Vertigo, once a star. . .THE star imprint of the comics world, dimmed late last year. It had been dimming for years, occasionally brightening up before being obscured by other titles and lines, but this was something different. All its titles were mini-series and nothing was upcoming. Nothing until “The Sandman Universe.” The Vertigo star has roared back to life but is it as bright as it once was? And is that even a question we should bother to be asking?
Cover by Jae Lee
Story by Neil Gaiman
Written by Si Spurrier, Nalo Hopkinson, Kat Howard, and Dan Watters
Illustrated by Bilquis Evely, Dominike “Domo” Stanton, Tom Fowler, Max Fiumara
Colored by Mat Lopes
Lettered by Simon BowlandFrom the mind of New York Times #1 bestselling author Neil Gaiman comes a new world filled with dreams, nightmares and wonderful characters living together in a shared universe for a new story unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.
A rift between worlds has opened, revealing a space beyond the Dreaming. Meanwhile, a book from Lucien’s library is discovered by a group of children in the waking world where it should not exist. Lucien calls for Matthew the Raven to seek out their master, Daniel, Lord of Dreams.
As Matthew flies across the Waking World and others, he finds a young boy named Timothy Hunter who, in his dreams, has become the world’s most powerful magician—but in his nightmares he is the world’s greatest villain. A new House has appeared in the realm of the Dreaming: the House of Whispers, with its proprietor, a fortune-teller called Erzulie. And elsewhere, Lucifer has fallen again, only this time he might be trapped in a Hell of his own design.
Spiraling out of this special issue will be four all-new series set in the Sandman Universe. It all starts here!
“Sandman” is an album, one that had a beginning, middle, and an end. “Sandman Overture” was the bonus track, producing a coda to the series that brought it full circle, allowing one to begin at the start, end at the beginning, and find many points of departure for the future of these characters. “The Sandman Universe” is a follow-up album by a band that is the spiritual successor to the original, stuck with the unenviable task of making a name for itself while shackled to comparisons to its past.
Neil Gaiman oversees the story of the issue but the words and the story beats and the execution of that story within the pages of “Sandman Universe” is left up to the four writers who will expand upon the world that Gaiman created many years ago. It is worth noting that while Hopkinson, Howard, and Watters are all taking series connected to Dream and his world, the one who has the most daunting task is Si Spurrier, for he will be taking over Dream’s story instead of one of the spin-offs. I bring this up namely because a majority of “Sandman Universe” #1 is written by Spurrier, thus it is his voice that dominates the pages.
The clarity of this voice is a blessing and a curse. It provides a unity to Spurrier’s sections and gives life to the characters, but it is also means that when the other three writers have their turn, there is a sharp contrast, producing an issue that feels like four distinct parts instead of as one whole, a whole that will soon fracture. But let’s step away from the main story for a bit to discuss these side narratives.
Each one serves as a mini introduction to the tone and characters of these new stories. Tim Hunter’s story is ominous but naturalistic, allowing short dialogue and Fowler’s artistry to do the talking. Fowler keeps the focus tight on Tim, framing the narrative around him and giving us plenty of insight into his fears and nerves through body language and strategic camera angles. The choice to bookend the section with splash pages is another strong choice, as I could spend an entire paragraph on each of these pages alone.
The story of Erzulie and Latoya, Maggie, Lumi, and Habibi is rambunctious, mystical and evokes the feeling of an old anthology book due to Erzulie’s formal, storyteller speech patterns and the interplay between her narration and the beginning of the sisters and girlfriend’s story. No surprise there, considering this is for “House of Secrets.” Stanton’s art shines when portraying the fantastical Erzulie, her bayou, and the Alligator King, transforming the regular square panels of the regular world into sections cordoned off by the environment and the creatures within it. It is, however, a little stiff in its portrayal of the sisters, every action being just a little too soft, a touch too slow.
Continued belowLucifer’s story is slow too, but in a way that builds up the dread and mystery. The Fiumaras artwork is dark, bathed in shadows, with a rough feel, as if the whole story was covered in a layer of dust and grime. They use a modified 9-panel grid and this, combined with the formality of every characters’ speech, gives the section an olden feel, like something out of a long-forgotten monastery. Aspect shots of Lucifer’s hands, of the Ravens’ feathers, of blood and of paintings of the devil, are utilized to build the tension, such that when Lucifer’s section is over, the questions remain.
Finally, we return Dream and the Dreaming’s story. Magical, otherworldly and grand, the Dreaming is fully realized through Eveley’s artwork and Lopes’s coloring. Possibly the greatest part of “The Sandman Universe” #1, Eveley’s artwork does what Spurrier’s words cannot: convey the personability and grandiosity of this world. The opening page alone sets this tone, portraying the disparate sections of the dreaming as one tapestry. Eveley’s character move with purpose, drawn dripping with details, crafting pages that effortlessly draw the eye from scene to scene. The old characters are given new life and the new ones are distinct in design and motion. The only issue, again, are the words.
The problem isn’t the word, per say, but is the way in which they are utilized and presented. The tone of the characters’ dialogue and the framing of the narrative is too modern, too casual. Even the opening narration, made by Lucien, feels off. While it captures the personality of Lucien, it lacks that fairy tale, storybook cadence that made “Sandman” sing. It lacks the omniscient narrator and the dramatic, almost sinister narration of Morpheus, which was key to the “Sandman” universe.
The reason I bring this comparison up is, one, I cannot ignore such comparisons, as this issue is connected in name and in character to the original “Sandman,” and two, the reason those were important is because it gave a foil and a framework for all the characters. Matthew works because he’s paired with Morpheus, his frank, modern speech clashing and melding with Morpheus’s formal, guarded patterns. With Matthew and Nora, however, it’s two modern patterns that are fighting for dominance and when Matthew takes over as narrator, it only further cements the modernity of the comic. This is not a bad thing, as it means that Spurrier isn’t trying to ape Gaiman nor is he unsure of his own narrative voice, but it is a choice and that is something that must be reckoned with.
Ultimately, the problems of “The Sandman Universe” #1 boils down to a lack of a unified voice across the issue that pays sufficient gravity to the story. Matthew was a poor choice of narrator, despite the narration clicking into place near the end of his journey in the waking world. It’s hard to follow up something like “Sandman.” Thankfully, it seems that we’re in good hands.
Final Verdict: 7.3 – The artwork presented is scrumptious, the introductions to the four new series tantalizing, and the characters feel alive in all the right ways. “Sandman Universe” #1 is only held back by a nebulous sense of disconnect between what should be and what is on the page.
