The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country – The Glass House #4 – James Tynion IV, Writer; Lisandro Estherren, Artist; Patricio Delpeche, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: After a break for Thessaly’s spotlight issue, we’re back to this compelling Hollywood thriller, and Thessaly is ready to step onto the main stage with Max. Our hapless Hollywood lead has been discovering the dark clouds around his new job since the beginning, but it’s nothing compared to what awaits him as he meets with the witch in an abandoned conference room. “No getting out” takes on a much more literal feeling when it involves an unlucky (but maybe not undeserved) visitor getting sliced into pieces by a mystical deathtrap when he tries to leave. But as our twisted main villains continue their plan to get Madison’s story out there to the public as a Trojan Horse, it becomes clear that Max might be the last person standing between them and the world—whether he wants to or not. Naturally, Madison—as a talking cat—is rather ambivalent about all this and isn’t shy about sharing it.
The Corinthian surprisingly takes a backseat this issue, with the demon heading back to the club that he’s become obsessed with and getting taunted by supernatural forces. But he’s not the only long-time Sandman player to enter the fray this issue. Thessaly knows there’s only one figure who can help them—Lucien—and summons him in a dramatic way that leads us back to the world of the Dreaming. When Tynion began this run over a year ago, it was as a gritty horror story, but now it’s starting to feel like it’s an essential part of the Sandman mythos. After all, the Dreaming are storytellers by nature—and so are those in Hollywood, albeit usually much less benevolent ones. So when the two collide, the odds are nothing good is going to happen. This has been a much slower-burn story than Tynion usually writes, but it’s clear he loves this mythos and is probably creating the best new story in it since Gaiman.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
