''The Dreaming'' was a monthly comic series that ran for 60 issues (June 1996 to May 2001) and was revived in 2018. It is set in the same dimension of the
DC universe
The DC Universe (DCU) is the shared universe in which most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. In context, the term "DC Universe" usually refers to the main DC Continuity (fiction), continuity. It contains v ...
as '' The Sandman'' and the stories occurred primarily within Dream's realm, The Dreaming, concentrating on characters who had played minor roles in ''The Sandman'', including The Corinthian,
Matthew
Matthew may refer to:
* Matthew (given name)
* Matthew (surname)
* ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith
* Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chinese Elm ''Ulmus parvifolia''
Christianity
* Matthew the Apostle, one of ...
the raven,
Cain and Abel
In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain and Abel are the first two sons of Adam and Eve. Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. The brothers made sacrifices, each from his own fields, to God. God had regard for Ab ...
,
Lucien
Lucien is a male given name. It is the French form of Luciano (disambiguation), Luciano or Latin ''Lucianus'', patronymic of Lucius.
People
Given name
*Lucien, 3rd Prince Murat (1803–1878), French politician and Prince of Pontecorvo
*Lucien ...
the dream librarian, the faerie
Nuala
Nuala ( , ) or Fionnuala is an Irish feminine given name, derived from Irish mythology - being either a diminutive form of Fionnuala ("fair shoulder"), the daughter of Lir, or an alternate name for Úna (perhaps meaning "lamb"), wife of Finvar ...
,
Eve
Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...
, and Mervyn Pumpkinhead (janitor of The Dreaming). It also introduced a number of new characters, Echo and a new (white) dream raven, Tethys. After those characters were retconned the 2018 version of The Dreaming introduced new characters such as Hyperion Keeter, WAN (An AI sent to destroy The Dreaming), and the night hag, Dora. The 2020 spin-off / continuation, The Dreaming: Waking Hours introduced other new characters such as Linsy, Ruin (a Nightmare in love with a human), and most notably, Heather After, a direct descendant of Roderick Burgess. There were brief (but often important) appearances by The Endless during the series, including cameos by Dream (both Morpheus and Daniel),
Death
Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...
,
Destiny
Destiny, sometimes also called fate (), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual.
Fate
Although often used interchangeably, the words ''fate'' and ''destiny'' ...
, and
Desire
Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of affa ...
.
Publication history
The series was initially conceived as an anthology series edited by Vertigo editor
Alisa Kwitney
Alisa Kwitney (born 1964) is an American writer of comedic romance novels and graphic novels.
Biography
Kwitney grew up in New York City, on Manhattan's Upper West Side, and as such it was written, drawn and inked by a variety of artists. The covers were all painted by former ''Sandman'' cover-artist
Dave McKean
David McKean (born 29 December 1963) is an England, English artist. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art, and sculpture. McKean has illustrated works by authors such as S. F. Said, S.F. Said, ...
, and ''Sandman''s writer Neil Gaiman acted as creative consultant on the series - having a notional right of refusal on scripts and plotlines (which he never exercised) and suggesting developments or characters for exploration.
However Gaiman was quick to undo events of ''The Dreaming'' comics with the publication of ''Endless Nights'', just one year after ''The Dreaming'' ended. ''Endless Nights'' ultimately ignored events from ''The Dreaming'', such as the death of Matthew the raven, and later the new Sandman Universe version of ''The Dreaming'' (2018) would quietly ignore all the events and new characters from the first iteration of ''The Dreaming''.
Kwitney contacted several writers inviting them to submit stories for the new anthology, amongst them
Peter Hogan
Peter K. Hogan is an English writer and comics writer, best known for ''Resident Alien (comics), Resident Alien'', which he co-created with artist Steve Parkhouse. Hogan began his comics career as editor of cult British comic magazine ''Revol ...
on the basis of his work for British comic ''2000 AD''. He suggested the story that eventually became "The Lost Boy" (Issues #4-#7).
