Sandman: Overture #2 – Review

By: Neil Gaiman (story), J.H. Williams III (art), Dave Stewart (colors)

The Story: It takes only the end of one dream to start the end of the universe.

The Review: Does anyone remember the scheduling debacle that was Jonathan Hickman’s S.H.I.E.L.D., otherwise known as the First Arc That Would Never End? You can forgive parched periods between issues if each one carried enough substance to tide you over to the next, but it’s too much for someone to sustain interest for months on the typical issue. It’s now been five months since Sandman #1; Gaiman needs to make #2 worth the wait.

Certainly, this is a dense issue, full of material you have to sift through for answers, much like any dream. The opening of Daniel, the most current Dream, bears no relation to the affairs of his past self. If there’s a connection at all, you’ll have to dig for it under all of Mad Hettie’s troubled backstory and Daniel’s riddles concerning a watch she had hidden: “Time goes in so many ways… It runs. Sometimes it even flies. But as for telling the time…sometimes what time tells us is for it alone to know.”

Fortunately, Gaiman is more direct in the rest of the issue—direct for Gaiman, that is, meaning a lot of metaphor and musing* even when the characters insist on getting to the point. The discussion among the various Dreams almost resembles a Socratic exchange at certain points, as each Dream strives to make his point and take control of the conversation. “There is no us, there is only I,” says one.

“Unarguably, there is us,” another contradicts, “a multiplicity of viewpoint. More than one of me is, by definition, us.”

They get back on track eventually, realizing the manifestation of Dream’s countless aspects is a graphic way of showing that one has been “removed from existence,” and “the orderly transfer to another facet of Dream has been interrupted.” Even the why of such a phenomenon is laid bare, as the Dream of the first created things explains, “The universe has lived too long. It is time for it to end… It is in the darkness… I talk of laws… The laws on which the universe runs. The law of conservation of reality.”

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #5 – Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: Apparently, even a simple question of “dead or alive” has no straight answers.

The Review: Of course, the thing about having a huge relaunch of your entire line of titles is you’re not only thinning out all the weaker series, but the strong ones as well.  While DC made certain to preserve its anchors (e.g. Batman, Green Lantern) more or less intact, its young critical darlings did not receive such protection, sending perfectly strong titles to an early end.  I would definitely list T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (as well as the underappreciated Xombi) as example.

This miniseries is thus something of a weird beast.  You’d think DC going through the trouble of releasing it in the first place would be an indication of their faith in the property, especially since they have no shortage of more popular ones to invest in.  Yet from the first issue, it’s clear the series doesn’t make itself out to be accessible or attractive to new readers.  Rather, this mini feels mostly like a continuation of the spare plotlines Nick Spencer left behind on his ongoing.

At the same time, Spencer’s plotlines aren’t of the kind that resolve neatly or quickly; if you’ve ever read Morning Glories or any of his other works, you’ll know his strength lies in letting his stories ferment, giving you the occasional potent taste, but otherwise reserving the rest.  For that reason, I find it hard to believe he ever intended for us to discover Colleen’s true loyalties this soon, or what her (and Emil Jennings’) ultimate goals are.