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The Dreaming (comics)
Encyclopedia
The Dreaming is a fictional place, a comic book
location published by DC Comics
. The Dreaming first appeared in the Sandman vol. 2 #1, (January 1989), and was created by Neil Gaiman
and Sam Kieth
. The Dreaming is the domain of Dream of the Endless.
to May 2001
). It is set in the same dimension of the DC universe
as The Sandman and the stories occurred primarily within Dream's realm, The Dreaming, concentrating on characters who had played minor roles in The Sandman, including The Corinthian
, Matthew
the raven, Cain and Abel
, Lucien the dream librarian, the faerie Nuala, Eve, and Mervyn Pumpkinhead
(janitor of The Dreaming). It also introduced a number of new characters, most notably Echo and a new (white) dream raven, Tethys. There were brief (but often important) appearances by The Endless during the series, including cameos by Dream (both Morpheus and Daniel), Death
, Destiny
, and Desire
.
The series was initially conceived as an anthology series edited by Vertigo editor Alisa Kwitney
, and as such it was written, drawn and inked by a variety of artists. The covers were all painted by former Sandman cover-artist Dave McKean
, and Sandmans writer Neil Gaiman acted as creative consultant on the series - having a notional right of refusal on scripts and plotlines (which he never exercised) and suggesting developments or characters for exploration.
Kwitney contacted several writers inviting them to submit stories for the new anthology, amongst them Peter Hogan on the basis of his work for British comic 2000AD. He suggested the story that eventually became "The Lost Boy" (Issues #4-#7).
Following the completion of Al Davison's "The Dark Rose" story (issues #20 - #21), The Dreaming underwent a change of direction: it changed from an anthology series to an ongoing series concentrating on a small group of core characters. Kwitney decided that the series needed to develop its own internal continuity, with irregular The Sandman Presents mini-series being introduced to present stories told outside of that continuity. Gaiman explained the need for the change by saying:
Initially, the writing duties on the revamped series were to be shared between Caitlin R. Kiernan
and Peter Hogan, who had recently impressed with their stories "Souvenirs" (Issues #17 - #19) and "Ice" (Issue #16) respectively. However, Hogan's increasing commitments with other work and the perceived pre-existing fanbase that Kiernan had brought with her to the title meant that she was offered the position as sole writer from the "Many Mansions" story (issues #27-#34), despite Kiernan herself admitting that there didn't seem to be much crossover between the two readerships. Peter Hogan would be made a semi-regular writer for the series The Sandman Presents by way of compensation.
The series suffered from its ties to the original Sandman series throughout its run, with Kiernan saying "from the start, The Dreaming has been saddled with living up to what Neil Gaiman did with The Sandman. It doesn't take long to get puking sick of hearing 'It's just not the same,' or 'It's not as good as The Sandman,' or 'Why is it so much darker than The Sandman,' or even 'It's almost as good as The Sandman.' I know the comparisons are inevitable, and even logical, but it's been an uphill battle trying to get readers to look at The Dreaming as a series separate from The Sandman, with its own tone and atmosphere and concerns." Kiernan received strong criticism for the direction she took the series in, with commentators placing the blame solely on her despite the involvement of many others - including original Sandman writer Gaiman - in the creative process.
However, Kiernan found the experience genuinely satisfying - despite the stress and comics not being her first love - and the series continued for 60 issues before being cancelled to focus on the more successful The Sandman Presents and Lucifer
series. Kiernan contributed a story to this new post-Dreaming era, the three issue The Sandman Presents: Bast featuring the cat goddess introduced in the Season of Mists storyline.
, belief
, and imagination
. It is named after another name for the Dreamtime, a central concept in Australian Aboriginal mythology
.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
location published by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. The Dreaming first appeared in the Sandman vol. 2 #1, (January 1989), and was created by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
and Sam Kieth
Sam Kieth
Sam Kieth is a New York Times best-selling American comic book writer and illustrator, best known as the creator of The Maxx and Zero Girl.-Comics career:...
. The Dreaming is the domain of Dream of the Endless.
Publication history
The Dreaming was a monthly comic series that ran for 60 issues (June 19961996 in comics
-Year overall:* Malcolm Jones III commits suicide at circa age 37.* Boody Rogers, creator of Sparky Watts, dies at c. age 92-January:* January 19: Bernard Baily, co-creator of The Spectre and Hourman, dies at age 79.* January 28:...
to May 2001
2001 in comics
-Year overall:* Marvel Comics withdraws from the Comics Code Authority and established its own rating system for its publications.- January :* January 23: Fred Ray, Superman's primary cover artist of the 1940s, passes away at age 80.- September :...
