The definition of lucid is as follows: clear and/or understandable. The comic Lucid is neither of those. No, the first issue of Lucid, entertaining as it is, goes from here to there quicker than the Road Runner on meth. It is difficult to follow the action or the various characters introduced. The comic feels like I was just dropped into this world, expecting to have already known these people and their world. But I don’t and I’m not sure I care to. 

Lucid follows Agent Matthew Dee, a wizard (I assume) of sorts. He is appointed by the government to protect this world from other dimensions and the secrets that they hold. In this particular book, Dee just in the nick of time, prevents a very dangerous group of inter-dimensional beings from escaping into our realm. But it was too close and he is given a new keeper to have their eyes on him and his missions. 

The most important allusion, or group of allusions to pick up on, is the Arthurian references. You have the book The Once and Future King and Merlin, along with a ton of magic. Lucid is very much like Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, putting age-old wizardry into a modern day setting. But Harry Dresden from Butcher’s series is at least interesting. We, the readers, are introduced to a whiny Matthew Dee in high school. Of course what do you expect when the first panel entitles this setting “suburban hell.” But from there you don’t really learn much more about the character after the fifteen-year jump ahead in time. 

Another character you learn little about is Agent Gygax. Sure, you get her family’s history, but her ethnicity is lost. There is very little hint to the fact that she is German except by her references to Matthew being American and her saying Auf Weidersehen on the last of her panels. For the two characters that appear on the cover of the book, I expect to learn a lot more about them. 

For a majority of the comic I felt lost, only able to make assumptions about what was happening before I began this issue. The end of the comic cleared some of this confusion up. For instance, when I saw the black President I wondered if he was meant to be Obama, but that question was answered for me (a few too many panels too late in my opinion) by the eventual naming of the character. 

The art is interesting; I’ll give it that. It doesn’t have the typical comic book feel. The lines, and there are plenty of them, are not straight. There is a sort of pencil sketch feel to the whole work, with the characters clearly standing out against the backgrounds. The color changes had a nice flow to them, never abruptly moving on from one palette to another. 

Overall, I’m not sure Lucid caught my attention. The writer tried to throw in too much information and action, resulting in the characters getting lost in the mix. The artwork is beautiful enough, but it cannot make up for the writing and story. Without the introduction given to me by my editor, I would have had an even harder time understanding what was going on. So readers, be prepared for a fast-paced read.