Customer Reviews

Sandman Mystery Theater: Sleep of Reason

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A new version of this, it seems, and rather different to the old, this particular story being set pretty much in current times, or at least from the late 90s onwards, anyway.

Wesley Dodds is actually one of the few heroes that has aged, so being active in the 30s now makes him an old man indeed, and one whose wife has a terminal illness.

However, he is mostly a guest star in this, as the story surrounds a war in the middle east, a journalist, a crazy man affected by war as a kid, and a conflict that is carried out in real life with bombs and guns and gas, but also in dreams.

The murky art may make it hard to follow who is hwo at times.

A wordy story by John Ney Rieber, though half the time you're left wondering what the heck is going on. Art by Eric Nguyen, while not bad, doesn't help much as it's hard to identify characters, action sequences are muddled, and it's sometimes difficult to distinguish reality from dream sequences. But what really reeks in this book is setting it in war-torn, modern day Afghanistan. Elderly Wesley Dodds (the Golden-Age Sandman) and flame, Dian Belmont, are victimized by extremists, and the Sandman mantle is taken up by an unwitting photo-journalist. Adventure ensues. So, DC's attempt to modernize the Golden Age Sandman is for him to... um, fight terrorists in Afghanistan. I guess that tells you all you need to know about this book, and about how Vertigo has lost its way lately. If you need a Sandman Mystery Theater fix, just re-read the original series. Thankfully they have the sense to continue to re-print it. However, stay away from this sad revamping.