DMZ, Dreaming

DMV 29-34

With this trade, DMZ firmly cements itself into “I want to know how this ends, but not enough that I’ll pay for it” territory.  My local library has the next two trades, so at least I’ll find out how the next 12 issues or so play out.

Matty Roth finally tosses aside journalistic objectivity to support Parco Delgado in the upcoming DMZ leadership elections.  (Which is fine, because Parco tells him that media impartiality is a crock anyway.) I understand and even empathize with Matty’s point of view, but even more fascinating is Brian Wood’s decision to have him go so far as to actively take part in the campaign.  It’s not like Matty’s just writing op eds, he’s out there defending the guy with a gun.

It’s yet another demonstration of how life in the DMZ can come in conflict with idealistic principles.  Wholly believable, and it makes for a good if not fun reading experience.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Fine

Dreaming 1-3

This series was clearly created to fill the vacuum left by the ending of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.  And like an astronaut desperate for oxygen in the void of space, I greedily sucked in whatever gas was available.  

It’s hard to replace Neil Gaiman.

The Dreaming led off with a Cain/Abel/Goldie story.  Bad decision. The dynamic between the original brothers only works in tiny installments.  Terry LaBan gives us three full issues of it without adding any new wrinkles to the relationship.  (We discover that Abel has a whole other life whenever he’s dead. (Not a contradiction, really!) He’s a lot more confident and has a bunch of dead friends.  But it’s not enough to make him more interesting.) Cutting.

Regret buying? Yes

Would buy again? No

Would read again? No

Rating: Didn’t suck (Cutting)

Dreaming 6-7

I don’t know why I took a two month hiatus, only to come back and buy the final two issues of a four-parter.  I’m not sad that I did, though. An elderly professor meets a young man who somehow jumped forward forty years in time.  She works with Mad Hettie to restore him to his proper time, and in so doing, creates a changes her past for the better. It’s the happy romantic ending that lifted this story to the Keep level.  It wouldn’t have survived otherwise, but I’m a sucker for that kind of hopeful twist.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Fine

Dreaming 8

I like this issue because the Michael Zulli art makes it feel closer to Sandman than anything before it in the series.  Also, I like Seth. He’s so well adjusted compared to his completely dysfunctional older brothers. Also, I love the suggestion that there are much darker stories that were omitted from the Bible.  Gaiman touches on it with Lilith in Sandman. Alisa Kwitney does it here with Cain and Abel’s twin sisters. Delicious.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Nice

Dreaming 15

A rollercoaster of emotion.  Here’s a look at the highs and lows of Jeff Nicholson’s story:

Depressed: Bob hates his job as the head of his law firm.  He’s trapped in the mundane horrors of white-collar suburbia, and longs for a life where he can work with his hands and do something where he can see the fruits of his labor.

Happy: Bob falls asleep in his car and wakes up on Merv Pumpkinhead’s crew in the Dreaming.  It’s everything Bob could have wished for, and can’t imagine anything more perfect.

Sad: Bob wakes up, and has no way back until he dies.  There had been hints that he was dead and not sleeping when he had arrived in the Dreaming, so I was honestly surprised by this.  

Hopeful:  Eager to get back to his dream job, Bob commits suicide by leaving the engine running in his closed garage.  It’s a twisted testament to Nicholson’s writing that I thought this was Bob’s best chance at a happy ending.

Depressed: Bob does indeed gain a permanent role on Merv’s crew, but severely mentally impaired because his choice of self-termination left him with too many dead brain cells.  It’s completely cruel, yet perfect for the story. Kudos to Nicholson. I’ve rarely been yanked around this much on the emotional spectrum in so few pages.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Nice

Dreaming 16

Peter Hogan and Gary Amaro tell us what Nuala and the Cluracan have been up to since the end of Sandman.  It’s a nice little story of only minor importance, but it’s very comforting to know that these characters will be in a good place after we turn the page on them.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Nice