In this review of The Moon Is Following Us #6, the beneficial aspects of a child’s nightmares come to light, and there’s renewed hope for Sam and Duncan’s quest.
The Moon Is Following Us #6
Writer: Daniel Warren Johnson
Artists: Daniel Warren Johnson, Riley Rossmo
Colors: Mike Spicer
Main Cover: Riley Rossmo
Variant Cover: Daniel Warren Johnson
Page Count: 28 pages
Release Date: February 12, 2025
The Moon Is Following Us #6 kicks off with Tash and his somewhat-revived daughter. He’s rather conflicted about having had to throw another family under the bus to preserve his own. Pigface, however, has no such remorse. No, in fact, he’s the one behind The Cascade. He tells Tash that if he wants his daughter to be able to stay awake, he needs to get back into the Dream World and make damn sure Penny’s parents aren’t a problem anymore.
Speaking of Sam and Duncan, they wake up among Penny’s nightmares. They’ve been brought to safety aboard a Crab Tank, and are filled in on a few things by the Nightmare leader: Jebediah Swano. He explains that the reason that they’re the ones fighting for Penny (despite being a handy little collection of everything that scares the kid) is that they’re necessary for preparing her for the horrors of adulthood.
He also reveals that Pigface is actually a demon that needs a human host (which happens to be Tash), that the weapons he’d provided to the couple are actually useless for the task of taking down their opponents, and even their armor isn’t what it seems, as it blocks the wearers from seeing the world that’s truly around them.
As for why they hadn’t helped until now? They’ve been sticking to the shadows until the right moment. As they’re learning more of the situation at hand, a group of Cascade soldiers attack. While their old weapons weren’t effective for the task, unconventional weaponry that connects to memories of Penny turns out to do the trick (like, say, an old car seat that had proven to be quite stubborn to deal with).
Either way, the pair now have their best chance yet of achieving their goal.
Now, going into the artwork of The Moon Is Following Us #6 first. I still love the slight contrast between real world memories and the Dream World, with the latter looking more stylized and colorful. With the newfound reveals, there’s even more of the Dream World’s visuals to appreciate. Up until now, a lot of the landscape has been shown as kind of ruined. It had sort of a dark fantasy aesthetic. But after the reveal? It looks a lot like what one might imagine seeing in a kid’s dreams, with fantastical treehouses and a playground, rather than the doom and gloom of what’d been seen beforehand.
This feels in line with the way the story’s progressing, as well: the first half of the story has been handing Sam and Duncan defeat after defeat. They’d see some glimmer of hope, only for it to be kicked in the teeth. But now that they’re with a true ally, and can see what’s really around them, they can push forward.
I also love the fact that the key to taking out their enemy is not the conventional sorts of weaponry that an adult would think of, but instead, stuff connected to their memories of the reason they’re doing this in the first place. Duncan’s weapon of choice/convenience: Penny’s old car seat that had caused him a lot of frustration. As for Sam, she ends up fashioning a hammer of sorts using the head of a shark, brought about by a memory of her and Penny at an aquarium, and Penny being unnerved because she thinks they never die.
But seriously, the fact that they’re now FULLY in Penny’s Dream World opens up so many possibilities for crazy weaponry, and I’m more than ready to see what this creative team comes up with over these last 4 issues.
As for where things will go from here…I imagine Tash getting some sort of redemption for what he did. He wasn’t entirely enthused at the fact that he’d betrayed these parents that had the same goal as himself. But will this be a Redemption Equals Death scenario? Time will tell. I do look forward to seeing Pigface get what’s coming to him, though.
Final Thoughts
The concept of being in a child’s dream realm lives up to its creative potential, as the true villain is revealed. The second half is off to a running start.
