DC Announces New Sandman Universe Line Of Comics, Curated By Neil Gaiman

Back To The World Of Dreams

♦ Eluded to last year, DC has now announced its new line of Sandman Universe titles, curated by Neil Gaiman, which may be its own imprint separate from Vertigo although the promo covers released all have the Vertigo logo on them. Here’s the details announced from EW…

In honour of the series’ 30th anniversary this year, Neil Gaiman is coming back to the Dreaming in a big way. EW can exclusively announce that DC Comics is launching a Sandman Universe line of four new comic series. The books will be overseen by Gaiman but written and drawn by brand new creative teams. They will pick up story threads and themes from The Sandman while also adding new characters and concepts.

The project launches this August with The Sandman Universe one-shot special, which will catch readers up on what’s been happening in Dream’s realm. The most salient fact is that Dream has now gone missing, leaving chaos in his wake. Other important developments include the opening of a rift between worlds, revealing a space beyond the Dreaming. Dream’s official librarian Lucien is still in charge of all the books that were dreamed and never written, but now, one of those books has wound up in the waking world, to be discovered by a group of children. The Dreaming also has an important new resident, now that a House of Whispers has appeared alongside Cain’s House of Mystery and Abel’s House of Secrets. Meanwhile, Lucifer (the David Bowie-esque devil who originated in the pages of The Sandman before ending up on his own Fox show) has fallen once more, though now he might be in a Hell of his own design. And down in London, a young boy named Timothy Hunter alternates between dreams of becoming the world’s greatest magician and nightmares of becoming its worst villain.

The Sandman Universe #1 will be plotted by Gaiman but written by Nalo Hopkinson, Kat Howard, Si Spurrier and Dan Watters, with art by Bilquis Everly and a cover by Jae Lee. Each of those four writers will then go on to explore the special’s various threads in four new ongoing series. Hopkinson will write House of Whispers and explore how the voodoo deity Erzulie ended up in the Dreaming with her titular house. It might have something to do with a comatose woman named Latoya, whose girlfriend and sisters used the Book of Whispers to try and heal her. Now out of her coma, Latoya is suffering from the Cotard’s Delusion belief that she’s already dead, and is transmitting her belief to others, catalyzing them to become guardians of the gap that has opened up in the Dreaming. Howard will write Books of Magic, which will follow up on Gaiman’s 1990 miniseries of the same name and explore Timothy Hunter’s magical education as he’s torn between two powerful destinies. Spurrier will write The Dreaming, which will follow  supporting characters from The Sandman like Lucien the librarian and Matthew the Raven as they navigate a Dreaming that now exists without the presence Dream. Watters will write Lucifer, which finds the eponymous devil blind and destitute, trapped living in a small boarding house in a quiet town where no one is ever able to leave. Artists for the books have not been announced yet but we shall let people know when this is revealed by DC.

There is also talk of a new Invisibles book coming from Vertigo at some point too so it looks like the imprint is bringing back some of its most popular characters.

Sandman Universe news www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk