I only found out that these spin-offs from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series existed recently and I’m still confused as to why there are only two volumes collecting just 16 of the 60 issues of the series. From reading this book, which collects issues 1-8, split into three stories, the quality of both the stories and art is definitely high enough for me to want to read the rest of it. Who do I badger to get them on the case?
Of the three stories in this volume, I think the second one is my favourite, even though it’s the one least connected to the Dreaming. The first volume tells the story of Goldie, the golden gargoyle who lives with Cain and Abel and the third is also a Cain and Abel story, with an unwanted relative coming to visit them. While Cain and Abel can be fun characters, Cain’s bad habit of repeatedly killing his brother can get a bit wearing. The second story, The Lost Boy, tells the story of Brian Salmon, an architect living in the 1950s, who has an encounter with fairies and finds himself pushed forward in time, via the Dreaming, to the 1990s. Here, he has to try and survive the bizarre world he comes to and try and get home. There is also a cameo from Johanna Constantine and the main plot driver is Mad Hettie, both of whom appeared in Sandman.
There’s a lot of scope to tell stories set in the Dreaming, and I’d love to read them all. I hope that Titan or DC or whoever can do so, rethinks the lack of collected volumes of this series.
