#like it has all the pining in the backstory so it's not all annoyingly drawn out... like we're already there...

[mari-beau]

Yeah, Mulder and Scully's journey from 'reluctant colleagues' to 'friends' to 'codependent something else entirely' to 'lovers' is epic and all...

But John and Monica have 'they just need to fuck already' energy right out of the gate, and well, that's catnip to me.

[thenightling]

A tale of two Dreamings

It occurred to me that some Sandman fans are confused because they don’t realize there are actually two versions of The Dreaming spin-off  and no one really talks about the first version...

The first version of The Dreaming ran from 1996 until 2002. That’s the version by Caitlin R. Kiernan where Cain gets banished by Judge Gallows (but it doesn’t last). The Corinthian gains and loses a boyfriend.  

And Matthew “permanently” dies after accidentally getting shot by Lucien (but it’s “okay” because Daniel makes Lucien forget it was his fault, right after giving a speech about how important memories are!)   Matthew gets replaced with a white raven after what feels like a cheap knock-off of The Wake.  Also Goldie gets new Cubone-from-Pokemon knock-off backstory.

Nuala goes back under the glamour as a form of “empowerment,” (because conforming to what your culture forced on you is now empowering!)  Lucien and Nuala end up lovers because they’re both pining for dead people and decide to settle for reach other.  (Isn’t that nice????) There’s a freakin’ civil war in The Dreaming and Daniel’s reason for not intervening is he “didn’t want there to be any martyrs.”    A serial killer’s henchperson (a trans woman named Echo) becomes the “new” Corinthian for a while and is just this obnoxious dark sue and just plain awful representation.  And while Echo is the Corinthian the actual Corinthian gets banished to Earth as a human to “humble him” (because that is totally what Dream of The Endless would do!).  He gets taken back to The Dreaming and restored to his Nightmare role shortly after his lover was killed.  

The House of Mystery explodes��  Twice!  (Technically three times.)

It took digs at people who liked the original House of Mystery anthology comics and gave Cain and Abel sister wives where Cain was jealous because Abel had married Cain’s twin and Cain wanted to be married to his own twin.  

   And Mervyn Pumpkinhead gets mistaken as a God by one of some white collar humans he’s been exploiting for dream labor.  And he accidentally caused a man to attempt suicide and end up with brain damage and is oblivious that he did it.  It’s just awful.  

This version ran for sixty issues.

______________________________  

Then there’s the new version of The Dreaming.  This one started in 2018 and ignores the 1996 to 2002 version. (Thank God!)

It’s technically The Dreaming Volume 2 but they’re not calling it that because DC is utterly ignoring the first version of The Dreaming.  

Matthew’s still the raven, there’s no sign of the white raven.  Echo is not mentioned at all.  Nuala is NOT back under the glamour.  And Lucien and Nuala are not lovers.   This is the one where Lucien has just died but I don’t think he’s going to stay dead based on the preview art for the next story arc (which I think starts in April.)  

This version of The Dreaming had a version of Judge Gallows too but thankfully he was written out by issue 6.

This version of The Dreaming is about to get a new writer and artist so I live in hope it’ll get better…

This version is currently at issue 18.  

Current plot:  It starts with an annoyingly long and drawn out story where Mervyn wants to “make The Dreaming Great again” so he unleashes Judge Gallows, but only after Lucien uncreates some of his friends on the steps of the castle with “I did warn you.”  

Judge Gallows and Merv pen up the new refugee creatures called Blanks or as Merv calls them “Soggies.” (meant to be  a racial slur allegory).    They’re clearly meant to be seen as in the wrong until later we learn they are constructs of the AI known as Wan (more on that later), which completely undermines the intended message. 

Eventually Judge Gallows gets replaced by an AI called WAN or Wan. The A.I. was used to Hack the Dreaming and doesn’t even know it was created by this Steve Jobs-type who wanted to rid the world of fear and superstition by destroying cultural mythology and controlling dreams.  Turned out he was inspired after an encounter with a night hag that turns out to be Dora, the new original character with wing-ears. (Dun dun dun!)

Daniel Hall falls in love with Ivy (Rose Walker’s daughter so… technically his own great niece…)   Ivy gets controlled by occultists who were working with the Steve Jobs-knock-off and she gives Daniel a geas tattoo of a dream catcher combined with a solomonic figure to bind him.  

The occultists almost succeed in destroying Daniel and Ivy ODs (ending up brain dead).   Daniel runs away with Ivy’s unconscious body and probably her dreaming self but not before warning Not-Steve-Jobs what his plan will do if he succeeds.   Realizing he was wrong Not-Steve Jobs (the character’s name is Hyperion Keeter, by the way) tries to set things right but it’s too late.  His own people, who want to take over Dreams and destroy myth and superstition, turn on him.

Abel gets coxed into killing Cain and now Cain is haunting a computer system in the waking world.

Eventually Dora finds Hyperion and learns what’s going on and why and she gets tricked by disembodied Cain into shutting off Hyperion’s life support system (he was dying anyway).   Also I think Simon (the writer) doesn’t quite grasp that Cain usually only kills Abel.  He keeps portraying him like a stab-happy muppet. 

Abel gouges out his own eyes and while blind somehow spoons out Matthew’s tiny raven eyes and replaces them with his own so Matthew can see what’s really going on and so Wan can’t read Matthew’s thoughts (because that’s how psychic links work now!).   Abel’s own eyes grow back and Matthew how has hideous, bulging bloodshot human eyes hanging out of his head. It’s totally WTF.  

After a long, slow, drawn out plot of Lucien’s mind deteriorating the rest of The Dreaming folk give him a burial because he wants to die.  He seems to have been “re-absorbed” into The Dreaming but he’s still aware as a separate being in a dark void and Death just came to him.

Simon DOES know the ravens used to be human / are human souls and weren’t originally part of The Dreaming, right?!   He seems to know Lucien was a raven but doesn’t know what the ravens are.  

Here’s some art from the new artist and writing team taking over The Dreaming around April. I live in hope it gets better.