D.C. Comics will be launching a brand new Sandman Universe imprint under it’s Vertigo line. The new imprint, launching towards the end of 2018, will carry Dream and the Sandman title itself into the thirtieth anniversary of Neil Gaiman’s most iconic property.
Originally released in 1989, Sandman #1 followed the story of one of the seven “Endless” named Dream, a god of dreams and the unreal. ‘Sandman‘ was an era-defining run and one of the many properties that came out of Vertigo at the time that were equally as iconic and prolific such as Alan Moore’s ‘Watchmen‘ and ‘Swamp Thing‘, Garth Ennis’ ‘Preacher‘ and even the Alan Moore / Peter Milligan work ‘Hellblazer‘, which, when the 300-issue run ended, brought the “first class” of books to a close in early 2013.
Most recently, Scott Snyder’s DC Metal #1 gave us our first look in quite a while at Dream of the Endless, who appeared before Batman with dire warnings of things to come.
In fact, things to come are not dire at all. Thing to come include more Dream, more Sandman, more Vertigo. The new imprint, under the direction of Neil Gaiman himself will feature multiple writers and creative teams. The first issue released, launching in August, will be a book entitled ‘The Sandman Universe #1″. Gaiman will outline the plot for the one-shot special issue but it will be Si Spurrier, Dan Watters, Kat Howard and Nalo Hopkinson who will flesh out said plot, highlighted with art by Bilquis Everly and covers by artist Jae Lee.
From there, four titles will launch under the imprint. ‘House of Whispers‘ will be written by Nalo Hopkinson and will follow a comatose woman named Latoya and a voodoo deity named Erzulie. Kat Howard will pen ‘Books of Magic‘, a follow-up to a mini-series that Gaiman wrote in the 1990s. Si Spurrier will be writing ‘The Dreaming’ and will follow ancillary characters in the Sandman universe like the Librarian and the Raven. Finally, Dan Watter’s has picked up writing duties for ‘Lucifer’, the story of a blind and down devil trapped in a house he can never leave.
Neil hand picked these writers. Similar to Bendis’ ‘Jinxworld’ and Gerard Way’s ‘Young Animals’ lines, Gaiman will retain editorial control over the entire line throughout the process. Artists for these titles will be announced at a later point in time, presumably during the Vertigo panel at this year’s Emerald City Comic Con.
A promotional video, seen below, was released in conjunction with the announcement:
