A review by watercolorstain
The Dreaming Vol. 1: Pathways and Emanations by Bilquis Evely, Neil Gaiman, Simon Spurrier

2.0

"There is a place where Gods are born.
There is a place where a few ragged sounds can suggest a symphony.
A place where pandemonium presents patterns.
Where idle fancies turn to fornications and memories feign meaning.
A place where—for as long as a sleeper can sleep—stories are spun."

The Dreaming. I thought I'd seen the last of it, but it turns out that the Sandman Universe has recently been expanded into a four-part line to celebrate The Sandman's 30th anniversary with Neil's blessing, who wanted to give other authors the opportunity to play in his world and continue Daniel's story (which, if you recall, he'd said he didn't have the intention of telling himself at the end of the original run).

The Sandman Universe starts with a titular one-shot which kicks off four new story arcs, all overseen by Gaiman but written by new creative teams. Lord Daniel has abandoned the Dreaming, which is crumbling in his absence, while something new is slowly growing in the Endless' Gallery. Poor Lucien is losing his mind, Matthew the Raven tries to find the Lord of Dreams in vain, while the realm's other residents are desperately trying to keep it from decaying around them and fend off invaders coming through the widening cracks, and when that doesn't work, Merv Pumpkinhead takes the misguided initiative and finds someone new to put in charge of the place.

I have a rule I very seldomly break, and it's that I never start reading a series while it's still ongoing, but I couldn't resist checking this out—and it taught me that reading comics off a screen is the literal worst, and that there's good reason why I should stick to my self-imposed rule and wait until a story arc is completed, because overall, this was decidedly unsatisfying.

I was always quite fond of Matthew the Raven, but there's a reason that the Dreaming's residents were secondary characters in the original run, and putting them into the spotlight doesn't do them or the story any favors. I googled the villain when he showed up since I was a bit lost and wondering whether I was supposed to know who he was, and it turns out that he's a really obscure DC character who has appeared in a grand total of eighteen random issues since his first appearance in 1969. All this means that we have a cast of pretty one-dimensional characters driving the narrative, which never really takes off in these first six issues—the Dream Lord is missing, but it's not the first time, and even though the Dreaming is falling apart, it doesn't seem to have any adverse effect on dreamers, so... what's the problem? I liked Dora's spunk, but the fact that after one whole volume we still don't know who or what she is was a bit annoying, and I felt like her character had... not few parallels to Delirium. This first collection builds up quite a few mysteries, but doesn't resolve any of them.

I don't know, I guess I felt that the story was a bit messy and all over the place, and I didn't really connect with it. Don't get me wrong—some parts are very good and there's instances when Simon Spurrier really nails Neil's voice and narrative tone, but as a whole, you can tell that this didn't spring from Neil's mind. The best thing about it was Bilquis Evely's truly outstanding art. I did miss Dave McKean's covers, but I guess that if the story keeps going on in this lackluster way, it's best to have something separating it from the originals. I know Jae Lee from his work on Stephen King's Dark Tower comics at Marvel, and I don't find his very distinctive style suited to the Sandman world at all.

A for effort, but I have no desire to continue this series.

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Note: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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My other ડꪖꪀᦔꪑꪖꪀ reviews:

01: Preludes & Nocturnes · ★★★½
02: The Doll's House · ★★★★
03: Dream Country · ★★★
04: Season of Mists · ★★★★½
05: A Game of You · ★★★½
06: Fables and Reflections · ★★★½
07: Brief Lives · ★★★★½
08: Worlds' End · ★★★
09: The Kindly Ones · ★★★★★
10: The Wake · ★★★

Overture · ★★★
Endless Nights · ★★★★
The Dream Hunters · ★★★★
Death: The Deluxe Edition · ★★★★

Audible Original #1 · ★★★★★

The Sandman Universe · Lucifer: The Infernal Comedy · ★