The Dreaming #13 – Simon Spurrier, Writer; Dani, Artist; Mat Lopes, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: After the first year of stories concluded, this series takes a breather for an odd issue , The Dreaming #13, with guest art by Image Comics rising superstar Dani, as writer Simon Spurrier takes us back to Earth to show how the upheaval in the Dreaming has been affecting some very odd residents of England.
The story begins with a support group of diverse people – young women, old men – discussing their mutual ailment. It seems they’re discussing cancer or something similar until the art style starts to subtly shift and their features begin to warm. The series lets you pick up on your own that these are all mystical creatures from English folklore, and they’ve all been living undetected in society for decades. But now, knowledge of their existence is starting to fade from public knowledge and they’re undergoing the Fade. This is where memory of these beings fades away, and so do the beings themselves to the point where they spontaneously blink in and out of existence.
There’s a sense of desperation to the issue as these characters fight against oblivion, and it lend them to take the extreme measure of revealing themselves to the world at a Pride Parade and simultaneously scaring the daylights out of the bigots.
It’s a powerful display of resistance – that ultimately amounts to less than nothing, as the rules of magic keep them from being perceived by the masses. There’s a lot of unanswered questions in The Dreaming #13 about whether this is the natural way of things or if something powerful is blinking these beings out of existence. I’m hoping this isn’t a one-and-done story and we’ll be coming back to these characters soon, because it’s a fascinating subplot that humanizes the chaos of the Dreaming and introduces the audience to some lesser-known characters from folklore. It’s not as epic as some of this series, but it’s one of the most intriguing concepts in the story.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
