The Dreaming

The Dreaming is a part of a fictional, supernatural world used as the setting for several comic book series and graphic novels. The Sandman by Neil Gaiman is the most notable of these, in that its high literary and artistic quality set it apart from the bulk of the comic book genre.

In these books, The Dreaming is the domain of a character named Dream, and is postulated as the place visited by people when they sleep.

In Dream's words "The way to the center is a slow spiral. One passes the houses of mystery and secrets - old way stations on the frontiers of nightmare - from there one charts a course nightward until one reaches the gates of horn and ivory. I carved them myself, when the world was younger, and order was needed. The dreams that pass through the gates of ivory are lies, figments and deceptions. The other admits the truth..."

The Houses of Mystery and Secrets, are two buildings which were remnants of DC's old series' of the same titles, which were introduced by the eerie brother's Cain (Mystery) and Abel (Secrets). The two brother's are clearly named after the first Biblical brother's, technically 'the first story'.

The Gates of Horn and Ivory admitting the true and false dreams are borne of old myths and legends, reinvigorated by Neil Gaiman.

At the centre of the Dreaming is Dream's castle, (containing among other cavernous rooms, the Library and Lucien, the librarian). The castle is guarded by Dream's three Guardians, a Gryphon, a Wyvern, and a Hippogriff, all mythological/fictional beings.

The ephemeral and confusing nature of many of the details of the Dreaming are apparently deliberate on the part of the authors, who use this as a means of creating a sense of wonder.

The Dreaming has since become an American comic book which ran for 60 issues, as a spinoff series from The Sandman.

External Links

• Exceptional Summaries of many of the Dreaming Comics (http://www.comicboards.com/dcguide/Dmg/Title_Index.htm)
• A Chronological Look at the Dreaming Comics Series (http://continuitypages.com/sandmanPOSTGAIMAN.htm)