an overworked manga artist dwells (give me Mountain Dew ...)
- I Did What I Had to Do: To her dying day, Mrs. Skeener insists she wasn't wrong to try and save herself and her sister by attacking those girls with an axe.
- Kill the Cutie: Quite a few of them - the girls are depicted as quite cute, especially in the 2023 version.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Bit of this for Amber in the end.
- Living Shadow: The Quinkan appeared to be this.
- Locked Door: You know, that one room with the spooky picture of a lady hanging on the door?
- Mind-Control Eyes: Amber gets bold black outlines of her eyes whenever she is possessed.
- Mind Screw: The ending. Queenie intends to make things a little less of a mind screw.
- Mirror Scare: This is done during the mirror dare.
- Of Corsets Sexy: The Victorian dresses in the manga are modestly so.
- Old, Dark House: In this case, the house is a mansion outfitted as a private school.
- Parental Favoritism: It's rather obvious that Mary Spector was more openly doted on by their father compared to Beatrice. Why else did he seem so eager to have Beatrice enrolled in their aunt's finishing school all the way in Australia? He seemed to have quietly disowned Beatrice after she was institutionalized following Mary's disappearance. It's unclear if he left her Greenwich Private College because he had no other heirs or as a punishment to remind her of what happened to her sister.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Subtly so - Amber and Jeanie don't have a whole lot in common and aren't very close. In the end they both go their separate ways, though the implication that Amber's possessed certainly didn't help.
- Rain of Blood: Subverted. Jeannie has a nightmare about being trapped in a clearing in the bush, and it's raining blood. Later, she winds up in a clearing exactly like the one in her dream. Then some 'blood' falls on her... It turns out to be just eucalyptus tree sap.
- Sadist Teacher: Avril Merriweather, the first headmistress of Greenwich Private College, punishes her students by locking them in cupboards and coffins.
- She Who Must Not Be Named - Warning: Saying the name of 'certain' disappeared residents of the School while gazing into a mirror may be hazardous to your health.
- Spooky Painting: The school is filled with them.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- The school is made almost entirely out of wood and wasn't renovated. As a result, leaks appear.
- Being a victorian-era school that was made entirely out of wood, it's also not very safe in the event of a fire either.
- When a student turns up dead in Greenwich Private College, the school gets investigated and eventually shut down.
- Take Me Instead: It's implied Mary Spector allowed herself to be taken by the Quinkan after her sister exclaimed she didn't want to die. Unfortunately, the ambiguity of Mary's last words preyed on her sister's mind, making her wonder if Mary left because she couldn't stand being near Beatrice anymore.
- There Are No Adults: This happened to Mrs. Skeener and her twin when the school first opened. This is also somewhat played straight later on when only two adults remain in the entire school.
- There Are No Therapists: Subverted. Not that their presence did a lot of good for them of course.
- Weirdness Magnet: Amber is arguably one of these.
- Wham Line: While being cornered by a disheveled looking, ax-wielding Mrs. Skeener, Jeannie is shocked when the older woman states there is no "Greenwich Private College" anymore. The school board officially shut the place down days ago.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: It's unclear what happened to Peggy Sue, the girl from Avril Merriweather's original class who stole the horse and buggy to get away from the school while leaving everyone else to rot.
- Writers Cannot Do Math: According to Queenie, the first print took place in 1989. But Anu mentions her roommate went missing 11 years ago... which Anu states was the 1979 school year (Australian schools follow the Calendar). This was corrected in the revised edition, which changes the time to 1997 and the disappearances of Anu's roommate to 1986.
