Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series remains one of the most beloved comic book series of all time and the best-selling author is coming back to spearhead a new series of stories set in that world.
The Sandman Universe will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Gaiman’s run by having the author return to write the first in a new series of stories as well as oversee a select group of writers to tell all new stories set in the Dreaming.
Neil Gaiman will write the first story to kick off the new Universe.
The Sandman Universe #1 will feature a story by Neil Gaiman and will be written by Si Spurrier (Labyrinth: Coronation), Nalo Hopkinson (Sister Mine), Dan Watters (Limbo) and Kat Howard (Roses and Rot) and feature art by Bilquis Evely (Wonder Woman).
Daniel, the lord of Dreams, has gone missing and itcauses chaos in the kingdom of dreams…
A rift between worlds has opened, revealing a space beyond the Dreaming. Meanwhile, a book from Lucien’s library of all the unwritten books ever dreamed is discovered by a group of children in the waking world.
Simultaneously, a new House appears—the House of Whispers—joining the Houses of Secret and Mystery in the Dreaming. Its proprietor is a fortune-teller called Erzulie, whom the inhabitants of the Dreaming suspect may be responsible for all the strange goings-on.
Elsewhere, Lucifer has fallen again, only this time he might be in a Hell of his own design.
And in London, a young boy named Timothy Hunter sleeps, in his dreams, he becomes the world’s most powerful magician, but in his nightmares, he becomes the world’s worst villain, which future will become reality?
From the mind of Neil Gaiman, a new world filled with dreams and nightmares, all of his wonderful characters living together in a shared universe for a story unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.
Si Spurrier will write The Dreaming. He has worked on comics in both the US and UK including 2000AD, Suicide Squad, Motherlands and X-Men. According to the synopsis of the book:
There is a place where gods are born and stories are spun. But twenty-three years after he was anointed as its master, Dream of the Endless has inexplicably abandoned the dreaming. His absence triggers a series of crimes and calamities which consume the lives of those already tangled in his fate, among them Lucien the librarian, Nuala of Faerie, and Dora, a monstress without memories. But while they struggle to restore the King to his throne, they face from intrigues within and conquest from without. As usurpers circle the defenceless domain and an impossible shadow awaits its own birth beside a rip in reality, the denizens of the dreaming play out their stories of loss and love, resignation and resistance.
Novelist Nalo Hopkinson has written works of afro-futurism including Brown Girl in the Ring, Midnight Robber and The New Moon’s Arm. She will be wiring House of Whispers:
Latoya is in a coma. Her girlfriend enlists the help of Latoya’s two younger sisters. Using the Book of Whispers, they mistakenly steal the essence of Erzulie, a deity of voodoo mythology. The psychic blowback of the spell causes her house to crash into the Dreaming, beside the Houses of Secrets and Mystery and their custodians, Cain and Abel. In the real world, the awakened young woman suffers a mystical form of Cotard’s Delusion—she believes she is already dead, and she’s transmitting her beliefs to others, causing them to become guardians of the Gap that has appeared in the Dreaming.
Dan Watters will be writing Lucifer. The London-based writer has written for other companies including his creator owned title Limbo for Image Comics as well as writing The Shadow for Dynamite:
A few years ago, the devil vanished. Some people say he died or simply ran away, while others believe he never existed at all. But we aren’t some people. No. This is the one true story of what happened to the Prince of Lies, the Bringer of Light—Lucifer, the blind, destitute old man, who lives in a small boarding house in a quiet little town, where nothing is quite what it seems and no one can leave. he’s trapped, you see? Trapped n a bizarre prison with no memory of how he got there or why. Meanwhile in Los Angeles, a policeman who may have brain cancer is tasked with a mission of divine importance: find and kill Lucifer.
Author Kat Howard will write Books of Magic. Howard is the author of novels like Roses and Rot, An Unkindness of Magicians and the upcoming Cathedral of Myth and Bone. According to the synopsis:
Timothy Hunter is destined to become the most powerful magician in the universe, but that doesn’t mean he gets to cut class, skip exams, or is impervious to bullying by his mundane peers. After all, he’s still a London teenager and having magical abilities complicates things more than it helps. And while Tim’s trying to study and attract the cute girl in his class, there are cultists who want to kill him, believing his power will eventually corrupt him, turning him into a merciless mage. Luckily, the new substitute teacher for his school wants to mentor him and educate him in the magical arts so that he can discover the master behind the Books of Magic…
Vertigo released a video featuring Gaiman announcing the new books.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im20USjMyqQ&w=560&h=315]
The Sandman Universe begins August 8, 2018 from Vertigo.
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