The White Room of the Asylum focuses on the tape-recorded memoirs of Steve, an old man who recently committed suicide. The tapes tell of the last period of his stay at the Soraberg Asylum and his discovery of what he came to call ‘The White Room.’

The White Room is an infinite space of pure white in which the residents can create anything they can think up. Over time more residents gain access to this mysterious place-, kicking off a series of events that stretches Steve’s sanity to its limits.

This is a really novel approach to a story as each of the 6 tape recordings forming a chapter of the book and each chapter is interpreted by a different illustrator (David Anderson, Zev Zimmerman, Bobby Peñafiel, Kat Fajardo, Omaik Neiv and, Vinny Smith) all brought together with the creative talents of British writer Luke Melia.

Some of the illustration is more accomplished than others but this doesn’t detract from as story which grips you from the start. It’s the kind of tale that you’ll want to read in one sitting as you really become invested in the characters.

It’s a dark tale of solitude, friendship, betrayal, and the lengths people will go to in order to protect what they believe is theirs…

Mental illness is a tough subject to write about but Luke accomplishes it with a good measure of humor and sensitivity, not an easy balance to strike. a couple of reviews on Amazon describe some of the content as puerile and I can understand which elements they mean. I agree the story would stand up just as well without them but they are really minor elements and are part of the insight into the strangeness of the human mind…

Sticking with Amazon where reviewers rarely hold back this has a solid 4.7 out of 5 stars.

The book begins with Steve being haunted by a recurring nightmare where he is being chased by a hideous beast. One night the nightmare changes, and he is saved by another patient. They soon discover that it wasn’t a dream. Each time they sleep they return to the shared dream space that they call “The White room”, a place where they have the power to create anything they want…

The visual contrast of the black and white illustrations of the ‘White Room’ work well in tandem with the full color of the ‘real world’ but even in the black and white variant of this story the contrast shines through.

And at currently just $5 for the black and white version this is amazing value for a work like this.

Dreamspace comics

Dreamspace is an independent comic book publisher dedicated to original story telling and unusual graphic tales. The team is made up of Luke Melia (Writer and founder of Dreamspace comics), David Anderson (Web Designer and illustrator), Vinny Smith (illustrator) and Bobby Peñafiel (illustrator).