The Dreaming #10 – Simon Spurrier, Writer; Bilquis Evely, Artist; Mat Lopes, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: This title continues to be the biggest mindbender in the DC stables, taking us further down the bunny hole with every issue as the search for Dream gets more complicated and the Dreaming itself starts to unravel. The realm is now in the hands of a baby God, who comes off like Mothra crossed with a Precious Moments doll, and the effect is sufficiently creepy. She’s taken a shine to Abel, which means the former abused sidekick to Cain is now in a position to personally reshape the world by guiding the new deity’s hands. There’s some odd sweetness in this scene, as it’s good to see Abel come into his own – even if he’s not willing to let go of Cain just yet, and there’s some interesting developments about the missing, presumed-dead villain and the house they used to share. But things take a sudden, very dark turn when a minion tries to insist the Godling get down to work and we see exactly what happens when a baby God gets mad.
The other main plot is more visually engaging, but not quite as compelling story-wise as Dora, Lucien, and Matthew the Raven descend into the depths to find out where Daniel went. They’re led by a former associate of Dora’s – a demon who tried to break into the Dreaming and was punished by being blinded and turned into a lowly rhyming demon. He leads our hapless trio through the catacombs of the underworld and shows them the various realms of twisted beings and permutations of Gods through history. This is a twisty segment – literally, as perspective shifts and makes the book more difficult to read. Stunts like this will either work spectacularly or just make the book annoying to read, and this issue works more on the former side. The end, revealing where Daniel has gone and why his absence is so important, gets a little too into the bizarre and philosophical, but there’s no comic that tries to do more with every issue.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
