Dream makes a world out of crafting stories, every night. but Dream fell in love, because he wanted to have his own story. now he is missing, and it may take new stories to retrieve him. meanwhile Wan needs to learn how a story is constructed, in order to replace him, while Dora and Matthew are searching. Simon Spurrier's story with all its characters and layers is authentically true to the wonders of the original Sandman series. ( )

4.5/5

As I said in my review of the first volume of this new run of The Dreaming, one of my favorite things about Neil Gaiman's original Sandman run was the way the comic's story was partially about the very nature of stories. Gaiman played with various structures to examine the fabric of storytelling and why it's always been such an effective means of communication. Everything else was the icing on this theme of a cake. This examination of storytelling is one of the key things that brings readers back to those comics time and time again. Simon Spurrier continued this approach in the first volume of his run on The Dreaming, and he continues it in this next volume - a volume that helps bridge the story of The Sandman with this new story being told here. It's a really good graphic novel.

This volume of The Dreaming really leans into that storytelling theme. When last we saw our heroes, they'd learned that the new ruler of The Dreaming was Wan, a sentient AI from origins unknown. But how could a machine rule over a realm as illogical as the Dreaming? Could a machine even manage to understand the more abstract nature of storytelling? These are some of the questions which Spurrier poses in this volume - and some of them even get answers. Spurrier is really on top form in this collection. I remain impressed at how he's able to spin such a complicated story without it ever feeling too overwhelming to the reader. He's juggling a number of different plotlines, characters, and mysteries with a real finesse - you never feel like you're waiting too long to find out some kind of important piece of information, but you're also not learning things at too quick a speed. Spurrier has found a really solid pace with which to tell this story and it seems to be working very well. The best moments are often when everything slows down for a beat and the characters can reflect on something they've just witnessed (particularly Wan and Abel, who both have a number of really wonderful scenes throughout these issues as Wan begins the process of learning how to understand and rule the Dreaming). Overall, the sheer structure of this collection is really strong. Some questions are answered, themes are deepened, new questions are posed, and it all ends on a really killer cliffhanger that leaves you desperately wanting to know where the story will go next.

While the first volume of The Dreaming very much had the feeling of a title wanting to set up its own world with its own rules, this volume feels a lot more confident in itself and, as such, begins to tie in elements from the larger Sandman universe into the story. Here, we see the return of such iconic Sandman characters like Rose Walker and iconic locales such as the World's End pub/inn (where we get some of the best ruminations on storytelling found in this comic as both Wan and Dora learn what a story is actually made of). What I like about these callbacks is that it doesn't feel like fan service, but rather a natural expansion of the universe. Rose Walker only comes back into the story because she knows why Daniel/Dream has disappeared from the Dreaming and what he's up to (the answer to that question feels very in character for Daniel and Spurrier writes impressively well for that character). The World's End pub only appears because our heroes (namely Matthew and Dora) are tracking Daniel's steps and he ended up at the pub at some point (though, thankfully, a great deal of time is spent there and we get to enjoy some really fun stories while the characters go about their missions). Every reference clearly has a purpose and Spurrier ensures the older elements tie together with the newer elements in order to best tell this new story he's telling. But, as a Sandman fan, I can't pretend like it wasn't a lot of fun seeing some of these elements return. I'm just glad it was done in such a well-written manner instead of being shoehorned in.

Comics are one of the most collaborative mediums - you need both the visuals and the writing to be great if you want to pull off the story you're trying to tell. As we've already established, the second volume of The Dreaming has some great writing - but it also has some really great artwork. This go 'round, the artwork is split between two artists - Abigail Larson, who drew the art for the first two issues in this collection, and series-regular, Bilquis Evely, who drew the art for the rest of the collection. Both of these artists do an immensely impressive job while also staying true to their style. Larson does the art for the two issues involving Rose and Lucien, and her artwork is very reminiscent of a fairy tale - which seems pretty fitting given the scripts for those issues. Evely's art continues the style she set up in the first volume of The Dreaming, continuing to expand on the world and translate some really strange ideas into a visual form. It's rather impressive how well these two art styles work together. You definitely notice the difference, but it doesn't feel at all distracting and actually enhances the overall story being told. I really feel like Larson and Evely's artwork in this volume is some of the best artwork in any comic published in the last few years.

All in all, I really dug this second volume of The Dreaming. It took everything I loved about the first volume and ran with it, deepening the characters and their relationships, exploring more of the intricacies of the plot, and continuing to broaden the overall Sandman Universe. Simon Spurrier is on top form with these issues and his writing is a joy to read. As is the artwork from series regular, Bilquis Evely (Issues 9-12), and guest artist, Abigail Larson (Issues 7&8). Their artwork brings Spurrier's words to life and does a lot of the heavy lifting for the world-building. It can't be easy to draw something like The Dreaming, and yet these artists have done so. If you're a fan of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series and you're not reading The Dreaming, you should be. ( )

The Dreaming, Volume 2: Empty Shells collects issues 7-12 of The Dreamining, published under DC/Vertigo’s “Sandman Universe” banner written by Simon Spurrier with art by Bilquis Evely and Abigail Larson, colors by Mat Lopes and Quinton Winter, and letters by Simon Bowland. The story picks up after the events of the first volume and deepens the mystery of Dream’s disappearance.

In the first story, “Love,” Rose Walker, having found the injured Lucien on a beach, keeps vigil at his bedside while telling him about her daughter, Ivy. Rose first appeared way back in The Sandman no. 10 (1989) and is the granddaughter of Unity Kincaid and Desire of the Endless. Having hosted a vortex, she became immortal and also babysat Daniel Hall, who later became Dream after Morpheus’ death. This story reveals Rose’s mother is the woman whose dreams of cooking Dora visited in volume one. Further, Daniel began a relationship with Lily in order to experience and understand love, eventually marrying her, though unbeknownst to them a cult was using magic to make Lily, a tattoo artist, ink a symbol on Daniel that would weaken him. They weakened him further when they used her to poison him. The cult was based out of Fawny Rig, the house that Roderick Burgess owned when he imprisoned Morpheus in The Sandman no. 1. As a result of these actions, Daniel cannot return to the Dreaming and lacks full control over his abilities.

Having established the reason for Dream’s absence, Spurrier and Evely use the remainder of the volume telling two concurrent narratives about the changes in the Dreaming. In the first, Dora and Matthew follow Dream’s trail through Faerie, Hell, and the tavern at World’s End in order to try and locate him. Meanwhile, back in the Dreaming, Abel talks with the new intelligence, which hopes to better understand the illogic of dreams and stories and thus the realm it holds together. Despite their best efforts, Matthew and Dora do not locate Dream, but they do find the weakened Lucien. The new intelligence appears to have a split-personality and the ability to destroy those who upset it without other characters remembering, a power it uses to assume Dream’s throne and name itself Wan, setting up the events for the forthcoming third volume.

Like the first volume, this is an enjoyable read for fans of The Sandman, deepening the mythology of the series while also having enough independence that Spurrier and Evely have the freedom to explore new avenues for storytelling, even interrogating the nature of storytelling. ( )