And so, Love begins.
Creative Staff:
Story: Simon Spurrier
Art: Abigail Larson
Colors: Quinton Winter
Letterer: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
A pale god has wandered the Earth, banished and bound. For one ill-fated family, he leaves only the wreckage of a cataclysmic romance. As the Dreaming convalesces after its recent upheavals, at long last it’s time to follow the footsteps of its absent master. But we must tread lightly. For where Dream walks, heartbreak follows.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As a whole, the opening arc of The Dreaming worked well for me but it was the kind of book that I knew I definitely had to work at in a way that I haven’t had to for a lot of books in recent years. Such are how many Vertigo books are and I certainly fell out of practice with them by not getting any for years. Simon Spurrier put together an evolution for The Dreaming that definitely clicked well when all was said and done and it left me in a really good place to explore more of what the series wants to accomplish. With this new arc, Abigail Larson and Quinton Winter board the project to handle the art duties and it’s just as distinctive in its own way, capturing a light and ethereal approach that also manages to feel incredibly heavy and sharp with its design and intent.
Spurrier delves into the history of Sandman nicely here to reintroduce Rose Walker in a kind of oblique way. With her having become ageless thanks to her interactions with Morpheus previously, we see her in the here and now as she struggles with her mother, who is dying of cancer, and with the loss of her daughter through overdose recently. She’s in the hospital for the whole book where she was checking on her mother before talking with a man she had found recently and ended up in the hospital needing help. It’s the kind of setup that works nicely with all of the exposition and singular point of view as Rose talks about her own problems, being stuck in a cycle of relationships that burn out quickly, while also having to deal with the impact of that on the two important people in her life. It’s reflective in some pretty engaging ways with both sadness and some happiness to be had.
With Rose keeping what happened to Ivy to herself beyond this man, we see her tell of how Ivy was for so long, an introspective and quiet person who kept to herself. She had gained some confidence when they were in England where Ivy began working as a tattoo inker, but it wasn’t until Rose had met Daniel which in turn lead to Ivy meeting Daniel that everything changed. A sprawling whirlwind of a romance plays out in this book that’s both beautiful and haunting as you know it cannot end well or in a good way for multiple reasons but it works so well. Watching as Ivy comes to life and how she transforms under Daniel’s attention, reminiscent of elements of Morpheus that we’ve seen over the years as well, and it’s one of those trickily engaging pieces. There’s a little back and forth in the timeline to be had here so we know some of where it’s going to go but the setup for this journey for Rose is already in a fantastic place.
In Summary:
The Dreaming gets everything into motion in a good way here for the new arc as it has a lot of familiar aspects, such as Daniel (Morpheus) involved but in a kind of dreamlike and indifferent way to the actual story itself. Telling the tale through Rose and reconnecting us to that past works very well and it has me wanting to see more of both her story and Ivy’s, as well as what it is that Daniel intends for her. Spurrier keeps it all moving well once you get into the rhythm of it and I felt much the same with Abigal Larson’s artwork, especially after the shift from what Bilqis Evely was producing. But that’s a hallmark for books like this and I’m excited to see what Larson will bring next to this story about love.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Vertigo Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 6th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