). It is set in the same dimension of the DC universe
DC Universe
The DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe. Note that in context, "DC Universe" is usually used to refer to the main DC continuity...
as The Sandman and the stories occurred primarily within Dream's realm, The Dreaming, concentrating on characters who had played minor roles in The Sandman, including The Corinthian
Corinthian (comics)
The Corinthian is a fictional character in Neil Gaiman's comic book series The Sandman. He can first be seen in The Sandman #10 , which is part of the second story arc, The Doll's House. The Corinthian is a nightmare created by Dream, who destroys him in the same collection for going rogue and...
, Matthew
Matthew (DC Comics)
Matthew Joseph Cable is a character in DC Comics series Swamp Thing, who died and was later resurrected as Dream's raven in Neil Gaiman's rendition of The Sandman.-Swamp Thing/Doom Patrol:...
the raven, Cain and Abel
Cain and Abel (comics)
Cain and Abel are a pair of fictional characters in the DC Comics universe based on the Biblical Cain and Abel. They are key figures in DC's "Mystery" line of the late 1960s and 1970s, which became the mature-readers imprint, Vertigo, in 1993....
, Lucien the dream librarian, the faerie Nuala, Eve, and Mervyn Pumpkinhead
Mervyn Pumpkinhead
Mervyn "Merv" Pumpkinhead is a fictional character in Neil Gaiman's popular comic book series, The Sandman.-Fictional character biography:Merv is Dream's jaded, street-wise, cigarette-smoking janitor...
(janitor of The Dreaming). It also introduced a number of new characters, most notably Echo and a new (white) dream raven, Tethys. There were brief (but often important) appearances by The Endless during the series, including cameos by Dream (both Morpheus and Daniel), Death
Death (DC Comics)
Death is a fictional character from the DC comic book series, The Sandman . The character first appeared in The Sandman vol. 2, #8 , and was created by Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg....
, Destiny
Destiny (DC Comics)
Destiny is a DC Comics character created by Marv Wolfman and Bernie Wrightson, first appearing in Weird Mystery Tales #1 , and was regular host of that series for the first fourteen issues, after which he hosted Secrets of Haunted House. He is one of the Endless in Neil Gaiman's comic book series,...
, and Desire
Desire (DC Comics)
Desire is a fictional character from the DC comic book series The Sandman . The character first appeared in The Sandman vol. 2, #10 , and was created by Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg.-Publication history:...
.
The series was initially conceived as an anthology series edited by Vertigo editor Alisa Kwitney
Alisa Kwitney
Alisa Kwitney is an American author.Kwitney was born in New York City. She graduated from Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts in English and from Columbia University's Master of Fine Arts Fiction Writing Program. Kwitney was also an editor for Vertigo, the mature/dark fantasy branch of DC...
, and as such it was written, drawn and inked by a variety of artists. The covers were all painted by former Sandman cover-artist Dave McKean
Dave McKean
David McKean is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician....
, and Sandmans writer Neil Gaiman acted as creative consultant on the series - having a notional right of refusal on scripts and plotlines (which he never exercised) and suggesting developments or characters for exploration.
Kwitney contacted several writers inviting them to submit stories for the new anthology, amongst them Peter Hogan on the basis of his work for British comic 2000AD. He suggested the story that eventually became "The Lost Boy" (Issues #4-#7).
Following the completion of Al Davison's "The Dark Rose" story (issues #20 - #21), The Dreaming underwent a change of direction: it changed from an anthology series to an ongoing series concentrating on a small group of core characters. Kwitney decided that the series needed to develop its own internal continuity, with irregular The Sandman Presents mini-series being introduced to present stories told outside of that continuity. Gaiman explained the need for the change by saying:
"The main thing is making it [The Dreaming] a story that is going somewhere, that feels like it's going somewhere and it will be one huge story that is going somewhere rather than these sorts of little stories that basically go 'Person A, who you've never met before nor do you care about, has a problem. They are going to go into The Dreaming and come out and their problem will be ... resolved from their experiences ...,' which was becoming the default plot. You didn't really feel that anything was necessarily going anywhere even though a lot of these stories were competently written. They also didn't display an awful lot of feeling for the characters. Many of them were very, very forgettable."