Following the completion of Al Davison's "The Dark Rose" story (issues #20 - #21), ''The Dreaming'' underwent a change of direction: it changed from an anthology series to an ongoing series concentrating on a small group of core characters. Kwitney decided that the series needed to develop its own internal continuity, with irregular ''The Sandman Presents'' mini-series being introduced to present stories told outside of that continuity. Gaiman explained the need for the change by saying:
Initially, the writing duties on the revamped series were to be shared between Caitlín R. Kiernan and
Peter Hogan
Peter K. Hogan is an English writer and comics writer, best known for ''Resident Alien (comics), Resident Alien'', which he co-created with artist Steve Parkhouse. Hogan began his comics career as editor of cult British comic magazine ''Revol ...
, who had recently impressed with their stories "Souvenirs" (Issues #17 - #19) and "Ice" (Issue #16) respectively. However, Hogan's increasing commitments with other work and the perceived pre-existing fanbase that Kiernan had brought with her to the title meant that she was offered the position as sole writer from the "Many Mansions" story (issues #27-#34), despite Kiernan herself admitting that there did not seem to be much crossover between the two readerships. Peter Hogan would be made a semi-regular writer for the series ''The Sandman Presents'' by way of compensation.
The series suffered from its ties to the original ''Sandman'' series throughout its run, with Kiernan saying "from the start, ''The Dreaming'' has been saddled with living up to what Neil Gaiman did with ''The Sandman''. It doesn't take long to get puking sick of hearing 'It's just not the same,' or 'It's not as good as ''The Sandman'',' or 'Why is it so much darker than ''The Sandman'',' or even 'It's almost as good as ''The Sandman''.' I know the comparisons are inevitable, and even logical, but it's been an uphill battle trying to get readers to look at The Dreaming as a series separate from ''The Sandman'', with its own tone and atmosphere and concerns." Kiernan received strong criticism for the direction she took the series in, with commentators placing the blame solely on her.
However, Kiernan found the experience genuinely satisfying - despite the stress and comics not being her first love - and the series continued for 60 issues before being cancelled to focus on the more successful ''The Sandman Presents'' and ''
Lucifer
The most common meaning for Lucifer in English is as a name for the Devil in Christian theology.
He appeared in the King James Version of the Bible in Isaiah and before that in the Vulgate (the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bib ...
'' series. Kiernan contributed a story to this new post-Dreaming era, the three issue ''The Sandman Presents: Bast'' featuring the cat goddess introduced in the ''Season of Mists'' storyline.
The Dreaming comics have since undergone a complete reboot, written by Si Spurrier, running from November 2018 to June 2020 as part of the Sandman Universe reboot, celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Sandman. All of the events in Kiernan's The Dreaming run seem to have been either undone or retconned. Spurrier described the retcon of the original run of The Dreaming following a meeting with Neil Gaiman as “it exists as a book on the shelf in the Dreaming, where it’s a different version of events." Spurrier and Bilquis Evely’s run on The Dreaming revolved around using familiar characters from Gaiman’s ''Sandman'' while introducing their own protagonist in the form of Dora whose mysterious background is explored throughout the series. A larger story arc took place throughout the series surrounding what would happen should the Dreaming once more find itself without its ruler.
Evely’s double splash pages were particularly praised. She was named best comics artist of 2018 by ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' for her work on the series.
After the series ended with issue 20, DC launched a continuation in the form of The Dreaming: Waking Hours. The maxi-series is written by G. Willow Wilson with art by Nick Robles and slated to have 12 issues. G. Willow Wilson and Nick Robles likewise returned to familiar characters from ''Sandman'' while introducing their own key protagonists. In the case of The Dreaming: Waking Hours, those new characters include Lindy, a new mother and graduate student studying Shakespeare as well as Ruin, one of Dream’s new nightmare creations, and Heather After, the great-granddaughter of Roderick Burgess, a powerful sorceress who happens to be a
trans woman
A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...
.
Storylines
The following is a list of the stories published over the series' 60 issues of the retconned version of The Dreaming.
*;"The Goldie Factor" (Issues #1 - #3)
:
Goldie
Clifford Joseph Price MBE (born 19 September 1965), better known as Goldie, is an English music producer, DJ, and actor.
Initially gaining exposure for his work as a graffiti artist, Goldie became well known for his pioneering role as a musi ...
(Abel's pet golden gargoyle) runs away, as a result of Cain's constant abuse of his brother, and almost falls prey to Mephisto in Eden. Goldie remains in Eden and does not return to ''The Dreaming'' until issue #26. Scripted by Terry LaBan.
