Alice: From Dream to Dream

Italian creator Giulio Macaione (Ofelia, Basilicò) brings his latest book to the US with Alice: From Dream to Dream from BOOM! Studios’ BOOM! Box imprint. The story features a young woman who can enter other people’s dreams. Westfield’s Roger Ash recently contacted Macaione to discover more about this intriguing original graphic novel.

Westfield: Where did the idea for Alice: From Dream to Dream come from?

Giulio Macaione: The inspiration for Alice: From Dream to Dream came from a walk in Spring Grove, a beautiful cemetery in Cincinnati (OH), where I lived for a couple of years. Part of the story is set there. I’ve always had this idea about a girl who enters other people’s dreams, but the rest of the story came to me visiting that wonderful place.

Westfield: What can readers look forward to in the book and who are some of the characters they’ll meet?

Macaione: I hope readers will find a part of themselves. Everyone’s been a teenager and everyone had some trouble with their family or school. In the book we’re gonna meet Alice and her family, who move back to Cincinnati after some years in Chicago, Jamie – Alice’s best friend – and the bullies Taisha, Courtney and Molly, a.k.a. the “terrible trio”. There are also other characters who will join the story, but I don’t wanna spoil the surprise.

Westfield: Dreams obviously play a big part in the story. What about dreams grabs your attention?

Macaione: What I wanted to talk about is how dreams can influence our life. In my own experience, adolescence was a time when dreams had a lot of impact in my real life, sometimes a good one, sometimes bad. I think the barriers between dreams and reality are softer when you’re young. This is why youth is a great age to be told stories about.

Westfield: How does Alice’s ability affect her relationships with those around her?

Macaione: Imagine you can enter other people’s dreams and see their unconscious and secrets. You would know everything about people around you, even things they ignore or things they wanna hide. It would be horrible. And, also, you would be exhausted!

Westfield: Any closing comments?

Macaione:  This is my first book in the U.S. so I’m very excited. I hope readers will feel the passion and love that Giulia Adragna (the color artist) and I put into making this comic.