The Dreaming (Tokyopop comic)

:"This article is about the comic series. For other uses of the term "dreaming," see Dream (disambiguation)"Infobox original English manga
name = The Dreaming


imagesize = 115
caption = Cover, "The Dreaming" volume 1
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author = Queenie Chan
illustrator =
publisher = flagicon|United States Tokyopop
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magazine =
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subcat = Tokyopop
sort = Dreaming, The
OEL = Y

"The Dreaming" is an Original English-language manga series created by Artist/Author Queenie Chan and published by Tokyopop. It is one of the first American-made manga put out by the company.

"Jeanie" and "Amber Malkin" - identical twin sisters - are new students at the 100-year-old "Greenwich Private College", a boarding school in North Sydney, Australia that lies on the edge of vast, virgin bushlands. After settling in and meeting new friends, the girls learn an unsettling secret: time and time again over the past century, students have wandered off into the wilderness surrounding the school and vanished without a trace, never to return. Jeanie and Amber begin to discover the mystery behind the disappearances and also the reason why the College's creepy vice-principal carries such a prejudice against identical twins.

Characters

tudents

;Amber Malkin 15: She is the serious minded twin, and is the first of the twins to feel the supernatural prescense at Greenwich. Amber is shy, and as such feels a little left out when next to her more exhuberant twin. She is close to her sister, but will not always tell her what is on her mind. Amber has frequent dreams of a mysterious and menacing gathering in a forest and in the school itself. As the manga progresses Amber is drawn more under the control of the supernatural presence and spends most of her time asleep.

;Jeanie Malkin 15: Jeanie is the more outgoing of the two, and makes friends easily. She sometimes will accidentally leave her quieter sister out in her drive to be accepted. Jeanie is very loyal to Amber, however. Jeanie can be a rebel at times, and as such will not always make the right choices.

;Millie: Millie is a student at the Greenwich Private College. She is one of the more knowledgeable people about the mysteries that surround the bushland area, since her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother have all gone to Greenwich when they were younger. Peppy and popular, she is quick to invite the two sisters into her social group. However, she is pronounced "missing" in the first novel. Eventually, Jeanie finds her dead body floating in a pool of water.

;Schala: She is one of the fellow students at the school. Schala is daring, and thinks nothing of sneaking out of her room late at night to go to a party in one of the other dorm rooms. She can lose her patience somewhat easily, as she was quick to scold Amber when she refused to cooperate in a group seance. Schala has some knowledge of the stories surrounding the college, but it is very limited. She is very good at leading, and was able to get herself and her friends on a search team when one of the fellow students goes missing, but she leaves once Jeanie finds Millie dead and accuses Jeanie and Amber for the reason of Millie's death.

;Trevor:A friend of Millie's and the rest of the group. He is very interested in artwork throughout the campus. Although, it is just all a lie; he thinks it will attract people, namely girls. He also seem to be interested in Jeanie, though she doesn't seem to be as interested in him.

;Gabrielle:Millie's And Schala's friend.

taff

;Mrs. Skeener: She is the vice-principal of Greenwich Private College, and refuses to let twins into the school under any circumstances. Her reasons for this are as yet unknown, as she is very secretive about them. She is very strict, and is quick to scold any students that she thinks is acting improperly. Mrs. Skeener has a mysterious back room in her office, which contains an antique dress, picture of two twins and an ax. Speculation exists between some of the students that these twins are related somehow to Mrs. Skeener.

;Catherine Anu: She is one of the younger teachers at the college, and is very strict. She comes across the girls sneaking out of their dorm room one night. She is the one that sends the twins to the office, causing them to discover Mrs. Skeener's back room. Her past is somewhat vague. Jeanie finds out that the teacher's friend also disappeared into the brush. She helps Jeanie with the missing girls mystery.

;Jessie Malkin: Jessie is the aunt of Amber and Jeanie, as well as the head-mistress of the college. She was very insistent on the twins attending the school, even going as far as to fake the twins' birthdates. As soon as the twins arrive, she goes on a trip for three months for an educational summit as well as to bury her father-in-law. She is aware of the stories circulating through the college, but it is so far unknown if she brought the twins to the school purposely because of the stories.

Manga

; Volume 1 : Identical twins Amber and Jeanie arrive at an ultra-exclusive boarding school in Australia at the request of their aunt, Jessie. One sibling is eager to attend the college, while one is apprehensive about it. Upon their arrival to the college, they immediately begin to hear stories about missing students and rooms that are unexplicably sealed up. Amber begins to have dark and disturbing dreams about a murderous group in the middle of a forest. The mystery deepens at a late night seance in a classmate's room, when a group (against Amber's better judgement) summons the spirit of Mary Spector, a mysterious presence in the college. When the twins get in trouble for sneaking out to attend said seance, they are sent to the office of the creepy and secretive vice-principal. Once there they discover a mysterious room filled with antiques and a picture of twin girls in antique dresses. Soon after their discovery, they are chased out of the office by the vice-principal, who denies summoning the girls. A few days after the seance one of the students goes missing, leading the girls to wonder- what is the link between the stories and twin sisters, and is the chain of disappearances starting up again?

;Volume 2 :After the discovery of the missing student's body, many students either leave the college or are taken from the college by their parents. Lonely, Jeanie strikes up a friendship with Miss Anu, one of the teachers. However, as she develops her new friendship, she starts to delve further and further into the dark mysteries of the college's past. Meanwhile, Amber withdraws more and more from those around her, preferring to spend her days sleeping. When the missing girls suddenly appear one rainy night, and dead girls begin to speak to the living, it is clear that everyone's lives are in danger, and the only way to stay alive is to unravel the mysteries surrounding the college. Will Amber and Jeanie ever be able to escape the horror of Greenwich Private College?

;Volume 3 :The reappearance of the missing schoolgirls throughout the ages has struck true terror into the hearts of the remaining students. Jeanie realizes that the only way to find out the truth is to finally enter the room that has been sealed off for years! Can the girls discover what the true mystery is behind the school?

Trivia

* The initial plotline of this series (students going missing in the Australian wilderness) is very similar to 'A Picnic At Hanging Rock', however the author states that her inspiration comes from a friend who disappeared in the Tasmanian wilderness. Her friend's gear was discovered, but there was no trace of what happened to her.
* The characters of the twins Jeanie and Amber actually come from Queenie-Chan's short story 'Twins', and they both appeared in a romantic comedy called 'Twinside', Queenie Chan's first pitch to TokyoPop. While the initial pitch was rejected, the first chapter can be read on her website ('Twins' is also available in the website as well).
* In the first printing of volume 1, there was a bonus insert of the twins as paperdolls with period clothing. It is not available in later printings, but is still available for download on the author's website.
* As of Fall 2006 the first volume is in its 3rd printing, making it one of the best selling titles of TokyoPop's American made manga.

External links

* [http://www.queeniechan.com/books/thedreaming/ The Dreaming website]
* [http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/pb/111599896251790.htm An interview with Queenie Chan conducted at Silverbulletcomicbooks.com]
* [http://www.tokyopop.com/S-1584/1.html The TokyoPop website with ordering information for this series.]