*;"The Lost Boy" (Issues #4 - #7)
:Features an aged Johanna Constantine as well as Mad Hettie, working with Destiny and Cain. A story of a man losing his life and then finding a better one. Scripted by Peter Hogan.
*;"His Brother's Keeper" (Issue #8)
:Features the long lost brother of Cain and Abel, Seth, who wishes to uncover the truth behind the mystery of Cain's first murder of Abel. Scripted by Alisa Kwitney.
*;"Weird Romance" (Issues #9 - #12)
:Scripted by
Bryan Talbot
Bryan Talbot (born 24 February 1952) is a British comics artist and writer, best known as the creator of '' The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'' and its sequels '' Heart of Empire'' and '' The Legend of Luther Arkwright'', as well as the ''Gra ...
.
*;"Coyote's Kiss" (Issues #13 - #14)
:Scripted by Terry LaBan.
*;"Day's Work, Night's Rest" (Issue #15)
:Scripted by
Jeff Nicholson
Jeff Nicholson (born October 5, 1962) is an American comic book writer, artist and self-publisher, known primarily for his work on ''Ultra Klutz'', ''Through the Habitrails'', ''Father & Son'', and ''Colonia''. Nicholson received a total of six ...
.
*;"Ice" (Issue #16)
:Scripted by Peter Hogan.
*;"Souvenirs" (Issues #17 - #19)
:A Corinthian storyline, introducing Echo. Scripted by Caitlin R. Kiernan.
*;"The Dark Rose" (Issues #20 - #21)
:A tale of the Corinthian set in the Victorian era. Scripted by Al Davison.
*;"Unkindness of One" (Issues #22 - #24)
:A sequel to "Souvenirs". Scripted by Caitlin R. Kiernan.
*;"My Year as a Man" (Issue #25)
:The story of Aristeas of Marmora's return to life after being Dream's raven. Scripted by Peter Hogan.
*;''The Dreaming: Trial and Error'' (One-shot Special)
:Focuses on Abel accusing Cain of murdering him again and again before Judge Gallows. Scripted by
Len Wein
Leonard Norman Wein (; June 12, 1948 – September 10, 2017) was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine (character), Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel sup ...
.
*;"Restitution" (Issue #26)
:Scripted by Caitlin R. Kiernan.
*;"Many Mansions" (Issues #27 - #34)
:The House of Mystery burns down. Scripted by Peter Hogan and Caitlin R. Kiernan.
*;"Kaleidoscope" (Issue #35)
:A story of W. B. Yeats and Christina Weston, a woman from Lucien's past.
*;"The Gyres" (Issues #36 - #38)
*;"The Lost Language of Flowers" (Issue #39)
:Features an introduction by Neil Gaiman.
*;"Fox and Hounds" (Issue #40 - #43)
:Features an appearance by Daniel, the new Dream.
*;"Homesick" (Issue #44)
*;"Masques & Hedgehogs" (Issue #45)
*;"Mirror Mirror", "Trinket", "Scary Monsters", "Shatter" (Issues #46-49)
*;"Restoration" (Issue #50)
:The House of Mystery is rebuilt by Merv Pumpkinhead, while Eve and Abel attempt to convince Cain to return to The Dreaming.
*;"Second Sight" (Issue #51)
*;"Exiles" (Issues #52 - #54)
*;"The Further Adventures of Danny Nod" (Issue #55)
:Goldie and Danny Nod are featured, interrupting historical and literal moments.
*;"The First Adventure of Miss Catterina Poe" (Issue #56)
:Featuring Edgar Allan Poe's cat.
*;"Rise" (Issues #57 - #60)
Collected editions
Two English-language trade paperbacks of the first run of The Dreaming have been published:
*''The Dreaming: Beyond the Shores of Night'' (). Collects ''The Dreaming'' #1-8.
*''The Dreaming: Through the Gates of Horn and Ivory'' (). Collects ''The Dreaming'' #15-19 and #22-25.
Three English-language trade paperbacks have been published for the Spurrier/Evely 2018-2020 series:
* The Dreaming Vol. 1: Pathways and Emanations (2019) Collects The Dreaming #1-6 and The Sandman Universe #1.
* The Dreaming Vol. 2: Empty Shells (2020) - Collects The Dreaming #7-12.
* The Dreaming Vol. 3: One Magical Movement (2020) - Collects The Dreaming #13-20.