Initially, the writing duties on the revamped series were to be shared between Caitlin R. Kiernan
Caitlin R. Kiernan
Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan is the author of many science fiction and dark fantasy works, including seven novels, many comic books, more than one hundred published short stories, novellas, and vignettes, and numerous scientific papers.- Overview :Born in Dublin, Ireland, she moved to the United States...
and Peter Hogan, who had recently impressed with their stories "Souvenirs" (Issues #17 - #19) and "Ice" (Issue #16) respectively. However, Hogan's increasing commitments with other work and the perceived pre-existing fanbase that Kiernan had brought with her to the title meant that she was offered the position as sole writer from the "Many Mansions" story (issues #27-#34), despite Kiernan herself admitting that there didn't seem to be much crossover between the two readerships. Peter Hogan would be made a semi-regular writer for the series The Sandman Presents by way of compensation.
The series suffered from its ties to the original Sandman series throughout its run, with Kiernan saying "from the start, The Dreaming has been saddled with living up to what Neil Gaiman did with The Sandman. It doesn't take long to get puking sick of hearing 'It's just not the same,' or 'It's not as good as The Sandman,' or 'Why is it so much darker than The Sandman,' or even 'It's almost as good as The Sandman.' I know the comparisons are inevitable, and even logical, but it's been an uphill battle trying to get readers to look at The Dreaming as a series separate from The Sandman, with its own tone and atmosphere and concerns." Kiernan received strong criticism for the direction she took the series in, with commentators placing the blame solely on her despite the involvement of many others - including original Sandman writer Gaiman - in the creative process.
However, Kiernan found the experience genuinely satisfying - despite the stress and comics not being her first love - and the series continued for 60 issues before being cancelled to focus on the more successful The Sandman Presents and Lucifer
Lucifer (DC Comics)
Lucifer is a DC Comics character that starred in an eponymous comic book published under the Vertigo imprint, whose entire run was written by Mike Carey...
series. Kiernan contributed a story to this new post-Dreaming era, the three issue The Sandman Presents: Bast featuring the cat goddess introduced in the Season of Mists storyline.
The Domain
The Dreaming is the world where people go to dream, and is a vague, shifting realm of symbolSymbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
, belief
Belief
Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.-Belief, knowledge and epistemology:The terms belief and knowledge are used differently in philosophy....
, and imagination
Imagination
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses...
. It is named after another name for the Dreamtime, a central concept in Australian Aboriginal mythology
Australian Aboriginal mythology
Australian Aboriginal myths are the stories traditionally performed by Aboriginal peoples within each of the language groups across Australia....
.
Locations
The Dreaming is vast, and its landscape varies greatly from place to place. Some of the important locations of The Dreaming include:- The House of Secrets and the House of MysteryHouse of MysteryThe House of Mystery is the name of several horror-mystery-suspense anthology comic book series. It had a companion series, House of Secrets.-Genesis:...
, Cain and Abel's homes. - The Gates of Horn and Ivory, two gates carved by Dream; "the dreams that pass through the gates of ivory are lies, figments and deceptions. The other admits the truth..." (Gaiman). This is a direct reference to Virgil's "Aeneid" in which Virgil passes through the "realm of sleep" and encounters two similar doors with similar functions.
- The Castle, Dream's abode at the center of the Dreaming. The front gate is guarded by three mythical beasts, a gryphonGriffinThe griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle...
, a wyvernWyvernA wyvern or wivern is a legendary winged reptilian creature with a dragon's head, two legs , and a barbed tail. The wyvern is found in heraldry. There exists a purely sea-dwelling variant, termed the Sea-Wyvern which has a fish tail in place of a barbed dragon's tail...
, and a hippogriffHippogriffA Hippogriff is a legendary creature, supposedly the offspring of a griffin and a mare.- Early references :...
(often mistakenly drawn as a winged horse). It includes Lucien's library, which contains every book that anyone ever dreamt of writing. The library allows its users to read any of its books whether or not the reader speaks the language it was written in or indeed can even read. When one of the dreamed of books is actually written in the real world, the copy in Lucien's library bursts into flames and is destroyed.
Collected editions
Two English-language trade paperbacks have been published:- The Dreaming: Beyond the Shores of Night (ISBN 1-85286-904-6). Collects The Dreaming #1-8.
- The Dreaming: Through the Gates of Horn and Ivory (ISBN 1-56389-493-9). Collects The Dreaming #15-19 and #22-25.