Spurrier has done a masterful job of continuing Gaiman's classic Sandman story. He managed to capture much of the feel of that series, merging elements of the original with new characters and situations. Neil Gaiman is a hard act to follow, but Spurrier has acquitted himself admirably as does. Bilquis Evely also did a masterful job as the series primary artist. Kudos on a great series. Read Full Review

Si Spurrier and Bilquis Evely's story comes to a beautiful conclusion with one of the most memorable chapters in all of Sandman Read Full Review

The Dreaming #20 marks the end of an incredible run by an even more incredible creative team. Daniel is back and the Dreaming is restored in this gorgeous and exciting issue that lives up to the Sandman name! Read Full Review

The Dreaming is a series that'll be held dear by most and cherished by many. It's a series that reflects on the very idea of the power of dreams and how important they are to our very makeup. If you hold storytelling dear (and really, who doesn't?), you will find yourself wrapping yourself in the blanket that is this series as it comes to a close with a great appreciation for the journey Spurrier and Evely have taken us on, knowing that we can start anew with issue #1 anytime we please. Now that is a gift. Read Full Review

To follow up the world of the Sandman is one of the biggest tasks any writer has ever taken on, akin to what Geoff Johns and Gary Frank did in Doomsday Clock. For a first act, this is an impressive debut, but it'll be interesting to see where Wilson takes it in the coming months. There's a lot to dig into in this universe, and we've barely scratched the surface. Read Full Review

While it is undoubtedly sad to see this volume of The Dreaming come to a close, it is reassuring to know that the creative team was able to tell a complete story over the course of 20 issues that lives up to the standard set by Neil Gaiman in the pages of The Sandman. Following the characters of the Dreaming, from Dora to Lucien to Cain and Abel, the change in dynamics has been a fascinating and rewarding experience for those willing to dive in. Read Full Review

This issue frustrated me in a lot of ways as it comes on top of the last couple of books that really just made me want to throw down the whole thing. There are a lot of positives to this ending in that it does get us back to a place where someone can pick up from it and launch into the kinds of stories that we should have been seeing for the past two years. But it's been such a rough and frustrating ride that I can't bring myself to invest in the property any further until I read other reviews and only then when it's wrapped up a storyline in a trade. I've loved the artwork for this series but have felt burned by the storytelling and lettering. The book sticks the ending but it was such a wobble in mid-air as to throw me off the whole game. Read Full Review

Honestly I quite liked this ending.

A very strong ending, but it's hard to imagine that these 20 issues are going to have a place in the larger Sandman universe in years to come. I will miss Dora.

Since this is the only comic I'm reading this week, as the comics industry is just beginning to resume, I wanted to really delve deep into this final issue of The Dreaming. I've had my share of problems with the series basically since its inception, and I've gone into them a little bit throughout its 20 issue run.

I don't have much affinity at all for the original Sandman title or The earlier Dreaming titles. I never finished Sandman (Yet, I'm currently re-reading it in hopes that this time I won't lose interest) and I never read those other Dreaming titles. I think that was the first flaw I found with this title (If you can call it that, and not just a personalized gripe that doesn't mean anything). It's not exactly new reader friendly, and that makes growing to care about any of the previous established characters very hard for me as they suffer in tumult over Dream's disappearance, and I feel like therefore I was never truly engaged in what was happening. This is why I found the majority of the third arc most appealing, because we spent time away from the main plot with the characters I didn't care about, and more time exploring this cool world of myth and legend.

That being said, the new characters weren't all too appealing either. I didn't like Dora. Again, maybe put this one in the personalized gripe category... But she's just not the type of character that is particularly endearing to me. She's rude, obnoxious and at least partially self-important (since the story makes her that way). That's not who I want to follow in my stories... at least not when their behavior is excused by the story. I can deal with an unrepentant asshole. I just so happen to love The Punisher but they never treat him as something more in his comics, like The Dreaming does with Dora.

The characters aren't the only issue I had. I take a lot of umbrage with the message this comic is overflowing with by the end of the series. I don't agree with the vilification of science and technology that a lot of stories seem to love to do, and The Dreaming is no exception. I find it kind of insulting. The message that we all need to resort back to myth, superstition, religion and dreams in order to "feel" as we're supposed to is just really dumb in my opinion. I don't think these sorts of things should be celebrated, honestly. They're cool and fun stories and that's all they should be. I wouldn't harp on it as much as I am usually, but I'm constantly seeing belief play out horribly in the real world, so it bugs me. We're living in the midst of a global pandemic, yet we have so, so, so many people putting their superstitions and beliefs ahead of their own health, and really, the health of everyone else. We see people burning 5G towers because, even with scientific consensus that 5G is perfectly okay, they think it's killing everyone and it's being covered up as COVID-19. We have people going to church and proclaiming that god will protect them, and then falling ill and dying a horrible death just weeks later. We have people, right this moment, who have already made their minds up about the vaccine when it finally is available. Choosing not to get vaccinated because of completely unfounded conspiracy, misinformation, and disinformation. And when you confront any of these people with the reality of it all, you are met with derision and refuted by more bullshit, and even if you hang on long enough to disprove every little thing about what they're saying, they're still going to pretend they know better. Belief and superstition does not help the world, it only serves to keep humanity back until it's too late to save ourselves. So, all that in mind, I don't like how this comic seems to revel in the acceptance and celebration of belief and superstition. I'm past whatever optimistic phase of my life it was where I thought belief was, in any way, a comforting thought.

Okay, so... now onto the positives lol. I think despite everything I said above that Si Spurrier is a very competent writer. He writes dialogue and plot well, and his narration and flowery language is on point as far as I can tell. I just wish that I could find the same enjoyment in this title that I can find in, say, John Constantine: Hellblazer. The difference between that and this is that I've read pretty much everything Hellblazer related, baring a few miniseries and the New 52 Constantine series. I know the characters very well and I don't need any help jumping into that world (which, now that I think of it, may also be hard to get into for new readers...). That series has its politics and messages as well, but they're much more in line with my own cynicism, so that doesn't really bother me. And I just think Si Spurrier is more equipped for that title. It fits his writing better, in my opinion. The art is also not bad in this book, everything fits totally and looks as it should. That's the thing, if you look at the creative team, this book looks like a slam dunk, but I just think they executed things poorly in a way that really frustrated me.

And while we're at it, how is this specific issue? Issue 20? It is... fine. It's a wrap up issue that pretty much already had the conflict resolved last issue. There are some neat parallels to this issue and Sandman #7 (I believe) that were pretty cool to pick up on, but it is more of a reset issue (with some minor changes to the status quo) than anything. If I were more invested, I think this issue would've done a lot more for me, but I just don't seem to care as much as most people.

As much as I'm ambivalent towards this series, I really am not looking forward to G. Willow Wilson taking over. I just don't trust that her writing is up to snuff, but we'll see. I always want to read more good comics. I never set out with the intent to hate or dislike something. As such, I'm pretty wary about what I say about upcoming comics sometimes. But I think it's fair to say that my wariness is warranted after seeing what she did with Wonder Woman last year. Plus, I've been reading her work since Kamala Khan was introduced at Marvel. I have a pretty clear idea of what I expect from her writing. But we'll see. We'll ALL see. more